Need Comedy to Attract Older Audience
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=2536
Printed Date: 11/22/24 at 5:05am
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Topic: Need Comedy to Attract Older Audience
Posted By: JohnEZ
Subject: Need Comedy to Attract Older Audience
Date Posted: 7/24/07 at 9:51am
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The last play that our high school drama club did was The Compleat Works of Wllm Shkspr (Abridged). Unfortunately, it was not well received, as the population of my area is much older--mainly senior citizens. We grossed only $1,200, including concessions. Poor!
So, with that in mind, we'd like to gear our future productions to older crowds. With this in mind, we would like to put on a play that meets the following criteria: --It must be rather well known. --It must be a comedy. --It should be set between the 1920s-early 1960s. --It should require only one set--our stage is not large, and it is our first opportunity in YEARS to build a set of visual interest with period accuracy. (this is a big thing for me) However, we have some problems: --We only have three or four male actors. --We are limited to a budget of approximately $1,700. --It cannot be a musical. Unfortunately, one of our male actors decided not to return. Otherwise, we were considering a heavily-modified Arsenic & Old Lace. Can you recommend any plays along these lines? Thank you for all of your help. I'm literally trying to do everything with nothing. -John |
Replies:
Posted By: B-M-D
Date Posted: 7/24/07 at 11:21am
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The Odd Couple - You'll make a buckets of money with it. Has six male and two female actors. Exceed your budget if you can, it'll be more than worth it with the profit you'll eventually garner from this show. The Odd Couple is better than money in the bank.
------------- BD 
"Dying is easy, comedy is hard." |
Posted By: JohnEZ
Date Posted: 7/24/07 at 11:35am
Thank you for your suggestions. Re: our budget--I'd love to exceed it, but I don't think our treasurer would be too pleased. Last I checked, we have only $2,200 total. 
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Posted By: GoldCanyonLady
Date Posted: 7/24/07 at 12:57pm
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We did well with the Curious Savage. The audience (seniors) loved it. They gave it a standing ovation every night. http://www.movinon.net/VillagePlayers/Curious/main.html - http://www.movinon.net/VillagePlayers/Curious/main.html We also have a small stage. There are 4 men in this play but one only has 40 lines. Another has just a few more lines. It is a funny yet poignant play. Barb ------------- Barb Hofmeister, MountainBrook Village Players, Gold Canyon, Arizona. |
Posted By: acmeactor
Date Posted: 7/24/07 at 1:00pm
| We closed our season with Catholic School Girls and it was the highest selling show we've ever done. It attracted a new senior crowd that loved it. No men at all needed and a single, simple set. It is not a "name" show but it sold like crazy. |
Posted By: POB14
Date Posted: 7/24/07 at 1:03pm
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How about Sunshine Boys? Or the Cemetery Club. Neither is set in the period you mention, but should fit all your other requirements.
Obligatory warning: please don't "heavily modify" scripts that are in copyright. You could lose your right to license shows. ------------- POB Old Bugger, Curmudgeon, and Antisocial B**tard |
Posted By: JohnEZ
Date Posted: 7/24/07 at 2:07pm
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Obligatory warning known and accepted by me, but suffice it to say, it wasn't my idea. And the person whose idea it was... what they say, goes. Sometimes for better, other times... worse.
Thanks for the suggestions. I'll bring them up at our next meeting to see what they all say. 
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Posted By: biggertigger
Date Posted: 7/24/07 at 3:08pm
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A few suggestions, (and I do relize cast size is a problem but worth looking at anyways).
Period Shows
You Can't Take it With You. http://www.samuelfrench.com/store/product_info.php/products_id/5352 - http://www.samuelfrench.com/store/product_info.php/products_id/5352
Little Women http://www.samuelfrench.com/store/product_info.php/products_id/48 - http://www.samuelfrench.com/store/product_info.php/products_id/48
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes - Can't seem to find a script, but still looking for it.
Waiting in the Wings http://www.samuelfrench.com/store/product_info.php/products_id/2449 - http://www.samuelfrench.com/store/product_info.php/products_id/2449
The Women http://www.samuelfrench.com/store/product_info.php/products_id/5608 - http://www.samuelfrench.com/store/product_info.php/products_id/5608
If I think of any others, I'll go ahead and post. You may want to look at classic movies and see which ones where based on stage plays too. ------------- The two greatest days in a theater persons life, the day you start a new show and the day the damn thing closes. |
Posted By: JohnEZ
Date Posted: 7/24/07 at 4:29pm
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You Can't Take it With You seems to be a favorite, no matter where I ask. I think we may be on to something.
