How to set up a community drama group

howsshecuttin

Hi there,
There is no drama whatsoever in our local village and I was wondering, how would you go about setting up a drama group?
Cheers in advance.

doomed

Probably advert in local churches (make sure to do both RC and CoI)
Advertise "no experience necesary", Otherwise you may put people off.

Pick a play that is likely to bring in an audience. This is not the time for an "up and coming Serbian writer".

Best of luck. Its really great to see people taking this stuff on.

howsshecuttin

doomed wrote: »

Probably advert in local churches (make sure to do both RC and CoI)
Advertise "no experience necesary", Otherwise you may put people off.

Pick a play that is likely to bring in an audience. This is not the time for an "up and coming Serbian writer".

Best of luck. Its really great to see people taking this stuff on.

I'd have no problem getting people involved, With the right advertising here and there It would be perfect, I've just got a big problem..
I'm 16 and involved with theatre for a good while now and am a semi - pro actor but I'd love to see something done in the community..

Rachiee

you'll need a venue to meet and rehearse get that first otherwise you'll have no location to put on the flyer, try local community centres church halls see if they'll give it to you really cheap especially when you're first setting up

i'm a member of a community drama group and we've an arrangement whereby the centre waves the normal rate fee and we make a donation centre in return of as much as we can afford (we do a collection) each week and then we also collect from audience members at times of production and also a portion of or ticket sales

howsshecuttin

Rachiee wrote: »

you'll need a venue to meet and rehearse get that first otherwise you'll have no location to put on the flyer, try local community centres church halls see if they'll give it to you really cheap especially when you're first setting up

i'm a member of a community drama group and we've an arrangement whereby the centre waves the normal rate fee and we make a donation centre in return of as much as we can afford (we do a collection) each week and then we also collect from audience members at times of production and also a portion of or ticket sales

We've got a big hall that could fit 500 easily... I'm sure they would go easy enough on the pocket!

brightspark

The Drama League of Ireland put an info pack together a few years ago.

Even if the info pack is no longer available I am sure that they will give you lots of advice.

http://www.dli.ie/resourceservices.htm

faceman

Firstly congrats on wanting to do this! I can share my first hand experience with you for what its worth A very brief summary:

The biggest thing you will need to do this is time and commitment. its takes alot of work to set up and run a drama group.

Next you need a space. Room or hall in a school, function room in a pub. Anywhere with 4 walls and a roof! It will be difficult to find free space, especially in cities.

Advertise, advertise, advertise! Put ads in local press, in shops etc. Set up a facebook page or facebook event. Run some workshops or have someone run workshops for you. You'd be amazed at how many people will come once you advertise it.

In terms of running the group, you need to make a hard decision. Should you run it by committee or run it by dictatorship. Both have pros and cons, however if you are experienced or know what you want out of the group, its probably better to run it by dictatorship.

If you do run the group by committee, then make sure everyone is aware of their roles and responsibilities.

Then when ready, pick a play and book a venue. Its very exciting staging a play and seeing all your hard work pay off!

Best of luck with it!

mollybgud

Are you ready for all the 'personalities'? You'll need a good one at the helm to keep any budding stars in the real world and to encourage any shier members to shine. Oh and I'd advise going to see every play within driving distance including looking them up on Facebook, Twitter etc beforehand to get a feel for what they're doing. You don't want to clash with the established locals when there is a limited country audience. What part of the country are you in?