I worked with an adult community theater for several years but when the egos started clashing I transitioned to a local children's theater. I'm ashamed to admit at the time, I probably thought I was taking a step back, because I was looking for simplicity, but it has been the most incredible experience.

I'm directing my fourth show with them and I can't wait for rehearsals to begin. They don't act like they know everything (usually), so they trust me and we make discoveries together. I love watching their confidence bloom and ideas click. They care SO much about the work and refuse to let "good enough" into the conversation. It's a weird blend of pride in their work and humility that I get to be a part of it.

Hello everyone,

First of all: I am sorry for my English, it is not my first language and I am missing a lot of important vocabulary in this subject in English. If something is unclear or doesn't make sense, please ask.

I am in an uncomfortable situation and would like some advice.

I am a professional classical musician (Edit: I'm a singer), and I got a role at a professional (!) on-tour theatre for children's opera.

My problem: For a whole hour of play, including difficult musical pieces and near constantly stage presence, there are only two and a half planned days of rehearsals. On the last day, we are supposed to be completely ready to perform this on a level where we could perform it in front of the audience (even though my first performance is over two months after the rehearsals, and no refreshing was planned in between). The play consists of only 2 people in different roles, and the rehearsals have 4 people in two groups, one performing and one watching, then switch.

I prepared all the text passages and songs as well as I could, but honestly can't say that on the first day of rehearsals I could do everything perfectly from the heart. I still used the textbook quite a bit, but the person directing said in the beginning that we could, so I thought it was fine. I thought: Well, this is partly what rehearsals are for. Now, on the second day I did everything without the script, and even though I got stuck at some places and wasn't completely sure of the next step at others, I was pretty happy with the progress.

Then, this evening the boss came out and said that she was incredibly disappointed in all of us and that she expected more of professionals than "showing up without any practice" and being so unprepared. She said that we were the worst group she has seen in terms of preparation, and that she has lots of people who show up and don't even need rehearsals. She said that she communicated that we should be well prepared and that it has never been a problem before. For fairness sake, she said it without a lot of emotion and very neutral, but it still felt like a guilt trip. One of my colleagues that I met on the first day canceled the whole thing after the first day, and my boss said it was because we were so ill prepared and the colleague was too annoyed with us (which is simply not true: she was not much better prepared with the text in my opinion, and some other things were worse, and she told me another reason in private; but I don't really know her and don't know what to believe). Another woman in the other role was (and this is sadly true) so badly prepared that she had to step out and was asked to only watch the rehearsals so we could make some progress. (Edit: Sorry, I forgot to say: My language is not her first language and so it is much harder for her - I don't think the expectations placed on her were fair at all. I don't want to put her down here, she did her best)

I apologized at the time, but now that I am thinking and reading and talking about rehearsal structures this whole thing seems absurd. I prepared well enough that on the second day of a rehearsal of a play that I only read and saw a video of before, I could do it pretty well. Yes, I could absolutely have been better prepared. Yes, it was communicated that it would only be a very low number of rehearsals.

But still... I am upset enough after a very, very long day that I can't sleep and instead I'm writing this.

So please be very honest with me: Am I overreacting here? Should I have been better prepared or done something differently? Am I being unprofessional? This is my biggest worry.

Thank you for your advice.

Our local theater is doing Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus and auditions are in a couple of weeks. My daughter wants to be in a show this fall but was unable to do a youth workshop.
I did a quick search but haven't been able to do a thorough search to see if there's video of one she can watch to see what parts she might want to audition for. This will be be her first auditioned show as the four shows she was previously in were all workshops and while they held auditions, all participants had a part (she was a Lullaby League dancer in Wizard of Oz Jr, Small Alice in Alice in Wonderland Jr, one of Telulah's Girls in Bugsy Malone Jr, and Player 11 in Disney's Dare To Dream Jr).
I also need to decide if I'm going to audition as well. I have never done a stage show with the local theater. But I do sing and dance. (I was in a local church's yearly Passion Play that was a whole production and in musicals as a kiddo, but nothing beyond that). I guess I want to see what the options are before I decide as well.
Thanks in advance for your help!

