You Know It's Community Theatre When...- Page 13

[Perfectly Marvelous]

Posted: 1/24/09 at 12:11pm

"when you can share an incredible number of show in jokes with theatre friends so it seems to outsiders that you're pretty much talking a different language"


The cast of Snoopy had a few inside jokes, one of them focusing on "My momma says these are my magic shoes and they can take me anywhere".

For the record, most of what I posted is actually experience from regional/professional theatre. It's not meant to be negative.

[timesquare01]

Posted: 1/24/09 at 3:44pm

FROM EXPERIENCE:

- At auditions they have two combinations, one for people who consider themselves "dancers" and one for people who consider themselves "movers".

- The night the cast is announced, you have every stage mother calling up demanding to know why her son/daughter was not cast or was not cast as a lead.

- Where they'll gladly pick someone they've worked with before, even if someone more talented auditions.

- If they cut people at callbacks who aren't going to fit into the costumes that they are renting.

- They ask the regulars if they'd be interested in doing a show that they're considering before they pick their season.

- A version of the biggest number in the show has an alternate version with new lyrics written by the cast that are either perverse, mocking someone involved in the production or about the show itself.

- You get your sex education, not from school or your mom, but from your co-stars.

- "You're having a kick ass time" :)

[bwaybabe2]

Posted: 1/24/09 at 9:17pm

Let me first say...DG and Acalia, I love your positive and heartwarming take on the subject :) It shows you really enjoy what you are doing, even if it is not Broadway, yet. I actually have seen some really kicking performances in Community Theatre, so it should not be knocked...this is where most greats will emerge from, after all.
Ok, my take...when the seating capacity is less than 500

[Dollypop]

Posted: 1/24/09 at 9:23pm

...when the casting call in the local newspaper states that "everyone who is auditioning should sing a song they have memorized"

[Jane2]

Posted: 1/24/09 at 9:32pm

1. There are more people in the cast than any night's audience, and you still have to go on.

2. You have to go out into the street in costume before the show to try and get people in there for free.

3. During the performance, you can always hear the rest of the cast talking and laughing backstage.

4. An old fashioned ironing board collapses backstage, making a racket throughout the entire theater, and it's not fixed, and happens again.

5. There are so many actors on stage at one time, that you can't see half of them, and the ones you can't see are walking on and off stage, throwing tissues at each other, and laughing. And no one in the audience can even tell that's going on.

6. If you count the audience members during act 2, the number is always half that of act 1.

Just thought I'd mention at this point that this was not Community Theater, but an off broadway show I was in back in the 80's.

[Perfectly Marvelous]

Posted: 1/25/09 at 12:38am

"1. There are more people in the cast than any night's audience, and you still have to go on."

OH.MY.GOD.

YES.

This actually happened to me during Snoopy.

One night there were four people in the audience.

(There were seven of us in the cast. It's really sad when the ensemble outnumbers the audience by three people).

[Atrias]

Posted: 1/25/09 at 1:23am

...When the pit in "West Side Story" consists of a piano and three percussionists.

[timesquare01]

Posted: 1/25/09 at 8:38am

this is one I'm completely guilty of:

When the reason an actor gets cast as Daddy Warbucks in a month long run of Annie Jr. is because he is the only one who can be there for all the shows.

...And he's not bald because he's in another show two towns over and the director (who is 14) decides that a wig cap was too cheesy. Even though the orphanage, Hannagin's office, Warbuck's Mansion, and Time Square all take place in the same "Victorian Living Room Set" that the theatre hasn't taken down from the last show yet.

...And the theatre is in a strip mall.

...And theres one dressing room that is approximately five feet by 10 feet and the 8 orphans, three ensemble members and f or six leads all have to fit in there.

...And you don't put that one particular show on your resume. lol



Seriously, being Warbuks in that production was horrible. complete opposite of the caliber of work at the theatre i work at now.

[Weez]

Posted: 1/25/09 at 8:46am

When you're significantly far into rehearsals and are still casting the nets to get those last few roles cast.

Really, it wouldn't be community theatre without the backstage people being called upon to read in at least half the time because you're *still* having issues finding a man. Am I right or am I right?

[PiraguaGuy2]

Posted: 1/25/09 at 9:47am

When you can't go into your "dressing room" until the karate class, landscape painting class, and AA meeting are done.

[strelimyn]

Posted: 1/28/09 at 7:05pm

When your director's bright idea of a vocal rehearsal is having the cast sit in a circle and sing repeatedly along with the cast recording.

Ugh.

[Schmerg_The_Impaler]

Posted: 1/28/09 at 7:13pm

Really, it wouldn't be community theatre without the backstage people being called upon to read in at least half the time because you're *still* having issues finding a man. Am I right or am I right?

