Community Theaters, Take Heart; Play Selection Help is a Quik*Click Away

How are plays chosen for production?
Have any of you ever served on the board or play selection committee of a local theater? Or have you sat in the audience and wondered, "Why on earth did they choose THAT play?"

Personally I get a number of catalogues from publishers and my head swims when I try to read the short descriptions of plays. Which one will our audiences like? And - more importantly - how difficult will each one be to produce? Will I need a huge costume budget, special lighting that we can't afford, or some outrageous prop that no one knows how to obtain?

Sometimes plays that sound good are a nightmare to stage. Or they are funny when read but, dull on stage. I remember working on a show that actually had one character in two places at once…..and it didn't call for twins in the cast…..

I once agreed to costume a period piece set in Victorian times called Haunted Lives. None of us in that particular theater had ever seen the play, but the description sounded like something different for Halloween - something that might attract audiences looking for something other than yet another tired rework of Dracula.

About eight months before the show was to be produced, the director said, "I'll need some Victorian tailcoats." "No problem," I said - "we have several in the costume closet."

Well, a month before opening the director came to me and said she had finally analyzed one scene in depth - and the heroine needed SEVEN DIFFERENT DRESSES for a 45-minute scene. Not only that - they had to start as a Victorian mermaid-style (the character was a vampire mermaid, if you can imagine that) and progress from dull mermaid green to bright red - each dress had to get progressively brighter as the vampire came to life. (I am NOT making this up) Oh, yes….she had to have one breakaway bodice that ripped when grabbed, and all the changes had to be made in less than 30 seconds…and the dresses all had to be custom made to fit the actress.

ARRGH! What to do?
Well, since I didn't have time to jump off the roof, pull out my hair, or scream for hours, I started sewing and sewed frantically for three weeks - had another seamstress help - and I learned from then on never to say yes to a costume job unless I had read the play myself a year in advance….and even then I'd still be working in a vacuum.

There's a better way. StageMagazineOnline.com will provide on-line forums for theaters trying to wend their way through confusing play catalogues. Find someone else who has produced the play - What did they run into? Can you borrow their costumes, props, special effects? (I have a tape of very bad violin playing if anyone is brave enough to stage West Side Waltz.)

Quik*Click into any of our forums and find a community of people trying to do the same things you are, and together you can learn more than you can ever discern from scratching your head over a play catalogue! In fact, we will be looking for someone to head up this forum on StageMagazineOnline.com. Let us know if you are interested! Suggest other forums that you think will help the Theater Community too! We are working furiously with the site developers to bring more theater resources to our area than you can imagine. Sign up now, at StageMagazineOnline.com and be among our first community members!
You do not need to work alone….. Ethel