Sara Stackhouse, executive producer for the
Actors' Shakespeare Project, said her company likes to choose a traditional script that is artistically challenging yet one that will resonate with the audience.
"You see a space and say, 'God, it would be great to do The Tempest in here,'" she said.
Sometimes the space helps determine the script, Stackhouse said. The Actors' Shakespeare Project is constantly changing venues to keep an intimate setting with the audience and to expose new audiences to its work.
These different spaces can set an atmosphere before any scenery has been added, she said. Using the same space over and over for different productions may need added scenery to achieve the same result.
Evan Quinlan, the marketing director for the
11:11 Theatre Company, said that everyone from his company gets together and reads the new original works that have been submitted to it. He said company members try to see if it works for them.
The original works that have been performed so far have been written by the artistic director Brian Tuttle.
Opera Boston also uses a collaborative effort to choose its pieces. General director Carole Charnow, music director Gil Rose and president emeritus and artistic advisor Randolph Fuller get together to decide what will go into the season's program.
The number of plays in a company's season varies. For Opera Boston, its season consists of three operas.
Artistic director Lyralen Kaye from
Another Country Productions said she refines her call for submissions. When she chooses a play, she's looking for writers with a different voice. "We're looking for writers of color, queer writers," she said.
"We search nationwide for submissions. A lot of trial-and-error has gone on," Kaye said, "but a lot of networking supports everything."
When reviewing material Kaye said she is looking for a new take on a story to be seen and heard.
Samantha Lebicz, the treasurer for the
F.U.D.G.E. Theatre Company, said anyone involved with the company can make a suggestion on what plays should be presented. Then a separate committee gets together and compiles a list for the season and that list goes to the board for approval.
Lebicz said the plays that have been chosen have normally been newer works that haven't necessarily been in the mainstream.
Despite the different ways theater work is chosen for presentation, these companies say they know they've made the right choice when the audience applauds.
No matter what the troupe, an actor needs a play and local areas companies have a variety of ways of deciding on plays to produce. Some companies have only one person deciding what the season makeup will be, while for other companies it's a collaborative effort.
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