Dear Community Theatres, Pick a Show That Fits Your Talent - Not Your Wishlist

by Chris Peterson

One of the hardest pills to swallow as a community theatre director is this: not every show is right for your stage. Yes, even if it’s your all-time favorite. Even if the movie version changed your life. Even if the rights just became available. Even if your board really wants it.

If your community doesn’t have the type of talent a show requires, you probably shouldn’t do it.

This isn’t about gatekeeping or shaming. It’s about setting your theatre and your actors up for success. Community theatre is a beautiful mix of passion, availability, and resourcefulness. But even the most enthusiastic cast can’t conjure up skills or identities they simply don’t have. And trying to force a production when the right people aren’t there almost always leads to burnout, stress, and underwhelming results.

Let’s take a few examples.

If you struggle to get strong dancers to audition, maybe A Chorus Line isn’t for you. That show lives and dies by the choreography. You can’t fake the mirrors and leotards if your cast is still counting “five, six, seven, wait, what?” Yes, you can simplify the choreography, but if it gets watered down too much, you're not doing A Chorus Line anymore, you're doing a version that feels like a placeholder for what could have been.

If your typical casting pool includes five reliable men and a lot of versatile women, maybe don’t program A Few Good Men.

If your youth program is small or inconsistent, you might want to skip 13, Newsies, or even something like The Sound of Music. I once saw a theatre announce The Sound of Music, a show with seven von Trapp children, and then spend the next two months scrambling to find enough kids. They were still auditioning children the week of tech. It was stressful for the cast, chaotic for the production team, and a reminder that you can’t build a show on pieces you don’t have yet. These shows require a deep bench of committed young performers, and even more committed parents. If you’re barely scraping together an ensemble for Annie Jr., this might not be the time to level up.

If your community doesn’t typically have strong singers, especially those with classical or musical theatre training, you might want to skip Sweeney Todd. It’s not just a dark and stylish show. It’s musically demanding, vocally complex, and emotionally intense. No amount of fog or blood capsules can hide the fact that it takes powerhouse vocalists to make that score soar. If you can’t fill your leads and your ensemble with singers who can handle Sondheim’s music, this may not be the right time.

And yes, the same goes for shows that center specific racial or cultural identities. If your theatre hasn’t built relationships with Asian or Latino communities in your area, this is not the year to produce The King and I or In the Heights. These stories deserve to be told with authenticity and respect, not awkward workarounds, not token casting, and DEFINITELY not makeup. If you don’t have the community to tell the story truthfully, wait until you do or do the work to attract them to your stage.

I get it. As artists, we fall in love with shows. We see the potential. We imagine what it could be with just a little more rehearsal, a little more outreach, a little more luck. But loving a show doesn’t make it the right fit for your theatre right now. That doesn’t mean you’ll never get to do it. It just means not this season, not with this talent pool, not while you’re trying to rebuild after a quiet summer or re-engage a hesitant audience.

There’s so much power in choosing the right show for your space, your cast, your audience. When a production is well-matched to your actual community, not your fantasy one, everyone benefits. Performers feel confident. Audiences are impressed. Volunteers want to come back. Momentum builds.

You don’t have to play it safe or small. You just have to play it smart. There’s a big difference between choosing something “easier” and choosing something more appropriate. A show that fits your community well will always feel more impressive than a flashy show that barely holds together.

So before you finalize your next season, take a moment to be brutally honest. What kinds of performers usually show up? What types of roles go unfilled? What skills are in abundance, and what ones are always a stretch?

Choose the show that fits them, not the other way around. You can still dream big. But dream smart, too.