Fearing the Theatre - "Blood Relations - The People Against Lizzie Borden"

Many people that aren't inherently a part of the theatre culture (either as a part of their collegiate education or as a result of their parents being active within a theatre company) tend to fear the concept of going to a theatre. Often times, the only exposure to the theatre for someone comes from a friend or relative being in a production; if the theatre they are going to is a larger venue that they have attended before for another event (for example, The Tennessee Theatre for a music concert); or they will only go to a theatre that is on the campus of their college because they can get extra credit if they can write a paper on a production that parallels something going on in one of their classes (most often in an English class).
That being said, there is no reason to avoid going to see any of the shows that here in Knoxville because of any level of discomfort or confusion of protocol in regards to attending community theatre. There is nothing to be afraid of just because a theatre doesn't some fancy parking garage around it or that the lobby of the theatre may not be the cathedral ceilinged, well-lit nature that a professional theatre offers you.
I have recently been exposed to the joy that community theatre can bring. I had not attended any community theatre before because of my worries about the location of the theatre, or where I would park when getting to the theatre, or what types of people I would have to be interacting with, having no knowledge of the theatre culture.
Let me share with you that, from my observations, there are 4 types of people that have come in during of the show that I am a part of at the Downtown Theatre of Knoxville, "Blood Relations - The People Against Lizzie Borden".
1) The Retired Set - Many of the people that attend the theatre tend to be retired. They have the money and spare time to attend the performances as well as many of their own stories to parallel some of the themes or subjects which a play may cover. Other times the retired may be there just to compare a production to the last time that they had watched it.
2) Friends and Family - The most benign, least critical of the four groups, they are often there for support alone and tend to be genuinely (pleasantly) surprised when they actually enjoy the production that they have witnessed. Everybody wants to try something new and the theatre is often a virignal avenue for many of the people that fall into the friends and family category, for at least the first time that they go to watch their loved one perform.
3) Social Experiments - I could not come up with a better title for this category as the members tend to be variants of one another. For instance, people dating (especially early in the relationship) are in the middle of their own social experiment, getting to know each other. With this, they are willing to take on another social experiment that is even more uncomfortable and nerve racking than the two of them together, which is experiencing the theatre. This can be beneficial to the two that are dating as they get to be together against the rest of the culture that they are uncomfortable with. A variant of that example was witnesssed when, at a low-attended show on a Saturday Night (due to a University of Tennessee home football game), four married couples came to our show looking for something new to do as a group. Now, that may not seem so new and may fall under the category of The Retired Set, but this was actually a Social Experiment because they were visiting Knoxville, from Columbus,Ohio, as a part of a tradition that they have done every year for the last 25 years, in choosing one city and then all four couples traveling together. They chose Knoxville and somehow, looking for something to do on a Saturday Night during the college football season (which isn't an easy task unless you're looking for something football related), they stumbled upon our little show. They really enjoyed it, for the record. One more variant from that level, came when a law professor and a friend (possibly also a law professor though I cannot recall all of the facts) were looking for an alternative to the football and made their way to our theatre. The first professor was a fan of theatre and the accomplice was not to be seen at the theatre very often and both of them seemed to like it as well, not just for the merit of the art, but because of the subject matter of murder and how the details surrounding the murder were presented, to offer up a question of guilt/innocence on a court case that had been concluded over 100 years ago.
4) The Theatre Crowd - From theatre kids to theatre vets, many of the people in this group know each other and talk together (sometimes loudly) as they were excited to see each other in an environment of which they were all very comfortable to be within but had not planned on attending together. They can be the most intimidating group of the four but fear not, because they can either provide you with a new insight to observe the play with, if you happen to be a theatre novice, but also, should they make you uncomfortable, are capable of being involved in a conversation with other theatre people, should you choose to ignore them.

Having said all of this, I am acting in my first theatre production, "Blood Relations - The People Against Lizzie Borden". This is a play about the first nationally sensationalized court case that centered on the trial of Lizzie Borden who was accused of murdering her father and her step-mother with an axe. The play begins ten years after the murder trial, after Lizzie's acquittal and offers questions as to who may or may not be guilty for the murder. I recommend this production as it offers both laughs and high drama. This isn't the type of production that you will walk away saying, 'that was the funniest thing that I've ever seen' nor will you say, 'that was the scariest play I've ever seen'. "Blood Relations" has a nice balance of the two and you will probably end up walking away muttering a positively justified, 'Wow'.

The show will run for four more shows, Nov. 6-9. Details can be found at theatreknoxville.com