How to Produce Amateur Plays: A Practical Manual

The following lists, which do not pretend to completeness, will at least be found helpful in assisting amateur organizations to choose "worth-while" plays. The general headings...

The first rehearsal should be "called" as soon as possible after the cast has been selected and a place chosen in which to work. If the play is to be performed in a regular thea...

Suppose that the blocking-out process is over with, and the actors have a fair idea of their entrances, positions, business, and exits. The two following extracts (the first fro...

Malvolio comes down-stage Center, while the others are hiding behind one of the benches, either Left or Right. These benches, as indicated in the diagram, are partially conceale...

A great many more factors go into the making of a successful dramatic production than may at first be apparent. To organize a staff whose duty it is to furnish and equip a theat...

A great deal more attention is being directed--in this country, at least--to the improvement of the physical requirements of the stage than heretofore. During the past few years...

The first important question arising after the decision to give a play, is "What play?" Only too often is this question answered in a haphazard way. Of recent years a large numb...

Very little need be said regarding the usual conventional sets, whether they represent interiors or exteriors. The purpose of this chapter is (1) to suggest simple but effective...

Obviously, the choice of the cast should depend upon the ability of the actors, although in the case of an organization like a school or college dramatic club, this system is no...

It has been rightly urged that recent inventions and discoveries in lighting constitute the greatest contribution to the modern art of the theater. This manual is intended prima...

Every effort must be made on this occasion to have conditions, on the stage and behind it, as nearly as possible like those under which the play is to be given. Scenery, lightin...