How to Start Your Own Theater Company PDF Download

Author: Reginald Nelson
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
ISBN: 1556528132
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 205

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Book Description
With advice and instruction from an experienced actor and theater director, this pragmatic, authoritative guide imparts backstage know-how for wouldbe playhouse practitioners on everything from fundraising and finding a space to selecting plays and navigating legal issues. Chronicling three seasons at Chicago's award-winning Congo Square Theatre, this journey behind the curtain reveals the nitty-gritty details--such as managing rent, parking, and safety issues; determining tax status and calculating budgets; and finding flexible day jobs--that are often overlooked amid the zeal of artistic pursuit. Inspired by Congo Square's own unique inception, the valuable how-to also speaks directly to the many underserved audiences who want to create their own companies, including African American, Asian American, Latino, physically challenged, and GLBT communities. With lists of Equity offices, legal advisers, and important organizations, this complete resource is sure to help ambitious theater lovers establish and maintain their own successful companies.

Author: Karl Falconer
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1000873455
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 273

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Book Description
Exploring everything from company incorporation and marketing, to legal, finance and festivals, Starting a Theatre Company is the complete guide to running a low-to-no budget or student theatre company. Written by an experienced theatre practitioner and featuring on-the-ground advice, this book covers all aspects of starting a theatre company with limited resources, including how to become a company, finding talent, defining a style, roles and responsibilities, building an audience, marketing, the logistics of a production, legalities, funding, and productions at festivals and beyond. The book also includes a chapter on being a sustainable company, and how to create a mindset that will lead to positive artistic creation. Each chapter contains a list of further resources, key terms and helpful tasks designed to support the reader through all of the steps necessary to thrive as a new organisation. An eResource page contains links to a wide range of industry created templates, guidance and interviews, making it even easier for you to get up and running as simply as possible. Starting a Theatre Company targets Theatre and Performance students interested in building their own theatre companies. This book will also be invaluable to independent producers and theatre makers.

Author: Janek Liebetruth
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 364023152X
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 103

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Book Description
Thesis (M.A.) from the year 2008 in the subject American Studies - Miscellaneous, grade: 2,0, University of Potsdam (Anglistik und Amerikanistik), language: English, abstract: In general, American theatre is often equated with theatre produced and staged on Broadway in New York City. Yet, the American theatre scene is much more diverse and widespread than commonly believed. While the following work is focusing primarily on founding a professional theatre company in South Dakota, it follows and analyzes the voyage of an evolving theatre endeavor called Bühnenkunst Theatre Company and also gives an inside glimpse into the fascinating and mysterious world behind the curtain of contemporary performing arts, especially in the United States. In this paper, descriptive, theoretical facts and explanations are being intertwined with concrete, practical implementations on the process of founding a professional theatre company in rural America. Along the way, this paper does not only emphasize the artistic and creative segment of theatre, but also the technical as well as the business, legal and of course human element. Furthermore, the significance of choosing Sioux Falls, South Dakota, as a market for the new company will be explained and its history, demographics and location investigated. In order to analyze the professional theatre market in the South Dakota, two online surveys were conducted among theatre artists as well as the general public. The range of data, figures and statements captured the genuine essence of not only the multiplicity of different communities in the Midwest, but also the mixture of its theatre landscape. Beyond the study of the locale, the paper will demonstrate all issues that emerged during the formation process of the new company, like filing the articles of incorporation, getting support from the community, forming a board of directors and raising money, as well as choosing the right play for the debut production. The paper continues to elucidate the development of that production from a conceptual, aesthetical, technical, financial and promotional point of view. It will clarify the relevance that the selected play, Spring Awakening by Frank Wedekind, has for the Sioux Falls audience. Finally, the paper will take a look into a possible future of the company and what might be achievable within the next few years.

Author: Karl Falconer
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1000873471
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 243

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Book Description
Exploring everything from company incorporation and marketing, to legal, finance and festivals, Starting a Theatre Company is the complete guide to running a low-to-no budget or student theatre company. Written by an experienced theatre practitioner and featuring on-the-ground advice, this book covers all aspects of starting a theatre company with limited resources, including how to become a company, finding talent, defining a style, roles and responsibilities, building an audience, marketing, the logistics of a production, legalities, funding, and productions at festivals and beyond. The book also includes a chapter on being a sustainable company, and how to create a mindset that will lead to positive artistic creation. Each chapter contains a list of further resources, key terms and helpful tasks designed to support the reader through all of the steps necessary to thrive as a new organisation. An eResource page contains links to a wide range of industry created templates, guidance and interviews, making it even easier for you to get up and running as simply as possible. Starting a Theatre Company targets Theatre and Performance students interested in building their own theatre companies. This book will also be invaluable to independent producers and theatre makers.

Author: David Dean Bottrell
Publisher: Ten Speed Press
ISBN: 039958191X
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
Veteran character actor David Dean Bottrell draws on his 35+ tumultuous years of work in the entertainment industry to offer a guide to breaking in, making a living, and making a life in the fabulous trenches of show business. Covers every facet of the business, including: - Capturing the perfect headshot - Starting (and maintaining) your network - Picking an agent - Audition do’s and don’ts - Joining the union(s): SAG-AFTRA and Actors Equity Association (AEA) - On stage vs on screen - Paying the bills - Self-promotion - Late bloomers - When to get out David Dean Bottrell has worn many different hats during his decades in showbiz: television actor with appearances on Boston Legal, Modern Family, The Blacklist, Mad Men, True Blood, NCIS, and Days of Our Lives; screenwriter for Paramount and Disney; respected acting teacher at UCLA and AADA; and regular expert columnist for esteemed acting site Backstage. In Working Actor, Bottrell offers a how-to manual jammed with practical information and insider advice, essential reading for any artist (aspiring or established) in need of insight or inspiration. Mixing prescriptive advice ("Getting Started," "Learning Your Craft," "Finding an Agent") with wisdom drawn from Bottrell's own professional highs and lows and those of his acting compatriots, this book's humorous, tell-it-like-it-is tone is a must-have guide for anyone hoping to successfully navigate show business.

