OK - So I am anal and probably have too much time on my hands.  However I did it anyway!

I have gone through all the websites for every community theatre that has a website link in the AACT database, and listed all of the shows the groups are doing for 2004-2005 and/or 2005 Seasons.  Yes, it was a big project, but it was very interesting.  (In case you are wondering I have listed 975 different productions.)

I did have some ground rules.  I did not list any locally written shows, either plays or reviews.  I did not list any one acts that were listed as "An Evening of One Acts" with no titles.  I did list some shows twice (probably five) that were being done in as a regular show and a children's show.  I also listed rights holders (when I could find them), if the show was a musical, comedy, straight, one act, etc. (I did NOT look each show up to make sure it was a comedy as opposed to a farce ... even I have my limits), and if it was being done as a children's show.

I know a list of 975 would be much too long to post, so I am going to list just the top ten plays and top ten musicals along with the number of productions.  The full list is available in Excel if anyone wants to take a look at it. 

TOP TEN MUSICALS (Number of productions)  1. Annie (22),    2. Nunsense (18),  3. The Sound of Music (17) 4. Disney's Beauty and the Beast (16), Grease (16), I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change (16), 7. A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (15),  8. Seussical (14), 9. My Fair Lady (13) 10. Forever Plaid (12), Into the Woods (12), The Music Man (12) and Little Shop of Horrors (12)

TOP TEN PLAYS (Number of Productions) 1.  Proof (31), 2. Steel Magnolias (18), 3. Arsenic and Old Lace  (16), A Christmas Story (16), 5. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (14), The Lion In Winter (14), 7. Noises Off! (13),  Over the RIver and Through the Woods (13) 9. Barefoot In the Park (12), Charlotte's Web (12), Crimes of the Heart (12), Deathtrap (12).  NOTE: I did not list A Christmas Carol even though there were a number of productions.  Each was listed by author when I could find it, otherwise it went into an "all others Unknown author" listing. 

Any comments?  (About the list, not my having too much time and not enough to do!)

John

Dear John,

We think it's great that you did this. Some suprises in the top 10
lists but mostly not. We would love to see your longer list just to
see where (or if any of) the plays we love lined up.

Was there a reason you didn't include Christmas Carol? Even
though it is done a lot it is one of our favorites. Too many
adaptations maybe?

Thanks

Well, it may hinge on this:  most of the theatre being written isn't written with the sensibilities of community theatre patrons in mind...its more for NY audiences.  Although I haven't any statistics, I would venture a guess that of the 7000 or so community theatres that are members of AACT, a huge majority of them are in smaller, conservative communities and rely on ticket sales for their existance.  The patrons of the theatre that I volunteer in don't for the most part  want to see their neighbors' nude bodies or hear them spout four-letter words even though they may tolerate it on television and in the movies. 

Kathy, I know what you mean ... and vulgar language is a
problem with many contemporary plays (LOL - nudity isn't in
that many plays, even in NY, LOL).

But, that everybody is doing "Annie" and "The Sound of Music"
and not "Ragtime," or "Titanic" or "Passion" or "Assassins," or
even 80's plays like "Robber Bridegroom," "Once on this
Island," etc. just sorta depresses me.

I've worked in a fairly small town (who am I kidding? LOL VERY
small town) in upstate New York...and our biggest houses have
come from "Psycho Beach Party," "On Tidy Endings," and
"Betty's Summer Vacation" ... and our production of "Passion"
was held over for an extra two weeks.

I think people are just scared to give audiences the benefit of
the doubt LOL.

Admittedly - we're a granted theatre, so if we really lose on a
play, we don't lose the theatre. But, if we don't educate the
public NOW, lol, WHEN will we do it?

This season we are getting away from the old chestnuts.  We just did The Underpants by Steve Martin, which drew a smaller audience than we are used to.  Nobody ever heard of the show, but we were kind of counting on the writer's name to pull in a crowd.  Next we are doing "Play It Again, Sam", not an overwhelmingly well-known show, and following it up with a dramatization of two Truman Capote holiday stories called Holiday Memories.  I am not looking for record-breaking houses, but they will be good shows and that's really what we care the most about.

We'd love to do Ragtime, but don't have the diverse population to cast it.