Why keeping your longtime volunteers isn’t enough if newcomers aren’t coming back.
A Note About the Photos: Images throughout this article are from my personal theatre experiences and are included for illustrative purposes only. They do not imply criticism of any individuals or theatre organizations pictured.
One of the best parts of community theatre is right there in the name: community. You meet people during rehearsals who become close friends. You find designers you love collaborating with. Directors discover actors they trust. Technicians build working relationships that can span years and dozens of productions.
There’s nothing wrong with seeing the same names appear in your programs season after season. In many cases, those dedicated volunteers are the reason a community theatre continues to exist.
But theatre organizations should be asking another question: Who isn’t coming back?
A loyal group of returning artists doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve created a healthy, welcoming community. Sometimes it means you’ve created a healthy community for that particular group.
The People Who Stay Don’t Tell the Whole Story
Imagine you’ve worked with the same scenic designer for six productions. Your stage manager is doing their fourth show with you. Several actors have appeared in nearly every season for the past five years.
Now imagine dozens of other actors, technicians and volunteers have participated in exactly one production during that same period and never returned. Suddenly, the picture looks a little different. It’s easy to see the people who stay; the people who leave are much easier to overlook.
Ask your longtime volunteers about your organization, and you might hear that everyone is welcoming, the theatre feels like family, or they’ve made some of their closest friends there.
Those experiences are genuine and worth celebrating. But someone who had a completely different experience probably isn’t sitting at the table anymore to tell you about it.
Your most loyal volunteers can tell you why people stay. They can’t necessarily tell you why people leave.
A Core Group Isn’t the Problem
Community theatre relies heavily on relationships. If you’ve found an excellent lighting designer who enjoys working with your organization, there’s no reason you shouldn’t invite them back. If an actor continues auditioning and is right for a role, their previous involvement shouldn’t count against them.
The question shouldn’t be, “Why do we keep seeing the same people?”
Instead, ask:
“Are new people successfully becoming part of our community, too?”
Problems can develop when opportunities circulate almost exclusively within the existing group.
A director calls a designer they’ve worked with before. That designer recommends someone else. Someone needs backstage help, so they text a friend. When another leadership position opens, the theatre approaches someone on the board.
None of those decisions seem particularly concerning on their own. Collectively, though, they can create an environment where you have to know someone to become involved — or at least where newcomers feel like you do.
“Everyone Is Welcome” Isn’t Enough
Posting public auditions is a great start, but auditions aren’t the only way people participate in theatre.
How do you find directors, designers, stage managers, technicians, board members and front-of-house volunteers? If those opportunities are primarily filled through personal connections, only part of your theatre is truly open to newcomers.
Look at how easy it is for someone completely unfamiliar with your organization to get involved. Could someone interested in learning lighting design find an opportunity to assist? Does your website explain how to volunteer? Do you advertise opportunities beyond your existing followers?
“Email us if you want to help!” may sound welcoming to someone with 15 years of theatre experience. It can intimidate someone who has never stepped backstage.
When Participation Comes With a Price Tag
Community theatre may be volunteer-driven, but participation isn’t always free. Some theatres require annual membership dues to audition, perform, volunteer, or take on administrative roles. While these fees can help cover operating expenses, they can also create financial barriers for newcomers.
There’s a difference between inviting someone to financially support your theatre and requiring them to pay for the opportunity to participate.
Membership requirements can also create barriers to leadership and decision-making, particularly when certain opportunities are reserved for paying members. Consider offering optional memberships, reduced fees, scholarships, or pay-what-you-can options.
Membership programs can support your theatre financially without limiting who gets to participate in your community.
Pay Attention to Who Disappears
Not everyone who participates once and never returns had a bad experience. People move. Schedules change. Maybe the next show didn’t interest them. Maybe theatre simply wasn’t for them. One person leaving doesn’t tell you much. Patterns do.
If first-time volunteers consistently don’t return, pay attention. If assistant designers never progress into design positions, pay attention. If newcomers regularly participate in one production but rarely become part of the larger organization, pay attention. Don’t assume you know why. Ask.
An anonymous post-production survey can give participants a private opportunity to discuss communication, workload, accessibility, conflict resolution and their overall experience.
Consider including a question such as:
“Was there anything about this experience that would make you hesitant to participate in another production with us?”
You don’t have to agree with every response. One negative experience doesn’t automatically mean your organization has a toxic culture. But repeated feedback about the same person, policy or problem deserves attention.
Is Your Theatre Community Actually Growing?
Theatres track ticket sales, donations, email subscribers and social media followers. Consider tracking your community, too.
How many people participated for the first time this season? How many came back? Are newcomers eventually taking on larger responsibilities? How are directing, design and leadership opportunities being filled?
The goal isn’t to replace longtime volunteers with new people or stop working with collaborators you love.
Before your next season begins, review how many first-time participants returned, where you’re advertising opportunities, and whether your organization provides a safe way for volunteers to share feedback. Small changes in how you recruit, welcome, and listen to people can make a meaningful difference.
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