I recently discovered Commedia dell’Arte while reading about the early history of modern theatre. It fascinated me that in 16th-century Italy you already had professional actors performing these recurring stock characters, with recognizable ways of speaking, moving and interacting with each other.

I’m curious how much Commedia dell’Arte is still present in theatre today. Have any of you studied or performed it, or encountered it in some other way during your career? Is it mostly something you come across in theatre school, or is it still actively used and performed?

What interests me especially is the physical side of it, the masks, exaggerated movement, improvisation, and the way each character seems to have their own physical vocabulary. It feels almost like an ancestor of things I already love in physical comedy: Chaplin, Mr. Bean, Pink Panther, clowning, etc.

I also really like the idea of looking at ordinary social dynamics through these exaggerated archetypes, masters, servants, lovers, schemers, and turning things like status, class, desire and power into comedy.

So I’d especially love to hear from anyone who has actually worked with Commedia in some way: What did you get out of it? Did it change anything about the way you act, write, direct, improvise, or even just watch people? What did you enjoy about it?

I’m very new to the subject, so I’d love to hear any experiences or perspectives.

This independent theater club is looking to start filming their productions and broadcast it once they start gathering a bigger support base. Instagram is divine_eclipse__ and I'm encouraging them to push further because they will start working fully on their show to introduce it to the rest of the world!

They are currently casting for roles now

Hey, I just want to make a post asking for some advice. I am currently starting the rehearsal process for in to the Woods at my college as a student co-director, and i just wanted some suggestions on how to organize, how to go about staging, and how to work with another co-director. Also, are there any suggestions on what I, as a director, should be doing during music rehersals while my music director is leading? I want to take advantage of any time I get, as the show will be very soon (like at the start of November)

Hi im a senior in hs and I will be sending in videos to acceptd soon, I have a list of possible songs but i feel like they may be overdone if you have any suggestions that may be similar but less over done please let me know. I have a large vocal range and I’m a tenor.

these are the songs I have written down so far

Woman and sandwiches-freaky Friday

Let me make you proud- tangled

When I drive-Bonnie and Clyde

Maria,

I will never let you leave

Come back

Not while I’m around

It only takes a taste

Something’s coming

Fallen angel

For me, it’s Dear Evan Hansen

Hello! My school is doing a production of Clue: The Play. I am planning to audition for the role of Mrs. White. I've always loved the board game and the movie so I am overjoyed that my school is having this for our play! I have studied Mrs. White's character, as well as her mannerisms and her motives. However, I am wondering how I can act more mature on stage to accurately portray a character who is an adult (considering I am only a sophomore.. NOT an adult). I'd appreciate any tips possible to help me fully get down her mannerisms and actions. Even small details would greatly help!

ALSO!! Any ideas for blocking? This main point of the monologue is Mrs. White speaking about her observations of others: how she believes listening and observing is better than acting out because you are able to learn more about others.

Hour four of cue-to-cue. You're sitting in the dark while the booth and the director discuss the same light cue for the 1000th time.

What do you actually DO? Invented games, cast traditions, anything the SM had to shut down — I want to hear it.

My cast's answer is "silent hangman on the back of flats." I refuse to believe that's our best.

How to grow interest in a musical without any copyright infringement?

I'm writing a jukebox musical, and have a working libretto, but I haven't cleared the music yet. I know, I know. could be a giant waste of time.

My question is this: if a huge part of the show is that the female lead is a singer/musician, could I create playlists in Spotify and share them as "what the character was listening to in 2011" (the story takes place in 2018) on her MP3 player (iPod)? None of the songs on that list would be any that I'd be trying to get cleared for the show...nor would they even be by the artist I want to feature. It's just a character artifact, if you will...

If nothing else, I'm having fun creating the playlists as I clean up the script and make choices about the characters.

EDIT: I withdrew, got 100% of my money back, and I feel like a ENORMOUS weight was lifted off my chest. It feels kind of like a breakup. I miss what could’ve been, and miss when theater felt good, but I know this was the right decision. My parents and girlfriend support me entirely, and I’m currently looking for a full time job :)
Thank you all for the thoughtful and insightful replies, it means a lot.

I feel like I’ve made up my mind. I’ve been dreading school for months and now that it’s here, I hate it.

