Usage of microphones in Plays

Hi everyone. Can anyone inform me a little about the use of mics in straight plays? I have seen quite a few that appear to me to be using just the projection of the actor's voices. Is that true? If so what makes some productions decided to use the actor's ability of projection while other plays (non-musicals) have their actors wearing body mics?

I definitely prefer actors to not wear mics. I think not only is it distracting to see the microphone coming from their forehead, but it also separates the audience more from the action on stage.

Some plays in bigger houses use hanging mics and stationary mics that catch some sound.

August: Osage County used some stationary mics for sure in the Imperial, I heard it come out of Jeff Perry's mouth in a American Theatre Wing video.

I've personally never done a straight play with a mic, and I did one musical without one.

I'm fairly certain that for South Pacific, at least through previews, Paulo Szot was not miked.

Now I see in a NYT article that miking apparently reduces the strain of speaking:

"Surprisingly for a singer trained in opera, Mr. Szot has called the body microphone a 'wonderful thing' that enables him to deliver spoken dialogue with conversational naturalness.

"Just one week after opening night, he was afflicted with a throat ailment and had to miss several performances. In interviews he said the strain of speaking his lines, something he was not used to, was the cause of his troubles."



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Plus mics are nice when you do 8 shows a week, so you don't have to blow your chords every night. Even talking can really wear you down.

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