Michael_hunt Posted June 30, 2004 Share Posted June 30, 2004 I have to do a tech rehearsal on friday and I have to be in charge of everyone as I am the CSM. after the tech we have a break and we open up for the public. Is there any advice or funny stories which could help to make the show run smoothly? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sam.henderson Posted June 30, 2004 Share Posted June 30, 2004 Know your crew well and who you are dealing with, know your cast well and most of all stay alert and be prepared to multi-task big style. If you are on headsets you will have 3 different people in your ear, a actor who is talking to you who is not aware of this and gets upset becuase they think you are just ignoring them and hysterical cast members who have so much addrenelin pumping they are running arround like headless chickens! Dont be scared just to say "Stop, I will deal with this in a moment when I have dealt with..". As for funny stories I have had flooding theatre and have been knee high in water bailing it out with 3 ASM'S the SM and the Director and Theatre Manager! I have seen fly bars come down on peoples heads, I have seen people fall down the stairs backstage and crack there heads open not to mention fire alarms, a non-existant FOH Manager and lots of other stuff! Just keep a cool head "when all about you are loosing theres and blaming you", and work as part of the team but know when to overall and take charge, tactfully deal with your crew and staff and keep smiling (especially when infront of punters!). Sam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edark Posted July 1, 2004 Share Posted July 1, 2004 Remember the tech rehearsal its a rehearsal for the technical aspects of the show. Dont let it turn into a rehearsal for the acting. If this is the first time the actors have seen the set, it is often a good idea to allow them some time on stage, 10 minutes or so, for them to get used to the space they have. which ways the doors open etc.It is good practice to sit everyone down, cast and crew, and explain how the tech is going to work. Go through the schedule, when breaks will be etc. this is a good opertunity to Explain the fire drill. Ask everyone to be patient as there will probably lots of waiting around for the cast and are often moments when it seems that nothing is happening but infact the lighting op is frantically re-plotting lights or the sound engineer is busy editing a sound cue. But make sure whoever you are waiting for lets you know the moment they are ready to continue. Remember, you can skip large bits of dialouge if there are no cues or technical aspects.When you have stopped the flow of the show for any reason and are ready to start, say something like, 'Thank you everybody, can we take it from mr Smith's line "And as for...", Thank you'The 'thank you' is their cue to start. Always have lx tape to hand to mark position on the stage, for both actors positions if they have to hit a specific spot, and to mark positions of set.On very complicated cue sequences, you may want to run though it verbally first...'ok, what is going to happen now is: first we fly in the cloth, then sound cue, the set change and lx at the same time. ok lets try it.' Hope this helps! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WiLL Posted July 1, 2004 Share Posted July 1, 2004 My little tip, for what it's worth: Always be polite, people will be prepared to sit around and wait etc if asked to politely. Shout at them and all they will do is become hostile and ignore your later requests. It sounds pretty basic people skills but you'd be amazed how many people I've seen who ignore this simple rule. The only time you need to shout is to make yourself heard over an excitable cast, as soon as they are quiet you can revert to a more civilised volume. This goes for everyone you have to work with, right down to the house cleaners. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smeggie Posted July 1, 2004 Share Posted July 1, 2004 and remind the tech crew that this rehearsal is their time - if there is anything that they are worried about, give them the time to run it untill they are sated [ sorry for late post] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellis Posted July 7, 2004 Share Posted July 7, 2004 If you can, call your crew and run any scene changes with them before the actors get in the way. When you run it a second time with the actors you should only have to worry about sorting actor-related problems. This also means that your crew will have had one more run-through befor first night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dj joe Posted August 1, 2005 Share Posted August 1, 2005 What about in your break buying on of those books which give two situations (bad ones) and you have a long disscussion over which one is better to be in :\ just an idea ** laughs out loud ** Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted August 1, 2005 Share Posted August 1, 2005 it's a bit unusual to go from tech to first public performance - if you skip, top and tail etc then the cast may well get very confused? May well be pressure on you NOT to stop, and do a sort of dress with technical tweaks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
