r/Theatre

So my high school is doing newsies. I unfortunately was cut from the show, but I’ll be working on crew. one of my jobs is “advertising“ the play. we have a pretty big auditorium at our high school, and at our shows, it’s relativery empty. The drama clubs budget is almost entirely built off the previous years ticket sales, and we didn’t do so great last year. We really want to expand our drama club budget so we can make less cuts, better costumes, sets, props, ect. Our school is very big, so I want to drive more students outside of drama club to come see our show. Our tickets are very reasonably priced and we offer concessions. So far we plan to make an announcement on loudspeaker and put up posters. any advice?

I made a post a few months ago in r/Theatre saying that I was reconsidering my career path. At the time, I was a junior in college. Over the summer, I followed the advice of my advisor and took a complete break from anything theatre related. I worked in a completely different job (a youth swim instructor, which i loved), took a lot of time to focus on myself, and spent my free time hanging out with friends and doing the hobbies I love.

Part of me thought that a break from theatre would make me ready to go when I got back to school. However, when I think about anything theatre related, I get a horrible pit in my stomach. There is a feeling of complete and utter dread at the thought of having my life consumed by school and rehearsals, which is what happened the last time I did a college show. The rehearsal schedule was so intense that I never had any time to myself, and I had to skip out on a lot of my hobbies and time with my friends, both of which are really important to me.

I have an audition coming up next Monday, and all I can think is “I hope I don’t get in”. I only signed up to audition to appease my parents, who didn’t like the idea of me “giving up” on performing. Part of me wonders if I’m only self-sabotaging and trying to convince myself that this isn’t good for me. But I honestly don’t feel any joy at the prospect of doing theatre right now. I will always love theatre, but I don’t know if I want to do it anymore. But if I walk away, I have the terrible fear that I’ll regret it in 10-20 years when my “chance” has passed me by.

I’m the director and vice president of my college’s drama club (also student). Last year we had more than enough people for our play but as transparent as I was about when rehearsals were, the performances, and any other dates or times some of the actors were dropping out because of having something going on.

I was transparent from the start of basically auditions and reminded them of the schedule several times. We had a few actors drop out because of conflicts a month or two after knowing and had someone ghost me after showing up to most rehearsals online just because they decided it wasn’t going to work out.

After figuring everything out with missing people and filling roles the play turned out amazing. I’m afraid it will happen once again this year and if it does I’m not sure how to handle it. I do my best to be flexible and understanding but I can’t have people dropping out of something they committed to especially when I tell everyone the dates and when everything will be only for them to leave when it gets closer.

Is there anything I can do about this?

Hi! I’m (also a student) directing a student production of Little Women in fall, and I’ve helped with adapting (co-writing and editing) it for stage from the books.

Our actors range from 19-27 years old, but I’m already making a cast in my head from our regulars. Though I’m hoping we also get new actors during auditions. Any advice on making the sisters look as young as 13-16 in the first acts? I don’t want to cast only based on appearances but rather based on talent and skills. Any tips and tricks for costumes, makeup and some changes that can make a big difference?

Thanks in advance!

Hello! I am never really on Reddit so this not might be the right community to post in. I am an high school theatre student and need help finding a video.

This year we are doing Kate Hamill's "Emma". I have the physical script and everything but I can't find a video performance of the play. I was wondering if anyone can help me find it! :)

I have looked at videos already but they dont follow Hamill's script but rather Michael Bloom's script instead.

Any help will be appreciated!

Feeling chuffed with how my play 'The Curse of Isla Tormenta' went back in June. We hosted a video premiere to watch it back with the cast last week... and it gave me an appreciation of what I've learnt from the experience... things like:

• Not having characters say each other's names in casual dialogue too much. Wasn't conscious of it until you hear it out loud a number of times!
• Finding more organic excuses to get characters off stage when they aren't critical to the scene in that moment... for blocking if anything!
• I come from a filmmaking background so got in the weeds a little by having way too many props! Which became a nightmare for the backstage team to manage!

Would love to hear from other writers/directors here about what the biggest lesson you learnt from your first show?

Hi, new to the group here. I was recently cast in my affirming church's production of Godspell, and as the only trans person at the church (and the only physically disabled young person), I was really happy to be included. However, today, I found out that every other cast member got solos, but they actively took away the solo assigned to my character without explanation (Jeffrey) and said that someone else would sing it.

I'm heartbroken, and I was hoping some of you might have advice on whether I should ask the directors why they made the decision? Or insight on why they may have made this choice when the cast is already missing at least one role?

Hi,

I am researching underground theaters and their history across the world. However, sources for underground studies are usually very limited or in native languages. It's surprising how the English language hasn't covered most of it. So I would be very pleased if anyone who knows different languages and people from other countries could help me with this.

Anyone using Ovation/ Audience View for their ticketing software? How are you printing your tickets? Ours print out onto full sheets of paper. We can adjust the number of tickets per sheet but then need to cut them. Ideally we would have a small laser/thermal printer where we could print and tear off tickets ad hoc. Ideas?

