And the show goes on once again…
During the Siege of Orgrimmar, years ago, two visionaries saw a world beset by fear of tyranny and lacking in spirit and good humor. From the ashen cradle of the Tirisfal Glades, and the mind and pockets of a man from Silvermoon City, talent from far and wide was brought together to find a solution to the world’s woes, but through the art of performance rather than the art of war.
Thus began the Tirisfal Theatre, a group of performers who have long held the belief that service to one’s people is to leave them with hope and high spirits, with laughter and song, with spectacle and wonder.
Though the organization dissolved shortly after the return of the Scourge (Shadowlands), the troupe has returned, creatively renewed and ready to bring smiles to the denizens of Azeroth and beyond.
Whether it be by the soul of a play, or the heart of a fireworks show, one thing is certain; when the Tirisfal Theatre is in town, you know fun is about to be had.
Who Are We?
Summary
Who are we? More like who aren’t we! Actors, actresses, musicians, dancers, writers, directors, and folks from all walks of life! We’re a theatrical performance guild with an established history on Wyrmrest Accord!
Established by Father Irreverent of the Church of the Forgotten Shadow, and Lord Atos Sunhart of the Silvermoon Thespian Society prior, the Tirisfal Theatre Troupe has been performing for Wyrmrest Accord since 2013, with our first major public event having taken place in October of that same year.
First and foremost, we are a rather casual roleplaying guild. Our events are pretty freeform, typically consisting of get-togethers, reading through new material, or putting together an impromptu street performance for people passing by to enjoy. Our larger, structured events have a bit more of an OOC-tailored aspect in the sense that we focus on making sure the plays we do go off without a hitch, and then we will typically meander about afterwards and do our own thing or start putting out the word for our shows by engaging in walk-up RP with passersby. This structure is not what everyone looks for in a guild, so just know that if you’re looking for a more serious-take, highly focused guild with an ongoing plot, this might not be the group for you. However, if you’re a fan of a more relaxed group that has an emphasis on engaging with others, we might have something for you.
During events, we try to remain somewhat serious, as we do have a job to do - entertain the people who show up to watch us. But after the show, we love to goof off, spend time with the audience, and enjoy our roleplay at our own pace.
Most of our events place primarily on Fridays, and sometimes on weekends for particularly large shows - all events typically in the evenings between the hours of 6 PM server and 8 PM server starting time. We function based on the server’s time and plan our events around a median of which all cast members can make, because we are, as our name suggests, a guild that performs plays.
We have no attendance requirements to be and remain a guildmate, however, as we do rely on attendance to ensure a smooth event, we ask that those who sign up for events communicate with us if there will be an issue attending as soon as they can. The sooner we know that something has come up or that someone doesn’t feel confident in playing a role, the sooner we can do something about it.
The plays we do are mostly written in-house, though we have several from outside the guild as well. What makes us unique is the fact that all of our plays are written and performed with a certain expectation and mark of quality. We rehearse things such as placement, line delivery, and the use of toys, spells, and other in-game effects to provide a unique visual aid for our stories. It isn’t something as mundane as reading off of a script, or even copying and pasting, as we do tend to trail off into improvisation from time to time as well, making no two shows truly alike.
Another thing that sets us apart as a guild is that we allow membership that does not have to leave their current guild to perform with us! With the advent of programs such as Discord and features like the community manager, the guild is more for show, more so than anything else. While officer ranks are required to be part of the guild itself, members can be from any other guild and not have to quit to be a part of us.
This also means we accept Alliance membership, though some of our events do take place in Horde territory, as that is where many of our characters are tethered. That being said, we do try to make sure our events are in neutral areas as often as we can, even if a few events might slip through the cracks.
It should go without saying, but we are also an all-inclusive guild comprised of mature people and have a zero-tolerance policy for drama, hate speech, etc. Most if not all of us are adults who have no desire to deal with bigotry or immaturity of any sort, and we’re not here to tell people to play nice, so please…play nice. On that note, if a member of our guild or community exhibits such behaviors, please notify one of us with a screenshot of the behavior and we will deal with it promptly.
