A community theatre usually involves local volunteers who work together on productions of dance theatre, children’s theatre and musical theatre. The actors, stage hands, set designers, people in props and costumes are usually unpaid amateurs, but sometimes professional actors participate as well. Community theatres are a great way to get people together in a fun and educational environment.

In actuality, most theatres around the country are community theatres. The real definition of a community theatre is a theatre that is community minded. Most theatre groups that are not from a community are traveling theatrical groups. The 1880s saw the beginning of “little theatre” in Europe, where people could see shows without having to visit the huge, expensive productions. By 1910, little theatre came to the United States and became more of an anti-Broadway endeavor. In the early 1900s, most theatre productions were done by traveling theatre groups, who all joined together to make “The Syndicate,” which was basically a theatre company that took over the industry to make money, and prevent anyone else from being able to have a successful theatre company outside of the Syndicate. Of course, all throughout this time there were people fighting against the commercialization of theatre arts, and they were the ones who really got community theatres going, so it was shut down soon after.

In the early years, community theatres were even funded by the government, but when shows became too political, government funding was stopped. Community theatres of today are a little different than the old “little theatres,” as most simply want to infuse a little culture into the lives of the local citizens. In many cases, these theatres are run by colleges and their theatre departments. These productions are often free of charge, or charge very little money to pay for costumes and other incidental expenses.

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