Performances in restaurants are one of the main things we do.

We have done everything for a straight reading to full blocking with the actors about 50% off book (although they carry the script with them). It depends on the director and the script.

We also do full productions in restaurants but those are limited to the really big places. We also have to be careful to pick places where the diners can all see the production. Out last full production was Neil Simon's Chapter Two. We did 7 performances and had a full set - took two cars, two minivans and one big van to carry the set. It took 90 minutes to set up and 45 minutes to break down. It was a killer and I will think several times before I get a set that complicated that I have to move every night. Since then we have found a semi permanent home and should not have to move any more. We have also ben "discovered" by the big theater and invited to do shows there and that has also reduced our need to be a traveling theater (but only for full productions - our readers theater and dinner mystery theater will still travel). I also need to comment on the restaurant point of view. They do not want us on weekends during the busy summer season. With our show, they can only get one seating a night and everyone needs to be fed at about the same time. That puts a strain on them. We tend to do readers theaters during the off season anyway and it gives them a full house on nights when they would not be full anyway.

We are a very small group in a community of 3,000 people. Our annual budget is $10,000 and so far we have made money on all of our productions - I am not worried about the money - we stress quality, quality, quality and let everything else follow. The first year we were working to audiences of 10 to 15. Now word of mouth has spread about the quality of the work we do and our last two performances (two different shows) have been standing room only - over 50 people. We have done 3 performances of each show but last time we did 4 performances and had good houses every night. We used to do just one performance but the directors and actors felt that one wasn't worth the work so we went to three.

Our second to last show was "Over the River and Through the Woods" by Joe Dipietro. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful script. Cast of 6 (3M, 3F). We put them on non swivel (so no squeak) bar stools in a shallow "V" so they could see each other and be seen by the audience. The restaurant moved one table out of a corner and gave us a 6'X 8' space. We also performed at a small conference room and the Music Room of a local resort. Great, great, great show - look into it!!!!

Our last show was "Three Viewings" by Jeffery Hatcher. This play has three 30 minute monologues so the actors just stood or sat on stools and read their parts - they were about 90% off book and it was very powerful. Our best attendance yet. Another killer show.

We charge $5.00 a head. The restaurants include the $5.00 in the cost of the meal then settle up with us at the end of the night. (Sometimes they do not have enough cash and have to mail us a check). At other venues we collect the $5 at the door. We now average 30 per performance so we get $150 - $60 to royalties, $10 (per performance) to advertising and $10 to $20 for misc.

The back of the French Catalog has a list of plays suitable for Readers Theater.

We have done The Gin Game, Valley Song, our own adaptation of The Wild Party, The Spoon River Anthologies recently. All have been very successful.

You can tell that we do a lot of older cast material because that is what is available for casts.

Make sure their is enough light on your group - most restaurants are too dark - we encourage them to dim their house lights. We bought some portable lighting equipment to use. We use two 7'6" iron pipe poles to hold the lights in a vertical array, three 250 watt PAR 38 Halogen lights on each pole and two NSI four channel, 1800 watt max dimmer packs and an 8 channel, two scene light board. This plus a couple of extension cords lets us plug in anywhere without fear of tripping a circuit breaker. We use a combination CD/Tape deck, Behringer 8 in 2 out board and JBL EON powered speakers. We got the lighting immediately but picked up the sound equipment after we established our reputation and managed to get a grant. Our lighting equipment cost $1,800 and the sound stuff nearly $3,000. Let me repeat that the sound stuff is not required. We used my stereo for several years till it fell apart. Before we had our lighting equipment we used reflectorized work lights tht we clamped to out iron pipes.

We consider ourselves a training group (1/3 of our revenue comes from training classes, 1/3 from readers theaters and 1/3 from full productions and other efforts - dinner mystery theaters mainly) so we seek new actors for our shows. We get a lot of new people because it is simple for them to particiapte - no fear of learning lines. We then suck them into training programs then they move to the big theater. We have "discovered" most of the newer actors in town.

Try readers theater - you will love it - it is a lot of fun. We do between 6 and 12 rehearsals (directors call) for a readers theater. Blocking is incidental and we concentrate on acting.

Let me know if you have any questions

You can't go wrong with a Readers Theater presentation - Try Over the River and Through the Woods. Two couples in their 60's and a young man (their grandchild) and a love interest for the young man. Many people said this was the best readers theater we have ever done - we are planning on doing a full production of it in a year or so.