Community Theater

Last night we got to take the kids to a small-town community theater production of Disney's Beauty and the Beast. It was my first experience with community theater. I've been to high school productions, plenty at Tuacahn, and a production of Princess and the Pea done by kids. I've enjoyed all of them. And I now have a new love for community theater. The acting was alright, the stars of the show did a good job, but some of the ensemble didn't look to comfortable on stage. The stage was small. Very small. The sets had to be simple. There were very few special effects, certainly none that were dazzling. By no means was it a Broadway production, and it even ran much simpler than the high school plays I've been to.

But that didn't make it a less enjoyable experience. First off, it was affordable. For less than the price of ONE normal ticket to a Shakespearean Festival or Tuacahn production, the whole family got to go. Goodness, it was cheaper than a movie! But more importantly it showed off what people with a desire can do when they put their minds to it. The set was fairly simple yes, a few trees moved on and off stage, one 2-sided building, and a couple different pieces of furniture made up most of it. But the costumes were so fun! Using simple things that are readily available- fabric, plywood, some craft supplies, they created the medley of living objects at the palace. And the character of the humans was magnified by their costumes too, I think Le Fou's was my favorite. The show has been shown to a full house every night, and only ran for a week. Obviously, it was popular. But what I really found impressive, is that the people doing this aren't paid. They do it for the fun of it, the passion. It gives anyone in the community who might be interested a chance to be part of a play. If you aren't super talented yet, no big deal, come participate in this, become more experienced, gain confidence, have fun, improve!

It's a little bit of a drive for us, but this experience was such fun that I'm sure we'll be back. I don't think the larger town I'm living in has a community theater, as they have many theater options on the higher end, and I don't know if we could rouse the volunteers to do it time after time. Such a shame, I could be mistaken of course. We do have a place that it could be done, and if I ever hear of an honest-to-goodness community theater around here, I'll see what I can do to participate. Do you have one near you? Have you ever been directly involved in the production of a play, musical or otherwise? I haven't, but someday I think I will...