If you haven't been to a community theater production recently, what are you waiting for? Better yet, if you 've never been in a community theater production, what are you waiting for? Community theater is always incredible. It has a …

This summer, San Diego audiences have an opportunity to see a show on board the USS Midway Museum. CCT, Christian Community Theater, has long been a bastion of community theater in San Diego. They have been doing Broadway style shows …

Since Greek comedy was based on satire and politics, where did the Greeks go to laugh? Satyr plays. These plays were the original vaudeville/slapstick/burlesque. Satyr plays were more blatant than any of those tame theatrical forms. Satyr plays featured a …

Initially, comedy was differentiated from drama by having a happy ending. There were three periods of Greek comedy. The three periods were Old Comedy, Middle Comedy, and New Comedy--no joke--those are the categories. Not much is left of Middle and …

The word tragedy has become such a standard part of our everyday speech that we have lost its context. We use tragic to qualify everything from earthquakes in Japan and Haiti to spilling wine on our favorite piece of clothing. …

Since we’ve gone back to ancient, Greek, myths handed down to us by Roman poets, lets look a little bit at the origins of theater. The original practices of theater were based in the religious practices of the Athenians regarding …

Where did the title Pygmalion come from? For an answer to that, we must return to the source. Ancient mythology. Pygmalion was a mythological story from the island of Cyprus and the most popular version of it was handed down …

The musical My Fair Lady is based on a play by Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw. The title of his play is Pygmalion. The character of Eliza Doolittle was based on a popular actress known as Mrs. Patrick Campbell. Mrs. …

An element to be aware of and pay attention to in a play is character arc. The character arc refers to the changing views and opinions of characters as they progress through the play. Character arc is different from character …

Why is the green room called green? If you’re not aware, the green room is the room that performers wait in before going on stage. However, I’m not sure how many theaters employ the green room for that purpose anymore. …

Enjoy the limelight—but what is the limelight? We use this phrase from time to time, sometimes earnestly, most times sarcastically. Where does it come from? It comes from the theater, the 19th Century theater. The limelight was a mechanism that …