School/College Theatre as a teaching space?

[Ian der Laan]

Is your Studio/Theatre/Performance space used also used as a teaching space?

 

By this, I mean do you have timetabled practical lessons in there 9-5 mon/fri? If so, how does this impact on rigging/ fit-ups/ get ins etc? Does it get trashed on a regular basis by messy classes or students after class?

 

Due to a shortage in rooms, that's what seems to be happening here at the moment and it's doing my nut in!

 

Just wondered if anyone else felt my pain? I would guess that there is!

[J Pearce]

Our space is a flat floor studio around 16m x 13m. It's used as an assembly hall (with the tiered seating out) then as a classroom, then as a rehearsal space, then a classroom, then evening lettings come in. We have stagecoach in on Saturdays and a church on Sundays.

 

It's very hard making the space work for everyone who wants it. Fit ups and maintenance fit in where they can, which is very hard to organise. Smaller shows have to work around lettings, which means leaving a certain amount of things static, and always leaving the projection screen clear.

 

Messy students (or teachers who don't chase the messy students) regularly make a mess of the place and I often end up staying late to get the place back to a standard fit for the evening lettings.

 

The people who timetable events have little awareness of the time it takes to set things up and pack away. A common problem is wanting the seating out for an assembly then instantly away for a lesson, then instanlyu out for a talk, then instantly away again for a lesson. Our seating takes at least 10mins to sort out...

 

You are not alone!!

 

(mods is this better placed in stsg rather than tng?)

[Ian der Laan]

 

You are not alone!!

 

 

 

I suspected as much.

 

 

We are currently having a new build which will mean that there's more space for classes in the buiding without using the 'theatre' at every opportunity. My vision is that we can stop the theatre being timetabled for teaching classes and instead will be booked out as and when it's needed. Hopefully this will mean that the users become more responsible for it (their name will be on the booking slip) and the theatre will be closed to students looking for a youth club to doss in!

[paulears]

Sadly, this happens with most of the new builds. My old college still go out to an external venue, because they're not allowed to build any permanent sets that can't be removed each night - their old space was not 'wanted' by external users, but the new 'posh' one is - so much so that they only have limited access to their own facilities. The problem is the space is large in floor area, but low in occupancy - which using the finance spreadsheets looks bad on the stats - any extra income from external hires is for the benefit of the school/college, not the department's.

[TomG]

Sadly, this happens with most of the new builds. My old college still go out to an external venue, because they're not allowed to build any permanent sets that can't be removed each night - their old space was not 'wanted' by external users, but the new 'posh' one is - so much so that they only have limited access to their own facilities. The problem is the space is large in floor area, but low in occupancy - which using the finance spreadsheets looks bad on the stats - any extra income from external hires is for the benefit of the school/college, not the department's.

 

We have a very similar situation with our brand new Studio and other production spaces, where they are being rented out to paying clients, over there use by students for teaching and private projects. This is mainly down to two reasons 1. my Uni has a £70+ Million bill to pay off for the building and 2. The building and uni courses are being reduced heavily as the university is becoming more corporate and office based, rather than student centric it used to be in the old building.

 

 

 

[andy jackson]

Our space is a flat floor studio around 16m x 13m. It's used as an assembly hall (with the tiered seating out) then as a classroom, then as a rehearsal space, then a classroom, then evening lettings come in. We have stagecoach in on Saturdays and a church on Sundays.

 

It's very hard making the space work for everyone who wants it. Fit ups and maintenance fit in where they can, which is very hard to organise. Smaller shows have to work around lettings, which means leaving a certain amount of things static, and always leaving the projection screen clear.

 

Messy students (or teachers who don't chase the messy students) regularly make a mess of the place and I often end up staying late to get the place back to a standard fit for the evening lettings.

 

The people who timetable events have little awareness of the time it takes to set things up and pack away. A common problem is wanting the seating out for an assembly then instantly away for a lesson, then instanlyu out for a talk, then instantly away again for a lesson. Our seating takes at least 10mins to sort out...

