Gamers and Theatre: Is There a Connection?

[CleverNickName]

My wife works as a stage manager for a professional theatre here in Portland. One evening after a show, several members of the cast and crew went out for a few drinks at the local pub, and the subject of gaming came up.

I know that a background in theatre is not a requirement for role-playing games, but there appears to be a lot of overlap. It sort of makes sense if you think about it...there are some similarities between acting out a role on stage, and playing a role in a tabletop game. A lot of acting exercises that they teach in class simulate tabletop gaming (act/react, for example.) In fact, a couple of the actors at the pub told me their gaming hobbies had really complemented their acting careers, and vice-versa.

So it made me wonder...is there a theatre/RPG connection? How much theatrical experience and/or training do you have, if any? (EDIT: I am interested in all types of theatrical training: costuming, sound and light design, set design, direction, and management...not just acting.)

A) None whatsoever.
B) Very little. I took a Drama class in high school, did a community show once, etc.
C) Some. Very active in high school drama, minored in theatre in college, etc.
D) Quite a bit. College degree in theatre, a couple years' acting experience, etc.
E) A lot. It is what I do for a living, I am an equity member, currently doing a show, etc.
F) Can't help you; I don't play RPGs.

 

[CleverNickName]

As for me, I voted "very little." I acted in a church comedy show once, and I've done some set construction. But for the most part, I help out by volunteering to do show posters for my wife when needed. (And by "volunteer," of course I mean "getting assigned.") I don't consider myself a Thespian by any means.

 

[Woas]

None personally. Though one of the guys who I game with sort of does and would fall under B.
My background is in history. All eras, not just medieval European. Most of the people I game with have backgrounds in some sort of computer science or technology field.

But you may be onto something. There are a lot of famous actors and actresses who are known to have, or still do game.

 

[mara]

Met my first gaming group while working on play with a community college theater group, which was pretty much the best thing to come out of that production.

Mara

 

[SolitonMan]

I haven't personally noticed any specific relationship between theatre and gaming, meaning that in my experience the percent of gamers is pretty consistent between theatre and non-theatre segments of the local population. However, I can say that the people I've gamed with who are active in theatre tend to be more focused on the role-playing aspects of the game than their non-theatre counterparts. It makes sense, I suppose, since role-playing is the essence of acting.

 

[Tewligan]

I did a lot of improv theater in Cincinnati and Los Angeles, and I'm thinking of starting up again here in Portland (hi, CleverNickName!) I actually found considerably fewer gamers in that field than I thought I would, surprisingly. A few, but not a lot. I did almost get enough interest to run a one-shot while at an improv festival in Memphis a few years back, but even that was drawing from dozens of groups from across the country. Oh, and the game didn't actually happen, sadly - too much Graceland, show-seein', show-performin', gambling, and drinking was vying for my time!

EDIT: Out of curiosity, what theater is your wife involved with, CNN? I was thinking of checking out the Brody Theater, which is apparently an improv theater.

 

[Deset Gled]

I was very active in the tech side of high school theatre. I primarily did light and sound, but also did stage crew and stage manager stuff. After I graduated high school, they were nice enough to hire me as director of the light and sound department for the next few summer shows.

I never did theatre in college (despite the fact that I actually applied to one school's theater program), and have had zero involvement since I graduated college. I am occassionally surprized by how little I miss it.

In my limited experience, the techies had a lot of gamers. The actors had hardly any.

 

[CleverNickName]

EDIT: Out of curiosity, what theater is your wife involved with, CNN? I was thinking of checking out the Brody Theater, which is apparently an improv theater.

My wife is currently working for Artists Rep, but she's done work for CoHo as well. And she's got director proposals in at a couple of other houses, but I don't remember which ones.

Yes, Brody does improv, and it's pretty good stuff. I think they were working out of the CoHo house last year, when my wife was working on "Collected Stories." If it's improv comedy that you like, you should also check out Third Floor. That troope is top-notch. EDIT: I can't remember if they do improv or not. I can find out.

 

[DarkKestral]

Well, I'll have to say, both me and my brother were theater geek types in high school. We both play PnP RPGs. As have several of my brother's girlfriends... I wasn't as directly theater geek as my actor brother, but I considered doing a theater major (I chose hard sciences) at one point, but wanted to stay firmly in set design and other back-of-the-house type deals.

Haven't really done theater since then, but several of my friends in college have been theater geeks (either they were theater majors, or had a surprisingly large amount of theater knowledge and tended to have done some theater work as either an actor or behind-the-scenes type in high school) who also played RPGs. So in my own personal experience is that it's pretty common, given that I seem to be surrounded by theater geeks that secondarily play PnP RPGs, or people who are primarily PnP RPG geeks but who like theater. The rest tended to be English/Lit, History, or hard sciences types, but many of those even have had some theater experiences.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

I bet there is a higher incidence of engineer gamers than theatre gamers.

Just a hunch.