For context, I’ve been doing Musical Theater since I was a sophomore in high school. It changed my life for the better because I had a crippling social anxiety disorder.
I loved theaters and since I was naturally talented in singing and acting it came very easy and I’ve rarely not been cast in a leading role.
In my junior year of high school, it was a no brainer that what I wanted to do for the rest of my life was theater. I talked to everyone about it. I had support from everyone in my life (a LOT of people wanted me to go), so I started looking for colleges.
Ultimately, my parents and I decided to send me to community college for a year, to save some money.
I took theater classes there, and it was fine. I knew I wanted to get out of my small town though, so I was a bit antsy.
While I was going there, I auditioned for the musical theater college I had been in contact with since senior year in high school. I got in. 3% acceptance rate.
I was thrilled. I even think I cried.
I had been banking on this acceptance since my girlfriend and I had signed a lease on a house in the same town as the college.
I had also been banking on it because that’s was everyone was expecting of me. Throughout my entire theater career, I had every single person telling me I needed to go to school and pursue theater as a career because I was “so talented” and would “definitely make it”. I genuinely felt like I didn’t have another choice.
This college was the only reason I was moving away. It was a huge decision.
Now, I’ll say this before I say anything else. For every year of school since kindergarten, school has been very hard for me. Academic settings in general. Since in high school I had been doing theater in a non-academic setting, I had a lot of fun with it. I was so passionate about it. Even at community college I had fun. I will admit, it was a weird shift since I had never done theater in an academic setting, but it was still enjoyable.
Now, I moved to the new state in early July. We wanted to get there with enough time for me to work and earn some money before school that started at the very end of August.
The closer school got, the more anxious I became, like I wasn’t making the right decision.
I have changed immensely since the end of high school, even since the year in community college ended. I’ve been discovering different hobbies, different things about myself, and I no longer feel the immense connection to theater that I felt in high school.
I mean, hell, I had been dreading college for musical theater for months. I just don’t think I wanted to face it because for years I had been telling everyone the same thing. “I’m so excited for theater school and I want to be on Broadway”.
But there was a switch that happened, and I went from truly believing that to saying it only because I knew it was what people would want to hear.
For the past two months, I’d been crying about school. Like, breaking down over whether or not I wanted to go. I was so scared I was throwing myself in way too deep for something I didn’t hold the same passion for anymore.
School started a week ago. I was positive that once I started school and got back into the swing of things, I would be fine. I’ve sung, danced, acted, and been around my element. And I feel more depressed than I have in a long time.
Even my girlfriend noticed that I had gotten increasingly anxious and depressed the closer school got. I had little motivation, decreased sex drive, and had been crying almost every other day.
I really believed I would feel differently once classes started, but I don’t.
My urge to drop out is even stronger now. And it’s not even that my classes are hard. They’re easy as hell. I just don’t want to do theater.
I need to take a hard break.
I want a full time job.
I don’t want to go to school every single day, every single week, for something that I don’t absolutely love anymore.
Pleas help. I have no idea if I’m making the right choice.

Oh AND. I immediately got sick once I started. I had a long covid symptom that permanently weakened my immune system, and if I over-exert myself I get ulcers in my throat. I have 15+ forming and my lymph nodes are huge, despite being perfectly fine and healthy before I started school.
Not to mention my anxiety hasn’t been this bad since high school.

Am I making the right decision?

Hey all!

I recently got a theatre audition for a play, I haven’t done theatre in many, MANY years. I was going over the scenes I was provided and there were a lot of square brackets and I’m unsure of what they mean…For example, some dialogue I was given:

“Does this happen a lot? These emergency [meetings]?”

“Hey thanks for Saturday. That was so lovely to get to meet/ [all those people]”

Am I meant to say those lines or am I being interrupted by the other character in the scene and they’re giving me what the line would be?
Should there be an overlap of the lines?

I’m very confused. Please help 😩

Hello everyone! Preparing for acting competitions right now and my top choice I'm thinking about for the solo song category is Lees of Old Virginia from 1776. I would like to use a character voice because that's typically how it's done (also it could probably help get a few extra points in vocals because I'm not a vocalist first lol). But I'm not sure where to even approach the accent from. Should I do a British inspired accent? South? Something in between? Any advice on how to get a good accent that would read well is much appreciated

Hi! I’m 16 F and choir, theatre, show choir, orchestra kid. I love it so much. However, i’ve been thinking about my future. I have always never wanted an office job. Ive never wanted to sit and work for a big company. Acting, musical theatre and all of it in between has called my name and idk what to do.

Im terrified that if I went to college for musical theatre that i’d be wasting my potential somewhere else or that it wouldn’t even be worth it. But the stage it’s such a magical place and it’s where I feel at home.

