Can anyone suggest a decent, affordable sound setup for recording school plays, concerts and chorale performances?

The subject gets very deep very fast. Choral performances, band concerts and plays pose different problems. Musicals are different from straight plays and productions with body pack mics are WAY different from productions without sound reinforcement.

Is there a house sound board? What is your budget? How good does the audio need to be? You can get started for less than $1000, but it's easy to spend much more.