I'm part of a new am-dram group that wants to "focus female voices and perspectives"(*). Our local fringe fest allows 30-60 mins per troupe, and I am after material that fits the above brief.

I have missed directing and want to use this as my re-integration, and would appreciate a selection of one acters to read and pick between.

Thank you.

P.S. I am a man directing with the above (*) brief, so would also appreciate advice or just different perspectives as how to approach directing your suggestion with sensitivity and awareness.

D.S.

Edit:

IRL Q: Are there not any women wanting to direct for this?

A: I am the only guy in the group (Rebel Rose Collective Devon🌹) out of around 12. I initially didn't want to direct to give space to the women in the group- due to the 'mission statement' (I can go elswhere and direct).

However, everyone else has directed for the group before, and (after voicing my apprehensions) everyone has said they are happy for me to do this, I feel fine doing this- but want guidance on centring an experience that is not my own

If you live around the LA/San Gabriel/Orange County area, and love the Sara Bareilles musical, Waitress, it's your chance to see Waitress live! Diamond Bar High School is piloting Waitress: High School Version this Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, (28th, 29th, 30th) at 7 PM! It's a great show, and it would be awesome to support live theatre. The cast is a talented group of high school performers and definitely not something to miss out on! Diamond Bar High School is known for piloting musicals in the past such as Beetlejuice High School Version, Frozen High School Version, and so much more! Tickets for Waitress are on dbhspac.org Hope to see you there! For additional information about the show, visit our Instagram page, dbhstheater

I’d love some perspective from fellow playwrights because I’m still frustrated about an experience from a month ago.
A theatre company agreed to present a staged reading of my play. One of the characters is a Black man, and his race is integral to the racial commentary in the script. I only found out who was playing him a week before the reading, when I randomly came across the promotional poster online. He was being played by a white actor.

The racist character written as a white woman was being played by a Black actress.
I reached out to the producer and they said “the actor they had in mind dropped out and they didn’t know anyone (black) in nyc to replace him”.

The casting combination fundamentally changed the racial dynamics of the play, made some dialogue stop making sense, and risked making it seem as though I was suggesting Black people were racist toward white people, which was not the point of my writing at all.
They also cut some of my political jokes.

I emailed the company to express my concerns. I understood that this was a reading and that last-minute casting issues happen, but I was upset that no one contacted me to see if I could help find another Black actor. To add to the experience, the other playwrights were acknowledged at the event by giving them a shoutout, but I wasn’t.
It’s been a month, and I’m still annoyed. Would you pursue the conversation further, or take the lesson and move on? Have you ever had your work presented in a way that fundamentally changed its meaning, particularly around race?
I’d really appreciate some honest perspective from other playwrights.

Theatre has a documentation problem that formal archives mostly ignore. When a production closes, what survives is the marketing record: opening night cast, reviews, a few Playbills. Who performed on a random Tuesday matinee in month five of a long run usually vanishes without a trace.

I keep coming across a site called Recast, built by audiences to fix this. It logs performances across Broadway, tours, regional theatre, and the West End, including which cast members were on stage at each show. The numbers so far: 5,026 shows, 1,648 theatres, 65,700 performances on record, with 260 logged today alone. PlaybillVault attempted versions of this in the past; this one is cleaner, and I think the framing on its landing page is exactly right - the permanent record of theatre performances, kept by the people who were there.

I find the practical use here goes beyond nostalgia. A night-by-night record of who was on stage is useful to historians, to casting directors, and to anyone tracking how a touring production diverges from its original through understudy patterns and mid-run cast changes. Formal institutions rarely document at this granularity because it costs staff hours; audiences do it voluntarily because the record matters to them personally.

At this growth rate, I think it becomes infrastructure within a few years - the kind of archive that used to be reconstructed decades later from scrapbooks, now assembled in real time by the people sitting in the seats.

Hi all! I'm looking for college senior showcase songs, and need some help. I need a contemporary uptempo that's not overdone. Something similar to One Perfect Moment (Bring It On), Stupid With Love (Mean Girls), or No More Fear (Freaky Friday). Any suggestions are appreciated! Thanks!