Thanks for the suggestions--I'll take 'em to the meetings.
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Posted By: MikeO
Date Posted: 7/24/07 at 10:23pm
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I think 'Cheaper by the Dozen' fits all of your requirements. Four adult parts, the rest kids ages 10-18. ------------- I'd rather act, but they found out I can do tech & sets!! |
Posted By: Linda S
Date Posted: 7/25/07 at 10:03am
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If I can weigh in on " You Can't Take It With You"; It really is a favorite. We played to packed houses of all ages.The cast loved dong it, and surprisingly we had a good younger audience who loved all the silliness too. We had lots of grandparents bringing their grandchildren. It is prop heavy though, with a fair number of special effects. The printing press was a challenge, but we got one in the end.
Linda
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Posted By: JohnEZ
Date Posted: 7/25/07 at 10:32am
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Thank you for the heads up about the printing press. It's kind of funny, actually--immediately after I read about it, I looked up printing presses on craigslist. It's a shame that I can't get approval for the play right now--there's one in my home town, cheap! What a shame.
Thanks again, Linda! -John |
Posted By: JohnEZ
Date Posted: 7/25/07 at 3:36pm
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Well, here's a bit of a status update. Earlier today, my mom had a few suggestions for me. One of them included Plaza Suite by Neil Simon.
I was interested, and looking at Samuel French, found out that it was done on Broadway with 3m, 2f, although the script calls for 7m, 5f. I got to thinking, if we could go with the 3m and keep 5f... well, it might be the ideal play, in spite of not necessarily being set in the time periods I mentioned. Has anyone here done Plaza Suite? If so, would it be good, bad, or ugly, do you think? |
Posted By: tristanrobin
Date Posted: 7/27/07 at 8:28am
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I think Plaza Suite is very very funny.
The cast listing is a little misleading - for instance, one of the female characters is only in the last 10 seconds of the Forest Hills section. Not really a problem to cast LOL. It's also an easy set - one set for each playlet. Since it's a suite at the Plaza, you do need room for a bed, LOL, but at least there's no bizarre props/sets/etc. Good luck. |
Posted By: JohnEZ
Date Posted: 7/27/07 at 9:32am
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Awesome. I'm sure that the Plaza Suite set wouldn't be that bad to furnish, thankfully.
We may have just found our play. Thank you very much
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Posted By: pdavis69
Date Posted: 7/27/07 at 4:25pm
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I think you may be missing the big boat with these old folks. Go for a musical. Old folks love nothing more than singing children, particularly if they are singing songs the old folks all know and remember. ------------- Patrick L. Davis Fort Findlay Playhouse |
Posted By: JohnEZ
Date Posted: 7/27/07 at 4:31pm
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I know what you mean, and I'd personally love to do a musical--however, we don't have any male actors who can sing, and we only have about 4 ladies who can sing. Furthermore, we don't have an orchestra... and with all due respect to those who have to go this route, I don't want to use a CD for backup music. We tried it once with lackluster results.
Thanks! -John |
Posted By: DWolfman
Date Posted: 7/27/07 at 5:53pm
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Another one you might try is:
http://www.samuelfrench.com/store/product_info.php/products_id/815 - The Cemetery Club by Ivan Menchell
5 females, one male ------------- Even a man who is pure of heart... |
Posted By: HRF22
Date Posted: 7/28/07 at 4:35am
| I suggest Moon Over Buffalo by Ken Ludwig. It is set in 1953 and there are many references in the play which would be very familiar to older audience members. A very funny play. We did this one recently and were pleasantly surprised by an email from the playwright, inquiring as to how the run went. |
Posted By: BeJa
Date Posted: 8/09/07 at 4:15pm
| Being one of the "old folk," I like plays that are interesting, exciting and different. It doesn't need to remind me of my youth. Yes, every once in awhile I like to see a classic. But when I read about the "blue hair" audiences, it makes me cringe. Don't stereotype us, please. Thank you. |
Posted By: JohnEZ
Date Posted: 8/10/07 at 2:25am
I apologize. Stereotyping is not what I'm trying to do--however, it seems like if we try to do something off the wall, new, fresh, exciting, different... most of the older people in the community stay home.  And then we lose money. And that makes me unhappy. 
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Posted By: tristanrobin
Date Posted: 8/10/07 at 9:38am
| another great musical for the older set is "Menopause: the Musical" - it's HYSTERICAL and can easily be performed with only a pianist. |
Posted By: b6307
Date Posted: 8/14/07 at 3:55pm
Yeah, this sounds great but when I "googled" it the only references that came up pertained to a professional touring production. It doesn't appear that this is available for amatuer rights yet. Something like A Tuna Fourth of July. Man, I wish they'd release that one.
