Fill out our online form, and we will be in touch as soon as possible to discuss your request. We aim to respond to all requests within 2 weeks of receipt.

The Players are in high demand, and it is always best to send an initial inquiry (even if you are still unsure of specifics!) to secure your preferred dates. U-M requests must be received at least 6 weeks before the desired performance date. Requests for off-campus performances must be received at minimum 3 months before the desired performance date. It is not unusual, however, for the Players to book performances a year or more in advance. Early inquiries increase the likelihood that we will have availability in our calendar to perform at your event.

Our Company Manager will contact you to set up a phone meeting with a theatre program staff member. In preparation for this meeting, it may be helpful to visit our Identifying Goals for Your Event page. During this meeting, the theatre program staff member will discuss with you the ways that the Players can best meet your needs. You should be ready to discuss your target audience, your goals for the event, and possible dates/times for the performance. If you are interested in booking the Players as part of a joint venture with another group or institution, it is important for a representative from all parties to participate in this conversation.

No. While the Players' primary mission is to serve the U-M community, we perform regularly at other universities and professional conferences. Since 2000, we have performed off campus for over 8,000 individuals at over 60 different institutions. Due to our on-campus performances, however, we generally limit our off-campus performances to 5-6 per year.

The CRLT Theatre Program primarily presents on topics applicable to faculty, academic administrators, and graduate students in the areas of teaching/learning and institutional climate. We also occasionally perform for university staff and medical professionals. We do not perform for undergraduate audiences. The U-M Educational Theatre Company (ETC) provides similar applied theatre services for undergraduate audiences at the University of Michigan (umetc@umich.edu).

Our audiences range in size from less than 10 people to more than 500. Our staff members will think with you about what pieces of the repertoire might be the most suitable for your anticipated audience size and how our facilitation practices would shift for events with varying numbers of guests.

For a full list of sessions and descriptions, please visit the Sessions page.

All Players sessions are created to meet a need identified by the higher education community. To create accurate and specific sessions, program staff consult academic research, conduct qualitative interviews, and draw on ethnographic observation of relevant settings. In the development process, material is previewed by clients, focus groups, and/or the CRLT Faculty Advisory Board before being added to the repertoire.

Session development is a lengthy process, and the creation of new work is often cost-prohibitive for clients. Facilitation plans for existing sessions can often be adapted without cost, however, to more closely match a group's goals. To discuss how a session might be reframed for your audience or to explore the possibility of commissioning new work, submit an inquiry, and we will schedule a meeting for you to talk with a theatre program staff member about the objectives you have for your event.

In addition to our longer sessions, the Players offer trigger vignettes. Trigger vignettes are short (2-5 minute) scenes that are customized to meet the specific needs a group may face within their own institutional context. Our ability to create trigger vignettes depends both on the Players' availability and the alignment of the proposed vignettes' content with CRLT's mission. We also offer facilitated workshops, as well as consultations that focus on strategies for integrating applied theatre in university programming. Please contact us to discuss these additional services.

A typical Players session runs 90-120 minutes. In rare instances when the nature of an event demands it and the material allows it, sessions may be shortened or lengthened.

Players sessions are facilitated by the Players Director, Assistant Director or another member of CRLT's professional staff. Hosts/event organizers are encouraged, however, to actively participate in Players sessions. They should plan to provide any necessary opening or closing remarks to situate the Players performance relative to their goals in hosting the event.

The CRLT Theatre Program prides itself on being able to work within a wide range of spaces. Many of our sessions can be performed in a classroom with minimal tech, though a small subset require larger venues or more traditional theatre spaces. A theatre program staff member will consult with you to ensure that the space selected for your event meets the needs of the performance and your anticipated audience.

The Players and our clients have developed a number of helpful strategies for advertising performances and recruiting audiences.

The Players are happy to provide you with a PDF flyer advertising the relevant details for your event. Click this link to view a sample flyer. We will customize the date, time, location, photo, and session description. We are unable to offer customized promotional materials beyond this point. Please contact our Company Manager to request a PDF flyer. If you prefer to create your own promotional materials, we are happy to provide high quality logos and photos from our sessions. Please contact our Company Manager to request these files.

As long as it is not disruptive to the actors or the audience, we do allow photography. If you are planning to photograph a Players session, we ask that you notify our Company Manager at least 48 hours in advance. The CRLT Theatre Program does not allow videotaping of our in-person sessions or recording of our virtual sessions, due to actor contract rules. Likewise, due to the interactive nature of our performances, we do not allow livestreaming of our in-person sessions. 

Costs vary based on many factors. Once we determine your specific needs we will provide you with a detailed estimate of applicable costs. Please contact us to request a cost estimate.

The cost includes 1-2 phone or in-person meetings with the theatre program staff to discuss content and goals, all rehearsal time, and one facilitated session. The client is responsible for securing appropriate space and, in most cases, arranging for any necessary technical support. Off-campus clients are also responsible for the company's travel costs.

The Players have been written into many grants, including ADVANCE and NSF grants. We do not offer assistance in grant writing or administration; however, we are happy to provide your organization with the information necessary to complete your grant applications and/or reports.

Our scripts are not available for purchase, nor do we offer rights of performance to external groups. Players scripts are the copyrighted property of the University of Michigan Board of Regents.

If you are interested in us circulating such a notice, please email our, please email our Casting and Directing Practitioner with the following information:

 

• A brief description of the event or recording for which you are seeking actors
• Any information about the identity characteristics needed for the project you are casting (e.g. gender, race/ethnicity, age range, etc...)
• An indication of the number of actors you are seeking
• A list of dates/times performers would need to be available for rehearsals or performances (if such times have been set)
• An indication of the payment range performers might expect for participating in your project (As a point of reference, performers in our company are paid $22-$25 an hour for stage work. Performers are typically paid at a higher rate for videotaped performances. Industry standards for educational videos range from approximately $450 (half day rate) to $670 (full day rate) per performer.)
• Your contact information (email and phone number)
• Once our Casting & Directing Practitioner has received your email, she will forward this email to our company members, and they will contact you directly if they are interested and available.

We are always open to meeting new folx who have an interest in joining our dedicated group of theatre-makers who are committed to advancing social justice in higher education. As a company, we place those same values internally on creating a caring, supportive, and equitable environment for all our company members. We encourage you to reach out to our Recruitment Manager/Rehearsal Director if you are interested in joining our company. We look forward to meeting you!

Our company welcomes folx with varying levels of experience. We are able to offer paid opportunities for Equity and Non-Equity performers, as well as those with little to no performance background, but who may have an interest in exploring applied/social justice focused theatre. On occasion, we we are also able to offer paid opportunities for musicians, sound and lighting technicians, directors, playwrights, and dramaturgs. If you are a student, faculty member, staff member, community member, or professional actor, contact us with questions or to set up an audition.