Need a dinner theatre show
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=4670
Printed Date: 11/25/24 at 1:43pm
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Topic: Need a dinner theatre show
Posted By: Rorgg
Subject: Need a dinner theatre show
Date Posted: 6/16/10 at 3:28pm
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Okay, I've been offered a spot to direct the fall dinner theatre show for a small local company, but I'm stymied on the show selection. I'm more or less allowed to pick my poison, but it has to fall under these guidelines: * Straight play * Cast size of approximately 5-10 * Very simple set requirements -- a single-set or close to it would be ideal, the performance space is not a stage. * "PG" rated. While it's a liberal denomination, the company is sponsored by a church, and the performance will be at the site. So it should be appropriate for ages 10+ or so. My initial suggestion of Brighton Beach Memoirs just barely missed the cut here. * An established piece would be preferred. I do better with comedy than heavy drama, so that'd be nice, but I'm not opposed to something else. Thanks in advance. |
Replies:
Posted By: Topper
Date Posted: 6/17/10 at 12:47pm
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"Harvey"
------------- "None of us really grow up. All we ever do is learn how to behave in public." -- Keith Johnstone |
Posted By: ozzieparker
Date Posted: 6/17/10 at 2:19pm
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"Second Samuel" by Pamela Parker ------------- You never know what's comin' for you. |
Posted By: Ringbo
Date Posted: 6/17/10 at 5:16pm
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We just did Here Comes the Brides, it was so much fun and great reviews ------------- Live each day like its opening nite! |
Posted By: stockhamlj
Date Posted: 6/26/10 at 2:16pm
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TITLE: Divorce Sale
PLAYWRIGHT: Linda Stockham GENRE: Contemporary Comedy LOGLINE: Neighbors hold a séance to contact the deceased husband of one’s ditsy mother-in-law. CAST OF CHARACTERS: 10 (6f,4m) SCENIC REQUIREMENT: Double-car garage. (Relative simple set.) TIME: Spring, early 1990s. APPROXIMATE RUNNING TIME: 80 minutes. PRODUCTION HISTORY: Divorce Sale: Perry Stagecoach Community Theatre, Perry, Oklahoma. Opened November 3, 2007. Directed by Kandi Gibson. Freeport Players, Regency Theatre, Freeport, Bahamas. Opened October 25, 2007. Directed by Tiffany Dennison. Solomon Islands premiere produced by The Honiara Amateur Musical Society, Honiara, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. Opened on October 1, 2005. The Dalby Players Little Theatre, Inc., Dalby, Queensland, Australia. Opened August 8, 2003. Directed by Adele Jasper; produced by Nancy Evans. (Australian premiere.) The Manhattan Players, The Duality Playhouse, New York City, New York. Opened on June 11, 1993. Directed by Matthew FitzSimmons. (World premiere.) These are known productions. Recent emails from companies in Africa and Italy for performance rights indicate future productions. The play is available online for anyone to download or contact the playwright at lindastockham@netzero.net for copy (would be sent in Word.doc).  ------------- Linda Stockham |
Posted By: jtonner
Date Posted: 7/02/10 at 11:32am
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Unless you have to use 5-10 actors, Greater Tuna is a very funny show, and has a very simple set and virtually no props.
The only technical problems are costumes. You will need two dressers for each of the two performers (although it has been done with more actors, it is not nearly as funnly). We performed this show as a dinner theatre offering in a church and it went over quite well.
John ------------- John |
Posted By: Rorgg
Date Posted: 7/02/10 at 1:30pm
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Thanks for the suggestions. The producer and I looked over some of these, plus other suggestions from other sources, then started just yanking plays off the shelf at the library, and it was from that last stack that we ran across "The Skin of Our Teeth" by Thornton Wilder -- a show neither of us had ever even heard of, despite its Pulitzer. The sets are a LITTLE trickier than ideal, and the cast should probably be a dozen minimum, but I think those are minor hurdles, given how much we both liked what we read. We need to meet once more to confirm, but it looks like we're going that way. |
Posted By: tristanrobin
Date Posted: 7/04/10 at 8:05am
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The Skin of Our Teeth is a terrific play - not the easiest set - but wacky and wild and lots of fun
------------- http://tristanrobin.blogspot.com |
Posted By: Rorgg
Date Posted: 10/07/10 at 2:09pm
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Just a little update: we're a little over two weeks from open. I LOVE this play. Not only is it absurd and funny and a little silly and fun at the start, but it's incredibly passionate and moving at the end, and there are some opportunities for great performances that I'm getting from my cast. However -- I do wish I had a couple more weeks. Due to my own acting schedule, we were shoehorned into about a 6 week rehearsal schedule, which is light for any CT program, and particularly for a play like this. This is tricky, layered stuff. My cast is great, but I'm not going to quite get all I could out of them in the time allotted. We'll get as close as possible. The other bit is that there's a LOT to deal with for a straight play -- ongoing set changes and costumes and video and props and lights and moving sets and sounds ... well, let's say I'm very glad for an active producer AND an AD AND a SM. |
Posted By: alice
Date Posted: 10/15/10 at 8:36pm
| We are in need STAT of a murder mystery dinner theater, that is interactive. Tell what you have seen/what you liked! We need help quick, deadlines coming fast!!!!!! |
Posted By: ozzieparker
Date Posted: 11/01/10 at 1:15pm
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Try Second Samuel. It has a cast of 11 but don't let that scare you. The set never changes and can be designed to accomodate almost any configuration. I can send you a copy if you like. http://www.secondsamuelgeorgia.com - www.secondsamuelgeorgia.com http://www.abc.net.au/news/video/2010/04/30/2887591.htm - http://www.abc.net.au/news/video/2010/04/30/2887591.htm ------------- You never know what's comin' for you. |
Posted By: Doodad
Date Posted: 2/21/11 at 1:52pm
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I noticed your posts regarding Second Samuel. I checked out the Web site, as well as the Australia piece. How exciting!
Our church presents an annual dinner theatre. Some of our shows have included God's Favorite; Over the River and Through the Woods; The Immigrant; Everything I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten; Those Crazy Ladies in the House on the Corner; You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown; Cotton Patch Gospel; Don't Drink the Water; Godspell; Foxfire; The Curious Savage; and most recently The Butler Did It.
Would Second Samuel be appropriate for an audience that ranges from elementary to senior citizens and is somewhat conservative? For instance, I notice that one of the locations is the "local watering hole." Our church does not condone drinking alcoholic beverages. Is it possible to adapt that location to the local diner, a general store, or the local bait shop where men could "escape," grab a cup of coffee, and "shoot the breeze."
Also, is it necessary for U.S. to be played by an African American? We have occasionally had actors in our troupe who are black, but that is not always the case. Just trying to find out what is required.
It sounds like Second Samuel is a play with "heart" with a redemptive ending. That is the sort of play we like. We'd love to read the script.
If we order the play, do we order it from you? What are the costs, etc.?
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Posted By: nickjarrettmba
Date Posted: 3/11/11 at 9:54am
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