Some people have told me that taking drama classes is a better way to expand your acting ability, other have told me community theater is the way to go. What’s your opinion?
as always, it depends upon who’s in charge of what. If it’s an acting class you want a gifted, knowledgeable teacher/coach who is able to expose the student to a genuine variety of technique, bringing out the best in each student. If it’s community theatre, you don’t want the cliche ego-driven, meglomaniacal board of directors and officers whose only desire is to see themselves always on stage, whether they’re right for the roles or not – which is too often the case – jealously guarding their positions of power at the expense of letting new blood into the group. it’s rare to find a good acting class and just as rare to find an equitable, fair group running a community theatre with the best interests of the show at heart and not their own selfish desires. you have to shop around if you live in a city that is big enough to have that luxury. If not you need a thick enough skin to get as much as you can out of the local scene until you can move to a larger city. unfortunately theatre is an dgo-driven pursuit, and there are healthy egos and those that are not. you have to sort the wheat from the chaff.