Gladtoseeya! (and First Topic)

[Craig T Gustafson]

Hi!

Review community theater shows, review professional shows, talk about seeing stuff at Stratford or Broadway, bitch about auditions, ask advice... whatever. If you've seen Wicked for the 27th time and want to rave about the new Elphaba, I won't be responding to the post, but you go for it.

If it's theater related, talk about it.

The only criteria are that you either (A) are involved in Chicago area theater or (B) you're a Chicago area person writing about a theatrical topic (Chicago or elsewhere).

There will be no language censorship on this board -- it's unAmerican, vile and those fuckin' asterisks drive me crazy. But the personal censorship will be like a lion on Nyquil -- hard to awaken, but once awake, your ass is gone. If you go off-topic, become abusive or you're just looking for a fight, I'll boot you off so fast your head will spin. Don't punch the lion.

I'm just hoping to talk (or argue) civilly about theater, without the intervention of idiots. Arguing intelligently is GREAT; just going "Nyah nyah nyah" won't be allowed. Play (reasonably) nice. No knives or guns allowed.

Reviewing shows: Please keep to the point and review the show. If you have to rant about a theater's casting methods, do it in a separate post. If there are more than five vicious responses to somebody who criticized a certain theater's production, they ALL get deleted. Responding to criticism individually is fine, but the Organized Group Attack shit ain't gonna fly here.

Note: This is not, repeat - NOT - an attempt to supplant the NICOTH board. Think of it as having some beers over at a friend's house and having somebody say, "Let's go to my place for a while & come back later." I have nothing but deep-seated love and traces of lust for NICOTH.

Just try to argue responsibly.

First Topic: I was interested in the idea presented last year on the NICOTH forum that community theaters are a closed Buddy Club and worked out some personal statistics. This year's results are here:

CASTING STATS.

Thanks!
Craig

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ August 10, 2006 08:19 PM: Message edited by: Sgt. Bilko ]</font>

[pungster1]

Craig, nice job here! I look forward to the discussion.

On the subject of community theaters being closed Buddy Clubs, I tend to think that theater group has their share of cliques, but I've only run into a Buddy Club once-when I strayed out yonder past the home-pasture to do a scenic art project at a group I'd never been involved with before. I won't say they stepped on my fingers while I painted the floor, but other than the set designer who brought me to the project no one every said a word of thanks to me.

I've now directed 4 shows for Wheaton Drama. Speaking only for myself, whether or not they are already a member of WDI is never a factor during casting. There are people I know that I will call and ask to come to auditions but I never pre-cast. I make it clear it is an invitation, not a promise.

It seems to me, judging by the new members that are listed in the Tyro after each show is cast, that prior membership isn't a plus with other directors at WDI either. On the other hand, it would be interesting to do the stats on the number of actors who are cast in WDI shows and then disappear-until another good acting opportunity arises.

Putting together a production crew is a different story. You want to pick the people who 1)know their chops, and b)have a similar temperment and dedication to the project as your own. I mean-someone can be the best sound designer in the world but they're difficult to work with-who needs that? So, you do tend to reach out to people you've worked with, and had good experiences with in the past.