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Amateur Theatricals - Part III: The US (2)

© Steven M. Alper

Last week I spoke about my surprise that community theatres had such a large net presence and had so many professional web designers in their ranks. The Albany Civic Theatre's (ACT) (of Albany, OR) designed by, Pat Kight, seems practically intent on demonstrating their net savvy. Not only do they have a FAQ (a vaguely technical computer-ish term, standing for Frequently Asked Questions), but they also have an honest to baud automated mailing list server for their board members and voluteers! There's even links to mapping sites to help you find your way to the theatre. In addition the site provides the details you would expect about their ticket sales, current season, and history (see how they've grown from a single evening of one acts to their current year-round schedule), plus everything is linked to bios and photos of cast members, directors and other staff. This is a big group, with a large and (seemingly) large-hearted subscriber base.

Another savvy site, created by designer Teri Robert, is that of the Actors' Guild of Parkersburg. The site is small and clean, with the expected information about its season, special events, and supporters, as well as links to their sponsors' sites, and an excellent set of arts links (which has indebted us to Ms. Robert for guiding us to the ECCTE site). The site is a small part of a larger site, the Arts Window, dedicated to the arts of the Mid-Ohio Valley.

Of monstrous size and impressive age is the nearly 71-year-old Grand Rapids Civic Theatre, host to this year's American Association of Community Theatres/Fest. Ostensibly the third largest community theatre group in the US (and first in Michigan), they estimate that more than 900,000 people see their performances yearly. And a big group demands a big site — yup, the standard stuff (tickets (including a full seating chart), history, links, audition schedule, and current season), but also great detail about their — get this — theatre school! Now, how many amateur groups can you name that have their own training program, with classes in acting, dialects, dance, voice/speech, technical theatre — even a day camp for kids? And every page about recent shows contains every bio and every photo that appeared in the program about everybody concerned with the production as well as links to reviews.

Every once in awhile, where no one would have expected it to occur, a theatre group comes into being and is allowed to be experimental, even avant-garde, without alienating its subscribers. And perhaps because its early seasons presented The Fifth of July, True West, and Who's Afraid of Virginia