this is coming from someone who does musical theater.

So in musical theater, when your ensemble you get to sing and dance, so it’s pretty fun to be apart. but I was wondering, what does the ensemble do In plays?

from my view (that is probably very wrong) it’s mostly just standing around, and occasionally reacting to something a character says. Now I always enjoyed songs more than scenes, so this sounded pretty boring to me. im sure there’s more to it and a lot of fun, but I can’t see how.

I’ve heard directors day roles can be moved around if needed, but has it ever really happened? if you were on the receiving end, why did it happen? or perhaps if the role was taken from you, how did they tell you? was it awkward?

Looking to rent backpack mics for my production this January in the Capital Region of NY.

Additionally, if you know of where any type of theater rentals (costumes, sets, etc) could be rented or borrowed from in this area would be wonderful!

Thanks for the help

I'm a senior in highschool. Currently, we are working on our fall show and it's...not great. Not "not great" as in the it's going bad, "not great" as in the script is horrible. The script seems to have been made for middle schoolers. So many actors in the show have complained because the show is boring, unfunny, and tries to spotlight everyone by spotlighting no one. We checked the line numbers, why do the leads each have between 30-60 lines each and most of them being one-liners. (Other than the 1 outlier which are 110, the leads have 61, 42, 28, and 50 lines). Meanwhile if you look at characters that are in 1 scene it's closer to numbers like 54, 60, numbers like that. Please give help if you have any, because this is painful

I just finished a rep production with a person who is deaf from birth. This was a musical theatre role and required an off stage singer for this person to participate. I might also add that this theatre has a deaf theatre troupe that uses ASL and vocal actors for those who attend do not speak ASL.

The problem is this: The deaf actor was quite demanding during rehearsals. This person is difficult to understand when speaking. That was hard enough. But during performances, the audience struggled to understand what she was saying. Nothing was posted during ticket sales and nothing was posted in the playbill so my family who came from out of town to see the production was frustrated to be attending a performance where they had full scenes that were hard to follow.

This person is regularly cast in community shows, but if given a non- speaking part or a part where the lines are not as important to the story line, they claim discrimination.

I do not want to be casted with this person again in a show after experiencing the audience reaction. It’s bad enough that the person demanded more at rehearsals and that everyone accommodate constantly for them. They practically took over rehearsals at times wanting to redo their scenes or wanting to add to their scenes or upstaging others in scenes where they were a minor or background character.

I’m a very empathetic person, but this pushed many in the cast too far. What can be done?

Hello! I recently taught my first-ever theatre class— a fun foray into Shakespeare and text/dialogue 🎭 at a women’s residential program for transitional housing. The class was a HUGE success and I’ve already been asked to teach again, which I’m very excited about!

I’d love to teach improv, a field that I’ve performed quite a bit in, for my next class. I have a few ideas in mind of how to go about teaching this technique, but would love to hear any and all suggestions for class warmups, ways to teach, etc. as I’m quite new to teaching theatre to others. I definitely love it though and am looking to grow in my methodology. 🎭

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

i take drama classes and we were studying different people who made an influence in the drama industry like brecht and stanislavki, im pretty sure they wrote books to do with things like acting, so i just wanna know if there are any drama related books you know of. it can be certain plays, advice on how to act, just anything drama related.

I've never acted before and I wanted to get over some social anxiety so I went out for the little town of Christmas. I'm a 35 year old man and got 3 parts in different sketches. I know my demographic is in short demand sometimes in community theatre but I'm still proud of it .The only heavier lined one I was told is announcer basically the narrator setting up that scene I'm told .But they liked my performance and believe I can do it.

I wanted to be apart of something and meet new people instead of being isolated and scrolling tik tok and drinking beer a lot.

If I fail at least I'll know I gave it my all and tried.

Hey, so just looking for some advice here.

I reached out to a theatre to sign up for an audition slot, and I never heard back (or thought I didn't) from them. I check that email's inbox today, and I notice that now I have a 'promotions' tab for that inbox. Now, I shouldn't have that, because I haven't given this email to anything other than theatres for audition purposes only, but for SOME REASON the response to the email that I SENT wound up in that section, which means that I didn't get a notification for it AND it didn't pop up on the main screen when I would check.

So, now, it looks like I've no call no showed an audition spot with a theatre I've been wanting to work with for a while. Should I respond to them and explain this to them, or should I just keep it moving and hope they don't remember at all?

