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tiny country town theatre

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URL: http://www.communitytheater.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3305
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Topic: tiny country town theatre

Posted By: theatregeek101
Subject: tiny country town theatre
Date Posted: 7/23/08 at 4:47pm

Hey everyone!
There might be a chance that I'm going to be moving soon to a very small town in rural OK- I've been teaching theatre in a large ISD for close to 16 years. I might have the opportunity to take a year or so off once we're settled and fulfill my dream of starting a community theatre. Any ideas for a show to start off with? This is a town that has never had live theatre. The closest might be 25-30 miles away. Yikes! Thanks for your help!

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"Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm." -Emerson

Replies:

Posted By: Kathy S
Date Posted: 7/25/08 at 3:28am

Our first show was a melodrama and we were surprised to see people walk in the door that we didn't know! We did four performances and drew about 200 people each night. Mind you, the population of the town we have our theatre in is only a few over 200! "Lily the Felon's Daughter" was our first choice.... a well written melodrama.

Posted By: Dave Charest
Date Posted: 8/10/08 at 11:01am

Hi theatregeek101,

I'm a big fan of getting the community involved ASAP.

I would choose a list of maybe 5 shows you'd like to do. Complete with descriptions and character breakdowns. Then hit the pavement.

Get a sense of what people would like to see. Then narrow it down to two choices. Then let the community decide. Put it to a vote.

By doing it this way, you're essentially pre-selling the show by getting people invested in it right out of the gates. Then you can craft a whole campaign to keep it top of mind as you work through the production leading to the run of the show.

Hope this helps.

D.

Posted By: JoeMc
Date Posted: 8/10/08 at 9:23pm

I was trying to find the article that was on your AACT, about admission on a 'Pay what you can' basis.

or do what PJ Barnham use to do, following on from Dave charest idea. Apparently PJB used to hand out a heap of single comps, to anyone he met. Which ensured always brought in full house for his circus. As nearly everyone with a single comp would bring a paying punter.

We do this & have Donation boxes well placed, which fill up before & after the show , In fact when we work it out, after the show. it normally averages about $37/seat - yet we usually only charge $15.

Also with our next show the 'BIG IDEA' [Lazy Bee Scripts] we will be doing a couple of shows for a Gold Coin [$1 - $2] admission, along with the good old donation boxes.

By the way the 'Buy one get one for Free' [ BOGOFF] does not work anymore, Fast food Outlets have made this old hat!

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[western] Gondawandaland
"Hear the light & see the sound!
TOI TOI CHOOKAS
{may you always play to a full house!}

Posted By: JoeMc
Date Posted: 8/16/08 at 3:08am

Finaly found the AACT piece;- http://www.aact.org/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl - http://www.aact.org/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl

, but it is just a snippit & not the full thing:-

Audience Building

New Jersey's George Street Playhouse has offered six special nights for each of its productions: pay-what-you-can on the first Tuesday of each run;

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[western] Gondawandaland
"Hear the light & see the sound!
TOI TOI CHOOKAS
{may you always play to a full house!}

Posted By: sconjott
Date Posted: 8/18/08 at 10:17pm

Welcome to tiny Oklahoma towns... I assume your town is very VERY rural.

Well, since I live in Sulphur, OK and am working on getting my ducks in a row for a Dinner/Community Theatre, I have to ask, "What town are you in?"

Try this on for size OCTA (Oklahoma Community Theater Association) http://www.oktheatre.org/ - http://www.oktheatre.org/

OCTA has a Rural Theater Innitiative (or whatever it's called) program you might be very interested in learning about. Also, every 2 years they organize OCTAfest which is the State level of AACTs Festival.

Speaking of OCTAfest. I'm not one to miss a chance at tootin' my own horn... And this was my first time at OCTAfest http://www.oktheatre.org/festival/OCTAFest08/festivalresults08.asp - http://www.oktheatre.org/festival/OCTAFest08/festivalresults08.asp Check out the picture of this years "All State Cast". Yeah! That's me, the big guy in the center, Jon Scott. And I just know those adjudicators got home and realized with abject horror that they made a terrible mistake not sending "Frozen"... LOL Just kidding, "Hannah and Martin" was a real good show, and though I heard a lot of good things about "Jon and Jen", I didn't get to see it.

Anyway, the point to my rambling is, if you're near Sulphur, I'd love to get together and pool our energies.

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There are NO small roles, only small actors...