A true mockumentary in every respect, Christopher Guest’s 1996 Waiting for Guffman was a brutally hilarious look at the sweat, blood and tears of community theater. Writer/director/actor Corky St. Claire [Guest] moved to a small town in middle America (Missouri?) town of Blaine to get away from all the rejection he received on Broadway. As luck would have it Corky finds a second career running Blaine Community Players performing such greats as “Backdraft: The Musical!” Well, as more luck would have it, Corky is commissioned by the town council to write a musical based on the town’s 150-year history to celebrate its sesquicentennial [sic] anniversary. Corky casts local community talent such as the local dentist [Eugene Levy], a husband and wife travel agent [Fred Willard and Catherine O'Hara] and a part-time Dairy Queen worker [Parker Posey], (you guessed it!) in “Red, White and Blaine.” When Corky receives notice that the great Mort Guffman, a NY theatrical agent who will be attending this show, Corky and the cast actually think that they have a shot at a Broadway run. What ensues is nothing short of the horrid, but hysterical, rehearsal and hell-week process leading up to a no-show by Mr. Guffman.

If there was ever an institution worthy of such a parody, it’s community theater. Having been in community theater for over 25 years, I can tell you first hand, that there is so much of this movie that is unfortunately, very real similar. I have worked with bright-eyed and bushy-tailed wannabe amateur actors who were often distracted by their “day jobs” dentists, policemen, computer programmers, pharmacists, starry-eyed college/high school students, school teachers, lawyers, rabbis, business people and retirees from all walks of life. Most of the time the plays were not classics nor cutting edge, but Broadway standbys that included comedies, zany farces, dramas, musicals, musicals, musicals, … did I mention musicals? Occasionally a [community] theater would actually do something edgy, current or challenging. And when that happened look out! It would be a sight to behold watching the ensuing event when the crème de la crème audition for a few select parts that were sometimes to the shock and awe of the unsuspecting innocent, pre-cast. [Shame, shame, shame!]

Community theater is not for the weak of heart. It’s for the eternal optimist who doesn’t believe in dead-ends. It’s for the tolerant, cheerful, the brave and the gratuitously creative. It’s a life unto itself for someone with little to no home/social/family life who doesn’t have a lot to do on weekends and evenings. And what I find interesting is that most of the actors people in community theater are birds of a feather that flock together: they are close friends, relatives, and family members. In full disclosure, I need to admit that I met my own wife doing community theater.

The zany antics of Waiting for Guffman and the realities of community theater are not completely unrelated. For the most part, productions are not cast well. That is not through any complete fault of one director, producer or theater, but is the reality of the lack of available passable good talent. Oftentimes, the actor can sing the role but is not the right type, or they look the role but can’t act. What is a director to do but follow his instincts and hope for the best. And often the best is a memorable experience that can no longer wait for Mr. Guffman.

Whether it be that singsongy [sic] voice bad actors use, the facial mugging, the shuffling of feet, the wooden hand gestures, or the mouthing of of the other person’s dialogue, community theater performances will always involve detached from reality dedicated, hard-working, individuals, who whether or not admit it would love to have Mr. Guffman seated in their audience.