Have you ever wondered what kind of work goes into a theater production? It is obvious that the

actors put in a lot of time to memorize lines and find the right way to deliver them, but there are

so many things often missed that go on behind the scenes. From stage management and props to

costumes and directing, there is a lot of work that has to be done before opening night.

Community theater is absolutely a passion project. Today, I want to share with you some of the

things I have been doing in pre-production to prepare for my upcoming play, Kindred Spirits.

I am currently in the process of helping to round out the cast. Many of the members from the trial

read-through are returning in their roles, but there are a few roles that need to be recast. I have

been working with other members of the team to get an audition announcement sent out, and I

was responsible for providing the character descriptions and age ranges of the characters. I have

also been working closely with a designer to create a poster for the show. It is my hope that the

audition announcement and poster will help to drum up interest in the show!

The era of the play is set roughly around 1910, so I have been hard at work on costuming. There

are a lot of characters in the show, with many of the cast playing more than one role, so I had to

take into consideration that many people would have costume changes. I wanted the characters to

have distinct colors associated with each of them, so it is easier for the audience to remember the

different characters. I often have characters played by the same actors in a shared base costume

with the intention of using layering and hair to distinguish which character they are playing. This

will make costume changes less of a time risk and will help save backstage space as well. Now,

the task is seeing what costumes we already have, and which ones need to be made or bought.

The other major thing I have been working on is the stage design. I had a clear picture in my

mind while writing the script of what I wanted the stage to look like. Now, I have to work on

translating that into a drawing with dimensions. Because I am not the best at creating these sorts

of designs, this part has been a bit of a struggle. The stage the play will be performed on is

relatively small, so I need to be creative with how I utilize the space. In conjunction with the

stage design, I have started a list of props needed for each scene. This also informs me of what

props need to be made or acquired, and if any of them take up stage space, how that influences

my stage design.

This is just the beginning of the work needed to put on my play, but I am glad to be getting a

head start on it. The more I can plan out now, the easier it will be for me to go into rehearsal

right after the end of this semester. While I know that more team members will be added who

will start to take over some of the production work, I like that I am working to organize

everything now. I think this will help make the rest of pre-production run smoothly.

Now that you see a glimpse of the work that goes on behind the scenes, I hope that you have a

new appreciation for the effort that goes into theater productions! If you feel so inclined, you can

keep up with my play on Instagram @passion4actingtheatrecompany and I look forward to

seeing you in the crowd!