Some people have an obsession, a desire to entertain.
This need may be the driving force behind a structured, well-planned walk along the path to Superstardom, or simply a wish to get together once a week with other, like-minded friends, in putting on a show for the local community, colloquially called, "Am-Dram".
Amateur operatic and dramatic societies are nothing new.
They have served many communities with entertaining amateur theatre for decades.
Perhaps you are a playwright with a stage play you are dying to see produced.
Maybe you are a budding actor with a desire to tread the boards; or maybe, just maybe, you are a member of a community with some spare time and you know there is a need for one in your area and you want to watch a play.
But supposing there isn't a dramatic society in your region? Is it possible to start your own? If you are prepared for hard work, and can work with people then, yes, you can.
In a series of articles we will look at what steps are required, and the things to consider when starting up a dramatic society.
How long do dramatic societies last for? Well, in theory, indefinitely.
It all depends upon the support from the community in both audience and membership.
You cannot have one without the other.
The Settle Amateur Operatic Society, in North Yorkshire, for example, has been around a hundred and thirty years and has huge regional support and sponsorship.
Others are relatively young at a few years old and are run on a shoestring with only a few members.
But what is the connection between these two ends of the amateur theatre spectrum? The desire to entertain, whether that desire is Acting, Set Design and Build, Front of House, the need is the same.
In fact in some cases, it can become an obsession.
Desire alone, however, is not enough.
Where do you start? Developing a local society will rely on one thing by the bucket load: Teamwork.
It is not something that can be run single-handedly.
There are far too many facets that need to be controlled in order for the group to run successfully.
If you are going to get a group together, then members of the society will need to be dedicated and committed.
Just like any team within an organisation, the prospective dramatic society membership will repeatedly go through cyclic phases of development (*).
In a nutshell, at the conception of the group, people will be keen and determined.
As time passes, (this can be months or even years), the group will develop into niches of expertise or knowledge, at which point internal politics within the group will begin to form.
Successes will drive improvement, but failures may start to form cracks in the group's forward momentum.
Over time the rate of growth within the membership may begin to taper off until the group begins to falter in popularity and support.
It is at this time that the group risks falling by the wayside, unless new impetus can be injected into the society to get the cycle going again and get the drive and determination back into the membership.
So, getting a good team of members, people who can work well together to overcome the numerous obstacles that a dramatic production will bring, is only the start of the story.
* The four stages of team development; what teambuilding gurus class as: Forming; Storming; Norming; and Performing.
(Reference - Wikipedia)
This need may be the driving force behind a structured, well-planned walk along the path to Superstardom, or simply a wish to get together once a week with other, like-minded friends, in putting on a show for the local community, colloquially called, "Am-Dram".
Amateur operatic and dramatic societies are nothing new.
They have served many communities with entertaining amateur theatre for decades.
Perhaps you are a playwright with a stage play you are dying to see produced.
Maybe you are a budding actor with a desire to tread the boards; or maybe, just maybe, you are a member of a community with some spare time and you know there is a need for one in your area and you want to watch a play.
But supposing there isn't a dramatic society in your region? Is it possible to start your own? If you are prepared for hard work, and can work with people then, yes, you can.
In a series of articles we will look at what steps are required, and the things to consider when starting up a dramatic society.
How long do dramatic societies last for? Well, in theory, indefinitely.
It all depends upon the support from the community in both audience and membership.
You cannot have one without the other.
The Settle Amateur Operatic Society, in North Yorkshire, for example, has been around a hundred and thirty years and has huge regional support and sponsorship.
Others are relatively young at a few years old and are run on a shoestring with only a few members.
But what is the connection between these two ends of the amateur theatre spectrum? The desire to entertain, whether that desire is Acting, Set Design and Build, Front of House, the need is the same.
In fact in some cases, it can become an obsession.
Desire alone, however, is not enough.
Where do you start? Developing a local society will rely on one thing by the bucket load: Teamwork.
It is not something that can be run single-handedly.
There are far too many facets that need to be controlled in order for the group to run successfully.
If you are going to get a group together, then members of the society will need to be dedicated and committed.
Just like any team within an organisation, the prospective dramatic society membership will repeatedly go through cyclic phases of development (*).
In a nutshell, at the conception of the group, people will be keen and determined.
As time passes, (this can be months or even years), the group will develop into niches of expertise or knowledge, at which point internal politics within the group will begin to form.
Successes will drive improvement, but failures may start to form cracks in the group's forward momentum.
Over time the rate of growth within the membership may begin to taper off until the group begins to falter in popularity and support.
It is at this time that the group risks falling by the wayside, unless new impetus can be injected into the society to get the cycle going again and get the drive and determination back into the membership.
So, getting a good team of members, people who can work well together to overcome the numerous obstacles that a dramatic production will bring, is only the start of the story.
* The four stages of team development; what teambuilding gurus class as: Forming; Storming; Norming; and Performing.
(Reference - Wikipedia)