Hi! I need advice on my situation. I’m 16, and I’ve always loved dance, theatre, singing, acting and all of that stuff. Anyways, I auditioned for my very first youth community theatre show, and I was gunning for my dream role, Janis in Mean Girls, and they cast me as Cady. I’m definitely doing the show, I want to get the experience under my belt, but I was considering auditioning for a much larger, more competitive, one cast, non cast all show that auditions people from teenage years to early 20s, and it’s also mean girls. Do you think it’s worth it to keep auditioning for Janis or should I just move on? I’d be working on vocals in the months between this show and the audition.

And if I should keep auditioning for Janis, any tips? I auditioned with ‘I Say No’ from Heathers.

Jonathan Bailey has exited Sunday in the Park with George. 

The news comes weeks after Ariana Grande also exited the show’s run, due to happen at the Barbican in the summer of 2027.
In a statement on social media Bailey said: “Ari is one of my dearest friends, and my support for her is unwavering. Marianne is extraordinary and one of my longest collaborators and friends. After much consideration, I have decided to also step back from Sunday in the Park with George.”
“This brilliant, introspective musical has been a real passion project for me, and I feel incredibly lucky to have shared in its journey with this team. Among many things, the story explores the deep connection between George and Dot, a beautiful, devoted pairing, and I so look forward to seeing what the team, and the two actors who will now take on these roles, will create with it.”

“I wish the very best to the entire company with what will no doubt be an incredible production, and I will be cheering them on as they continue this journey.”
Future plans for the production are to be revealed. 

What’s on Stage

I am a high school theatre director who has only done this process one or two times before and I was wondering what the "rules" were about a non-speaking ensemble that is not directly mentioned in the script.  Think of an Agatha Christie mystery where the manor house has maid that sweeps off a few pieces of furniture and then leaves, a butler that ushers the characters into the room before exiting, or a non-speaking policeman hovering in the background as "backup" when the murderer is arrested at the end.  In all of these cases the character has NO LINES but is also NOT MENTIONED in the script.  For all intents and purposes the characters are serving as scenery.  I have read ambiguous things online about how copasetic this is.  I know that I cannot mess with character lines but at the same time I have "wiggle room" with the scenery and staging to some extent.  

The reason I ask is that I am putting on a play with a little bit more than a dozen roles with lines and no "crowd scenes".  The school's fall drama is considerably more popular than I expected this year, and I had notably more than the dozen or so students I strictly needed sign up for auditions.  As a teacher I feel obligated to support the kids' interest in the theatre and wanted to find a way to fit them in somewhere.  Hence the question about "living scenery".  Is this okay or does it fall under the sin of "changing the script" which the license holder obviously doesn't like.

I’m putting the description of asian in quotations because I’m open to plays either about asian characters or plays by asian playwrights. Now, trust me, I’ve done extensive internet sleuthing to find plays about/written by asian people, but nothing is entirely striking me. Help?

I recently directed a community theater production of The Outsiders (the play, not the musical) and we had a great mix of teenagers and young adults in the cast. It was a wonderful experience and the executive director of the theater wants me to direct another play that mixes teens and young adults together. I'd like the cast size to be comparable, in the neighborhood of 10-20 speaking roles. Any ideas are appreciated!

I'm not involved in theatre professionally - I'm just a regular theatre-goer (once or twice a month).

There's one theatre in London ("one of London's most celebrated studio theatres" according to their website) which uses AI images to promote the shows on their What's On web page. There are two images that are blatantly AI, and at least another couple which are probably AI.

What's especially galling is that their About Us page states: "The theatre remains firmly focused on the future: supporting artists". I emailed them about it but received no reply.

For those involved in the theatre world, am I right to be annoyed by this? Is it the theatre themselves that tends to commission these graphics? Is it something we just have to accept now when budgets are squeezed?

