You Know It's Community Theatre When...- Page 4

[Taryn2]

Posted: 10/27/06 at 11:26am

"...the "period" costumes are the same for every production be it HAIR OR OLIVER."

So true! We have a vest that's been in every show we have done to date, ranging from Oliver to Seussical.

...when the director adds songs in order to cover the incredibly long set change.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 10/27/06 at 11:33am

That reminds me of a story that somebody posted here ages ago that I still laugh about. In her production of LIL ABNER, the accompanist didn't show up, and so everything was sung a capella except for the scene changes, in which a student stepped in and played "The Rose" over and over because it was the only song she could play on the piano...

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 10/27/06 at 12:14pm

MB, talk about, "the show must go on". Good for them

[Yero my Hero]

Posted: 10/27/06 at 12:18pm

Aww, this thread is almost making me miss community theater enough to leave New York and go back to my tiny town in farm country.

Almost.

[logan0215]

Posted: 10/27/06 at 12:21pm

I played Ton Ton in Once On This Island

Updated On: 10/27/06 at 12:21 PM

[lildogs]

Posted: 10/27/06 at 12:54pm

DG and colleen are right on--I've seen almost every example given for community theatre in professional theatre as well.

I've seen the curtain-peekers, the understudy going on after the show has started, the mic craziness...everything really.

I've only done one community theatre show and I had a good time. Funny Story:

It was BIG RIVER and I was Huck; Jim and I are on the raft and we hear the men who are searching for him. They were in a row boat that had casters on it and to be pulled across the stage. Well, the rope breaks and chaos ensues. The audience SAW the rope break and trying to cover I say "Ya'll having trouble over there?" Of course, the crowd finds this hilarious and they really start to laugh and go nuts. One of the men delivers his line from off-stage, but the other one takes his oar and mimes paddling as he walks across the stage. This really sends the audience into hysterics, but eventually they calmed down and we got back on track.

And PS--I was WAY too old to be playng Huck. I did it because I figured it was probably my last chance to do that show. So far, I've been right.

[Theatreboy33]

Posted: 10/27/06 at 1:07pm

So far, DG has the best response to this whole thread. Yes, community theatre can be hokey, and amateur, and low budget. But ill tell you this, I have seen plenty of theatre for 10 or 15 bucks in a community playhouse that is still beyond some of the GARBAGE i have seen on Broadway (all shook up, glass menagerie revival, p-diddy's performance in "raisin", the boy from oz...) Give me a good community production of Hello Dolly with some decent dancing waiters over any of that crap and i'll take it.

Updated On: 10/27/06 at 01:07 PM

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 10/27/06 at 1:12pm

While reading some of these hilarious posts, it reminds me of one of the first professional productions I was in ("42nd Street"). The hats for our female ensemble in "We're In the Money" were made out of paper plates (I kid you not). Funny thing is, they didn't look bad, either.

[AugustBurns2]

Posted: 10/27/06 at 1:24pm

- the costume design team takes your measurements the first week of rehearsals and then none of the pulled costumes fit any of the cast members.

- the costume designer fights with the director on the style of the costumes (and not following any of the director's notes on costumes)

- to go back to the first posting - a friend of mine saw me in a production that I was in and laughed at all of our choreography because it was pretty much the same.

- people are never fired from the cast due to their bad acting, fighting with the director (in front of the whole cast) "I don't think my character would do that" "I don't care, just do it", fighting with other cast members (in front of the cast) "Shut up, you geriatric bitch", and/or crazy behavior off stage -- too many examples!

- there are always rumors of who is sleeping with who or who wants to sleep with who (the musical director and the lead actor are constantly flirting with each other - but a chorus member says that he was kissing the musical director after going out after rehearsal...hmmm)

--- I love this thread because most of these examples listed I have seen personally!!!!

[dory the nun]

Posted: 10/27/06 at 1:25pm

i haven't posted on the message board in ages- but i couldn't resist.

i recently closed one of the most heartwarming tiny tiny community theater productions of "baby" you've ever seen- or not seen as we had approx. 15 people in the house every night- and i thought i'd share some gems:

...when the microphones are the size, shape and color of cockroaches and are initially taped to your chest with gaff tape, and only after you suggest that they'll pick up sound better and not make noise everytime you move if they're on your face, are they moved there.

...when the sound lady does not allow you to touch your microphone- be it to help tape it on the right place, to re-inforce it with more tape, or, god forbid, to take it off yourself while undressing backstage, for fear that you will break it.

...when on the first tech rehearsal you are asked to take some time during your scenes to figure out which is your "non dominant ear" (you cant make this stuff up its too outrageous) which is to say the ear that faces upstage the most in the production - so that you can wear your mic there.

... when the pit is so bad that you have to ask the trumpet player not to come back the second weekend of the show, your bass player couldnt find the theater and decided to quit first preview, the drummer keeps the beat on 1 & 3, and the conductor only conducts the first weekend because its her wedding anniversary the second and the directors dont hire anyone else to come in and conduct in her absence.

...when you realize opening weekend you can wear your street clothes that you wore to the theater in the show as your costume and no one notices.

