How to Start a Production in Community Theater

Video Transcript

"On behalf of expertvillage.com, my name is Stan and I'm here to tell you about theater resources for community theater and talking about how you get started with a production. The first step in putting production on the stage is selecting a director, a producer, and a stage manager helping the play. The director and producer are the 2 important people and sometimes they're combined if you don't have a lot of people working on a show. The director's job is to run the rehearsals, direct the action on the stage, watch from the audience to make sure that it's going to look good to the audience and so on. You want a director who's good at working with people as well as knows the plays, knows the theater. Personal relationships are crucial in getting a play on the stage and keeping it running smoothly. It's a high stress activity. People get stressed, they get crabby, they get all sorts of things and you need somebody who can handle that. So somebody who's a good manager as well as knowing theater is real important in a director. The producer has to be good at watching the budget, getting all the volunteers that you need for the show and so on. Because these people have very special characteristics, your board selects them and then the producer goes out and gets most of the rest of the people for you. Your first step is getting those people in place, and actually, when we select plays we sometimes ask directors what plays they like. What play would you like to direct? Those are candidate plays for the season because we figure they'll do a good job directing that play if they lke the play. So that's the first step. We've already selected the plays. The next step is having the auditions for the production."