Oh, God, Weez, you've hit the nail right on the head. I did a production of High School Musical over the summer where our director brought in five different tenors to play Troy, each one of whom said at the end of their one rehearsal that they didn't actually want to do the show. Three days before the show, our director decided HE would play Troy. Now, I should add that he is a baritone. And he fits the character in no possible way-- he would've been better as Ryan. And his sister was playing Gabriella, and they looked really, really alike. But he still did fairly well, much better than I thought he would have.

[PiraguaGuy2]

Posted: 1/28/09 at 7:45pm

Wait - he was Troy alongside HIS SISTER'S Gabriella?

Oh boy- wait, was this in the South?

[Schmerg_The_Impaler]

Posted: 1/28/09 at 8:26pm

I live in the south, dude!

Now, the two best performers at my school are siblings, too-- but they don't look anything alike at all. These two, the Troy and Gabriella, looked like the same person with slightly different torsos and slightly different haircuts.

[me2]

Posted: 1/28/09 at 8:39pm

. . . when a cell phone goes off, and it's in an actor's pocket.
Broadway Mouth: Broadway as an Educational Tool 2: Jason Robert Brown's "Stars and the Moon" . . . in Kiddie Jail

[dg22894]

Posted: 1/28/09 at 8:43pm

..When Annie in Annie is taller than the guy playing Roster

[PiraguaGuy2]

Posted: 1/28/09 at 9:11pm

Sorry, Schmerg - I realize inbreeding jokes can sometimes hit a little close to home. :)

I kid! I kid!

[Schmerg_The_Impaler]

Posted: 1/28/09 at 9:14pm

Ha, not offended! I was just emphasizing that this particular sibling pair was especially wrong.

My brother and sister are twins, and I have a feeling they'll be leads in the school musical come senior year. THAT'LL be interesting.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 1/28/09 at 9:14pm

....our beloved poster Albin is playing a major role.

[PiraguaGuy2]

Posted: 1/28/09 at 9:16pm

At least have the decency to keep it in the FIRST unrelated thread, dear.

[gypsy4]

Posted: 1/28/09 at 9:28pm

-when a stage mom (who has never done a play) gets cast as a major role weeks before performances because the original actress had to busy as a schedule.

[thereisnofuture]

Posted: 1/28/09 at 10:16pm

Not exactly community theatre, but I'm in teen production of Guys and Dolls at my jewish community center, and we're so short on guys that ALL of the guys besides Sky and Nathan are played by girls.

[Schmerg_The_Impaler]

Posted: 1/28/09 at 10:33pm

^ Ha, that'd be awesome! I was a female Arvide, so that was a lot of fun... but I'd have rather been a female Nicely-Nicely!

[jonartdesigns]

Posted: 1/29/09 at 12:33am

.... the paid choreographer hands the unpaid dance captain the movie version of the show and says "write down the dance steps"

... the king and I is done with a largely white cast, all of whom sport YELLOW makeup and heavy eyeliner (including the one asian kid)

... an 8 by 10 room serves as dressing room for all the guys AND the makeup room for the entire cast

... you first meet your scene partners ONSTAGE at the first performance

... there is a substitute director who realizes that the show opens in 2 days and all of Act 2 is not staged yet

... the urchins in little shop are different girls in each scene

... into the woods is expanded to include "other fairy tale characters" including Shrek

... the king and I set features human statues... who have no concept of how to stay still

... the orchestra "pit" is actually the floor in front of the front row

... the lighting person can't handle the cues for "sorry wrong number" (there was 2 pools of light on either side of mrs. stevenson, they were supposed to alternate on and off to transition the calls)

... Your props are taken because another actor lost his and his is "more visible"

... Games of tackle football have been played, in full costume, by actors waiting to go on

... the doors to the stage open into a brightly lit hallway and are visible from the audience

... the theater was built with no fly space, nor direct access to the catwalk

... in a cast of 60, 1 actor still gets cast in 5 speaking roles, including a lead

... a show is partially double cast so 1 actor can play both male leads

...there is a week between final dress rehearsal and opening night

...rent is performed with an all white cast (search "rent:school edition" on youtube)

... the curtain call takes 45 minutes and the order makes very little sense

... standbys and cast members not on stage double as puppeteers/ crew members/ dressers

... the stage manager tries to quit siting there is "nothing for him to do" if there is a live orchestra for the musical

... the final performance ends with the director giving an hour long speech introducing every single person who worked on the show, making them come on stage if they are in fact in attendance and then making them give a speech on the spot.

[dg22894]

Posted: 1/29/09 at 7:23am

When there are 30 orphans in Annie
When the backstage is where the Audience goes at intermission