w/robe Posted August 2, 2005 Share Posted August 2, 2005 This topic is over a year old, so I hope they are not still teching, though I've known techs that felt that long! As for stories - Teching all day and evening with the hazer on. At 10.30pm there is so much haze in the roof that it sets off the fire alarm and we all leave the building. As it is late November our cast are, for once, glad of the thick fur coats that they have been boiling in all day. The girls in bikinis in the samba show in the other venue (same building so same fire alarm) were a bit chilly! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pritch Posted October 9, 2005 Share Posted October 9, 2005 I've just got back from a tech rehearsal. I'd heard about typical amateur tech runs on the forum before, and had never believed it; although I've only ever done amateur productions, each one I've worked on has actually had a proper tech run - until tonight. It started off well enough. Director addressing the cast, telling them that it's all going to be somewhat stop/start as we're going to be sorting out a lot of sound / lx cues. "Jolly good", thinks I. Minutes later, we're working our way through Scene 1. All of it. Without stopping. Later in the run, I asked the director if we could stop for a moment as I wanted to clarify something with regards to the next cue, and was told to stop interrupting the scene. Ho-hum. Still, lucky actors. Two dress rehearsals for them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted October 9, 2005 Share Posted October 9, 2005 Pritch, that's the one thing mentioned early in this thread that has to be prevented at all costs - Hijacking the tech as pre-dress. If it is your first experience of this, just mark it down to experience and make sure it doesn't happen again. This happened to my panto last year - a major problem and the DSM on the book tried to stop it. Everyone simply carried on. In the end, I just strolled out on stage on the middle of the stage and whistled loudly - everyone stopped dead and stared at me as if I was from a different planet. "sorry folks, bigcock-up back there. Can we pick it up from just before the scene change..." No discussion - you just have to do it. After all, once they have stopped - it's done. The Director will be fine once they realise it did have to happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Some Bloke Posted October 10, 2005 Share Posted October 10, 2005 I asked the director if we could stop for a moment I'm afraid that's where you went wrong! If it was a technical rehearsal then it was up to the Stage Manager when to stop, not the Director. If you were the SM, you should have just found a suitable place and shouted "thank you everyone, I'm going to stop you there. We can cut the next bit and we'll pick up from [???]. But first just give me two minutes to sort out where a cue comes." While you're asking the director about the cue, cast are resetting themselves for after the cut. Nice and smooth! ;) As long as you prepare for where you're going to stop and where you're going to start again, announcing your intentions in a strong, confident manner should just be seen as someone taking charge. Paul's previous post gives an example of just that. If the Director should make a comment your reply would be "oh, I'm terribly sorry, I was under the impression this was a technical rehearsal". That should do it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael_hunt Posted March 11, 2006 Author Share Posted March 11, 2006 wow such and old threat, I remember the show I worked on when I asked this. All was well, and I ran it without any problems. But I have since had my tech hijacked, but the director was so nice I felt bad. Im now much more in control of techs and wont allow the director to take control or re block there actors. Ive actually got a fit up for 4 days before I DSM 2 shows on Thursday. Its going to be fun. Same nice director, so fingeres crossed I can keep it a tech and not a pre dress. Thanks for your replies, was great reading through them at the time, and even better now I can reflect on what happened. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbuckley Posted March 11, 2006 Share Posted March 11, 2006 I'm going to go one further than Paulears here and say that having the tech ending about an hour before the doors open is a really scary thing to do. From the crew's perspective, there is real time pressure, and worse, no opportunity to fix anything serious after the tech. From the cast's perspective, the last time they run the show is in tech-size bits, and if they are less than 100% rock solid in their roles, its an oopsie waiting to happen. And if anything blockie or similar has to change due to some problem uncovered during the tech, they get no rehearsal time with the modification before the first night audience. Eek. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mac.calder Posted March 11, 2006 Share Posted March 11, 2006 dbuckleys point is certainly a good one. Having been in this situation many a time (God love Amdram, for we all know that no one else will) I have usually tried to move each call backwards an hour. That extra hour means that small niggles can be worked out without the added preasure. I am over the moon at a show I have coming up, it is at a uni campus, and it opens a week after the easter break - so we have a whole week to bump in and plot, and a whole week to tech and dress.. bloody brilliant! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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