Artsy Amateurs Play Ideas
Printed From: Community Theater Green Room
Category: Producing Theater
Forum Name: Play Suggestions
Forum Discription: Need help finding a show that's right for your theater? Ask here.
URL: http://www.communitytheater.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1985
Printed Date: 11/22/24 at 11:45am
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Topic: Artsy Amateurs Play Ideas
Posted By: Cindy_Hanson
Subject: Artsy Amateurs Play Ideas
Date Posted: 8/23/06 at 12:40pm
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We are a multi-age group of people in a rural area looking to work on a play this winter as a way of amusing/keeping ourselves busy and out of trouble. Our "talent pool" has about 15-20 people, artists, musicians, puppeteers, fire spinners, carpenters, electricians. 2 maybe 3 people with solid theater experience for production and directing. We are looking for something that will be fun to do, but we don't want a variety show, we want a play with characters and a story. Lysistrada has been put forward; a vague "maybe we could we do a Shakespeare comedy or The Tempest", or an Agatha Christie-type whodunit We plan to review scripts and make a choice by mid September. Any suggestions? Cindy Hanson Harry Brown's Farm Starks, Maine www.myspace.com/harrybrownshill www.mainevocals.net |
Replies:
Posted By: castMe
Date Posted: 8/23/06 at 5:32pm
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Hello from Waterville, Cindy. What kind of breakdown are you looking for in terms of numbers of mens/ womans roles? ------------- Investigate. Imagine. Choose. |
Posted By: Joan54
Date Posted: 8/24/06 at 7:37am
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Hi Cindy..."castme" has a valid question....how many actors in terms of men and women? If you want to do Shakespeare you'll soon see that there are very few roles for women.....and speaking from experience The Tempest is rather lame if you don't have some technology and experience with stage effects..there are storms and ship wrecks etc. to deal with. There are other Shakespeare plays that are easier to stage and a lot more entertaining. If the women in your group have a sense of humor try The Taming of the Shrew....we just closed it and it did well. One word of caution however, Shakespeare is interesting to us as "theater people" but the audience is sparse....do you really want to go through all of the work to get a production open and then have very few people show up to see it? Maybe get some suggestions from the people on this board for a more popular type of play......good luck. ------------- "behind a thin wall of logic panic is waiting to stampede" |
Posted By: Cindy_Hanson
Date Posted: 8/24/06 at 8:13am
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We have 2 or 3 confident male actors, 4 eager female actors and 3 m, 3 w who want to be in a play but don't want a big part or would like to be in group scenes. Suggestions for a popular type of play would be excellent. Thanks Cindy |
Posted By: KenW
Date Posted: 8/24/06 at 3:49pm
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Agatha Cristie is always fun. Neal Simon always draws an audience. We had a ball with "The Odd Couple" and 2 experienced males with 2 experienced females will work. |
Posted By: B-M-D
Date Posted: 8/24/06 at 5:48pm
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Cindy, the choices are so vast that I think what you may want to do is order a few scripts from the usual suspects of publishers and read them. Samuel French ( http://www.samuelfrench.com - www.samuelfrench.com ), Dramatists Play Service ( http://www.dramatists.com - www.dramatists.com ) and Dramatic Publishing ( http://www.dramaticpublishing.com - www.dramaticpublishing.com ) are all good places to start. Good luck! ------------- BD 
"Dying is easy, comedy is hard." |
Posted By: tristanrobin
Date Posted: 8/25/06 at 7:52am
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Check out Beth Henley's plays - they're contemporary, quirky, and poignant.
Her most famous, "Crimes of the Heart," is very good - but my favorites, "Lucky Spot" and the "Wake of Jamie Foster" are wonderful plays. If you have a dynamite female actor, "The Miss Firecracker Contest" is another Henley piece is that is just terrific - fun for the cast and the audience. Good luck! |
Posted By: GoldCanyonLady
Date Posted: 8/27/06 at 9:54am
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How about trying a melodrama. They are such fun. Our first play was
"Caught in the Villain's Web" by Jack Sharkey. It was a big hit with
our audience and the set was easy. Barb ------------- Barb Hofmeister, MountainBrook Village Players, Gold Canyon, Arizona. |