Amateur versus Community

(sigh)... They are different terms and they relate to different things. One can be an amateur company without being a community theatre company. An amateur production is ANY production that doesn't pay its participants. It is the opposite of 'professional', which simply means that one gets paid for it - nothing more and nothing less, it is not a comment upon skill, qualification or dedication. A COMMUNITY theatre production, however, is a production put on that is linked to a particular COMMUNITY (duh!), often but not always defined by membership. Most companies that are members of ITA are not only amateur companies but are also community theatre companies - because they are strongly linked to a particular geographic area and membership base. Further, in Perth at least, most community theatre companies are incorporated in a manner that guarantees that all profits will go back into the company for future productions. If the company folds the money is donated to the arts, rather than reimbusing anyone who started the company. That is not necessarily the case for all amateur companies. A good reason for the distinction can be seen through the several exploitative amateur musical theatre companies that pop up to plague Perth every few years. Those companies are amateur alright, in that no-one (except maybe the director or/and musicians) gets paid. But they are privately run and the producer pockets the profits. This is a VERY good reason to emphasise the distinction between amateur and community. If you are going to do amateur theatre, then make sure it is with a COMMUNITY theatre company, so that you are contributing to the arts rather than being exploited for someone else's profit. Regarding the pro-am idea - frankly I'm not certain that its necessary and I'm not comfortable with the idea of productions where some people are paid and other aren't. There is no shortage of actors in Perth who get paid for a portion of the work they do (and hence fall within the meaning of professional, or at least part-time professional), who still have connections with and perform their local community theatre company. And due to the sheer commonality of this, they don't strut around demanding payment to partake in an otherwise amateur play.Having some two-tier system simply perpetuates the myth of community theatre being some 'lower' level of theatre, rather than a club by which people can participate in creating art regardless of whether they have made it their job. Further, there is already such a rich cross-over in the co-op/share-of-profits scene that goes on through the Blue Room / Rechabites etc, which draws on a wide range of performers from top-line full-time professionals to those who might never get paid outside a profit-share production, and the beauty of that system is that they ALL get paid and treated as equals.