What Do We Do
Summary
As mentioned previously and…well, more or less all over the guild’s ad, we perform plays, both written in-house and from submissions. Over the years, we’ve done over thirty different shows, with the biggest and most well-known productions being but not limited to;
- The Hellsqueal Trilogy ( A three part play series about the life and downfall of former Warchief Garrosh Hellscream )
- Beautiful Beast ( a WoW-ified take on the classic story of Beauty and the Beast. Sorry, Karazhan fans! No talking dinnerware in this one!)
- The Tale of Zombirella ( a tale of a young Forsaken woman seeking her true love by seeing where the missing appendage fits. No, not that one, dirty mind! )
- Days of our Elves ( a spoof of over the top roleplaying tropes mixed with over the top soap opera storylines! Minus the pipe organ )
- How Garrosh Swindled Winter’s Veil ( Yes, it is exactly what you think it is )
- It’s A Wonderful Unlife ( Another holiday-themed parody of the classic story of “It’s A Wonderful Life”, complete with cannibalism! )
- Wrap of the Lunch King ( A collection of short Scourge-themed comedy skits ripe for abuse around Hallow’s End! )
- Tales From The Burning Region ( It’s like Wrap of the Lunch King, but for demons! )
- Cooking With Tyrants ( Garrosh hosts a cooking show with various guests, what could go wrong? )
- The Altruist ( A precautionary tale about being generous to those who would take everything you have and are )
- Waiting For Gul’dan ( A story about immense boredom between expansions, contextualized in-character, of course)
- The House on Raven Hill ( A story about a man who bought a house in Duskwood that has a rather annoying infestation - a possessed doll. )
And much, much more! These are just some of the larger plays we’ve done in the past. Our archives consist of dozens of shorter performances, and we’ve even done a few one-offs here and there! In addition to plays, however, we also do other forms of entertainment! Fashion contests, Comedy Clubs, and parties galore! We’re always looking for new ways to engage and entertain with Wyrmrest Accord, as well as those from other servers who desire to phase in for our events and see what it’s all about.
In addition to our major productions, we perform smaller plays as well as part of our ‘street performances’, which are usually promotional towards our major productions or other events. We became rather known for our impromptu fireworks displays as well, and we have a parody death metal band comprised of orcs (an homage to Dethklok) titled “Warlordz of the Metalorcalypse”.
There really is no ceiling to what we do. Though plays are the front and center, we have a simple philosophy to how we run our events; “If we think an idea sounds entertaining and fun, and we can manage pulling it off, we’ll probably do something with it.”
Who Are We Recruiting?
Summary
The Tirisfal Theatre has traditionally kept its ranks small, as it’s easier both to manage and we enjoy being more tightly knit with people we know very well. This isn’t to say we don’t love to welcome new faces, however! We love expanding our ranks, and now that we’re recruiting the Alliance into our fold as well, we would love to meet with anyone who believes they would be a good fit for us, especially people who desire the following;
- Giving players who are either new to RP, anxious about it or don’t RP but are curious something to bridge them towards our community.
- Giving a common ground topic for RPers to meet one another, forge friendships, etc. that will enhance their RP experience and immersion.
- Giving to our community and take part in other people’s events as often as we can afford to, and be a reliable group to be called on.
While the ability to make our events as often as you are able (showing initiative) and following directions are important, these are what we aim for. We are seeking people who above all want to uphold these goals and provide their own creative touches to what we do. Someone could be a great actor with flawless delivery, and yet if they don’t hold a desire to give their best effort to the community and instead desire only to have a following from working with us, that’s really not what we’re looking for.
Friendly. Creative. Passionate. These are words that describe the type of people we want, OOCly, even if the character one plays is not always such.
