What is a community theatre?

Question

Do they get pay just like Broadway theatre?

Answer 1

Usually they only pay if they have to get a professional actor and maybe an equity waiver to fill a specific role. Or if they want to draw better talent to their production they may offer pay for specific roles or to certain actors, but still in general a community theatre will not pay.

Community theatres are usually non-profit businesses where the performers are members of the community. They may be Dentists, teachers, or any number of other professions in their normal every day lives. They depend largely on the community itself for it's existence (donations, ticket sales, etc.) in order to keep putting on shows.

Many of them also have outreach programs for children where they have acting workshops and such for children. The quality varies widely, but they do have them :-)

Answer 2

I've never heard of actors getting paid in community theater, and if they did, it would be WAY less money than the actors on Broadway get.
A community theater is a nonprofessional theater company that encourages all the interested members of a town or region to participate. Every community theater is different--some are huge organizations with big budgets, some are really small; some might produce multiple plays in a year, others might do only one or two. Some of the actors may have some professional acting experience, but often times they hold down full time jobs in totally unrelated fields. The director is often paid, as are the designers and a small core of year-round staff, but the vast majority (in my experience) are people who just like to be involved in theater.

Answer 3

It is an amateur or semiprofessional theatre organiation which provides theatrical entertainment to members of a community by memebers of the community. Generally, they are non-profit organizations and anyone can volunteer to participate. They are usually listed in the yellow pages under theaters, or can be found on the web by searching for "community theatres in (your town).