Community Theater Green Room Discussion Board: Ensemble or revue shows

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curtaincall
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Topic: Ensemble or revue shows
Posted: 10/21/08 at 11:57pm

First I'd like to say, thank you all for making this forum open for lurkers to read. I've learned a lot by doing that over the past few months.

I live in a very small town and we about to celebrate our first anniversary as a Community Theater. Our space is a rescued and renovated movie theater that was open in the 40's and we can seat 200 without causing the local fire marshall to hyperventilate. We've held several concerts, shown classic movies, had a successful dinner theater with a comedy act and are currently between performances of our first live theater production, the children's play, Briar Rose. We sold out last Saturday and are already sold out for this Saturday and we've been asked to do encore performances. Naturally that has us all revved up for bigger and better things. The problem is I, as Producer of the current show, learned all I know about producing live theater by the seat of my pants, blind beginner's luck and what I read on this board. I'm not even particularly knowledgable about theater in general. The cast would like to do a show featuring well known songs sprinkled with short skits or scenes from other shows so we can do a mixture of genres. Is there such a thing? We're very aware of the copyright issues and certainly don't want to tread dangerously in that area. I've seen music revues but we would like to have short drama and comedy scenes too. Can we assemble our own show? What about performance rights for something like that?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

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JoeMc
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Joined: 3/13/06
Location: Australia
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Posts: 832

Posted: 10/22/08 at 12:46am

G'day 'Curtaincall' & welcome!

I wished we had an old refurbished picture theatre, to work in. Instead of a refurbished community hall, which made a far better theatre, before they mucked it!

I see your a 'Paralegal' & would be able to grasp the Copyright nettle easy enough.

However these articles & links on your national AACT site may also help;-

http://www.aact.org/rights/

http://www.aact.org/ascap/

Over the years I have cobbled together 'revue' style shows, usually around a particular thread, in the form of the shows title on the Marque.

Allowing the collection of song/music items chosen to dictate the running of the show. Interspersed with skits & sketches to fill or pad out the production flow.

One thing I do is ensuring I have a significant full cast Openings & Finales for each Act.

With one or two major number in the middle of each act, supported by the 2 or 3 sketches & a few oilio skits to cover large presets or scene changes.

Much the same as we did in Music Hall, not unlike the Vaudeville days.

If you can coin a good show title, the least words the better & allow it to evolve around what you got & those you can call on.

I didn't have time this year, but next, I'll be putting together the 'Phollies' [Phoenix (Theatre) Follies] revue, hopefully as a yearly event for my mob.

Utilising other local community performing arts groups, inviting them to participate. They put a presentation item of what they do, such as Ballet, dance, choral or whatever. In turn we bring them together to be part of the Opening & Finale numbers. So it would only be a minimal rehearsal period with the whole company. As they can rehearse their own contribution numbers & items, with only an overview input from our Director & production team.

We would pay of course the fees to APRA, listing all the copyright material used, much the same as with your ASCAP organisation requires over there.

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

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curtaincall
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Posted: 10/22/08 at 9:29am

Thank you JoeMc for the information, links and welcome. I will study those sites well.

You're right, we're very lucky to have such a fabulous space. The sound is unbelievable and we can't wait to do musical theater there. Sadly we've lost the sloped floor because the building was uses as a retail store for many years but we do hope to one day reinstall the balcony and who knows, we're just one wealthy benefactor away from tearing out that "new" old floor and exposing the original. (We have learned that it's still in place.) Another thing that absent benefactor can help us with is building wings and a fly loft. For Briar Rose we built castle walls to serve as wings and used a stationary backdrop. But someday...

We are also fortunate to have a wealth of talent in our community. We have a lot going for us to be sure. We just need to use it wisely.

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JoeMc
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Joined: 3/13/06
Location: Australia
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Posts: 832

Posted: 10/24/08 at 1:28am

Your far better off than my mob.

We use a Memorial Hall built by community volunteers after the WW1. It took them only 2 years from go to whoa!

However the City Fathers & mudders, allowed an Achetect to wreck it, as a performance space, at the cost of $4million dollars - & and it only took him %years, using modern machinery.

We now have a venue with crap acoustics, nothing works - oops I tell a lie! The security Alarm works very well, even during performances. However we can't use the Air Con, because the plant house was installed just above the stage & is far too noisy. Also there is a ceiling on the stage as well? Which of course this void is a perfect place to house air con. as we should know. every theatre should have a ceiling over the stage? That way we don't have to bother with Fly's or Borders & the like!

I have just gained a Government Grant to modify the refurbishment, into a workable theatre space. So I'd say you picture theatre makes you quids in, with or without a raked auditorium.