...when your director is also a lead.

...when the ladies singing their song (about how many children they've had) are all under the age of 22- except for one who is 50.

...when in tech week, the lighting designer (and i use the term loosely) reblocks the show by calling out to the cast from the mezzanine booth that they should move and stand in other places to make the lights look better.

...when no one knows if intermission is over until the backstage manager (who joined the show the middle of tech week, and u/s the ensemble) comes out on stage in street clothes and whispers to the pianist to start and then runs back offstage.



i could go on for days...


but i think the important thing to take from things like this, like we've been saying all day, is the heart that the people involved put into it. these are people who don't work in the theater but really wanted to put on a show and gave their hearts and souls and had a really good time doing it- and i can say, through all of the pain that cast became a family... and that's why we love community theater.


and hey my mother cried so it was obviously a "success"

[avab802]

Posted: 10/27/06 at 1:29pm

...audition notices are never posted. If you haven't cracked your way into the fold yet, there's not much hope for you.

I went to a performing arts school that was affiliated with a dinner theater, and this was so us. We did a lot of shows with children in them because the director (who was also our drama teacher) would just cast kids from the school. The kids were always double or triple cast to give as many kids as were capable an opportunity to perform. And then we had a group of adults, some of them parents of kids in the school, who did most of our shows. Whenever someone new came in it was very exciting, lol.

I have to say though, we put on some very good productions and everyone worked really hard. When we did The Secret Garden, the set crew (mostly one kid's dad who did construction and a few people who painted) stayed up all night the night before our first performance to finish the garden set, and it turned out beautifully. Everyone's reaction to it was genuine too because none of the cast saw the finished product until during the show. I was one of 3 rotating Martha's in the same production and my mom sewed the costume.

[theatrewolf]

Posted: 10/27/06 at 1:32pm

When I did the summer musicals for Comstock Community Theatre back in MI, the theatre had to cast everybody who showed up (the city had no means of providing summer programs for children). The city paid the theatre to cast everyone. Every musical I did (Lil Abner, Oklahoma, Anything Goes, Annie Get Your Gun and Kiss Me Kate) the director and choreographer would have a mini me version of one of the songs for the kids. In KMK, I played one of the gangsters and after we performed Brush Up Your Shakespeare, the kids’ chorus came out and basically performed the same song and choreography. It was interesting!

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/27/06 at 1:46pm

...when the pit orchestra consists of a piano.

...when you're only paying eight bucks to see a truly brilliant performance.


(That last one's for DG.)

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 10/27/06 at 2:02pm

-When you are doing a show that has kids in it (KING & I, etc) and the local parents put their kids in the show, just to get some free baby sitting.

[modeldiva]

Posted: 10/27/06 at 2:07pm

.... When a youth community theater does The Importance of Being Ernest and a 16 year old (me) plays Lady Bracknell

.... When you use a stuffed animal as a stand in during rehearsals because not enough guys tried out.

[StandingO]

Posted: 10/27/06 at 2:20pm

For the party scene they tell you to "bring something nice from home" to wear.

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 10/27/06 at 2:34pm

...as a pre-teen you find something you can finally relate to, and can't wait till you're a few years older so you can audition.

At 12 I saw a community theatre production of Carousel and I was in heaven. This was before I had seen a Broadway show, but at that time, it was just as exciting.

[ErinDillyFan]

Posted: 10/27/06 at 2:39pm

...as a pre-teen you find something you can finally relate to, and can't wait till you're a few years older so you can audition.

There are certainly parts for your age. I just saw Ragtime and the boy who played boy was 10 and it was his 22nd role in community theater.

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 10/27/06 at 2:43pm

The one particular group I was referring to, you had to be at least in high school to audition. I was only in junior high at the time.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 10/27/06 at 2:46pm

When you compliment one of the actors afterwards they say, "You should have been here last night. We were so much btter."

[txbeachie]

Posted: 10/27/06 at 3:50pm

You realize that love of theatre can be spread into the world in many forms.

And when you realize that you got people out from in front of their televisions and away from The Bachelor or The Amazing Race for one night and into a live theater!

[Sillyism]

Posted: 10/27/06 at 4:47pm

Last year during our performance of Cinderella for an elementary school, somehow the Windows tune (ya know that little tune that plays when you turn on your computer) Came on through the speakers instead of the magical sound, right as the Fairy Godmother made her first entrance.

Oh good times.

[glass]

Posted: 10/27/06 at 5:11pm

It sort of gets on my nerves when actors try to prove how "professional" they are. Please stop.
Updated On: 10/27/06 at 05:11 PM

[DRSisLove]

Posted: 10/27/06 at 6:01pm

...All the cast members back stage stand in the wings and watch the show, laugh and cry during every performance as if they've never seen it before.

...The director runs the lights.

...The director conducts the orchestra.

..."Rock Island" from the Music Man has the drummer playing as a metronome in the background to keep everyone on beat.

...You can see all of the crew members in their black jeans and black t-shirt moving the set pieces then running off stage

[OtherDaryl]

Posted: 10/27/06 at 7:12pm

The pig in Lil' Abner kicks the bucket with a heart attack.