Community Theatre: How the Weird & Wonderful Make Communities Better | Dan Chesnicka | TEDxLakeland

"Community theatre is the one place where being weird, being different, being strange is considered an asset, not a reason to be bullied or ridiculed", argues Dan Chesnicka, producing director of an award-winning community theatre in central Florida. He explores ways in which community theatre reaches out to underserved populations and brings the community together. Dan Chesnicka is the Producing Director of Theater Winter Haven, an award-winning community theater in Winter Haven, Florida. Prior to joining the world of theater, Dan was the co-founder and CEO of a product development company and is the inventor of Hitch Critters, Truck Antlers, and other novelty products that have sold hundreds of thousands of units and are responsible for millions of chuckles. Dan also spent a dozen years working at Walt Disney World and is credited with developing a number of innovative programs.
Dan's passion for community theatre was ignited by his children's involvement and after serving on the Board of Directors at Theatre Winter Haven, he assumed his current position three years ago. Under his leadership, Theatre Winter Haven won numerous awards at the local, state, and national level. Dan sees the performing arts as a way to connect people in the community and reduce isolation. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at www.ted.com/tedx

[@honeygoblin6416]

"Bizarre" "Bizarre"

[@capsizetwice]

Dan, great video on the theatre. I'm also glad you said what you did on MSNBC before the SOTU address; wish I had that video clip -- you summed up the real issues so well.

[@calliewilliams5474]

8m going tonight for the first time tonight was nervous but I feel more assured

[@calliewilliams5474]

I love it

[@ClydePRiddlesbrood]

Um...u ain't conservative 😂

[@sexydudeuk2172]

One bad thing i dont like about community theatre speaking from experience is that unfortunately it does tend to get cliquey and favourtism tends to be rife in certain companies where they give favourtism in casting to certain people i have been in my fair share of them.
Another problem is while there are some friendly groups, in my experience they tend to be of lower standard and the quality of their shows tend to be not as good
All this is speaking from many years of experience