I’ve been an assistant in a costume department for five years and it looks likely that I’m about to take over as costume director. I’ve figured out my own guidelines over the years but still have room to learn. If you were writing a mission statement or a list of commandments or just some really solid “don’t make this mistake” bullet points, what would you include?

Hi! i’m a F senior in highschool and my school this year is doing Hello, Dolly! for our main stage musical. I really REALLY want dolly or atleast a lead. i’m a first soprano/mezzo and i think i have a good shot but you know how highschool theatre is with seniority and favorites etc. last year we did spongebob and i was electric skate 1 (featured ensemble, i had my own song that i mainly sung lead in and had the most lines out of my group)

Anyways i was thinking of singing I’m going back from bells are ringing but i was also thinking of maybe doing miss baltimore crabs from hairspray? and i need to prepare a comedic monologue but cant find ANYTHING that i like. PLS HELP!!!!

I went to see spelling bee and sat directly behind me seemed to be a school/camp trip with young girls ages 10-12 I would say. The entire show the girls would not stop talking, and not even whispering just full on having conversations. They would also obnoxiously fake laugh at every joke said and were constantly being disruptive so much so the usher yelled at them. Also I don’t know where there counselor or guardian or what not was. I also took a school trip to and Juliet and the entire mezzanine was disruptive, and my theater teacher called them out and it was kind of iconic

But it got me thinking, what is your guys opinion on school trips with students that don’t always (majority of the time) know theater etiquette?!

Don’t mean to sound like a Karen btw, I just pay money for my favorite thing ever and then it’s hard to even fully enjoy it!

hi!, i'm looking for some recommendations for a drama class production and would really appreciate some suggestions from people who know the genre better than i do!

we have 9 actors available (6 female, 3 male), roughly 15–18 years old, and we're looking for something:

- Brechtian / Epic Theatre, or at least strongly influenced by it (doesn't have to be written by Brecht)

- appropriate for teenage performers, and an audience of roughly the same age

- not too long (up to 1hr)

- reasonably simple to stage especially when it comes to the set

- should ideally give all of our actors (6F/3M) time to show their skill, as the performance is being assessed

- we're ok with doubling and cross-gender casting (but would prefer if that was only for less prominent characters as to not confuse the audience too much!)

- we have two more people available (the director and co-director, both female) who can fill in roles if necessary

i'm especially interested in pieces that give us opportunities to actually use Brechtian techniques (direct address, narration, placards, visible scene changes, songs/music, breaking the fourth wall, etc.)

And also, it doesn't necessarily have to be an actual Brecht play either; i'd be very interested in Brecht-inspired / contemporary Epic Theatre if there's something that fits the group better!

thank you!

I recently found a short play called “Someone to Watch Over Me” by Frank McGuinness is my stack of books. I’m thinking about reading it, but I’ve never heard anything about it before. Has anyone ever read or worked on this play? I’d love to know your experience and what you thought of it!

I was thinking that I should start with set design, if anything. But what should I expect for both roles of set design and acting? The good and the bad?

It's only a slight consideration right now, and I will definitely do more research (I have plenty of time). But I would like to hear from people who have done theatre in college, especially community college.

I will be visiting NYC in October with my partner, and we're both very interested in theatre. We would love to see some while we're in town, but I am pretty anti-broadway/mainstream theatre circuit. I have been doing a fair amount of research, and I am surprised that there isn't just a website with a mass list/calendar of all the local productions happening in the city. I found something similar for the local experimental music. I would love to hear any recommendations anyone has for good underground theatre. Thanks!

Hey!

Im currently working an entry level producer job at a local theatre.

What other roles can be in with the experience I have?

Also can producers be apart of equity?

Hey everyone. The title is exactly what it sounds like. For the past three years, I have gotten sick either during or immediately after every single show I have done. I know it’s not just unluckiness because it’s a very traceable pattern.

I’m currently sick halfway into a run of the most vocally challenging role I’ve ever done (no understudy) and I’m just so fed up with it.

Has anyone else ever experienced this? How do you get it to stop?

(I suppose by playwrights or practitioners -meisner , stadlee, etc)

Looking for “quote of the week” material focused on theatre. Any help?

Musical lyrics, quotes from shows, by actors or authors… what are your favorites?

“I can’t control my destiny, I trust my soul… my only goal is just to be.”

"And I'm thankful for everyday that I'm given'
Both the easy and hard ones I'm livin'…”

For me, everyone doing tech should get credited in the program. I don’t mean just saying “thank you to all of our tech crew” I mean have our names on the program and everything. I ran tech for an opera my college did as a crew assignment I had to do this last spring for a class and it didn’t mention me or the other light crew. I was so mad. It just said “thank you to all theatre 180 (the class I had to do the crew assignment for) tech crew students”