after school @dramacub - Tumblr Blog

weirdvintage

G.K. Fox appeared as a clown at the Olympic Theatre in a show that ran over a year, 1868 (via Library of Congress)

smhandbook

This ghost light though.

perpetuallight

Beautiful.

scenicdesign

backstageleft-deactivated202009

Alternatives to Broadway

I know, I know, Broadway is the bestest. But hear me out on why Broadway isn’t the only way to go when it comes to theatre.

First off, Broadway theatres are only 40 or so theatres located in the theatre district (plus the Vivian Beaumont Theater in Lincoln Center NYC) in NYC. They literally only account for theatres in one city in the vast country that is the United States. So in that sense, Broadway, while fun, is a very narrow representation of theatre.

Here’s some alternatives for those you who A) cannot afford Broadway pricing and/or B) do not live in NYC:

The League of Resident Theatres (LORT) list. There are 72 regional theatres located in 29 states and Washington DC that have contracts with the Actor’s Equity Association (Actors & Stage Managers Union), the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, and USA 829 (The Scenic Artists Union). They are some of the biggest and best theatres around. (They also issue more Equity Contracts to actors than Broadway and all regional touring shows combined).

Touring Shows. If you’re really stuck on the Broadway version, there are plenty of Broadway and non-Broadway touring shows around ready to bring you all of your beloved musicals from Wicked to Phantom to Avenue Q.

Larger theatres near you (especially those with IATSE contracts!). Some of those larger theatres even produce work that moves to Broadway later. Like La Jolla Playhouse (San Diego) and Berkeley Repertory Theatre (Berkeley) both located on the west coast, and both have had their original works moved to Broadway later on.

Smaller theatres near you. Where do you think the greats get their start in theatre? It’s not often someone’s first acting/design/playwriting gig is Broadway.

Professional Summerstock Festivals. Seriously famous theatre actors often times take work in other states for the summer. I’ve worked at several places that had Tony Award Winning actors and famous TV/Film actors take roles there. I’ve even worked for a place where one of the Producers there just received his second Tony as a Producer for Fun Home. And the Berkshires in Massachusetts are like Broadway’s vacation spot.

If Tony’s are what’s most important to you, here’s a list of theatres not on Broadway with a Regional Theatre Tony Award.

And without non-Broadway you wouldn’t have rad things like Sleep No More (an immersive theatre experience) and the Deaf West Theatre Spring Awakening (now on Broadway, originally premiered in LA). Or amazing theatres like the Guthrie in Minneapolis, MN, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre in Milwaukee, WI, The Alley Theatre in Houston, TX, etc.

In short, go support your local theatre because they seriously might just be the next big thing. Focusing on just 40 theatres out of the enormous number of genuinely great companies out there is doing a disservice to yourself and to the companies that are taking those risks and putting out new and amazing work.

backstageleft-deactivated202009

In regards to your tags:

#yea i agree w/ james #‘alternatives to broadway’ makes me feel a little :/ #and just bc something isn’t the ‘next big thing’ doesn’t mean it’s not good or worth of seeing #but support all the theatre always #and this is a resourceful list #rb: theatre

And to if-only-angels-could-prevail ‘s tags:

I have a few problems with this post No theatre should be considered just an “alternative to broadway” Similarly you shouldn’t see theatre just because it might be “the next big thing” You should see and support theatre because THEATRE IS GREATbut I can still kind of get behind this more non-broadway theatre on my dash pls

This post was written toward the people I saw in the Broadway fandom who kept talking about how theatre wasn’t worthwhile if it wasn’t Broadway.

So for people who believe theatre needs to be all glitz and glam and celebrities and accolades, these are the reasons why other theatre would appeal to that part of the Broadway fandom which I’ve seen roll through my dash waaaaay to often. It’s hard to quantify theatre goodness to people with that mentality without working in the above terms.

I mean this line

I know, I know, Broadway is the bestest.

is me being very “I’m REALLY tired of hearing this over and over”. Really just imagine me rolling my eyes while typing this line. Because I’ve fought this mentality so damn much on this website. Like so many people believe Broadway is the be all, end all and that it’s the only way for actors to make money in theatre (Which is completely untrue!)

I work in theatre. I am not in the Broadway fandom. I believe great theatre happens in a variety of venues, big and small, union or not, community or professional. I’ve seen it. I’ve built it. Of course I don’t believe everything is “just an Alternative to Broadway”. It’s just the most visible theatre for most people and therefore a lot of people pull the whole “Well I don’t live in NYC so I don’t have access to great theatre!” (Which is one of the huge pillars of pro-bootleg arguments, another thing I was frustrated with during the writing of this post).

I honestly think there’s tons of theatre out there BETTER than Broadway that doesn’t get any recognition because it doesn’t have all the money, glitz, glam, celebrities, and accolades. And that’s a damn shame.

jellysnack-deactivated20240529

This is so important for everyone who wants to work in theatre. Broadway is awesome, sure, but so is EVERYTHING ELSE. When I was 16 I wanted to work on Broadway because BROADWAY! (insert flashing signs and jazz hands) But now as an adult I want a production contract on Broadway because student loans, bills, rent, and I like to drink. Broadway is 100% (okay maybe a little less) about making money back for its investors. Broadway is very much a business, not all about the art (yes, there are exceptions). The Tonys are political and am I crushing your views of Golden Broadway yet?

Beautiful theatre happens in outdoor venues, in tiny coffee shops with a 4′ stage and three lights. It happens in colleges and high schools and community theatres. Sometimes it’s full of people who went to school for it (probably a regional theatre if that’s what’s happening) and sometimes it’s people who have a 9-5 but really had fun doing theatre in college or high school and just want to do something creative on the weekends. Theatre is for everyone.

“I regard the theatre as the greatest of all art forms, the most immediate way in which a human being can share with another the sense of what it is to be a human being.”

-Oscar Wilde

cleolinda

Getting Gorey with Alley Theatre’s ‘Dracula’

Edward Gorey—whose pen-and-ink drawings regularly mixed the macabre with the ridiculous—was the rare visual artist who forayed into theatre design, winning a Tony Award for his work on the 1977 Broadway production of Dracula, for which he designed the costumes and 30-foot-high set. Being Gorey fans themselves, the creative team at the Alley Theatre decided to resurrect his designs for their version of Dracula.

places--please

SEVEN AMAZING IMAGES OF STAGE TECHNICIANS THROUGHOUT HISTORY

Imogen Cunningham’s “Theater, Cornish School” shows a lighting designer at work at the college in 1935.

Carpenters building sets, 1935. And yes, most are wearing collared shirts, ties and even waistcoats.

At the rail, 1935

Stagehands, 1899

Setting up the WPA’s Portable Theater Project, 1937

If you were a stagehand in the 18th century, one of your jobs might have been trimming the candle wicks on the footlights.

Stagehands rehearsing a scene, 1910

omgthatdress

Headdress

1850s

The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

unflavoredwaxedfloss20

by michaeldelialorimer http://ift.tt/1Nfuo0f

showers-and-sunshinee

“A woman cannot be herself in modern society. It is an exclusively male society, with laws made by men and with prosecutors and judges who assess female conduct from a male standpoint”

Henrik Ibsen’s notes while writing A Doll’s House, published in 1879 (via fuckyeahibsenplays)