For what it's worth, I went on to their website to book tickets for one of their shows, saw the AI images and decided against it.

So first of all obviously trigger warning for self harm

So I have scars pretty much all over my arms, I can cover most of them but quite a few are pretty raised and very difficult to cover. I’ve been told by multiple people that I may get passed over for roles just because of them. But I’m wondering if that would actually happen as they can’t really been seen from the audience. Does anyone know if this is true? And if it is what can I do about it?

I’m a voice actor, so I’ve realised I’m probably way too used to having a microphone do the work for me. 🥲🤌🏻

I’m currently doing theatre and I’ve been getting criticism that I’m not speaking loudly enough. And honestly, it’s really getting to me because I genuinely don’t know how to fix it.

Usually, when I get criticism, I can work on it for a day or two and see an improvement. But this is the first time a criticism has stuck with me for this long, partly because I don’t really know what I’m supposed to be doing differently.

For other actors who have struggled with projection how did you learn to project properly without just shouting or straining your voice? Are there exercises or techniques that helped you make the transition from microphone acting to theatre?

Context: I've been going to a paid amateur acting class for two years. We put on plays for whoever we invite. I've always been punctual to rehearsal, learned everything on time, attended every workshop there was to attend, been pleasant to work with and got good feedback.

Now we have our own theater space, and the big boss/director wants us to do shows that are open to the public-and let us have a share of the ticket sells. We still have to take the paid class to be a part of that. This particular director has done things that make me and several others personally dislike her and have our professional frustrations with her, but I stayed for the love of the hobby and the lovely people.

(Things she did include but are not limited to: kissing an actress on the mouth to demonstrate how she wants a kiss to happen without asking her, resting her head on an actor's nether regions, calling an actress "little whore"(supposedly as a term of enderament), feedback consisisting of "she looked like that, except her boobs weren't moving like that because she doesn't have them), using words like "pedophile" or "rape" in feedback("you sound like a pedo", "why were you raping the prop"), supposedly as a way to "lighten the mood with a few jokes". On the more questionable side, an actress has confronted her about something, and she made her an uncomfortalbe exercise(that is legit and used by other teachers, but it's suspicious she picked her specifically for it). She also has a temper that some people have set off by pushing the wrong buttons. I'm sure I'm forgetting things.

So I'm in this show(no auditions held, everyone was just offered their part), and after a rehearsal(not the first, might have been around the fifth), feedback is given. Everyone gets a piece, and I'm like "Ok, that's what rehearsals are for, knowing what the problems are so you can fix them". Then she announces "I have my doubts about X, as in I don't think she CAN fix those issues, but it's up to her to prove me wrong till next rehearsal. If she doesn't, she is out of the show"(me being X).

Now, if I TRUSTED her as an authority figure, I'd take it at face value-I'd work my ass off at home and I'd know that if that wasn't enough, it was ultimately for the good of the production. But I don't. I don't think the feedback given was wrong-but was it genuinely so bad or is she just using any mistake I make to pick on me? Might be the first, but I'm not SURE it is(our teacher-student alliance is basically dead at this point). I also dislike how public she made it(like, why not just text me in private, why bring humilation into it?).

I frankly plan on leaving for good, even if that means potentially giving up on the hobby, but I wanted to hear some outside perspectives. Aside from the obvious "it's a hobby, and it should make you happy, not miserable", is this just the reality of the theatre game?

Looking for recommendations for a show to add to our 2027 season - we do a lot of low-budget scrappy theatre and musical theatre, mostly focusing on comedies that aren’t afraid of the work fuck (we’ve done a bunch of Starkid shows, so in that vein is good).

Things that have rights available in Aus is ideal, we work in a small theatre, but aren’t afraid of big ideas!!!

Any and All recommendations are super appreciated!!!

Hey everyone! I’m a transfer student currently looking at theatre undergraduate programs in Illinois, and I’m trying to figure out which school would give me the strongest path toward becoming a well-rounded theatre director.