 

You are not alone!!

 

 

Abso-bloody-lutely!

 

It is a nightmare, especially when you are pressured to rush things or things don't go to plan and you need an extra 15 minutes.

 

Andy

[Ian der Laan]

Sadly, this happens with most of the new builds. My old college still go out to an external venue, because they're not allowed to build any permanent sets that can't be removed each night - their old space was not 'wanted' by external users, but the new 'posh' one is - so much so that they only have limited access to their own facilities. The problem is the space is large in floor area, but low in occupancy - which using the finance spreadsheets looks bad on the stats - any extra income from external hires is for the benefit of the school/college, not the department's.

Apologies, I wasn't clear in my post due to being late for a meeting.

 

 

The new build isn't a theatre space, it's classrooms. However some of thedept's from the building we're currently in will be moving in to the newbuilding. This will mean some rooms are freed up in our building.

 

I hope that the performing arts department can use some of the vacated rooms todeliver lessons which are currently timetabled in the theatre. I hope that thiswill allow the theatre to be a space which performing arts and people fromacross the college can book in to for whatever reason rather than being atimetabled teaching space 9-5, mon-fri.

 

In an ideal world, I will be in charge of the booking in process. This willmean that the theatre can be used more for what it's intended rather than beingessentially a big classroom. Hopefully, because teachers will book time in thetheatre, they will accept some responsibility for the general state it's leftin after their classes(note the use of the word hopefully!).

 

Also, because time in the theatre will be more closelyregulated, the tendency for it to become a youthclub will be reduced.

 

I hope that this will mean that we have a more professional space and that (aha!) rigging sessions and get-in/outs can be scheduled in. This will be great for my technical theatre units.

 

[pjrails]

Hi All

You think you all have problems, my college has a hall/theatre raked seating and on school days 300 extra chairs on the flat stage floor and then assemblies deliveried from what is the backstage area, no problem with that,

but buildings department only clear the chairs on the stage when we have an evening letting (Jobs worths, there job to move chairs nobody else is allowed) and at present that is onely one night a week, so for my forth coming showcase performance I have only one afternoon in which to rig, focus and plot, and

be ready for a rehearsal at 4pm.

Education, it's a tough life.

 

PJ

[Ian der Laan]

so for my forth coming showcase performance I have only one afternoon in which to rig, focus and plot, and

be ready for a rehearsal at 4pm.

Education, it's a tough life.

 

PJ

Sounds familiar.

 

A flexible generic rig is what's required here with a couple of scrollerwashes. Keep the rigging/focus to a minimum and plot during the rehearsal

 

Seat of your pants style. :D

[pjrails]

Not that easy, no scollers just generics.

And of course nobody understands why you "..can't just turn the lights on!"

And that they'll be in the right place.

[Mat]

Hi. At my work we have three performances areas. There is the Main School Drama Studio, the Main Hall and the Sixth Form Drama Studio. All are used as teaching spaces as well as being let out to outside companies. The Main School Drama Studio isnt let out that much however it is only really used for basic performances and isnt a great place to fit an audience in as well as use it as a performance space. The Hall is used for the school show as well as other performances throughout the year however this space is let out to church on sunday as well as all other outside companies and events that come to the school. The Sixth Form Drama studie has the same problem with StageCoach in on Saturday.

 

It does proove a problem when you are trying to have two or three performances at once in the same venue as they are teaching spaces but also looking to use the space for other purposes. Trying to reduceyour workload so that your not up there everyday as well as trying to create the best possible effect for all parties.

 

Repairs and such like are done when they can get in. The holidays is USUALLY the best time however companies use the school holidays to get in. There is a local dramatics company which uses the sixth form drama studio and the hall over the holidays to be able to put on a performance. You are wanting to do one thing and they are wanting to do something else.

 

We feel your pain.

