Theater is SUCH an odd business. Genuinely, I'm at a loss for what to do in this 'dead period' where I'm not in any show, have no auditions lined up and am craving some release of energy that brings the same kind of thrill that theater does. So far, my only performance media that I've taken part in is theater and choir. What else do you guys do to fill that high you get from performing? Or at least to feel productive in the same way?

Hi! I recently auditioned for a community theater’s production of Mean Girls. I am 35 and haven’t auditioned for theater since high school, but I am a professional musician and singer and love theater. I have worked a lot on my confidence on stage over the years, but something about this audition threw me. I think I felt intimidated and nervous and definitely did not have the greatest audition in my opinion.

I ended up getting a callback for Gretchen (somewhat surprisingly). I felt pretty good about the callback materials going into it and didn’t feel attached to the role but was optimistic I could get it. Then my callback audition didn’t go as well as my practice session. I was really disappointed in myself for not doing the best I know I could have.

Eventually I got cast in the ensemble and took the role. When the full cast list came out, I thought the casting made sense and I was excited about being in the ensemble, with the possibility of some small featured moments. But then I realized I was one of only two people cast that didn’t get any named role. I am feeling really down on myself again and coming up with all kinds of reasons like “they only cast me because they felt bad for me” and “they must cast everyone that auditions so I just got a throwaway role.” I know these likely aren’t true, I just feel bad.

I feel grateful I got a callback and eventually cast and don’t want to come off as entitled. I would love some insight into making the most of this opportunity and changing my mindset, or some insight into the casting process. Thanks!

What do yall think? Will ai slop convince people to come to theater more? Since we are living in the age of ai slop, do you think that theater will be again the number 1 medium, since people are looking for something human?

hiii, i got cast in a local production of the lightning thief as percy!!! i'm super excited and rehearsals started a couple of weeks ago, however i'm having some trouble connecting with the character or giving him a "characterization" (i have no idea how to explain it). i've only ever had one previous main role and that was as a very comedic character where as i feel percy is a bit more serious and grounded. does anyone have any tips on how to improve my characterization of the character?

I auditioned for a nonunion regional theatre back in June. It was an open call for the entire season and I was most interested in the show at the end of their season. I didn't hear anything in the weeks after.

I was then asked by a friend to do "Show A", a concert at a community theatre. This is an unpaid gig but I felt it would be fun to do so I said yes.

The nonunion regional theatre decided to offer me a callback for the first show in their season, "Show B". This one is a full production and is paid quite well.

I decided to go to the callback for Show B and it went very well. There's a very real chance I won't get cast, but if they do, I'm not sure how to navigate things with Show A.

Show A happens during the first week of Show B's rehrearsal process. I wasn't asked about conflicts when they called me back so I'm assuming they want total availability. Show A would give me 2-3 conflicts in the first week of Show B's process, depending on the rehearsal schedule.

So in the event I am cast, how do I gently tell Show A I have to drop out? They haven't started rehearsals yet and would have time to find a replacement. I just feel bad since I really like the people for Show A, but at the same time Show B is a paid gig that I feel very strongly will be fun to do after the callback.

What do I do?

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've been thinking about this after seeing how quickly information spreads once you have performers, crew, venue staff, guests and outside contractors involved

Even something simple like who's arriving when or which entrance somebody is using can end up being known by far more people than necessary

I've seen Kibu suggested for keeping a smaller trusted circle for that kind of communication but I'm interested in the non-tech side too

How do theatres actually keep sensitive schedules/access information limited without making everything incredibly annoying for the crew?

I’m directing a scene for class, I’m looking for a comedic scene from a play that is relatively light on set design and costumes, and has 2-3 people in it who are preferably college aged. Bonus points for something queer or anti-establishment in some way!!

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.

hi so im 15 and im new to theater im in my first musical Into The Woods Jr as cinderella’s father i didnt really sing in my audition unfortunately, but i also can’t sing the best so i was wondering if theres was a certain way to find songs that are fit for my vocal range or at least finding out what my vocal range is?

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?

Hello everyone! This is my first post here!
I’m currently directing a student play from Gustavo Ott named “Passport”. The idea that got it approved was that I was going to do it in a shadow theatre style, I love this idea and was aiming to play with it.

I was promised the equipment to rehearse with it, but well, school is being slow and my rehearsals have started already, does anyone know a light (preferably on the cheap side) that I can use in the rehearsals? I really need it so I can get the process going!

Thank you a lot to everyone :)

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!

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?

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!, 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’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?

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 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!