Maybe you’ve sat in the audience at a local production and wondered what it would be like to be on the other side of the curtain.
Or maybe acting isn’t your thing, but directing, building sets, designing costumes or working backstage sounds like fun.
The good news: Cincinnati’s community theater scene offers plenty of ways to get involved, and you don’t need to be a professional — or even know anyone in the theater community — to get started.
From finding auditions to volunteering behind the scenes, there are a lot of open doors to make your first entrance into Cincinnati’s community theater scene. And once you’re in, you’ll soon find out that there’s a lot more to it than just memorizing lines.
Studying theater as a major at Thomas More taught me many valuable lessons beyond the stage: working with diverse groups, budgeting, time management, confidence and so much more.
Once I graduated, I went into corporate life but wanted to remain connected to the theater world. And community theater allowed me to do exactly that.
For those of you interested in exploring what this world has to offer, there are many great resources to help you find audition notices, invitations for directors and there are ALWAYS opportunities to volunteer backstage.
In fact, community theater is all volunteers. Occasionally, a group will pay someone for their involvement; this is usually limited to positions like box office management (it’s always a good idea to pay people who are handling money on your behalf) or specialized experts like fight choreographers or projection designers.
When you do a community theater show, you are becoming a member of their organization; so essentially, you pay them.
The hand-off for this volunteer arrangement is that productions in the community theater space are often more flexible with rehearsal schedules as most everyone involved in the production has day jobs, families and other responsibilities outside of the production.
This doesn’t mean, however, that the level of professionalism is any lower. Yes, you will see an occasional production where you’re thinking “hmm, that person seems to be phoning it in,” or “is that set sponge painted?” but generally, these productions are approached with the same commitment from the talent as you would see on any professional stage.
A friendly watch out for when you do get involved: never, ever, utter the phrase “but it’s only community theater.”
This is especially triggering to those of us who have sweat, bled, and lost sleep, partners and/or jobs over our community theater involvements. Our commitment means something and it should never be diminished.
Association of Community Theaters (ACT) of Greater Cincinnati is a great place to start. Most community theaters in the region are part of this group, and each organization is explained and linked on its website.
There are theaters EVERYWHERE.
From Middletown to Newport, East Side, West Side: usually you can find a theater in your neck of the woods, or many devoted actors, directors and techies travel outside of their home city to follow work that interests them.
I have lived in Northern Kentucky my entire adult life, but I have driven across the region to be involved in productions, sometimes as far as 45 minutes to an hour away.
If you’re interested in getting on stage, you can find audition announcements as well as reviews and other resources at Behind the Curtain Cincinnati run by Rob Bucher.
Facebook has several public groups you can join like Theatre in Cincy+, and most community theaters have their own website and social media.
For example, when I wanted to get back into theaters, I found an audition for a show called “Unnecessary Farce” with Beechmont Players in Anderson. Loving a good door-slamming comedy, I thought: why not?
So, I showed up at the audition, knowing absolutely no one — which was definitely intimidating. But the group was welcoming, the director was kind (the dear Eddie Spencer who passed away a few years ago) and I felt comfortable.
In this scenario, the director gave out portions of the script (called “sides”) and assigned everyone a part in different combinations to read together.
I read a few times; the director gave me a few notes on things to change or styles to try and that was it. A few days later, I had an offer for a part, and I was in the show.
It sounds simple, because it is. Showing up is step one and the most important action to maintain.
Now, I recognize how fortunate I was to be cast after simply showing up for one audition with no existing relationship with the group or the members. That happens all the time, but if you decide to audition and you don’t get cast, don’t take it personally.
In theater you have to have thick skin or you’ll never survive. Take it in stride, consider helping the production in other ways like backstage crew or ushering, and once you get to know the people in the group, the familiarity never hurts when you go to audition again.
When I am directing a show, I encourage people I know and enjoy working with to audition but I never pre-cast.
I observe auditions, I encourage actors to try new things and most importantly, I try to get a sense for their working style.
If someone gives a fantastic audition but is rude to me or the other actors auditioning, I don’t care if you’re Sutton Foster: you won’t be cast.
I, like many others, approach community theater as professionally as possible. But this is also something I choose to do in my free time. I’m not paid. I’m working long hours. I want those hours to be enjoyable and spent with people who are not only professional, but fun!
It’s certainly a balance, but now that I’ve tested the waters with several community theater groups around town, I can confidently say there is a place for everyone.
You can find your people by putting yourself out there and embracing the intimidation of just showing up.
So, if you were looking for your sign to audition, stage manage, paint a set, design costumes: consider this your open invitation.
Because at the end of the day, if community theater has taught me anything, it’s that the hardest part is usually the first entrance: showing up.
How I got my start
There is one play that I know better than any: “Barefoot in the Park.”
In college, my first starring role freshman year was as Corie, the lead female. Neil Simon, the playwright, says: “She is lovely, young and full of hope for the future.”
Which is absolutely true of young Laura back in 2002. I was so excited to have a real part with real lines and significant stage time that I memorized my lines almost immediately. I still have that original script, beat to hell, all of my blocking notes in the margins.
As fate would have it, almost immediately following my leading role debut as Corie at Thomas More College (now University), the community theater in Fort Thomas, The Village Players, was also mounting a production of “Barefoot in the Park” directed by friend and fellow Thomas More alum, Dan Cohen.
I was fortunate enough to be cast and ended up playing Corie twice over a 12-month period.
Flash forward a decade and Dan was set to direct the show again, this time with The Drama Workshop in Cheviot. This would be one of the first shows in their newly acquired space, The Glenmore Playhouse, a former bowling alley.
When Dan had an unavoidable conflict, he was kind enough to suggest me, a budding director, as a replacement.
In 2013, “Barefoot in the Park” was the second production I ever directed. Needless to say, I know the show from front to back and who knows, perhaps one day I will be in another production and this time play the role of Ethyl, Corie’s mother.
So why this long history of my relationship with “Barefoot in the Park?”
Because I can directly attribute my connection to the show to my involvement in community theater.
This article appears in Annual Manual 2026.
