I've had a lifelong love for theater, but I was put off it (both professional and community) in my teen years after going through the whole stage kid/audition kid process. After a very long passage of time, I found a local community theater in my area and got involved. At first, it was wonderful. I threw my whole heart and soul into it, and it wasn't long until I was invited to apply for a spot on the Board of Directors.

After being on the BoD for about a year, I noticed the cracks had begun to show. Inconsistent task management, favoritism/nepotism, no clear processes, people on the board being WAY too involved in productions, things not getting done properly or not getting done at all, and the majority of the grunt work being unloaded onto a small group of people rather than being distributed evenly. There's a lot more than that, but that's the simplest way I can think to describe it.

Anyway, it really turned me off. I served another year on the Board and then resigned and took a "break", but I've come to the realization that I have no desire to go back to that.

There are other community theaters in my area, and I've glanced at some of them and wondered if maybe I should try a different one, but I'm so nervous of putting a bunch of effort into a new place only to find the same old problems. I'm also having a hard time just accepting that, while I may love theater, maybe it just isn't the right place for me to engage in personally.

TL;DR: Negative and discouraging experiences at a community theater, wondering if it's worth finding a new one or am I better off accepting that this is just the way it is?

I have never had to pay to be in a show before. I have a friend who paid $25 to be in one and j thought that was weird but not much money so I didn’t think about it. But I just saw an auction notice for the Addams Family musical with a note that reads:

> SHOW FEES: There will be $150.00 fee for performers under 18 with a family maximum cap of $400.00*. This fee includes educational costs and show-related expenses. Performers 18+ will be required to contribute the equivalent amount in sponsorship dollars, or with
"sweat-equity", in tasks such as set building, costuming assistance etc.

Is this normal?

So when I was a child, we’re talking 3-4, my sister volunteered me to be a “sit in” character in the high school play (she wasn’t in the play). Now here we are 40 years later and she’s asking me if I know the name of the play I was in when I was 4.

All I know is I sat in on stage for the final scene, there was something to do with a teddy bear. She’s convinced it was the curious savage, but I’m pretty sure I’ve seen that show and don’t remember a small child or anything to do with a teddy bear.

This probably isn’t the place for this question, but I thought I’d give it a shot. Does anyone have any idea on what the play could have been ? We’re talking circa 1986, and since I was 4 at the time I REALLY can’t remember any other details.

For the purposes of being anonymous I’m not going to name the show in question.

Let me start off by saying that this show is not a full blown production, but more or less a concert version of the broadway show. Hence why the term dream show is in quotes. I had also heard through the grapevine that they don’t advertise the performances on the usual social media platforms because legal reasons. Another thing to keep in mind that it would be a non-paying gig. More accurately, if cast I would have to pay them to participate and download a $25 app to read the score.

Anyway, I see that they are planning to put on this particular show. If anyone knows me personally they know that this show is my dream show along with my dream role. I sent in an audition video with the confidence of Sharpay Evans, and made every indication that I would not accept anything other than the dream role on the audition form.

Another thing to keep in mind is that one of the admin of the group is also a friend of mine. This woman who I’ll call Meg has been in shows with me and knows how frustrating it is when it feels like no one is wanting to give us a chance to shine and keep us in the chorus. Not that there’s anything wrong with being in the chorus but if you had more than one bad experience in the chorus you’d want to stay away.

On to yesterday. I received a facebook message from Meg. She asks for confirmation that I am only interested in “dream role.” I said yes. Meg messages me back saying, “So I’m assuming you don’t want to be in the chorus.” With tears in my eyes I replied I’m not interested in the chorus.

Meg replied, “That’s too bad. I also had you down as an understudy for dream role.”

I stuck with my guns and apologized to Meg, and politely conveyed that I couldn’t accept anything other than my dream role and hoped that she’d understand. Meg’s reply: a thumbs up emoji.

Right now I feel like I made a mistake in turning it down and it’s giving me a bad feeling in my stomach. I know I would probably never get another opportunity like that again, but I don’t want to be listed as an understudy and not have the opportunity to perform the dream role. I would like to know if anyone in this subreddit has experienced something similar. If so, what did you do? What can I do in the future if I encounter something like this? And more importantly, did I do the right thing?

