You Know It's Community Theatre When...- Page 10

[dg22894]

Posted: 12/19/08 at 9:58pm

..When the creepy group home people are there every night and follow your performances just like Shumeg(sp) follows Micheal Ball(like online checks his website and bio and goes to most of the shows he is in).
..When the star dress room is shared by the 5 male leads and it is a bathroom
..When the director cast his son in every part the father wants him to play and makes him play it
..When the costume mistress was your 3rd grade teacher
..When there is a coffin the the bathroom/dressing room because there is not enough room backstage
..When the backstage wall is covered from signatures from pervous casts
...When people are with the same director every show
... when the green room is actually painted green
... when everyone goes to ice cream after the rehearsals and shows
..when the pit doubles as a dressing room
... when the band is a drummer that looks high and the 29 year old music director on the piano
..When the understudy for everyone is the director or assistance directer
...When you proform at a YMCA and your dress room is a row of lockers taped of for you and the 14 other boy actors
..when the porch also doubles as a dressing room
.. when you have a "reliable friend" to help do your quick change
.. when you have a 10 year old girl doing EVERYONE'S makeup
.. when you have to bring in candy to support the theater and for the concession stand in the lobby
.. when the cast party is in the gas station next door
.. when the leads decide to sabatosh there show because the chorus is in every number and take more time in rehearsal so the leads get nothing done
..when the average age of the chorus in Seussical is 6
.. when everyone has the same shoes
.. when the top hats fold
.. when the article is written in the newspaper and they interview everyone in the chorus and no leads because the reporter was a in chorus when she failed at community theater
.. when the same shows rotate around the community theaters in the area so they can share sets and costumes
.. when the theater director announces what happened at the group meeting at intermission




Updated On: 12/20/08 at 09:58 PM

[Dollypop]

Posted: 12/19/08 at 10:02pm

When the cast comes in for every performance and wants to know where they're all going after the show that night.

[PiraguaGuy2]

Posted: 12/19/08 at 10:06pm

When the whole cast goes on an expidition to the Subway/Burger King/Panera Bread/KFC during rehearsal breaks.
When there are vending machines just down the hall from the dressing rooms that the audience uses.
When, prior to showtime, cast members are expected to hunt down their props and set them in the proper places, then check them periodically throughout the evening to make sure nobody moved them.
When the mothers of the children are constantly backstage.
When the director/producer makes a 10 minute long curtain speech asking people to donate money.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 12/19/08 at 10:13pm

PiraguaGuy2, that's my community theatre exactly, except we actually have our own vending machine in the green room. But, everything else matches up.

[Schmerg_The_Impaler]

Posted: 12/19/08 at 10:26pm

Hey, dg! If I'm who you mean by Shumeg (my name is ludicrously hard to spell), I take it as a compliment-- but I've never actually gotten to see Michael Ball perform in real life. I just appreciate his singing. And I have way too much respect for him as a performer to be a creepy stalkerish groupie!

Do you know me in real life or something? If not, welcome, and it's interesting to see you'd pick me out so quickly from among the masses as a creepy fan.

Updated On: 12/19/08 at 10:26 PM

[SharpCookies]

Posted: 12/20/08 at 12:01am

3) Due to Issue #1, in Guys and Dolls Sarah Brown is watched over by the caring 'Abigail' Abernathy.

This post was made awhile ago, but I just had to say the same thing happened to me! XD Not enough guys auditioned, so they changed him into a girl. It worked out fine, but I still just find it amusing it happened to someone else.

I wish I've gone to more theatre productions... I've only been to a few high school ones. XD *sighs* I wish theatre (especially musical theatre) was bigger here...

Anyway, here are a few points I picked up from doing 'Guys and Dolls' last year;

...when directors/musical directors avoid having to do harmonies in case it will be too tough for the actors to do.
...when your scenery consists of a few buildings, a colorful church window, a news stand, a few benches and tables, a Hot Box sign and a bar for the Havana scene. It didn't really fill out well. And we didn't even have anything for the sewer scene.
...when the tech crew forgets to put the lights down and you have to stay still until they do. It was hilarious.
...the chorus members need to get their own costumes.
...Double casting. 'Nuff said.
...As stated before, the cast is being constantly told to be quiet.
...There are only two dressing rooms; one for boys and one for girls. It gets really crowded.
...As stated before, the leads have to share mics. There were only, like, four. If even that.
...Everyone who auditions gets to be in the musical. They just put the not as talented ones in the chorus. (Not to say all the chorus members were untalented-- I was one. XD But there were a few...)