[kerry davies]

This may not help but is my experience in similar circumstances.

 

Employed by the college as technician and also as lecturer and by the local authority as technician for the community resource which was the college theatre, I took a purely business based approach. Each department that used the space was 'charged' on paper for whatever resource they used, cleaning time, prep time and the like. When the council discovered that they were subsidising the college the fallout was brief but significant. The Head of Drama was sent a bill for his pet amdrams, the college was sent a bill for "Non-theatre use of the venue" and various departments suddenly became aware of the costs of not cleaning up after them. Charges were actually dropped but the principle had been stressed.

 

This is probably not applicable to most but allocating expense to the relevant departments and users can help, even as an academic exercise. The administrators are almost certainly unaware that some departments are using resources budgetted against other departments and the true costings might open some eyes.

 

Colleges and universities are commercial entities and this should be borne in mind. They have a duty not to cross-subsidise separate businesses without full disclosure, particularly as mixed public and commercial funding is involved.

[Ian der Laan]

This may not help but is my experience in similar circumstances.

 

Employed by the college as technician and also as lecturer and by the local authority as technician for the community resource which was the college theatre, I took a purely business based approach. Each department that used the space was 'charged' on paper for whatever resource they used, cleaning time, prep time and the like. When the council discovered that they were subsidising the college the fallout was brief but significant. The Head of Drama was sent a bill for his pet amdrams, the college was sent a bill for "Non-theatre use of the venue" and various departments suddenly became aware of the costs of not cleaning up after them. Charges were actually dropped but the principle had been stressed.

 

This is probably not applicable to most but allocating expense to the relevant departments and users can help, even as an academic exercise. The administrators are almost certainly unaware that some departments are using resources budgetted against other departments and the true costings might open some eyes.

 

Colleges and universities are commercial entities and this should be borne in mind. They have a duty not to cross-subsidise separate businesses without full disclosure, particularly as mixed public and commercial funding is involved.

An interesting tactic. To me, this draws my attention more to the fact that our Theatre is used too much by performing arts. It's got to the stage where lecturers use it to dump bits and bobs on the stage including recently throwing loads of cardboard boxes over a 7foot cage to store them on top of my spare lanterns). Students regularly use it to doss around in between lessons due to a general lack ofspace in the college at the moment.

 

It needs to be seen as more of a privilege to use and something that needs to be respected.

 

[brainwave-generator]

I'm not being funny, but since this is the 'Next Generation' - GET USED TO IT!

 

When you move onto a major venue in the future, you don't just get free reign to do what you like in there all the time. There are still private hires, small shows in when you'd rather be rigging big shows, days you can't get in the roof because people are doing something lame on the floor, days when the power has to be off for whatever reason, inspection days, the list goes on.

 

No matter whether you work in a school theatre or an international arena, you have to put up with other people using your space when you'd rather be in it. If you can learn now how to manage that, it will be of great aid to you in the future!

[Ian der Laan]

I'm not being funny, but since this is the 'Next Generation' - GET USED TO IT!

 

When you move onto a major venue in the future, you don't just get free reign to do what you like in there all the time. There are still private hires, small shows in when you'd rather be rigging big shows, days you can't get in the roof because people are doing something lame on the floor, days when the power has to be off for whatever reason, inspection days, the list goes on.

 

No matter whether you work in a school theatre or an international arena, you have to put up with other people using your space when you'd rather be in it. If you can learn now how to manage that, it will be of great aid to you in the future!

 

I have no problem with other uses of our space, in fact I welcome it. It raises the profile of the college, the department and me as a technician to host a variety of conferences, gigs, performances, touring productions, fashion shows, films etc. etc...

 

By the way, it's wrong (and somewhat patronising) to assume that just because people work in education, they automatically want to work in a 'major' venue. Many already have, some have responsibilities which make the 9-5 more desirable, some even, get this, enjoy it and find it rewarding!!!!