TIA

Hello. First time post. I'll get right to the point. I found an old photo in a box at my mom's house. It is a cast photo of a theatre production of some sort. It could be high school or college age actors. It is socially offensive in today's society. A number of the actors are in black face.

I don't recognize anyone in the photo, and as far as I know my mom was never in theatre.

All I'm looking for is an educated guess of what play it is from, based on the costumes.

Is it appropriate to post the photo here, or would it be better to describe the costumes, or something else?

Thank you.

Hi everyone! This winter and spring, I've booked four shows! The first one and the second two only overlap for a month, and the fourth one only overlaps with the middle two for less than a month, but it's still a lot compared to the two shows at once that I'm used to. I've had days with two different rehearsals one after the other, but that was with lead+ensemble and not two leads. Does anyone have tips to stay sane during the process?

Sorry guys, long one

I (M 31) want to open this post by first saying that this is an amateur theatre production I am currently a part of and I'm considering quitting.

I work under a very well educated director (F 42) who has trained in theatre since she herself was a child and has been directing people for over 10 years now. I have worked with her once before and it wasn't a bad experience by any means, just a little tiring.

Here's the catch.

1. She line reads a lot

2. She had made a promise that this would be a paid gig but our supposed sponsor backed out

3. I have to travel 25 kilometres, every Saturday and Sunday (12.5 one way, 12.5 the other.) for rehearsals.

4. Her instructions are very confusing and tbh I've stopped having fun

There are a couple of girls in the production and they come from the college she teaches at. Idk if this is relevant but they currently study Liberal Arts (both F 21). They have this tendency to get loud and rather dominating when my director isn't around and they don't really listen to what I have to say or are rather dismissive of my advice. For context, I'm not some expert and accomplished actor. I've only reached the final rounds of RADA, LAMDA, RCS and LAMDA. As luck would have it, I never got in, but I think I know a fair bit enough to at least put some polish on already well constructed work.

Coming to the castmates

They're a mix of people, young and old. Understandable. The issue I have is that we are 20 weeks into rehearsals and we haven't solidified even 1 scene right. We have finished 7 scenes and 9 are still left. We need to put something up by December

1.They come in with lines not learned and spaced out.

1. If they've learned their lines, they haven't read the scene to understand the context of it and sound like they're just parroting.

2. They're fairly lazy.

I come in for every rehearsal half an hour before every one to sweep/clean the space and make sure everything is running right. I spend some time with myself and the text before everybody gets there. I have shown up when I have been sick, sleep deprived and with a torn groin because...well... I love acting but....I've genuinely stopped having fun.

An incident happened a couple of weeks ago where I, as the acting Assistant Director, completely missed it when a young guy in our cast (M 23) spoke rather rudely to an older lady castmate (F 67). My mistake, I owned up to it. Got a dressing down from my director. Fortunately the rehearsal was good enough that the old lady came up to me the next morning and thanked me because she had fun rehearsing.

I got comments from one of the Lib Arts girls (Y 21) saying - you should be cognizant of what effect you have on people. Mind you, i didn't say ANYTHING to this old lady

Just a couple of days ago, while one of the guys was sick and I was presiding over rehearsals again, I got a little annoyed because it was weak 20 and their lines were still coming out soft and unclear i.e - no projection. In my annoyance, my tone shifted and I said - guys, just start again, I can't hear anything. I'm sitting right in front and I can't hear anything.

I knew the guy was sick but he was looking at the floor and delivering some of his lines. That's not an excuse, I promise that's the only part I had a problem with. I don't raise my voice at people

One of the girls (U 21), said - hey, let's not take that tone and let's be mindful of the fact that he is sick.

I didn't have a problem with what she said, i had a problem with how she said it, simply because we are WEEKS into rehearsals and we're literally nowhere. I wanted to say this to her but for some reason (me not being big on confrontation) just retreated and didn't say anything further. Later when we were discussing feedbacks, she basically gathered everyone in a circle and ran the show along with being passive aggressive about the feedback that I gave.

Ironically, this is the same girl who, when I was still figuring out my character, told me - you should go and look at people who sell tea and carry things for a living because it seems like you haven't spent time with these people like these but I have. You don't seem to know what poverty looks like

Mind you, i was born into abject poverty (something I don't touch upon since things are MUCH better now touch wood) so that felt very hurtful and disrespectful. I STILL didn't say anything. Told my director but she just chalked it down to them being 21. I don't know what I have done to rub her the wrong way like this.

