Theatre - Topics

Teaching as the day job every performer warns you about: is it really that bad? What does an arts administrator actually do all day? West End ticket prices have almost nothing to do with what the show costs Dramatic irony: why does the audience have to know more than the characters? What does a stage manager's prep look like before the first rehearsal? The real cost of self-producing a show at a fringe festival is always higher than the budget Why is theatre criticism disappearing from newspapers? How do regional performing arts scenes survive when the nearest big city takes all the talent? Are performing arts nonprofits just badly paid startups? What rights do understudies and swings actually have on a long tour? What makes a dramatic monologue auditionable rather than just long? How do you stage a play in a pub back room with no lighting rig? How do you build tension in a scene where nothing physical happens? Should arts funding go to established companies or to brand new work? How does a theatre company tour a show that was built for one specific stage? Auditioning for stage work for eleven months and booking nothing: how do you keep going? Is a performing arts degree worth the tuition if you are not aiming for Broadway? Blocking is decided in week one and then quietly rewritten every night Fringe theatre pays nothing but the contacts beat anything drama school offers Regional theatre is dying and it is not only about funding cuts How do you pick an audition song that is not overdone? What is it like to play the same role eight times a week for a year? What does a theatre's producing team do in the year before opening night? Why does every director ignore the stage directions? Audience etiquette has collapsed: phones out during the quietest scene What should you never do in a shared dressing room? How do you handle a heckler without breaking character? What happens when a set piece breaks mid-performance? What do you actually do backstage during a two-hour show when you are not on? I forgot my lines on opening night and the rest of the cast covered for me Is stage combat training worth it if you never do a fight scene again? How long does it take to recover from a show that runs eight times a week?