In Defense of Community Theatre

First off, I want to say that I know I haven't updated in a hot forever, but that's going to change because I'm spending today building up an archive of things that I've wanted to write about but that I just haven't had the time or the energy or whatever to work on. Thus, check back, because I should be going back to a nearly-daily posting schedule.

Tonight, submitted for the approval of the Midnight Society, I give you

The Tift Theatre Proudly Presents--In Defense of Community Theatres

Having just graduated from Shorter College with my degrees in Theatre and English, I've spent a fair amount of the last month trying to figure out if it was indeed worth it to study in these fields. I mean, neither of them really do any concrete "good" in the world, and my talents might better have been used in the fields of medicine, law, or business. However, this isn't where my passions lay, so instead, I amassed student debt so that I could learn about what I love to do. I easily know twice the amount of things now that I did when I started college, and I met fantastic people, so I consider the experience well worth it. But that's not what I want to talk about. Instead, I want to pose the question: Is theatre here to stay?

I know that I'm going to come back to this topic a lot over the course of this summer, but I feel like there's a lot to be said on this subject. With the average cost of producing a Broadway level musical in the millions of dollars, at what point does theatre go from being an art form into being a business? If it costs so much start-up money to produce a show, then won't art necessarily be strangled by the need for (in the words of Salman Rushdie) a "surefire smasharoonie?" I don't know. There are groups that are subsidized by the government and private firms that allow them the chance for more artistic experimentation. Further, educational theatre is alive and well (and not just living in Paris), and thus, at least that venue is still open to trying things that might prove to be colossal failures.

But, regardless of the artistic or business future of theatre, I don't think that community theatres will ever completely go away. And that's not because I see them as integral parts of the local community arts scene or that they will always be supported. Neither of those statements is always necessarily true. Instead, I think community theatre will stick around because it has the weird knack of saving lives.

That may seem weird, and I don't really have anything to go on except anecdotal evidence, but here we go:

-In high school, I knew a girl who wanted to kill herself. She was the scenic charge artist for her local theatre group, though. She didn't kill herself because there were people counting on her to finish the backdrop. By the time she got done with it, her dark moment had passed.

-All of the theatre groups I've ever been a part of have adopted the mentality that everyone belongs. Granted, not everyone belongs on stage, but there is a job in theatre that you can do well if you want to hang around. If you're around, we will put you to work.

-There are no losers in theatre. Scratch that. There are a lot of losers in theatre. And a lot of freaks. And a lot of weirdos. And we all hate that pretty girl who only sings okay but somehow gets all the leads. We're all shooting daggers at her. And that binds us together.

-Community theatre proves that you don't have to have money or be a professional to attempt greatness. Sure, money makes it easier. But, to put it together with a budget of beg/borrow/steal...that takes creativity.

-People who work community theatre care a lot more than some people I know who want to be professionals. Sure, some people are paid to manage community theatres, but the majority of the people you see hanging around are volunteers. They're there because they love it. They're there because they don't belong anywhere else. They're there because someone has to be. They have jobs and lives and families completely removed from theatre. But they're there because they love it and they want to keep doing it. And I think that that passion is really cool.

So, yeah, community theatres need to turn a profit. And yeah, they can't do the edgiest stuff out there. So what? I'll sit through the millionth revival of Grease and yet another play that was turned into a movie to see some passion. It may not be the best thing in the world, but its done by people care.

I don't know if that's enough, though. And I'll tackle quality in my next installment on Theatre.