Author: Reginald Nelson
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
ISBN: 1569766177
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 205

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Book Description
With advice and instruction from an experienced actor and theater director, this pragmatic, authoritative guide imparts backstage know-how for wouldbe playhouse practitioners on everything from fundraising and finding a space to selecting plays and navigating legal issues. Chronicling three seasons at Chicago's award-winning Congo Square Theatre, this journey behind the curtain reveals the nitty-gritty details—such as managing rent, parking, and safety issues; determining tax status and calculating budgets; and finding flexible day jobs—that are often overlooked amid the zeal of artistic pursuit. Inspired by Congo Square's own unique inception, the valuable how-to also speaks directly to the many underserved audiences who want to create their own companies, including African American, Asian American, Latino, physically challenged, and GLBT communities. With lists of Equity offices, legal advisers, and important organizations, this complete resource is sure to help ambitious theater lovers establish and maintain their own successful companies.

Author: Heidi Schreck
Publisher: Theatre Communications Group
ISBN: 1559369213
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 71

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Book Description
“BEST PLAY OF THE YEAR” New York Times · New Yorker · TIME · Hollywood Reporter · Newsweek · BuzzFeed · Forbes · New York · NPR · Washington Post · Entertainment Weekly · Los Angeles Times · Chicago Tribune Finalist for the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Drama When she was fifteen years old, Heidi Schreck started traveling the country, taking part in constitutional debates to earn money for her college tuition. Decades later, in What the Constitution Means to Me, she traces the effect that the Constitution has had on four generations of women in her family, deftly examining how the United States’ founding principles are inextricably linked with our personal lives.

Author: Lisa Mulcahy
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1621535258
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 284

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Book Description
What makes a theater company successful? Lisa Mulcahy poses the question to leaders from nineteen of the country’s most diverse and vital theater companies from the recent past and present, and offers answers in Building the Successful Theater Company. Producers, stage managers, directors—anyone dreaming of running a theater troupe—will benefit from the practical guidance, amusing anecdotes, and sincere advice in this peek behind the curtains of the often difficult, always seductive, profession of theater. With five additional companies profiled in this fully revised third edition, Building a Successful Theater Company features: •The LABrynth Theater Company •New Paradise Laboratories •National Theatre of the Deaf •Shotgun Players •Asian-American Theatre Company •Steppenwolf Theater Company •The Pasadena Playhouse •La Jolla Playhouse •Chicago City Limits •Berkeley Repertory Theatre •Arena Stage’s The Living Stage Theatre Company •Mixed Blood Theatre Company •Horizons Theatre •Wheelock Family Theatre •L.A. Theatre Works •A Traveling Jewish Theatre •Jean Cocteau Repertory •Bailiwick Repertory •New Repertory Theatre New chapters cover funding and financial aspects, maximizing a company's potential through powerful social media use, and creating successful partnerships by teaming up with corporate sponsors and establishing artistic collaborations. Stage veterans reveal advice on everything from locating performance space, to developing a business plan, to and rehearsing and publicizing productions in this invaluable guide to creating or growing a theater company. Allworth Press, an imprint of Skyhorse Publishing, publishes a broad range of books on the visual and performing arts, with emphasis on the business of art. Our titles cover subjects such as graphic design, theater, branding, fine art, photography, interior design, writing, acting, film, how to start careers, business and legal forms, business practices, and more. While we don't aspire to publish a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are deeply committed to quality books that help creative professionals succeed and thrive. We often publish in areas overlooked by other publishers and welcome the author whose expertise can help our audience of readers.

Author: John Mayer
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1474239471
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 281

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Book Description
In 1974, a group of determined, young high school actors started doing plays under the name of Steppenwolf Theatre Company, eventually taking residence in the basement of a church in Highland Park, a suburb of Chicago. Thus began their unlikely journey to become one of the most prominent theatre companies in the world. Steppenwolf Theatre Company has changed the face of American Theatre with its innovative approach that blends dynamic ensemble performance, honest, straightforward acting, and bold, thought-provoking stories to create compelling theatre. This is the first book to chronicle this iconic theatre company, offering an account of its early years and development, its work, and the methodologies that have made it one of the most influential ensemble theatres today. Through extensive, in-depth interviews conducted by the author with ensemble members, this book reveals the story of Steppenwolf's miraculous rise from basement to Broadway and beyond. Interviewees include co-founders Jeff Perry, Gary Sinise and Terry Kinney, along a myriad of ensemble, staff, board members and others.

Author: Victor Skrebneski
Publisher: Sourcebooks Incorporated
ISBN: 9781570715839
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 144

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Book Description
To celebrate 25 years of extraordinary achievement by the legendary Steppenwolf Theatre Company of Chicago, acclaimed photographer Victor Skrebneski has created an impressive photography book featuring historical production highlights and exclusive portraits of America's most gifted ensemble of artists. Steppenwolf at 25 also contains personal essays penned by several notable American authors and playwrights, including Kurt Vonnegut, Sam Shepard, Don DeLillo, Richard Christiansen, Terry Johnson and Charles L Mee.