Archyteck [ours we have lovingly nicked name - the 'Daffodil Man', which is rather apt, when considering it's botanical name!]

They seem to believe they can improve on theatre design, when the only thing they know, was gleaned from receiving a comp to a show once!

Please don't let them spoil what you have, especially with the acoustics.

{ I could go about Achytechs & there ilk! - but I won't - End of rant!

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

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Cravens
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Joined: 11/03/08
Location: United States
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Posts: 13

Posted: 11/03/08 at 4:59pm

We have a renovated theatre as well, been there 25 years and love everything about it except for the dressing room situation. But anyway, 100 Years of Broadway is decent for this, at least musical;y.

Tracy
www.longmonttheatre.org

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curtaincall
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Posted: 11/04/08 at 9:56am

Dressing rooms? What dressing rooms? Oh you mean the restrooms? Yeah, that's a problem for us too. We even have a makeup chair in the ladies room which is a bit tricky when it's time to do, say prince charming's makeup... We solved that for Briar Rose by having all cast in full dress and makeup 30 minutes prior to the doors opening. We do have an adjacent building that we hope will one day be part of our facility. We've also discussed the idea of pulling a temporary trailer, like they use on movie locations, behind the theater. That would at least give the cast a place to relax and have some privacy instead of being crammed into what we like to call the "green room" even though it's neither green nor a room. It more like a narrow hall behind the stage.

It seems like we're forever telling ourselves, "one day..."

Thanks for the suggestion on the musical. We're now kicking around doing a love song review for Valentine's day. We're thinking about having poetry contests with the winners being allowed to either read or have their work read between musical numbers. We might also do short skits relating to the songs being performed. We've discovered in our one year of operation that the more local involvement we have in the show, the better tickets sell. We are very fortunate to have actual talent among us so we can do that and keep the performance quality high.

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Pamw
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Joined: 7/23/08
Location: United States
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Posts: 20

Posted: 11/19/08 at 8:29pm

I second "100 Years of Broadway", but would like to add "The World Goes Round" (Kander and Ebb) and "Jerry's Girls" (Jerry Herman).

Pam

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Play Suggestions
Community Theater Green Room Discussion Board :Producing Theater :Play Suggestions

Author	Message
curtaincall Walk-On Joined: 10/21/08 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 0	Topic: Ensemble or revue shows Posted: 10/21/08 at 11:57pm
	First I'd like to say, thank you all for making this forum open for lurkers to read. I've learned a lot by doing that over the past few months. I live in a very small town and we about to celebrate our first anniversary as a Community Theater. Our space is a rescued and renovated movie theater that was open in the 40's and we can seat 200 without causing the local fire marshall to hyperventilate. We've held several concerts, shown classic movies, had a successful dinner theater with a comedy act and are currently between performances of our first live theater production, the children's play, Briar Rose. We sold out last Saturday and are already sold out for this Saturday and we've been asked to do encore performances. Naturally that has us all revved up for bigger and better things. The problem is I, as Producer of the current show, learned all I know about producing live theater by the seat of my pants, blind beginner's luck and what I read on this board. I'm not even particularly knowledgable about theater in general. The cast would like to do a show featuring well known songs sprinkled with short skits or scenes from other shows so we can do a mixture of genres. Is there such a thing? We're very aware of the copyright issues and certainly don't want to tread dangerously in that area. I've seen music revues but we would like to have short drama and comedy scenes too. Can we assemble our own show? What about performance rights for something like that? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

	IP Logged

JoeMc Celebrity Joined: 3/13/06 Location: Australia Online Status: Offline Posts: 832	Posted: 10/22/08 at 12:46am
	G'day 'Curtaincall' & welcome! I wished we had an old refurbished picture theatre, to work in. Instead of a refurbished community hall, which made a far better theatre, before they mucked it! I see your a 'Paralegal' & would be able to grasp the Copyright nettle easy enough. However these articles & links on your national AACT site may also help;- http://www.aact.org/rights/ http://www.aact.org/ascap/ Over the years I have cobbled together 'revue' style shows, usually around a particular thread, in the form of the shows title on the Marque. Allowing the collection of song/music items chosen to dictate the running of the show. Interspersed with skits & sketches to fill or pad out the production flow. One thing I do is ensuring I have a significant full cast Openings & Finales for each Act. With one or two major number in the middle of each act, supported by the 2 or 3 sketches & a few oilio skits to cover large presets or scene changes. Much the same as we did in Music Hall, not unlike the Vaudeville days. If you can coin a good show title, the least words the better & allow it to evolve around what you got & those you can call on. I didn't have time this year, but next, I'll be putting together the '*Phollies' [Phoenix* (Theatre) Follies] revue, hopefully as a yearly event for my mob. Utilising other local community performing arts groups, inviting them to participate. They put a presentation item of what they do, such as Ballet, dance, choral or whatever. In turn we bring them together to be part of the Opening & Finale numbers. So it would only be a minimal rehearsal period with the whole company. As they can rehearse their own contribution numbers & items, with only an overview input from our Director & production team. We would pay of course the fees to APRA, listing all the copyright material used, much the same as with your ASCAP organisation requires over there.
	[western] Gondawandaland "Hear the light & see the sound! TOI TOI CHOOKAS {may you always play to a full house!}
	IP Logged