Right now, I’m primarily looking at WIU, CCPA, Northwestern, and DePaul, but I’m definitely open to other Illinois programs if there’s somewhere I should be considering.

My biggest priority is directing experience. I’m not looking for a program where I’ll primarily be trained as an actor and then have to figure out directing on my own. I want a program where I can actually learn the directing process and, ideally, have opportunities to direct, assistant direct, co-direct, or otherwise work closely with directors on productions while I’m a student.

I have a very strong technical/design and performance background, so I’m hoping to build on both of those rather than focusing exclusively on performance. My philosophy is that having experience with acting, technical theatre, and the production side of things can help make me a more well-rounded director.

For anyone who has attended or worked with these programs:

Which schools actually give undergrads meaningful opportunities to direct or assistant direct?

How accessible are directing opportunities for transfer students?

How much mentorship do students get from faculty/professional directors?

Does the program actually teach directing as a craft, or is it more performance-focused?

Are there any Illinois programs I’m overlooking that would be particularly strong for this?

24 f, i have around 13 tattoos… 4 on my leg 1 on every wrist, one in my right hand one on my chest and 4 on my left arms… I always wanted to act but i never try it until a new acting school is about to open on my hometown
Do I ruined my chances to make a career out of it?
My tattoos are girly, cute nothing bad or insulting my hand tattoo says “where I am there’s luck” in Spanish, i also have one right above my neck that said lucky girl…
Now hear me out! What if i learned myself how to cover them? I’m a pro at makeup i also always wanted to learn about special effects makeup
I’m really passionate about this… I really wanna make a career out of it, am i to late?
I decided that even is my tattoos are a problem I’m going to start and finish the study program (3 years)

i also feel that I’m charismatic enough to convince a caring director that I’m able to cover them up myself! I can even go to set with them already cover so it’s not an issue
There’s a lot of indie films on my hometown tho and i kinda feel like that wouldn’t be a problem for that king of specific roles…
Be honest with me.

Weekly space to chat about the theatre we've consumed recently!

Discussion of all theatre-related media is welcome! Saw an amazing performance? Tell us about it! Read something on New Play Exchange that clearly deserves more attention? Share it with the world! Just watched a movie or tv series about thespians? Let us know what streaming service it's on! Reading a captivating book about theatre history? Teach us something new! Hated something? Feel free to talk about that as well!

This is a space for casual discussion: "reviews" don't need to be at all formal - you can say as much or as little as you'd like. Sharing links to formal reviews—by yourself or someone else—is also welcome. Only real rule is to talk about something you were an audience for; discussion of productions you are involved with should go to the weekend showcase thread.

hi all - i’m an upcoming senior and graduating in spring 2027. i plan on majoring in musical theater and getting my teaching certification separately.
i’ve done some outside research and i think this is a good fit for me, but i want some input from the students as well. for anyone who is currently majoring in mt or something similar, what’s the experience like, and do you recommend it? give me all the details, thanks guys :)

PS: if anyone has any other NY state college recommendations, please let me know!!!

Hey yall !

I’m an arts management major with a concentration in performing arts administration (with a double minor in law and opera) and I am a senior this year!

For my senior project I really want to put on a play- something that is goofy, camp, and queer. So bad it’s good. I’m looking online to see if anyone has any good suggestions, but here is some know how-

1 - I get no stipend - so ideally the play would be in the public domain so I could put it on for free. Either that or purchasing the rights to put it on wouldn’t be extremely expensive. If it’s in the public domain I can also change whatever I want (lines, characters, etc.) to better fit my goal

2 - the play shouldn’t be super long. 1 hour and 1/2 at greatest length.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

I've started my first semester as an MT major but I feel like this college is not for me. Without getting into much detail, I went through something very traumatic during welcome week at a frat. Since then, I've felt completely isolated and there's nothing I want more than to be closer to home (NJ). I was given a full ride scholarship to study here and that was my sole reason for going. I know as a performance major my options are pretty limited for transferring. What should I do? Would it be possible for me to get another scholarship like this at another university?