Amateur Theater

The tickets are quite inexpensive.
There are no fancy ushers inside.
Some of the cast are your neighbors,
Or relations in whom you take pride.

The scenery isn‘t fantastic.
The atmosphere, far from Broadway,
But here people come who, without this,
Might never have seen a live play.

We work different jobs in the daytime
And study lines on the way home,
Rush through dinner and then to the theater
To rehearse, or to perform.

You may ask, if the salary‘s “zero“,
And fame we‘re not likely to find,
What does Amateur Theater
Have to attract heart and mind?

The chance to give theater to people
Who never had theater before.
The chance to discover great stories,
And bring them to life one time more.

To recreate all of the things
Fine playwrights and artists dream of,
To share with the friends we meet here
The things about theater we love.

Don’t come here expecting our efforts
To match some fine movie you‘ve seen;
We may need your imagination
To help us create what we dream;

But be ready to laugh or to cry
In spite of the real world outside,
And share with us in these few hours
The world we create with great pride!
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Where The Actors Play

This platform that I stand upon has been the grass in spring,
A kitchen in a country home, a hall where choruses ring

It’s been a seaport in Siam,  a cozy living room;
A dark street in a ghetto, a church for a bride and groom

It has known the laughter of children; the screams of a desperate man.
It has been a hide-away, and a nightclub with fake champagne

It’s been adorned in colorful hues, or carpeted gray or black
Some of its visitors return, but they‘re different when they come back!

It’s had as much of the public eye as the White House, I suppose,
And is just as sturdy and ready to bring forth life in a fashion pose

For no world is more versatile, more alive and gay
Than the spirited one I’ve found right here on stage where the actors play!