If you desire to apply, you need only contact Atos via Discord (GLA#0318) or an in-game mail to arrange a meeting, and we will give an interview and trial run for your character. This trial run is basically a month where you are invited to show up at events, interact with us both in and out of character, and we see if you’re a nice fit for our group. Through this, we hope to gauge your desire to be a part of the guild, as well as how well you interact with our members. Please know that even if you don’t make it into our ranks by the end of your trial period for reasons related to IRL keeping you away from event participation, it will not be held against you and you will be allowed to try again. Full details on the process will be given at the time of your interview.
Some in the past may have recalled a time when we did auditions using a set of short scripts. While we still use these during the interviewing process, it’s more of a tool to introduce you to how we operate with the plays, as this is an important aspect of performing with us. You will be instructed on the basics of the ‘chat bubble rule’ for line delivery, some common guidelines we follow, etc. Before your interview, you will be given a choice of a few scripts that you can use, alter, highlight, etc. for the performing part of your interview, should the role you’re applying for require it.
All in all, though, we’re pretty laid back, so you really don’t have much to worry about! So be sure to get out there and break a leg with us!
FAQs
Summary
Q: Didn’t you guys disband?
*A: In a sense, I suppose. A few years back we all became very disillusioned with Blizzard following the sub-par reception of both BfA and Shadowlands, as well as the various scandals going on within the company itself. On top of that, life was changing IRL for many of us, so we felt at the time it was best to set things aside. But if we’re being honest, it’s so difficult to stay away from something you’ve poured your heart into, and for me at least, this was the Tirisfal Theatre Troupe. Several other members were feeling renewed as well, and we’ve decided to give this another shot!
Q: So anyone can join? Alliance or Horde?
*A: We’d welcome Kingslayers and demon lords if they mesh well enough with our crew! The Tirisfal Theatre Troupe is a motley crew, and in the best possible way. With guilds being cross faction and the various improvements in support for cross server/cross faction roleplay over the years, we’d welcome a half-elf half-succubus catgirl demon hunter from Moonguard if they could make us laugh and cry.
And yes, we DO recruit people from other servers as well. With many RP addons having cross server support, and a lot of items tradable cross server now, there’s no reason not to! We also recruit people who are already in guilds - you do NOT have to leave your current guild to join our activities! We have other ways of communication, so you never need to leave your friends or teammates you’ve been playing with in order to branch out to us!
Q: Didn’t you guys used to have a tumblr and twitter?
*A: We did, but at this time, I don’t see any reason to really revive either. Tumblr was not very effective at engagement during the later years we were using it, and twitter–I mean, X …I suppose now? Yeah, same reason.
Q: Do you do request performances for other events?
*A: As stated earlier in the post, yes, we do take requests from other groups and events to perform at specific times and dates, provided we can get the manpower for it. This is sometimes not possible, and usually, we’ll get back to you pretty quickly if we can’t take the time you’ve outlined for us. We do not charge for appearances and never will.
It should be noted that at the time of this posting (September 25th, 2023) we are just now getting back on our feet and will need some time before we can be reliable for request appearances.*
Q: How often do you guys do big shows, like Hellsqueal?
*A: Larger productions are our pride and joy, but have been historically difficult to pull off without a proper cast. We would love to do them more often, but we don’t want to become so focused on them that we don’t do any of our other styles of events or focus on them. At this time, none are planned, but we do hope to return to them soon, and with brand new material. It might just take a bit of time.
Q: Are you guys planning another Big Hallow’s End Bash?
*A: For those who don’t know, The Hallow’s End Bash is an event we’d usually do. It was an annual event held on the third Friday of October (most years, anyway) to commemorate our very first public performance at Razor Hill, effectively our guild anniversary. We would absolutely LOVE to be able to do these again someday, as they were very successful, with our second one back in 2015 in particular having an enourmous turnout of nearly 200 people. We don’t anticipate numbers will ever be quite like that again, but it never hurts to try.
Q: What do you do if you have an event on the same night as another major event?