My kid auditioned for a pre-professional program (I don’t want to be too specific) that has multiple audition dates throughout the summer.

The program serves elementary through high school kids.

My kid auditioned at the first date. They said they’d notify within 2 weeks, which is prior to the 2nd and 3rd audition dates.

They then sent out an email saying they can’t render all the decisions yet and would update us after the 2nd audition date.

I know at least one kid got in (older than my kid — in the senior division of the program). I don’t know if anyone from the first audition group got rejected.

Is this a typical way of handling these types of programs? It would seem like you’d want to wait until you see all the kids before making decisions.

Hi crew! I am an experienced professional dancer/singer/actor, 27F. I do a lot of musical theatre and I am a dancer first, but I'm a great singer as well. After casting/creative teams hear me sing they will often ask me to prepare cover material, and this is where the problem lies LOL.

The problem is, when I go into a room to sing any material that isn't extremely practiced and "safe" for me, I get extremely nervous, and material that was easy for me to sing at home becomes pushy and unreliable. I've gotten feedback from several Broadway shows that the reason I didn't book was that my singing isn't strong enough to cover, which is so frustrating when I know I am capable of singing the material, just not in a room with casting/creatives lol.

I've been working on my technique very seriously for about a year and a half now and am in the process of building up a really strong technical foundation to rely on, but I'm not completely there yet. Also yes I do take beta blockers before singing. Another thing to note is that most of the time I'm asked to sing right after dancing, so I don't have the time to do a meditation right beforehand or anything like that.

I'd love any tips or performance anxiety courses or vocal+somatic practices that y'all have to offer! I'm tired of this being the reason I don't book LMAO

I’m interested in finding good performance clips (or full length videos) of American or Canadian actors performing in period pieces using their natural accents. Of course I’d love any recommendations that can be found on YouTube, but if you have a favorite that can only be accessed through a subscription service like BroadwayHD, I’d love to hear it as well!

Essentially, I’m prepping for a short play set in New York in the late 1800s, and right now the dialogue feels so strange and unnatural in an American accent. I’d like to see some examples of how other actors have handled it.

hey everyone!

I finished the first draft of something I'm working on, but I want to get it a little farther before I show some of my irl peers. anyone with playwrighting or other related experience willing to read a one-act script, 42 pages, and leave some feedback? open to tough love. I haven't written drama in a while (I run a horror theatre company and write for that sometimes) and need to get some other eyes on it.

warning: show contains depictions of homophobia, suicide, and bullying.

comment or message pls! thanks everyone.

*I’m sending out a copy so you may see others notes on the same document! As well, all edits are being done on the main doc, so I am listening I swear! I’m just not editing on the same doc you’re commenting on.

I was a student in youth community theatre for many years, and during my time in youth theatre I encountered adults (staff, board members, production teams, volunteers) that ranged from "O captain! My captain!" level mentors, to well-intentioned but ultimately inappropriately boundaryless stage managers, to openly verbally and emotionally abusive instructors, to literal child predators, and everything else in between. I've continued with theatre past graduation and am now in my 20's. Due to recent circumstance, I ended up getting hired at the same theater I was previously a student at. The issue is that abuse has occurred at this theater before -- in recent memory, mind you -- and the leadership has still not implemented any policies to prevent it from happening again. The team seems really great; one of those Robin Williams mentors is still working there, my production team is phenomenal, the board has turned over since I was a student and is doing some really good work. I don't sense anything "off" about any of the people involved, which you rarely do; the child predators I've encountered in theatre were only exposed after damage had already been done. This is why it's alarming to me that they haven't taken any steps to prevent further abuse of students, so I want to push them to introduce some policies to help protect students from abuse.

I know what some of this stuff looks like in adult theatre, at least in my area; stuff like non-equity/equity deputies, harassment/abuse guidelines, conflict resolution standards, intimacy coordinators, etc., which could all translate over into youth theatre (with adjustments to accommodate specific needs). I also already have some other ideas about policies we could introduce, like explicit rules about adults not having unsupervised access to students, buddy systems, student advocates, conduct policies about instructors not pursuing relationships with students outside of rehearsals/performances, and mandatory trainings for all prospective instructors/staff/volunteers. I also want to ask current students what they think. The issue is that I don't know what all of this would realistically look like in practice, and I'm unsure about how to implement and enforce it. I was wondering if anyone here has any advice on this.

