It gives me a creative outlet.

"What makes you be with a drama group?" Do you mean what makes me be with a SPECIFIC drama group (i.e., versus another group), or what makes me be in theatre overall?

Originally posted by Gaafa What makes you be with a drama group? Is it how professional they are? How social they are? Because there's single men/women in it? Because of the show they do? Because your other half is in it? Because they are the only one?

All of the above, maybe?  I'll take them one by one.

1. Professionalism counts for a lot with me.  I take a lot of pride in my own work, and I don't like shows where directors or co-stars really don't respect my time or their own product.

2. As far as being social, I'm one of those work-hard, play-hard types.  The best theater groups I've worked with (one in particular, I can think of...) really give me a workout as an actor, but also are full of people who it's fun to hang out with.

3. I tend to be pretty uninhibited as an actor, and I enjoy hanging out with others who are like that.  If, as it not infrequently does, it leads to some "fooling around" between scenes, so much the better.  But I try to avoid getting serious with co-stars (or production staff, for that matter).  That never ends well.

4. If a theater group among my "regulars" is doing a show I particularly like or don't, that might make me more or less likely to audition for that show, but I can't think of any instances where I've gone to a completely new theater group simply because they're doing a show I like.  I tend to expand my list of regular companies based on where my favorite (by which I mean most-talented) co-stars are branching out to.

5. I've moved around here and there, and sometimes this has been the case.  I used to be in a region with a more active community theater scene.  Now, I tend to work with the same limited companies, even though  they're not my ideal, because I don't care enough to travel  further to work with the companies I'd really like to.