About

The title…

With apologies to John Guare, there are probably fewer than six degrees of separation between most theatre people in the Birmingham area. Every theatre, every production company, is competing for box office dollars and butts in seats, but at the same time we’re all part of a single community. We’re lead actors in one show, bit players in the next, hammer-swingers and paint-slingers the show after that, and we’re in the audience for every show in between that we can fit into our budgets and our rehearsal & performance schedules. We’re rivals at audition time and we’re friends at the after-parties; to borrow a line from a show I closed not long ago, we’re “comrades. Who do for each other. Right, Martin?”

And we make an invaluable contribution to the cultural landscape of the greater Birmingham area. As of the mid-July night I write this post, there will be at least 350 performances between now & the end of the calendar year. That’s really something, y’all.

My hope is that this site will become a common resource for our extended family, a space where we can show each other support and share our experiences while providing the general public a window into who we are and what we do (and where, and when).

I thank y’all for your support, and for everything you do: the roles you play, the royalties you pay, the sets you build, the tickets you take, and the applause you offer at every curtain call.

[Standby lights to fade, and...Go.]

(Patrick Johnson is, among other things, an actor and jack-of-most-theatrical-trades living in Birmingham, Alabama; currently he serves as the tour stage manager for Birmingham Children’s Theatre‘s production of Sacagawea, and on the boards of directors for Birmingham Festival Theatre and City Equity Theatre.)