Transitioning into community theatre

[crazychicksj]

For the first time since I started Stage Managing I've been given the opportunity to possibly transition into working for a community theatre. I was wondering what I should expect as someone who has only worked on the educational level until this point?

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated.

[smarielle.goldstein]

Hey crazychicksj!

I have learned recently, (still in school until December) that when you move into a professional theatre (of any size) you need to think of things a little differently. I found that inter-personal communication is a little different and you need to keep your professional face on the majority of the time. I also learned as I SM-ed my first big show out side of school (this June) is that I was more prepared than I thought. I feel that my education and experience at school really acted as a professional production team and prepared me beyond anything I could have thought. As I jumped in and pushed through the confidence I held in school came back and acted as confidence in myself as a professional. Also by allowing myself to be confident and as I stood up for myself, my production team and cast looked at me as a professional and after tech admitted that they forgot I was still in school.

That was long winded and probably redundant so to close - Take all you have learned and let your self learn more. Once you get your footing in your new company let your confidence show and they will respect you and all that you do.

You are ready! Don't let anyone (or yourself!) tell you otherwise   
And never forget that we are all here for you if you ever get stumped or need to vent.

[Celeste_SM]

Frankly, there is a huge difference between various community theaters. I don't have a lot of advice, as I did more community theater than I did academic theater.   We're in the same area, geographically, and we've worked with some of the same people. The expectations will vary widely between companies. And those expectations don't correlate with pay, necessarily.

One thing that I find important to remember is that community theater actors are often not professionals and don't know what to expect, or how to behave. Informing people of expectations in advance becomes terribly important under these circumstances. Likewise, sometimes the producers' expectations are wildly out of proportion to what is appropriate to ask of a all-volunteer cast. I find it equally important to advocate for the cast and for the producer.

[Stephtastic]

Hi there!  I have been in an opposite possition as you are in, so I think I can give you some good insight   I started ASMing and PSMing community theatre before I was involved in my college productions.  While thus far at college I have only ran a sound board, I have witnessed key differences.

A major, major difference I noticed was the role of the director.  Community theatre seems to be a good middle ground between academic theatre and something a tad more professional than community.  You will have more responsibility and not have someone looming over you as much in academic theatre and the actors have a different mentality.

In academic theatre it stood out to me that the director just stuck around and was involved TOO much and as a result, the SM didn't have much control in academic theatre.  If there was a problem everyone went to the director because they were the professor and the SM was just a student.

Community theatre though will have people there willing to help you, namely the producers.  If you are nervous, tell them and they can be your best friends.  Community theatre is people doing theatre for fun more-so than for learning or for a job.  And while we all have fun doing theatre, there is a unique vibe I have found to community.  I really found myself and my style as a PSM at community theatre.  Plus, having a base that you already have, you will do fine.  Enjoy

[SMrose]

Be ready and prepared to do a lot more in the role of SM than you did in college.  When I was in college (many years ago) we were very divided into fully crewed departments.  I know that was a way of training and giving students a chance to do each job.  Community Theatre doesn't always have large numbers of crew members to pick from and often the SM is on the phone/email trying to get friends to come out and help crew shows.

[Scott]

The best book (or anything) I've read on community theatre is: The Stuff of Dreams: Behind the Scenes of an American Community Theater by Leah Hager Cohen.

(The tone is more anthropological/sociological than most theatre books but Leah participated in theatre as undergraduate so it might be an interesting viewpoint for you.)