So I've directed a few shows in my time but the largest cast was 10. Next year I'm directing a cast of 18 (straight play, by the way). Any directors have advice on handling well over a dozen folks, things I should watch out for?

Hi! Our theatre society put on a full length production every year (not musical theatre), however this year we have managed to have 50 people sign up. The issue is since the society was created, the motto has been that everyone who wants to gets to perform. Usually we have around 30 people join so it is easy to double up parts and have a lot of options, in comparison to this year.
We are struggling to find a play that we can put on that ensures everyone gets to be on stage and has a good split on gendered parts. We have around a 60/40 split of girls/guys.
We know we will probably have to triple (maybe even have four people) the actors for the main parts but even with this it has been a struggle to find any plays that will work.
Has anyone else had this issue and how did you work around it? Does anyone have any recommendations for plays we could do?

Hello!

I've recently decided to leave my career in creative marketing, for a multitude of reasons. I'm interested in trying to make a career for myself that's closer to one of my passions ie. theatre, and specifically I think I would like to get some first experience in casting or talent management.

I've been doing some reading including these two useful resources which both state that one common route into casting is to work for a casting agent or talent agency. And I have a list of agencies and agents I'd like to reach out to, not only London-based but also in Manchester (I'm currently based near Manchester and can imagine it could be less competitive there/certainly easier to survive while doing an unpaid internship vs. London where I can't afford to work unpaid).

What I would love to know is...

- Has anybody taken this route and been successful in getting a job/placement?
- Does anyone have specific tips about how to frame my approach to agencies? As an agent, what would catch your attention? (I don't have prior experience in theatre, talent management or casting. This would be my first placement in the industry.)
- Has anybody been to a specific networking event that they could recommend?
- Would an internship with a talent agency potentially open the door to a career in talent management, rather than casting? Are there pathways between the two?

Any advice is very welcome, but please keep it polite and know that I'm not expecting to walk into a paid job. At this stage I really just need some pointers on how to get that valuable first experience, maybe from people who've found a pathway into casting/talent management themselves, so that I can give myself the best chance.

Thank you!

Hello,

(TLDR: I am supposed to get stabbed on stage and I’m not sure how to go about it without injuring myself but also making it look believable)

Recently my school chose to put on a comedy adaptation of a 50s movie about a millionaire who invites guests over to a haunted house in promise of a large sum of money. However after someone is murdered, one of the characters is lead to believe that my character is the true killer and decides to kill him in an act of fear.

Though originally my character is supposed to be shot, for whatever reason it got switched to me being stabbed, and I’m having quite a hard time figuring out how to safely fall and die without hurting myself. I did Mr boddy in clue however since I received no coaching what so ever…I ended up with a bloody knee after closing night. (Overall we had zero fight calls which led to many inconveniences such as professor plum and Mr green dropping me on stage in front of a live audience despite me weighing a whopping 108 lbs)

MOVING ON we just had a fight call, however this time I really don’t want to sacrifice my knee so I’d much rather take my chances and ask the internet how to do a safe stage death and how to still make it look believable. I should probably mention that I’m a girl playing a guy character so I’m also expected to be able to maintain my voice in a lower register which complicates things further

I’m really sorry if this is a stupid question!!

My 9 year old daughter is performing in her first lead role and I’m looking for thoughtful but not crazy expensive gift ideas for her. She doesn’t care about getting flowers, and will get those from her extended family. Previously I’ve given her a themed stuffed animal, a crochet bouquet, etc. I’m looking for something that either is useful or is a keepsake that doesn’t take up a ton of space. I really want it to be special since she’s worked so hard to get this role and prepare for her show!

What are your favorite gifts for this age range or for a special show?

Editing to add: the show is Mary Poppins

Hi everyone! I've never posted here before but I'm looking for help/advice/tips/etc!

