Community Theatre - what does it mean?

I have now been in charge of the Midland Community Theatre for 12 years - prior to working here, I ran the Salina (KS) Community Theatre for 2 years and the Mansfield (OH) Playhouse for 3 years. Thus, I have been working in a leadership role in community theatre for 17 of my 42 years. I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to run a small (Mansfield - 1 full-time employee, 1 part-time), a medium (Salina - 4 full-time and 2 part-time) and now a larger community theatre (MCT - 12 full-time and 10 part-time). Although I am still learning, I also feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to work on many different levels in community theatre and gain the experience I can put into practice on a daily basis.

I remember in my early days at MCT reading a letter to the editor about our production of Das Barbecu asking whether the "community theatre" was meeting the standards of the community. After all, who do we (Midland Community Theatre) serve - especially with the word "community" in our title? I have always believed that community theatre has a unique position in the theatre world. In professional theatre, they serve the audience - they can hire the directors, actors and technicians to do the shows, and only need to convince the audience to attend their shows. In academic theatre, they serve the participants - the student actors, directors, technicians - and an audience attending their shows is a bonus. In community theatre, we serve both worlds - we must convince the volunteers to participate in the shows (actors, technicians, front-of-house) and we must also convince the audience to attend (and support) our shows. In other words, the decisions we make must serve two groups who sometimes have different agendas.

Play selection is one area where the diversity of needs of these two groups often comes into conflict. At MCT, we have a committee of five people who work on the slate of plays for the next season - the Executive Director, a staff member, a Board member and two members-at-large. Over the last couple of seasons, we have taken a "risk" with the opening musical - The Producers in 2008 and Les Miserables in 2009. In both cases, we knew that there was not the broad appeal to the non-theatre audience with each of these musicals. With The Producers, we knew that this was a more "adult" musical and this reduced the overall appeal of this musical last year - this was reflected in ticket sales. This year, we knew that many of the non-traditional theatre crowd had at least heard of Les Miserables - maybe they read the book in high school or at least had heard about the musical version. However, we also knew that there were some negatives associated with the show (it's long, what's it about?, it's depressing and everyone dies).

From a volunteer point of view, Les Miserables has been a great success. We had a tremendous turnout at auditions, and cast many new people in the show. In addition, we have had many people step forward to work on the show backstage, and I could not be prouder of the people working on this show. They have all poured their heart and soul into the show, and anyone attending can see their talent and dedication.

From an audience perspective, we knew that word of mouth would be important to sell-out future performances of Les Miserables. Opening weekend was full - we expected that with the demands of our biggest supporters and the friends and family of the cast we would fill up this opening weekend. This week, the Box Office has been busy, indicating good word of mouth from the opening weekend crowd. Unfortunately, the Midland Reporter-Telegram review on Friday was not positive - the reviewer complained about the length of the show and was not enamored with several volunteer performances as well as the work of the Musical Director and myself. Certainly, it is the reviewer's right to have their opinion and to share this opinion with their audience (newspaper readers). However, I find it strange that this particular reviewer - who has complained in the past about MCT only doing "safe" shows and not doing any serious work like O'Neill and Shakespeare - would then write a review about the show with information that has nothing to do with our production (after all, the original novel is long, the original musical production was long, and our production is no longer) and in general tear down the efforts of volunteers and staff at a community theatre to produce serious work. Again, reviewers are entitled to their opinion, but can you have it both ways - criticize us for not doing serious work, and then criticize us for doing serious work that is long and melodramatic?

In the end, you learn one important lesson in community theatre - ignore all of the other issues and ask yourself the most essential question - are you doing what's best for the theatre? In the end, I strongly believe that the volunteers and audience in Midland will say that it was important for us to produce Les Miserables. You understand that there are going to be detractors at every step of the process - people who simply want to criticize the theatre for not selecting the show they wanted, for not casting them in the show - whatever the reason. Fortunately, the cast and crew of Les Miserables has responded very positively in the face of this review, and are looking forward to this weekend's slate of performances.

I will update you on Monday with a report on the Friday and Saturday night performance. If you have not seen the show, please attend over the next three weekends - contact the Box Office (432-570-4111) or visit our website.

Les Miserables - First Weekend

Now that opening weekend has been completed, the cast can finally get some rest. Musicals are especially tough on the cast because of the demands of singing for 10-12 days in a row (tech rehearsals followed by dress rehearsals followed by opening weekend without a day off). Due to the intense vocal demands of this particular show, we have decided to limit ourselves to a maximum of three shows in a weekend. Therefore, this upcoming weekend will include shows on Thursday, Friday and Saturday night, and the next weekend will be Friday and Saturday night and Sunday afternoon. It will be very interesting to see how the cast responds after some time off. I think that some people will actually improve with vocal rest and the confidence of opening weekend knowing that we have a good show.

The Box Office has been busy this week - the word of mouth is spreading. However, we need to keep "pushing" the show through the media and trying to fill all the remaining performances. Overall, I think that the cast, crew, staff and audience members all walked away from last weekend on a positive note. Thus, we want to keep the ball rolling this upcoming weekend.

On a personal note, I got through the surgery on my knee just fine. The recovery will be shorter than expected, but I can expect more problems down the road with my left knee. Joy!