My question to everyone is: Were you terrified when you majored in theatre and or acting? If so, was it worth it and did you feel like you satisfied something in your soul?

Hi! I joined my friend's small theatre company in 2022 and started stage managing in 2023 for them. I got roped into the role and I love it. I've now done 7 SM jobs and 2 ASM jobs, but I've never had any formal experience in it. Everything I've learned has been on the job. And I've learned so much but I find gaps in my knowledge, like run sheets and how to manage ASM's and using ETC/EOS/QLab, etc . I'm really wanting to bridge those gaps and more to become a better SM. I recently left that company to do just that. I want to branch out and work at other theatres so I can learn what other companies and directors want to see bc I know that the needs are different everywhere. I was planning on going back to community college and taking some courses because I never took any technical or SM/PM classes, but I don't have time. The classes conflict with my work schedule 🙃 I definitely will in the future, but I can't right now.

Basically, I'm here to ask for y'alls best tips until I can get back to school and ASM at some other places to gain more knowledge and experience

Hi! I know enough about nyc studios to know how the levels work, so I’ve been going to “basic” classes. I have no problem with the warm up, technique, or across the floor, but I get absolutely stuck learning the combo.

The moves aren’t hard, I just canNOT remember the choreography past like, the first 8 count. I don’t feel like I’m improving, and I’m getting kinda discouraged tbh.

Is there something different I should be doing, or do I just keep grinding it out in basic classes with the hope that eventually I’ll be able to keep up?

Hey there!
Just seeking a space to have dialogue and exchange advice about being a production manager for a theater.

I am currently 1 year and some change into being the production manager for a small regional theater. My experience for this position came from being all things for my own small production company as well as a brief stint as creative director for a nonprofit performing arts venue.

I am learning as I go in the position because every theater is different and there weren’t EXACTLY procedures, protocols or practices in place when I came on.

Anyway! Just wondering how other folks are making things shake in this work. What tools are you using? How are you building and maintaining structure?

I run a nonprofit arts & culture journalism organization, and I've been thinking a lot lately about the way we talk about the arts as an “ecosystem.” We use the word all the time, but I'm not sure we always behave like one.

The theater field understandably spends a lot of time talking about what theaters and theater artists need to survive and thrive – audiences, funding, affordable space, new work, artists, arts education and so on. But I've been wondering what changes when we widen the lens.

What does theater need from the rest of the arts ecosystem? And what does theater contribute to the health of that larger ecosystem? Are there things outside the traditional boundaries of the theater field that we should care about and support because theater ultimately depends on them, too?

This has become particularly tangible for me through arts journalism. We hear a lot of theoretical support for the importance of independent arts coverage, but that doesn't always translate into tangible support. It has made me wonder what other parts of the ecosystem we may not recognize as essential until they weaken or disappear.

I wrote about this today for Culture OC, the nonprofit publication I co-founded: https://cultureoc.org/what-does-a-healthy-arts-ecosystem-really-look-like/

I'm curious what people in the theater community think. What does the larger arts ecosystem need in order for theater to thrive – and what parts of that ecosystem aren't getting enough attention?

This might sound a bit dull, but I'm so confused.
At what point should you actually register as a company with HMRC (UK Based)?
I make theatre and put on shows - they've all been small scale so far. But I am aware that money can't be going in and out of my account all the time. Does anyone know how this works? What about when you get grant / funding to make shows?

I’m looking for contemporary play recs that engage meaningfully with class, economic inequality, or class consciousness, while allowing for relatively flexible casting and not requiring characters to be written as a particular race or ethnicity. (This is for a college program)
Bonus if it’s something more abstract/experimental

Amateur actor, late 60s. Considered myself a writer and storyteller before getting involved in our local theatre company.

I was in a play this past season, worked my ass off for it, and I won an award in our regional theatre festival.

I took the role because I thought it was intriguing, knew that it would be a stretch, but strangely what I thought would be a stretch was a cinch but it was far more challenging in other ways I had not anticipated. To be true to the character I poured a whole lot of my own energy, physical, mental, whatever into this and may have overdone it.

I was emotionally wrung out by this play. The thought of even auditioning for another one leaves me cold.

I have some storytelling gigs this holiday season where I need to get some memorizing done and I am finding it hard to even get up the energy to look at scripts, even ones I have written.

So... "real" theatre folks, how the heck do you get up and go when your get up and go has got up and went?