The continuity of society is highly dependent on the values we uphold, the skills we teach, and the environment we leave for our children. One of the ways you can invest in the children is by starting a children’s community theater. This is a space where children gifted in performing arts can begin to grow their craft. Do whatever you can to influence the kind of adults these children become when they grow up.
A community theatre is perfect for practicing and fostering creativity. It’s a safe space where children learn to challenge themselves, solve problems and express their creativity as individuals and in groups. The more children’s community theaters there are, the more independent, creative thinkers the society will have. Here’s what is involved in starting a community theater for children.
Renovate Your Facility
Once you’ve settled on the best location for the children’s community theater, develop a suitable facility. For the groundwork, you’ll need an experienced excavation contractor to prepare the site where the theater will be built. They’ll level the ground to create a solid foundation for your building, just like you’re establishing a foundation for children to excel in all arts and crafts.
It’s critical to build a safe space. This begins with the construction of the theater. Decisions you make at this stage depend on the building’s design, the number of floors, the size of the theater, and other factors. Ensuring the contractor has good experience and understands what you expect from them is important. You can also check out their portfolio and read other people’s reviews about them and their work. This is a long-term and costly endeavor that demands you get value for your money.
Clean The Theater
Once you finish the construction, contact business cleaning services and ask them for a quote. Any place where a person would consider having children should always have hygiene as a top priority. It’s better to outsource the job to a company that provides cleaning services than doing it yourself. Spending time on other core tasks is more productive than managing cleaning details.
It’s crucial to thoroughly clean the children’s community theater inside and outside before opening its doors to the children. This is one of the safety precautions to consider. As the cleaners sweep, wash, and scrub every space, including hidden areas and every nook and cranny of your building, ask them to tell you anything they find that could potentially affect the safety of your building. They’re professionals and know how a children’s community theater should look and what should be in it and shouldn’t.
Consider getting a drain cleaning company. Why, you ask? Because it’s important to ensure all your drainage and plumbing systems function as they should to curb embarrassing surprises that could taint the theater’s image. You can be sure parents won’t overlook the bad reputation of the place they bring their children.
Offer Refreshments
You’d be pleasantly surprised to learn that refreshments motivate children to attend the community theater. Offering refreshments is an unbeatable strategy for getting your target group comfortable at the theater. This is a great way to create a pleasant experience for the young performers, your audience, and the staff team.
Refreshments also motivate the parents, knowing that the kids have something to eat when at the theater. Children can also be very restless if they’re hungry. With this catering stone, you can kill more than one bird.
Consider hiring a catering company to offer refreshments on a budget. You don’t need to overdo yourself; a few snacks and drinks will do, so this shouldn’t overwhelm you. The details that go into ensuring the children are fed are quite a bit, from the setup, choice of refreshments, cutlery, serving, and the inevitable cleaning after that. You can save yourself all this and focus on how best to nature the young talents trooping to the children’s community theater.
Gather Props and Set Pieces
To bring the magic of performance to life, you’ll need a collection of props and set pieces. The props are in two categories; the general ones for use in any performance with minimal changes and those specific to a particular performance. Before buying the set pieces, check out several antique municipal signs. You’ll find unique items you might want to bring to the children’s community theater as you visit several antique shops.
Other places where you can get unique pieces to use on set are at auctions. One of the advantages of buying items at an auction is that you’re likely to have access to unique, sometimes historic, pieces. The downside, however, is the cost of buying items at an auction. The prices here are high, especially if it’s a fundraising auction whose objective is to help a good cause, in which case those in attendance are not there to buy but help.
As you search the internet, you’ll identify unique items to add on stage as props from online stores that may be miles away from where you are. In this case, you can still order and have the item sent over. At this point, your objective is to give as much life to the stage as possible. As you make these purchases, remember that they’re to be used by young stars.
Repair Your Parking Lot
With the theater up and running, it’s time to host shows. Depending on the theater’s capacity, determine how many people you can host in one sitting. This information will help you approximate how many cars can fit in the parking lot and how best you can repair it so it caters to the parking demand.
People value their cars. You’ll have to put in work and money to set up the car parking and maintain it. Consider safety from two dimensions: the cars won’t be damaged when parked and won’t be mutilated of parts.
To ensure the safety and convenience of your visitors, a well-maintained parking lot is necessary. Hire reliable asphalt contractors to help you repair potholes, cracks, or other damages. A well-maintained parking lot increases your guests’ confidence and peace of mind as they watch the performances on stage.