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Posted By: tristanrobin
Date Posted: 8/15/07 at 8:56am
really? it's been done here in New Haven...maybe the producing companies bootlegged it? 
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Posted By: blueridgemike
Date Posted: 8/31/07 at 3:43pm
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I agree with the Moon Over Buffalosuggestion. Our theater is in a retirmenet vacation home community in the mountains and we ran Moon last to agreat audience response. Our average age audience is late 50's early 60's. The play is loads of fun to produce. ------------- Mike From BlueRidgeCommunityTheater |
Posted By: gracie
Date Posted: 9/01/07 at 9:15am
If you are talking about the Long Wharf Theatre, it's a resident professional theatre company. They've had actors such as Julie Harris, Lynn Redgrave, and Al Pacino on their stage.
I was going to suggest The Beverly Hillbillies (Dramatic Publishing), but you'd be short males. With double casting, we did it with 8 m, 11f.
It was an amazingly great show for us. Usually only musicals/children's shows fill the house. We had tremendous audiences every night. The royalties are only $60/performance, purchase scripts $6.50 each.
The only settings are: cabin interior, mansion interior, Mr. Drysdale's office.
------------- www.vermillionplayers.com - www.vermillionplayers.com |
Posted By: charlz
Date Posted: 9/02/07 at 1:12am
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Take a look at, The Gin Game or On Golden Pond.
Good Luck! |
Posted By: tristanrobin
Date Posted: 9/02/07 at 7:45am
um, LOL, yes, I know - I've had season tickets for decades LOL. However, professional or not, they still have to pay royalties. They're not a touring company, and it was produced in house. I have a couple of friends who work there - I'll find out about the legalities of getting performing rights. |
Posted By: upstart
Date Posted: 9/02/07 at 11:36pm
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I direct an annual fund raising show at a Senior Adult Activity Center,
and some shows we've done:
Cocktails with Mimi by Mary Chase
Father of the Bride
The Man Who Came to Dinner
Light Up the Sky
Solid Gold Cadillac
Curious Savage
Coming up in spring of 2008 - Give 'em Hell Harry;
and I'm planning Harvey for 2009.
All have a great appeal to older audiences.
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Posted By: zoomie1
Date Posted: 9/04/07 at 12:12am
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Sorry, new to posting on this forum, but noticed your interest in Menopause The Musical... I just received an email from Joanne Grant with the company:
"Christie,
We are going to begin licensing to community theatres in 2008. I will be forwarding details in the next week or so.
Joanne"
OK, probably a standardized response, but you should check out their website and send a request regarding performance rights. That's what I did and had a response today.Christie |
Posted By: klpm97420
Date Posted: 9/04/07 at 2:26am
| I would like to strongly recommend "Dearly Beloved" We just finished playing to large audiences who loved it. While it is contemporary it has funny lines and is very upbeat. We, too received an email and personal phone call from one of the writers. Our community is also mostly retired but our advertising got them out. |
Posted By: Laff
Date Posted: 9/05/07 at 4:04pm
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Hmm I would say Arsenic and Old Lace ------------- break a leg! |
Posted By: gracie
Date Posted: 9/05/07 at 7:04pm
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The Second Time Around
Samuel French
http://www.samuelfrench.com/store/product_info.php/products_id/1426 - http://www.samuelfrench.com/store/product_info.php/products_id/1426
------------- www.vermillionplayers.com - www.vermillionplayers.com |
Posted By: JohnEZ
Date Posted: 9/05/07 at 7:22pm
Thanks a lot for your suggestions. They are much appreciated--I met with out adviser today, and we're taking a look at them. 
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Posted By: John Luzaich
Date Posted: 3/05/08 at 11:11am
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You might look at Taking My Turn. It's a musical about aging, has a cast of 8 (4-m, 4-f) and uses middle age/older actors. I managed an off-broadway theatre where the show premiered and it ran for nine months. The original cast included Tiger Haynes (original Tin Man in The Wiz), Margaret Whitting, Cissy Houston (Whitney's Mom) and Marni Nixon (she sounds like Julie Andrews and was the singing voice in the movies "West Side Story" for Natalie Wood, "The King & I" for Deborah Kerr, "My Fair Lady" for Audrey Hepburn). Taking My Turn is a little produced play and older folks just love it. ------------- John cfct@cfu.net http://www.osterregent.org http://www.facebook.com/osterregent |