I also wanted to crowdsource ideas. If you have experience with youth theatre (as an instructor, student, guardian, etc.) what are some things you wish were different? What needs to change? Do you have any ideas about policies that could make youth community theatre safer? Has your theater implemented any preventative/protective measures? How did they work? What would you change about them? What has been the source of good vs. bad experiences in youth theatre? Do you have any other thoughts that could be helpful?

I'm concerned that if I present these ideas to leadership as is they will reject them for being too resource intensive, restrictive, or nebulous to implement/enforce. I think they will be much more likely to react positively and seriously consider implementing them if I present them with a well thought-out proposal or plan of action (even if it's not the one that ultimately gets used).

I think youth theatre is a really unique environment because it can be so nurturing, supportive, artistically encouraging, confidence-building, and transformative, but it is also the exact perfect breeding ground for child abuse. In theatre there's already a blurring of lines and lack of boundaries that has become more-or-less inherent to the medium, and this unfortunately also carries over to youth theatre. While some of my greatest friends are former instructors and I had many great experiences with the adults who worked with me, I was also groomed, abused, and manipulated by other adults in the same space, and as a kid I was unable to distinguish between the safe adults and the abusers. The blurry lines certainly did not help. This all paired with a lack of accountability, unreliably enforced rules, and general uneducation about abuse creates a potentially extremely unsafe environment for kids. I don't think any of the people I work with are secretly abusers, but that's the thing; you may not ever know until it's too late, and I'm not willing to wait around and find out.

I really just want to make my theater as safe as possible so students can thrive! Some of my best memories are from youth community thatre, and I want younger generations to be able to experience that without all the extra guff. Your input will be invaluable for helping me put this into motion. I appreciate you taking the time to read all this! Thank you very much!

So far I have:

I can make you a man (Rocky Horror) as a necromancer

It's hard to be a bard (something rotten) as a bard

Forever (shrek) as a dragon

But I'm not in love with any of them.

What theatre exercises did you do in theatre class? Exercices that really helped you or just made you laugh.

With a friend of mine, we built a participatory theatre club where students can participate in classes but can also animate some if they want.

We already figured out some exercises to introduce new participants to playing and to work on the basics (speak loudly, articulation, dealing with ridicule…) but I would love to learn some more.

I put you some example of exercises that we did this year, sorry I tried to translate the exercises the best that I could :

-Walking on stage (spatial balance) while varying speed and intention

-Working on transitions between emotions

-Imitating others (mirroring)

-Eye contact management

-Projecting the voice to the back of the room

-Short scenes using only onomatopoeia

-Short silent scenes

-Animal imitations

-Articulation exercises (tongue twisters)

-Improvisation exercise on a specific topic with preparation time

-Calling out one's name and associating it with a gesture

-Saying the same sentence with different emotions

-Working with overacting and underacting

A local theater is putting on Dracula soon. I just applied for an audition because why not? I have no clue what I’m doing but I’m excited!

It would be my very dream to endeavour into musical theater as a full time job or have at least a few dedicated shows to my name sometime in the future while I still can young and healthy, but I don't want an actual time constraint owning a pet because it's also my dream to own two cats. Depending on what your doing what are the chances of this being possible? And yes it's so important to me that I'm wondering if that will be a future addition to my life or would I have to hold off untill I slow down with myself... Also a curious question...

When it comes to great ways to spend a summer evening, summer stock stages steal the show across the Midwest.

I am in my first play, and my part is not a romantic lead, 👌

But I see my cast mates looking deeply into reach other's eyes and professing their love.

My whole professional career revolves around me sincerely looking in people's face and telling them the truth. I have to mean it to say it.

If I were ever in a romantic scene, how could I give the look of love that belongs only to my wife to another? In a way that does not telegraph reluctance, and without laughing nervously?

They do it so well, it's amazing. Yes, that's acting. I get that. Do you, in that moment, try to feel it? And is that ok with your spouse? That is borderline emotional cheating, to some. I would be giving looks and words that had, until then, belonged only to her.

Anger, humor, sadness... those are my emotions, they belong to me and they can be given away in play. But love? I've always meant that when I said it, and it belongs to someone else.

Probably overthinking it, I know. But is this just me?

