Theater Audition in Hua Hin

[gandalfinthai]

Well, today and tomorrow. If no one shows up, it solves the problem. If I get a cast, we are in for some fun!!!

[LolaBeltran]

I wish you well! This is something that cropped up a few years ago and I wrote to some community theatre group in Pattaya or Chaing Mai to find out how they handle the visa law. ( no reply) There is a group in Bangkok that seems active and has staged performances with ex-pats. . I dont know how they handle the law. ( bribes??) But the law is clear. You need a work permit to perform on stage, build sets and costumes etc I have an extensive life-long theatrical background from opera to musical comedy and my BA is a minor in set and costume design. I would be thrilled to get back into "show business" . . .but I just wont risk my retirement visa. Sorry. This is one of those ridiculous laws here that nobody in government thought through ( so many retirees have so much to give. . volunteering to teach English in village schools for example) another is the absurd liquor-buying times. One hopes that someone in all this governmental reshuffling going on takes a look at the actual effect of laws passed not just on how they look on paper.

[JamesWest]

i wish i had seen this post earlier, i would have liked to watch the auditions.

good luck with your production.

i hope you research your work permit issues and get the correct information so you are not stopped after the first performance. The director should be able to a get permit because he has "one of a kind" abilities and theoretically your cast should be the same.

But the crew is a completely different story. you may have to find a all thai crew that will work for nothing.

the other issue is the venue, a restaurant that could profit indirectly by having a large influx of people for the play (even if they spend no money during the performance) would piss off the other restaurant owners and they will "drop a dime" on you to immigration right away.

not trying to be negative, just want you to know how to proceed.

I will be very interested to hear what you find out because this would open the door for others to follow.

[gandalfinthai]

Well,
I don't know if was the work permit fear factor or simply a lack of genuine interest in theater for free but nobody (not one single actor) turned up. C'est La Vie. Guess I'll just keep on with my photography and painting (I sell in the US on Fine Arts America not Thailand) and let go of free theater. A pity, it would have been fun, I think.
Perhaps I will have play-readings at my house. Surely that can't be considered work.
Thanks for all the advice folks.

[JamesWest]

sad to hear no one showed.

i know i am scared to join your production because getting tossed out of the country would be bummer.

i am not sure if you can have the reading at the house. if it was a dinner party and then you just spontaneously began reading one time you should be ok.

this may sound crazy, but i was told technically i cannot work in my own garden pulling weeds because that takes work away from a Thai.

the system is really setup here to make sure most Thais are not very well educated. that is the real reason why we can't volunteer to teach anything here.

and that law is why you never see any farangs doing much of anything here. anywhere. except in big companies. i did see a farang man washing two of his rental scooters once. i think he just forgot that he was in plain sight on the street.