Yes, You Can!

Before I directed my first full-length play, my question was, "Can a small school put on a large production?" I am here to happily confirm my answer. After 23 productions, I say YES! A small school or youth group can put on a large, successful production, and do so on a limited budget.

I had been writing and directing Christmas plays--the Sunday School variety--for many years, but a desire to do a full-length production kept pushing forward in my heart. My husband and I were running a small Christian school on an island-town in Alaska, and I wanted to put on a production and travel with it--big ideals for a teacher working in a private school with 11 students. Also, to do this, our group had to ride a ferry for nine hours, plus transport all of the production materials.

I took a leap of faith and purchased a musical. Our students practiced and memorized and learned the music and choreography, and in the end, we performed not only locally, but we traveled and performed in another location as I'd originally imagined. And let me tell you, I was hooked on live theater after that!

If you have the heart to do a big production, here's a few things to keep in mind. You will need...