Fine Arts Camp

Right now, we are signing kids up to participate in Fine Arts Camp. For those of you who don't know what this is, it is the annual fundraiser for the Pickwick Players. Pickwicks plan and organize a week of activities (Spring Break) for kids K-6. Under the leadership and guidance of staff members Bill Williams and Judith Giebler, Pickwicks plan classes in acting, dance, music, fine arts and games. At the end of the week, parents attend a presentation that demonstrates everything that the youth worked on during the week. It's amazing to see all the kids who are participating (usually around 80 kids) along with 30 Pickwicks in the building at the same time. The amound of energy and excitement is contagious. If you're interested in having a youth particiapate, you can sign up in the Business Office (M-F from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.) or contact Bill (bill@mctmidland.org) or Judith (judith@mctmidland.org) with questions.

Les Miserables - Opening

There's a superstition in the theatre world - a bad final dress rehearsal means a good opening night. I think we tried to test that theory with this show.

On Thursday night, we started off on the wrong foot - an actor missed his entrance (and his solo line) in the Prologue and everyone was on eggshells from that moment on. Then we had actors forget lyrics they had never forgotten, set pieces that moved too early or did not move when they were supposed to, family members taking flash photos and babies crying in the audience. Combine that with the fact that there were only about 15 people in the audience and no applause and it made for a very frustrating evening. I normally don't give a full notes session after the final dress, and I wasn't going to change this pattern - frankly, I didn't have any notes other than "please do everything on opening night (Friday) the way you did it on Wednesday night". I gathered the cast onstage after curtain call and told them to get some sleep, drink lots of water and come to the theatre with lots of energy and a positive attitude. The Stage Manager, Set Crew chief and I stayed at the theatre for another hour reviewing our mistakes and discussion strategies for correcting them, and then I spent some time working on the ASM (Assistant Stage Manager) book so that all the correct scene changes were properly marked.

Well, Friday night was mission accomplished - the actors and crew arrived ready to perform and with a positive attitude. Last year, MCT created the Legacy Society - these are donors who not only support the current season but also make a contribution to the endowment. Opening night included all of the usual anxiety regarding the opening of the show along with the need to clean and prepare the Moody Conference room and prepare for a reception for our best donors. As a result, you want to make sure that the show goes well so that these donors enjoy the experience and understand the importance of their support of our community theatre.

Overall, it was a very good night. For those of us involved in the show, there were some small items to work on - a bad microphone, a set piece that ran into something, an actor that left out a small line but picked it right up on the beat - these are things that we notice but others might not. At the end of the night, the cast and crew were very happy - the audience applauded throughout the show (and stayed despite the fact that it let out at 11 p.m.) and we had a positive reception with family and friends after the show.

It was interesting to talk to a board member after the show - she was so proud and said "aren't you proud of your work on the show" and I said that I was so far. Theatre can not be boxed and wrapped up like a present and simply "opened" for each performance - every night is a new night with new challenges and opportunities. The cast has been singing for 14 consecutive days and needs some rest, there is always the chance of a microphone failing, a set piece breaking, a costume piece ripping or other issues - that is the joy and challenge of live theatre. As a result, we must come back every night with the same energy and excitement to put on a this wonderful musical.

REMINDER - the next update is a week away due to knee surgery on Monday

Les Miserables - Final Dress

Tonight is the final dress rehearsal for Les Miserables. This is our last chance to put the entire show together before the paid audience comes on Friday night. Overall, the cast and crew are ready to perform the show right now, but tonight will be a good test of our abilities. Live theatre is a tricky business - you have to be able to bring your best performance to the theatre every night despite the other things happening in your life. As a community theatre, all of our actors are volunteers, and they have other concerns - work, school, family - that can affect their attitude and emotions when they enter the building. It's our job to help them to transition out of the real world and into the world of our current production and then perform at a high level. We are extremely fortunate to have many experienced performers in our cast - people who are "professional" in their approach to community theatre. This sets an example for the newer actors to follow, and I think we will have good energy for tonight's dress.

My next update will be after opening night (Friday), and then there will be a little break in the blog. For those not aware, I am have surgery on Monday to repair a torn meniscus on my left knee, and won't be back in the office (or at the computer) until around the time of our second weekend of performances (February 19-21)...

Les Miserables - Dress Rehearsals

In the big scheme of things, the transition into dress rehearsals has been smooth. Rebecca Crow (Costume Designer) and her crew have built and created wonderful costumes, and the dressers have planned out the quick changes and made everything work smoothly in rehearsal. MCT is lucky to have great staff members and volunteers working in this area, and the results of their hard work and dedication show up on the stage.

Dress rehearsals are all about moving the show from solid rehearsals to good performances. Our cast is prepared for the show - they know their parts, they know what to do, and now they need to do it with confidence. I have always been a big fan of repetition - the more times you do something, the better prepared you are to do it. This is true for the actors as well as the set and prop crew, the Stage Management team and the light and sound operators. Everyone is working hard to produce the best show possible, and we are very excited about our opening on Friday. I will update again on Friday prior to the opening night.

Les Miserables - Weekend Report

The weekend was a success from a technical standpoint - there's still a lot of work to be done, but now everyone knows what works or how we have to fix it. Light cues will be changed and fine tuned, the microphones and sound cues will be adjusted, and there's a lot of painting and finishing of the set and props that still needs to be done. However, the staff and volunteers have a good handle on the workload and are tackling all of the challenges. We are so lucky to have hard working staff members and dedicated volunteers.

Normally, I would run the show twice on a Sunday afternoon before opening - once in the afternoon to review any blocking, music and choreography notes, and once at night for the tech work. However, this show is too long - and the vocal demands are too difficult - to ask the cast to perform twice in one day. Thus, we did a run through of Act One starting at 3 p.m., and broke for dinner around 5:15 p.m. and then started up with Act Two at 6:30 p.m. Everyone was out the door by 9 p.m. - this will be the only night that we get out at a decent hour. Tonight (Monday) is first dress rehearsal...