First off - Good for you! Being a producer can be incredibly stressful, but very rewarding. My best advice: surround yourself with reliable, smart people who are willing to push back, and don't try to do every little thing yourself.

Regarding choosing a show: Are you looking for something contemporary, or not necessarily? Edgy is great, but so is name recognition. For your first project as producer (I assume?), it might be good to select a powerful drama that people will still recognize. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf comes to mind, as it's not a large cast (I'd stick with a small cast in a space that size), you only have to worry about one set, and the costume design is limited and could be pulled off with thrift store finds, if you're smart about it. You'd need two older actors, however.

Do you have an idea of what actors are available (i.e. training, types, etc.)? It might narrow down our suggestions a bit if we know what you've got to work with.


It sounds like your venue is keeping you on a pretty tight leash. That doesn't mean you can't do "edgy", but it will limit your choices.


Edited by TZine - 10/04/10 at 12:43pm

Something like Doubt could be done on that stage and would probably be acceptable to your sponsors.

If you've never worked in that space, I'd try a play with a very small cast first (1 to 3 maybe) to see how it works. 7x15 is really small.

"Past Curfew" takes place entirely in the kitchen of a trailer home. Small and cramped works well! (Language & subject may be too strong for your venue, though.)

I suggested it in another thread, I'll run it through here, because it fits:

The Dining Room by A.R. Gurney.  The whole thing basically takes place at a dining room table -- it's a series of vigniettes, some funny, some touching, a lot a little of both -- tracing the social decline of the upper-middle class WASP set.  It's got a zillion parts, it's well-constructed to be played by 6 (3m/3f) but you can certainly parcel out the parts to more if desired.