So I'm running a Trolls themed musical theatre day, and the singing and dancing is fine, but struggling for how to spend an hour on acting? Trying to stay away from letting the kids devise as we've done that recently, but other than that I'm flat out of ideas...this is my cry for help and I refuse to use chatgpt as someone suggested to me ahahaha

I recently found out that a regular at my work used to be in the props and electrics department for a couple theatres before retiring. After I told him how much I loved the performing arts and have always been interested in working backstage, he passed me a couple numbers for some people he worked for. It turns out they work at some of the leading theatres in my city. While I'm grateful for the opportunity to connect with them, I'm also aware that it may make finding work there more competitive, especially when I'm being considered alongside more experienced candidates.

Admittedly, I have no real theatre experience. I have a background in visual arts and have worked at events, concerts and photoshoots. I’m very confident that I can adapt very well in creative spaces. He said that as long as I have a strong skillset in anything creative then I should try expressing my interest by giving them a ring and asking if they have any work opportunities. I tried to call them but no one picked up.

 I planned on sending a message asking directly for any work or even possible volunteer opportunities. Another friend felt that approach was too direct and suggested inviting them for a coffee instead. I know that's a common way to network and explore job opportunities in corporate industries, but I'm not sure whether the theatre industry works the same way. They also pointed out that meeting for coffee would give me the chance to ask for advice about breaking into the industry, rather than immediately asking if there was any work available. Which approach should I go with?

**East Bay, Northern California.
I’d be looking to get involved with theater in my area and feel like this is the best place to start.

I am looking for a play to perform in our college's freshers,but it's been difficult to find one because of the theme being specific. We don't really have experienced script writers in our team, which is also making the job difficult.
I am looking for a play that is based on time travel and youth activism and protests(the protest and activism part need not be in face, but could also be more subtlely potrayed-bonus point for being anti-authoritarian) and still be humorous and enjoyable ( considering the youth activism theme we were leaning towards more satirical). The run-time should be less than 15-20 mins and the number of actors required should be less than 14.
Please reply with suggestions. I will be incredibly grateful to you all.

What are some tips as I’m not sure where to start. Any insight from people working in one right now? Can I do it all by myself or will I need other people from the very beginning? Hopefully I’m not breaking any community rules by asking this

I know this is kind of a stupid thing to think, but I have an old high school friend who’s recently moved to a completely different city and has been struggling to meet and find friends and I realized that I had no advice for her (she doesn’t do theater) because essentially ever since college which is now over twenty years ago, every single one of my friends (either close or acquaintances) I’ve made doing theater.

It’s not even that I don’t have other hobbies or interests, it’s just that those are pretty personal artistic things that I do by myself. Even when I have a few weeks between shows I find myself so restless that I don’t know what to do with myself.

Can anyone else relate?

Hey Reddit! It’s Emilia and Lily from Springboard to Design, a free theater design program in New York City for underrepresented high schoolers all over the world. We’re this year’s interns and we’re also alumni from the 2025 program.

This week we’re kicking off our 2026 session and it’s been so exciting! Applications are now open for 2027, so go check those out on our website, it’s $25 to apply or we can provide a voucher if you’re unable to pay the fee. Other than that, the program is completely free, including housing, transportation, and workshops with some of Broadway’s best!

We’re here to chat and answer any questions you may have about the program, so ask away!

Our website: https://springboardtodesign.com/

Applications: https://springboard2design.untap.us/

I have been offered the opportunity to direct "Elvis Has Left the Building" this fall and would like some advice on it. I found the first act online and read it. It has some funny moments but it isn't that funny. I found it fairly interesting. The characters seem alright. I'm sure I could make something good out of it, but I'm hesitant.

This would be my directorial debut. I have been in several shows and I was assistant director on a recent show that had a phenomenal script. I want to take the opportunity to help my community theatre family and to really dive into a project but I don't want to regret starting with an okayish script.

Has anyone been involved with this show before? What do you think of the script? Is it a good idea to start by directing a decent play instead of one I find to be very promising?

I'll most likely take the job because I love my community theatre, the script isn't bad, and they want/need me to. I'll get ahold of the full script so I can form a proper opinion. Just because the script isn't amazing doesn't mean I won't put 110% into it. I'd just like some advice.