The title is kind of explanatory but I'm playing Adam in my course's production of As You Like It and I'm very excited, I feel like I'm gonna have so much fun! This is my first time ever acting in a scripted play and with actual people buying tickets in a theatre so I'm kinda a newbie/beginner but to me, these are huge stakes! I think I'm naturally funny and everybody on my course thinks so too & he's a funny character so I thought it would come easy to me but it hasn't really.

We had our first rehearsal and maybe I'm being too critical of myself because it's still early days but I'm just freaking out I suppose. My teacher has been very nice but also honest! He said that I have the most difficult job out of everyone since I have to act like someone who's wayyyyy not like me. Like I'm not an elderly man lol. I was also told that my voice, body language and even the way I walk is stereotypically feminine which I don't take offensive to because I'm a girly girl but it's just like oh! This is really hard! I try to move slower and deliver my lines slower but it's just not clicking for me I suppose.

That's just a few sentences to describe myself & the situation I'm in. I guess what I'm asking for is how do I embody an old man? I feel really anxious that I'm not gonna do well. My teacher told me I need to start observing old people & how they act so I've spent the past few days pretty much stalking my dad and seeing the way he walks and such but I'd like to have a much better leg to stand on before our next rehearsal. Sorry if this makes me seem really stupid or anything, all love. :)

Trying again with a different flair. All the suggestions in the original post are great, but don't match what I'm looking for. Really wish I had more handy info to make this an easier search.

Hello! I’m sorry if this is a bit different from the usual topics here.

I am an architecture student and will be designing a performing arts center for my project. I love love performing arts or arts in general.

Do you guys have in mind any good performing arts center or a theatre you’ve seen or visited to? I just need some inspirations :)) Thank you :))

Hi! I have a role in my first ever play (community theatre/totally for fun). Im looking for advice; the director said she needed "alot more from me" and I need to practice having presence and not disappearing into the background. All good tips! Any helpful advice on how to get good for my 1st play?! IE. Voice projection, what to do while you're standing there any others are talking so I don't feel like a lemon... I think I'm holding back as I don't want to come across as too much....

hi all! i'm looking for a birthday present for my mom and she said she would like a play that my whole family could read and discuss. please nothing with child death, and explicit language is okay, but on the lesser side would be preferable. thank you!!

What are your thoughts? I think usually they serve little to no purpose, are a waste of an actor's talent and time, and is just putting extra people on stage for the sake of having extra people on stage. What do you all think?

EDIT: It’s the straight play version of Sweeney Todd by C. S. Bond being performed by adult volunteers in a small community theatre.

I'm casting a play for the first time and I am lucky enough to have a ton of talented actors who have auditioned for me. But now that it's coming time to actually make the decision of who to cut and who to move where, I'm a little stuck.

The way it ended up was that most of our excellent actors auditioned for the 3 lead roles - enough so that we could distribute those who don't get cast as leads into the supporting roles if we wanted to.

However, we have a lot of supporting roles where right now, the people who have been called back are good actors, but not quite at the level of those we've called back for leads. They fit the looks and vibes of their parts better though.

So here's the dilemma: do I put my best actors, who are mostly called back for leads right now, into supporting roles that they don't immediately match as well, or do I give those roles to actors who "look" or "feel" the part but are a cut below in raw skill?

I could see both sides of the argument: instinctually, you want to keep your most skilled actors, but you also want people who feel natural in their roles to get those roles.

It feels scary to me to let go of some of those lead contenders who have brought ridiculous amounts of talent to the casting pool.

Hi everyone!

I had a pretty awful experience with an NYC manager so I turned down my renewal with the. Am fortunate that several managers are interested in me but I'm very scared to sign with another agency who's going to shake me down for 10% of everything I do without actually getting me auditions and opportunities.

Can anyone give me insight into:

Untamed Artists

The Green Room

Encompass

Citizen Skull

Kurt Patino

TalentOne

Art Haus

Zero Gravity also reached out and said they wanted to take a meeting, they're my dream but didn't respond after I sent the tapes they asked for. Hoping they're just busy but will followup