Construct A Stage
Do you recall the feeling you got when you first walked into a theater? Movies have a way of bringing this feeling to life. We’re immediately transported to another place where the actors control our minds. It’s an incredible feeling for children to see themselves perform on that stage with a crowd watching and cheering them on. A theater’s stage is akin to a human’s heart. It’s at the center of everything that happens in the theater.
It’s important to construct a theater that meets the needs of the children’s community theater. Consider working with cedar lumber companies to provide the necessary materials for building a sturdy and visually appealing stage. Paying attention to the design and layout of the stage will help you create a dynamic and versatile space for young performers to showcase their talents.
Factors to keep in mind as you set up the stage are stage accessibility, stage layout, lighting, and sound, rigging, and fly systems (if the performance will involve flying or suspending items on stage), backstage, storage space, the theater’s aesthetics, and theme.
Purchase Costume Pieces
In the children’s community theater, you’ll have to deal with the reality of keeping up with the cost of giving the best to every play. Costumes are not cheap. One, every play is unique, and you don’t want characters in the plays who don’t fully represent their roles. Two, every play has actors who must be dressed appropriately. Some will require a change of clothes during the act, not to mention the jewelry needed. How can one mitigate this challenge?
Partnering with a local jewelry store can provide you with unique and affordable costume pieces, clothes, and accessories that can enhance the authenticity and appearance of your actors. Consider establishing long-term relationships with such stores to ensure a steady supply of quality costume items. This way, you can work around having an amazing production on a budget.
Install A New Floor
Unlike in the past, having a good floor is more than just about not having cracks. It’s now about the feel it gives the room, how it blends in with the theme and other factors. Every part of the floor in a theater should evoke the same feelings, blending with the rest of the decor for a seamless experience. One of the things you’ll have to do is install a soundproof theater. The floor materials you choose highly depend on this factor.
A commercial epoxy coating can give you a durable and attractive surface. The advantage is that you can use this both on stage and in the pews. Since it’s easy to clean and highly resistant to water, it’ll save you lots of potential costs for maintaining the floor in the future. The design of the floor will also go a long way in creating the perfect ambiance for the theater.
Maintain Your HVAC
Good temperature control is essential for the comfort of both performers and guests. This is crucial to consider and pay special attention to, given the nature of the building. Once the doors are closed, how will you keep the air fresh, the temperature regulated, and the room comfortable? The answer is an efficient, functioning HVAC system.
Hiring a competent HVAC company to install the systems. Go for modern HVAC systems with high energy efficiency. It’s wise to have a professional HVAC service for maintenance as it may not be feasible to do the work yourself. While one can get basic training on the dos and don’ts of avoiding possible HVAC corrosion, letting professionals repair and maintain them is a smart decision. It’s essential to keep the HVAC systems far from children’s reach. Talk to the contracted company for advice on the safest places to install HVAC systems, considering the stage setup and the audience sitting area.
Beef Up Security
Beef up security in the children’s community theater. Like a school, develop a clear system for all children that involves recording their arrival and departure. Go for a seamless, integrated system where staff members are trained on child safety procedures.
Opening up a public children’s area has its challenges. You’ll have to proactively fend off potential kidnapping and the possibility of rogue shooters. Most people are good, but there are also a few crazies out there looking for a chance to disturb the peace. Try as much as you can to foolproof your facility against them. Ensure each child is dropped off and picked up as agreed with their parents. Be inflexible about this rule.
When considering security measures to put in place, start with surveillance cameras. Install cameras everywhere except for the lawfully protected areas. Run intense background checks on people you contract or subcontract to work at the children’s community theater. There are many security interventions to consider, and you can always consult a security company for professional advice. The point is to ensure security at the theater is always tight.
Having a children’s community theater is a million-dollar idea that allows you to positively impact the lives of children at a very significant age. You play a noble role by encouraging them to overcome their fears and believe in themselves. Push for perfect execution of performances and let the children’s talents come out and shine. To increase the potential of your children’s community theater, collaborating with different people and businesses in the community will increase the group’s potential. The advantage of having the theater open to the community is that you can rent it out at a fee for people to use when you’re not staging performances.
The numerous advantages of starting a children’s community theatre are good reasons to consider starting one. Besides the financial benefits, knowing you’re investing in the lives of potential superstars is highly fulfilling. Keep an eye on the ball, and don’t compromise on giving the children an experience they’ll carry into adulthood. Get as much help as possible from professionals, including security firms, to ensure safety for all within your premises. Working with different people and businesses will make your work easier, so you can concentrate on spending your time training tomorrow’s superstars.