Mine aren't that great or original, but meh.

[Perfectly Marvelous]

Posted: 12/20/08 at 1:18am

A while back I read that someone mentioned the barricade of Les Mis being turned by hand. That's kind of how the backstage crew did it in the production I worked on. Since the stage wasn't big enough for a turntable, it actually looked a lot better being turned around by the crew.

when the green room is actually painted green
In the theatre I used to work at, we had an actual green room. Then it became the sound room (but the walls are still green, although in some parts they're peeling a bit). However, the 'green room' now is the wig room/where everyone goes to snack on goodies left by someone's mom or friend/extra dressing room space for the children when they can't use the wardrobe room to change.

Updated On: 12/20/08 at 01:18 AM

[DaneSaw]

Posted: 12/20/08 at 2:23am

-Ensemble members try to sabotage the show from within because they weren't cast as a lead.

-The band consists of a music director in her 40s and three high school students who would play for free.

-Cast members with staple guns walk around town stapling your show's poster to anything that will adhere.

-Cast members spend the entire 30 minutes before curtain on the phone directing their friends to the theater

[Jack King]

Posted: 12/20/08 at 4:33am

Thanks dg! Glad to hear something positive once in a great while on this cynical board of wannabees.

AGAIN, THANKS DG!

------------------------------------------------------------
Better to light one candle
than to curse the darkness.

[nmartin]

Posted: 12/20/08 at 7:13am

When a Nazi in The Sound of Music has a lisp.

When you're doing Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra and the underscoring is from the soundtrack of The Ten Commandments.

When every show you've ever been in is a lesson in the art of coarse acting.

[jennamajig]

Posted: 12/20/08 at 9:32am

- When the female costumer needs to step in and play a male role as a favor to the director when not enough people (namely boys) auditioned

- When there is a sign-up sheet for the cast/crew to bring in goodies each show night for the green room

- When you find yourself hand-sewing many gals into the same dress for How to Succeed minutes before the "Paris Original" scene because you could only afford cr*p fabric on your costume budget that keeps ripping.

[bwaybri2]

Posted: 12/20/08 at 10:05am

- - the phone on stage doesn't ring - and there is an uncomfortable moment of silence -

-- when the director of the show sits in front of the sound board and makes large gestures to give cues to the sound guy

[Meadowlark109]

Posted: 12/20/08 at 12:08pm

I got more...

...When the community theatre board picks a show like 42nd Street not realizing there is tap dancing in the show. (true story)

...When your director gives you choreography for "Over the Rainbow"

...When a certain prop like a Playboy Magazine gets stolen and somehow reappears the next day.

...When you do a production of A Christmas Carol and everyone has southern accents

...When the cast knows more about music than the music director

...When your whole Saturdays are devoted to set construction.

...When your director says phrases like "Excuses are like buttholes, everyone has them."

...When your director decides to cut the entire pregnancy of Lady Larken in Once Upon a Mattress and just has to "really get married!"

[dramamama611]

Posted: 12/20/08 at 12:26pm

When the PRINCIPAL (supposedly a man with multiple degrees) asks you to change THE TITLE of Once Upon A Mattress because it sounds to risque!

[Meadowlark109]

Posted: 12/20/08 at 2:05pm

...when you lose your Saturdays because you have to go to set construction.

...when you always invite the director to join the cast on stage for curtain call.

...when cast members go out in costime and see their friends in the audience during intermission to say hello! (that really pisses me off)

...when the cast is using their cell phones to call or text backstage during the show.

...when someone uses an audition song like "No Scrubs" by TLC

...when your rehearsal period lasts for 3 months!!!!

...when you never do a full run of both acts until opening night or the last dress rehearsal (If you're lucky)

[Meadowlark109]

Posted: 12/20/08 at 2:12pm

also...

