They are places to let off steam, live your dreams, or experience your unfulfilled ambitions. Amateur or Community Theatre thrives despite perennial rumours of the death of the theatre. They are the training grounds for beginners, newcomers, or those who are just preparing to try for the big times*. These are companies who hold auditions open to their members or the general public -- sometimes for a fee, but more often not. You'll also find that many of these groups or societies have been in existence far longer than any professional company.
No union involvements, no pros. Sounds like a dream....
Here are a few links to sites relating to and/or maintained by some amateur groups around the globe. Although they involve amateur productions, many of the sites seem to have a more professional execution than many of the sites promoting professional companies.
Denmark seems to have an organization of amateur groups: dansk amatør teater samvirke or (DATS), which maintains links to a number of Danish sites, including Veksø Amatør Teater af 1985 (VAT85).
Travel to Norway and you'll find The Oslo Players -- a group devoted to productions of plays in English.
And I know it sounds like some kind of bad joke, but believe it or not, Sweden hosts the Polish Theatre Society. If the images at their site are any indication, the society's productions are anything but a joke. Their aim is to "introduce Polish theatre and culture to both Swedish and Polish audiences."
Despite its name, the Wagga Wagga School of Arts (Australia) is an amateur theatre society, producing plays and musicals. They have a history dating back to 1859 when the group was founded to "provide art and cultural facilities for the community." The sites many JPEGs show the group to maintain a very high level of production values.
The Mummer Theatre Group (Scotland) has an ambitious site with information about their productions over the last few years. The site contains a great deal of very attractive artwork. Makes you want to see the shows.
Cambridge University Amateur Dramatic Club (UK) was found in 1855. Their site is very intricate, large, and detailed. You'll find information from throughout their long history. (I guess as students they have more time to devote to the maintenance of their site than some of the other groups.)
Hard Ticket Productions (Newfoundland, Canada) is one of the most recent groups formed to establish a web presence. They produce performances "a more alternative nature, utilizing non-traditional theatre space," including their current 15-minute epic, Skinhead Hamlet.
The Garden Suburb Theatre of London "promotes local involvement in and appreciation of drama." Their extensive, but text-based site was a welcome relief from the mass of slow loading graphics and peculiar MIDI files I'd been surfing. The many pages of the site provide comprehensive details about the group -- they web-publish their newsletter so you can see reviews of the shows and backstage information.
The German Neues Wuppertaler Theater (wuTh) is a large organization, with many shots of their productions and artwork. They even have online ticketing for their productions.
Another group with a long existence is the Wilmslow Guild Players (UK). Their "emphasis is firmly on enjoyment, and everyone is welcome to 'have a go'." Their pages document productions dating back to 1926, with voluminous links to cast bios, photos, artwork, and, where available, complete scripts.
By the time you are reading this, the enormous 1997 Theatre Awards Charts should have been updated to reflect this weekend's Tony Awards. We all congratulate the winners, don't we -- despite how we may really feel.
In the coming weeks we'll be surveying:
If you have any favorites, please pass them on.
Go see a show!
Originally published at Suite101.com Theatre, 5/27/97
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