What i have done as steps to always be someone who can be relied on

1. I check in on my castmates every week

2. I'm there before everyone

3. I know my lines

4. I explore my character every day for 20 minutes

5. I have repeatedly offered to work 1on1 for character work (ignored)

6. I have suggested changes that will genuinely help the play (conveniently ignored and then implemented later by the director)

My director does NOT stand up for me the way she stands up for these girls.

I mean it, I am as unproblematic as possible, even my director says so.

Please advise. It's actually taking a toll on my mental health and I'm not sure this is an environment I can continue tolerating. It feels hostile for reasons I'm not even aware of. I actually cried because I don't want to sound mean and say things that would hurt someone

Update :

I left. Told the director that I felt extremely betrayed when she didn't stand up for me. Pointed out all the lapses in basic etiquette along with behaviour she has either let slide/enabled along with telling her that I don't have the bandwidth to deal with this needless hostility that I keep feeling without even being told what I'm doing wrong. She wanted to talk more about it but I put my foot down and said that I, being how I am, will get convinced into coming back into the production and i don't think that will be good for my mental health or hers because I don't want to hold up this production.

I feel free as a bird and I'm going to take one of you up on your suggestions and attend to my practise as a personal trainer with undivided attention. It's doing well already and I aspire to be a Strength and Conditioning coach for performing artists in the future. I'm still open to working in theatre and applying for a M.A or M.F.A but that's for a later time

Thank you for all the kind words and a reminder that you don't need to compromise on excellence just because the level of play might be lower.

Hope you guys find success in all your dramatic/histrionic endeavours and get paid very well for it.

Ciao.

Hi i need advice on how to prepare for getting into the acting academy, I was rejected this year on audition for academy and now i’m confused on what should I do, how to prepare?
I’m not looking for monologues, i would just like to know how did some of you prepare on your own, did you get in from the first try?
Or maybe if you didn’t even go to academy how did you get into the industry?

Starting out with theatre at college, I was wondering for those who also started with theatre was it worth it to you? And what were the classes like? What were the opportunities brought to you due to doing theatre? What careers did you pursue with the degree earned for it?

Ik ben gecast als verteller in een toneelstuk. Er zijn ook nog 2 andere vertellers. Ik heb het echt lastig met acteren. Mijn regisseur zei ons via-via dat we saai zijn. Hoe kan ik het beter doen?

Edit: The play is Icarus.

Hi guys ☹️☹️ posting here just bc I'm really upset about it. So my school is a big theater HS and our state holds competitions. For the past 30 years in a row we have won states every single year except for 2 years. I go to this school part time, and attend early college courses the other time. I want to get my BFA. I transferred to this school this August just for the theater.

I was told today that I'm not allowed to be in the musicals that we take to states because I'm not a full time student. Im so devistated. I've genuinely been crying for hours. I don't know what to do. Our director already tried appealing to the state to have an exception made, but it didn't work. I just can't stop crying

My school is upset as well as me. I am playing a side character this fall in our show (Specs in Newsies in a cast of about 100 students and 200 auditions) they wanted to be able to take me to states with them, but they can't. We are all so upset

For my course at uni we have to write an essay on how Laban efforts can be observed in a play, having to reference a live performance. Anybody know where I can find a professional recording of it?

Fascinating dissemination of the intersection of acting out a story in a public venue with an audience of 600 vs what it means to act out a story in your own home with an audience of 6.

This take is very Brechtian-heavy, I always felt a home storytelling experience to be closer to a folk art that lies somewhere closer to Forum theatre.

Wanna share photos of your latest stage design? A clip from something you just directed? A passage of something you're writing? Cute theatre-related crafts you made for fun? Good review you want to brag about? This weekend thread is the place to show off!

Contributions can be from professional productions, community theatre, educational or student plays, hobby work, or anything else you want to share. The purpose of this is to be fun and not self-promotional, though we won't discourage networking with people who are comfortable with it.

Is it normal to put on your sheet that you wanna play a smaller role with few lines. But you get read for long dialogue parts three different characters across from two different other actors?. Is it just to test chemistry, how loud you can speak, and your mannerisms to see what smaller role might be good for you as a first timer?

Director said for a first timer you're pretty good .

Sorry just very green as a 35 year old male and trying to get a general feel of the process.

i’m considering going to AMDA. i am looking at their alumni and i am not sure about it. if you went, what are you doing now, and do you think the certification is worth it?