...when your cast party always gives a "Milk a Line" award to an actor that "milks" their line... in other words overact. (I HATE this because it provokes baaaaad acting and paraphrasing)

[Perfectly Marvelous]

Posted: 12/20/08 at 3:31pm

when the cast is using their cell phones to call or text backstage during the show.

That happens in professional and regional productions as well.

[Madcap Maisie]

Posted: 12/20/08 at 3:38pm

f

Updated On: 6/12/20 at 03:38 PM

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 12/20/08 at 4:26pm

Or Summerstock, when it's opening night, and you still haven't teched the show...

At all.

And you are using the Broadway sets and costumes with a crew only a quarter of the size that it should be.

[blondebaby589]

Posted: 12/20/08 at 4:48pm

Or Summerstock, when it's opening night, and you still haven't teched the show...

At all.

Ah yes good old summerstocks. It truly happens all the time since a lot of them only rehearse for a week or two. Not saying it should happen, but it does way too often.

[Meadowlark109]

Posted: 12/20/08 at 4:58pm

Well I've texted and called in the green room/dressing room but I've never brought my cell phone into the actual backstage area nor put a cell phone in the pocket of my costume. At the regional theatres I've worked at, we would have been in so much trouble. But I've seen community theatres/high school productions do that sort of thing. One time a cell phone went off in someones pant pockets during the show! It was Put On Your Sunday Clothes in Hello Dolly lol

[Dollypop]

Posted: 12/20/08 at 6:40pm

When the musical director of THE SOUND OF MUSIC casts the role of the Baronness not knowing it's a part that requires singing. ("Why she didn't sing in the movie!")

That same musical director complains that the opening "Preludum" in that show "is too hard".

Updated On: 12/20/08 at 06:40 PM

[justafan2]

Posted: 12/20/08 at 7:23pm

When the co-president is also the prop master and also the publicity person and is also in the show. (oh wait, that was me-----phew!) It's a labor of love----

[jennamajig]

Posted: 12/20/08 at 9:06pm

when the cast is using their cell phones to call or text backstage during the show.

That happens in professional and regional productions as well.

Hehe - isn't this what Forbidden Broadway's "On My Phone" is all about?

And adding to the list:

When the programs are only four badly photocopied pages, complete with several misspellings.

When the set is being painted behind a closed curtain while the audience files in...and the actors are warned not to lean on or touch the area in question. (this happened during a production I worked on - let's just say there was an unintentionally funny moment involving said no-so-dry painted area)

[Shannon Bo Dannon]

Posted: 12/20/08 at 10:41pm

These are my experiences from high school theatre:

-When the director makes 'Stage Door' a musical, adding songs from the time period such as 'Cheek to Cheek' and 'Someone To Watch Over Me,' along with deciding to make it set at Christmastime and forcing half the crew to make snow out of white trash bags.

-When the crew fights over who gets a headset.

-When half of the ensemble girls are on the catwalk helping the girls on stage sing "Forget About the Boy" from Millie to make it sound stronger (and when some crew girls join in).

-When all of the actors crowd around 4 mirrors trying to get their makeup on.

-When you give your black pants to an actor (as a techie) because they have to get stage blood on their pants during the show and then have to throw the pants in the sink in the backstage bathroom, and wash them so they won't stain before the next show.

-When techies pretend they have something to fix/set during intermission so they can see who is in the audience.

-When the crew eats all of the stage food after the final show before it gets thrown away.

-When actors and techies are doing their homework backstage.

-When the costumers (me) hide the actors' costumes because they left them on the floor and didn't hang them up like we we told them too.

-When the director has everyone in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" wear Converse, and has Puck wear an outfit made completely out of fur and it actually turns out great.

-When half of the company is up in the catwalk watching the show.

-When people in the wings poke their head out and try to watch the show and are in full view of the audience.

-When the props crew doesn't like a lead and puts some sawdust in their soup that they have to consume onstage, and then they have to pretend that didn't just eat something disgusting.


Oh goodness, I love theatre. =D

Updated On: 12/21/08 at 10:41 PM