curtaincall Walk-On Joined: 10/21/08 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 0	Posted: 10/22/08 at 9:29am
	Thank you JoeMc for the information, links and welcome. I will study those sites well. You're right, we're very lucky to have such a fabulous space. The sound is unbelievable and we can't wait to do musical theater there. Sadly we've lost the sloped floor because the building was uses as a retail store for many years but we do hope to one day reinstall the balcony and who knows, we're just one wealthy benefactor away from tearing out that "new" old floor and exposing the original. (We have learned that it's still in place.) Another thing that absent benefactor can help us with is building wings and a fly loft. For Briar Rose we built castle walls to serve as wings and used a stationary backdrop. But someday... We are also fortunate to have a wealth of talent in our community. We have a lot going for us to be sure. We just need to use it wisely.
	IP Logged

JoeMc Celebrity Joined: 3/13/06 Location: Australia Online Status: Offline Posts: 832	Posted: 10/24/08 at 1:28am
	Your far better off than my mob. We use a Memorial Hall built by community volunteers after the WW1. It took them only 2 years from go to whoa! However the City Fathers & mudders, allowed an Achetect to wreck it, as a performance space, at the cost of $4million dollars - & and it only took him %years, using modern machinery. We now have a venue with crap acoustics, nothing works - oops I tell a lie! The security Alarm works very well, even during performances. However we can't use the Air Con, because the plant house was installed just above the stage & is far too noisy. Also there is a ceiling on the stage as well? Which of course this void is a perfect place to house air con. as we should know. every theatre should have a ceiling over the stage? That way we don't have to bother with Fly's or Borders & the like! I have just gained a Government Grant to modify the refurbishment, into a workable theatre space. So I'd say you picture theatre makes you quids in, with or without a raked auditorium. Archyteck [ours we have lovingly nicked name - the 'Daffodil Man', which is rather apt, when considering it's botanical name!] They seem to believe they can improve on theatre design, when the only thing they know, was gleaned from receiving a comp to a show once! Please don't let them spoil what you have, especially with the acoustics. { I could go about Achytechs & there ilk! - but I won't - End of rant!
	[western] Gondawandaland "Hear the light & see the sound! TOI TOI CHOOKAS {may you always play to a full house!}
	IP Logged

Cravens Player Joined: 11/03/08 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 13	Posted: 11/03/08 at 4:59pm
	We have a renovated theatre as well, been there 25 years and love everything about it except for the dressing room situation. But anyway, 100 Years of Broadway is decent for this, at least musical;y.
	Tracy www.longmonttheatre.org
	IP Logged

curtaincall Walk-On Joined: 10/21/08 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 0	Posted: 11/04/08 at 9:56am
	Dressing rooms? What dressing rooms? Oh you mean the restrooms? Yeah, that's a problem for us too. We even have a makeup chair in the ladies room which is a bit tricky when it's time to do, say prince charming's makeup... We solved that for Briar Rose by having all cast in full dress and makeup 30 minutes prior to the doors opening. We do have an adjacent building that we hope will one day be part of our facility. We've also discussed the idea of pulling a temporary trailer, like they use on movie locations, behind the theater. That would at least give the cast a place to relax and have some privacy instead of being crammed into what we like to call the "green room" even though it's neither green nor a room. It more like a narrow hall behind the stage. It seems like we're forever telling ourselves, "one day..." Thanks for the suggestion on the musical. We're now kicking around doing a love song review for Valentine's day. We're thinking about having poetry contests with the winners being allowed to either read or have their work read between musical numbers. We might also do short skits relating to the songs being performed. We've discovered in our one year of operation that the more local involvement we have in the show, the better tickets sell. We are very fortunate to have actual talent among us so we can do that and keep the performance quality high.
	IP Logged

Pamw Player Joined: 7/23/08 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 20	Posted: 11/19/08 at 8:29pm
	I second "100 Years of Broadway", but would like to add "The World Goes Round" (Kander and Ebb) and "Jerry's Girls" (Jerry Herman).
	Pam
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Topic: Ensemble or revue shows( Topic Closed)