A: Our events are made with the schedules of our crew in mind more than anything. Sometimes, this means we’ll coincide with another major event. While splitting an audience can sometimes be a hassle, I’m of the belief that having multiple major events in a single night to choose from is a sign of a healthy RP community more so than anything, and that there are enough people eager for something to do to that no event will be truly lacking. In short, we will press on with the event if we cannot find a better night. It should be stated that when we schedule our events, we never intend to step on anyone’s toes, and depending on when we are contacted about it, sometimes it is possible for us to reschedule, so please let us know if you’re an event-runner with concerns about this.
Q: What other projects are you all working on? How often do you come out with new content?
*A: As most of our plays are created in-house and follow a certain quality standard set by the guild, production can sometimes be quite slow. However, we try to have something new out as often as we can and have several plays that are about to be given either a thumbs up or thumbs down from the cast.
As of this writing, we have a comeback play set in motion to be premiered by October 20th. We’ll likely have a few performances with it if we can get it done on time, so please sit tight!
Social & Additional Media / Contact
Discord Contact: @.gla
In-Game Mail: Atos (Wyrmrest Accord - Horde)
**NOTE: We have a public discord in the works. It will be posted here as soon as it’s been made ready.
Special Thanks
Crest designed by Jaylith
Hellsequel Poster by Gotosh
Upcoming Events & Appearances
(Please bear in mind all events are given their dates and times according to Wyrmrest Accord’s server time, which is Pacific Standard Time (PST), and almost no events we host will take place in war mode shards)
Summary
WHAT: The Tirisfal Theatre Troupe’s Big Hallow’s End Booth Show!
WHERE: Caer Darrow, Wester Plaguelands - Moon Guard Server (Warmode Off), The ruins of the house next to the canon wall on the isle
WHO: YOU! And you, and you, and especially YOU!
WHY: Because 10 years ain’t nothing to sneeze at!
THIS SATURDAY, OCTOBER 21ST! Come join the Tirisfal Theatre Troupe, as we traverse realms and perform for the Dance of the Dead on Moon Guard-US! Our first ever cross-realm event (well, with US crossing the realm!) Be the first of your friends to witness the Troupe’s first new production in over 3 years: “The Horseman’s Return”!
Stick around after the show for a presentation of “Landowners”, a tale of Forsaken real estate issues and surprise! Can’t spoil the twist on this one, though - it’ll cease to make you inquisitive! ^_~
We’ll top our performances off with a Hallow’s End classic, “Wrap of the Lunch King”, a collection of three comedy skits centered around the Scourge! Explore the mind of a raid boss just before the pull through the combat tactics of Instructor Razuvious in “The Problem With Combat Nerds”, tap your toes to Kel’thuzad’s debut musical about Argent party poopers with “Crashrammas”, and watch as Arthas’s snacktime is constantly interrupted by dark door-to-door religious endeavor in “The Bad Word”!
Stick around between our shows for games, giveaways, fireworks, and other fun into the night, and of course enjoy all that the Dance of the Dead has to offer! It’s a once in an un-lifetime oppourtunity!
Shows begin at 7:00 PM Wyrmrest / 9:00 PM Moon Guard! The plays will run till about 9:00 PM Wyrmrest / 11:00 PM Moon Guard, at which time we’ll be doing our other booth activities through the night! Our booth will be at the house ruins at the base of the canon walls in Caer Darrow!
Come celebrate our tenth year as a guild, and our first month back in the performing arts!
**Please note, we cannot offer anchors to anyone during the performance due to how preoccupied we will be! The Dance of the Dead organizers will have many designated anchors arranged, and all information is available on their discord server, which can be found in their thread posted here on these forums!
So anyone who wants to come see a performance and take part in a server honored tradition (that being the Soup Kitchen of course!) come on down to the Crossroads, grab a bowl of grub, and enjoy the show on Wednesday!
You’ve been a huge help with everything! (also I need to edit that Cardd you set up for us so I can update the info!)