How do The Villagers choose their plays?

We don't have a chairman or a committee to choose plays, nor a program set by a clique of members.  What we do have is a process which is possibly unique among drama groups in its democratic approach.

Every year, we mark the end of our production with a meeting at the beginning of September, when we have our annual awards, The Grouchies.  During that meeting, we pick three or four plays as candidates for the next year's production.

Over the winter, we then read one play at each monthly meeting.  One Villager gives a brief exposition on the plot, characters and possibilities of the play, and organises the readthrough.

After reading all the plays, generally by February, we vote on which play we have enjoyed most.  Every member of the Villagers gets an equal vote, whether they have been a member for ten years or three months.  The play which gets the most votes becomes our next production.  The Villager who ran the readthrough is installed as director (incidentally, the director is automatically chairman for the following year), casting is done in March, and then we begin our rather relaxed rehearsal schedule.  It's as simple as that!