Author Topic: VENUES: Community theatre group  (Read 6224 times)

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MacDouga

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VENUES: Community theatre group
« on: Mar 13, 2008, 04:32 pm »
I've looked around the board and havn't seen a group specifically for Community Theatre.  Wondering if that has ever come up before.  Every theatre has its own set of issues, but CommTheatre often has lots of them all in one location... low ceilings, using other groups spaces (church halls), lack of resources and of course the list goes on....  Maybe the members and Mods have heard this a dozen times... maybe not.  Thoughts?
« Last Edit: Jun 09, 2009, 02:06 am by PSMKay »

BalletPSM

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Re: Community theatre group
« Reply #1 on: Mar 14, 2008, 10:54 am »
Hi MacDouga, welcome to the forum!

There are lots of users here who work in community theatre (myself included!), and generally we deal with issues that come up with all the joys of that kind of theatre on a show-by-show or incident-by-incident basis.  Generally those topics end up on this board (Plays and Musicals) because that comprises the bulk of what community theatre presents.

So feel free to ask and bring up and deliberate away! 
Stage managing is getting to do everything your mom told you not to do - read in the dark, sit too close to the TV, and play with the light switches!

Katie ~

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Re: Community theatre group
« Reply #2 on: Mar 14, 2008, 03:46 pm »
I am very lucky in the fact that I do almost all my work at the community theatre here in town, but that we just got a beautiful building.

http://www.gcplayhouse.org/theater.jpg

There's a sketch of what it looks like.
It's got a beautiful layout....but we've found out that the pit is rather loud and covers up the actors.
Other than that we have:
Fly system
Two dressing rooms
Large stage
TV monitors in the dressing rooms, green rooms, and stage left area, stage right will be getting one soon-ish
large green room
construction area
costume construction area - Too small and unorganized still

I love it.
I'm really lucky to live in a city that loves the arts so much!!!

Here's a clip of "Oliver" that we did really recently.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=8esrVdtMIaE


« Last Edit: Mar 14, 2008, 03:54 pm by tari »

MacDouga

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Re: Community theatre group
« Reply #3 on: Mar 14, 2008, 05:59 pm »
That sounds wonderful!!

We are in a church hall.  In many respects we are very fortunate:
  • During pre-production (a few months) and production time the stage area is pretty much ours to do as we please.
  • We have a small but adequate storage room that is fairly secure.
  • The hall is wired in such a way that the 25-30 theatrical lights we use don't overload the circuits
  • Our lights are able to stay in place all the time
  • We have a nice "green room" and dressing rooms with close washroom access (the green room is a Sunday school nursery and meeting room - but not when we're using it)

On the other hand (and this is not meant to be a complaint... just facts):
  • The hall itself is used for many things during pre-production and production time including a day-care/nursery in the mornings
  • We loose all access during Holy Week (right now)
  • We have a low ceiling so lighting has to accomodate that challenge
  • Once the set is built, the "back stage" area is very limited and sometimes very cramped
  • Our seats, lobby decorations, light/tech board/booth, and anything else not ON the stage come out on Thursday evening, and get  put away on Saturday after the show (we run shows three weekends, Thurs thru Sat)

It's interesting to compare spaces... everything has its pros and cons.  I think it's wonderful how we all work with what we have!