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Directing

Is there an ethical way to teach & make theatre?

Jun 6th, 2010
by Lois.
15 comments

The university where I earned my BA, Trinity Western, has just been approved to start offering a BFA in acting this fall and I’m very excited about this. I think it will do two things for the school: first of all, it will allow them the opportunity to expand their training and secondly it will, in my opinion, expand their credibility as a theatre education option in the Vancouver region. In preparation for this new program, Trinity hosted a two day session with the staff, faculty & a handful of former students to discuss what an ethical BFA program looks like and what sort of best practices will come into play there. I was honoured to be included in the sessions and was so pleased with the conversations that were happening.

In the six weeks since attending the two day session, I’ve had a lot of conversations with others about the direction TWU’s BFA is heading, and the people I’ve talked to are fascinated and encouraged that the conversations about these subjects are happening. Many theatre practicioners with whom I have discussed the goals of the program made comments like, “I wish someone had done something like that when I was a student” or “I am so glad someone is finally taking steps in that direction.”

While we talked about a lot of things those two days, one of the sessions that I found most interesting came out of the idea of power in theatre & teaching. The basic premise was that the system of theatre and of education often causes harm because of the power relationship between director/cast & teacher/student. Of course, this is true in all systems where there is an imbalance of power. The goal is to be professional about it, by which I mean to recognize the harm that you do despite your best efforts because of the system. It requires you to ask, “How can we avoid harm to foster healthy, creative growth?”

In a response to this, we spent time in small groups discussing times when we had observed or experienced harm being done and created from those conversations a list of things that would have prevented those situations from occurring.

Here is the start of the list that we came up with that afternoon:

Do not indulge in self-flagellation

Do not condone bullying because it furthers “art”

Do not push an actor too far to serve your ego or because of our idea of “art”

Do not be offended by an offer of help or if your offer of help is refused

Do not fight dirty or avoid disagreements or let disagreements fester

Do not avoid the responsibility to speak for fear of rocking the boat

Do not sabotage

Do not treat women differently from men

Do not confuse the role & the person

Do not disrespect any person’s role in the process

Do not fail to take responsibility for your choices & actions

Do not quash creativity

Do not triangulate

Do not use emotional manipulation

Do not disempower a colleague

Do not shame another

Do not disrespect your part of the contract

Do not evaluate by unclear criteria

Do not use theatre as an excuse for your inappropriate behaviour or being inconsiderate of others (ie “Well I’m just a theatre person, so…”)

Do not dodge scrutiny

Do not adhere to double standards

Do not disrespect process/judge too soon

Do not teach by humiliation

Do not think you have all the answers/the only answers

Do not ever speak in absolutes

Do not put your own personal artistic fulfillment ahead of the learning opportunities of the students

Do not use teaching as compensation for a failed theatre career

Do not create scapegoats

Do not justify undisciplined artistic behaviour due to wounded pride

Do not demand trust, it must be earned

Do not create a culture of mistrust

Do not contribute to a culture of defensiveness

Do not put anything before the student’s needs

Do not privilege one role above another

Do not contribute to a culture that divides “artists” & “technicians”

Do not step outside your scope of practice

The school is in the process of converting all of these into positive statements which will become a set of guidelines that they will hand out to all students, staff & faculty. I have a draft of this new document sitting in my e-mail inbox and look forward to spending some time reflecting on it and offering some further thoughts.

Can you think of a time where you saw or experienced harm being done in a theatre education or rehearsal situation? Is there a guideline that would have prevented it? Please share your thoughts in the comments. I will happily pass on additions to the university.

SMArts: Calling A Show/The Prompt Script

May 21st, 2010
by Lois.
5 comments
This is the third post in a series of five about my experience at the SMArts conference in Vancouver. I’ve essentially taken my notes and turned them into these posts.  You can find my previous posts on the CTA agreement & the conference in general by clicking on those links.

Calling a show is one of the most public parts of the job of a stage manager and it is also one of the most creative parts of the job. Of course, for many people, it is the most terrifying part, too. It requires a steady voice, a well put together prompt script, & a plan for tech time to make sure you have all the time you need to learn the show.

When it comes to prompt scripts, one thing to remember is that every stage manager has their own way of keeping their prompt script and then important thing is to find one that works for you and then be ready to adapt. Each show has its own needs and sometimes the way you’ve “always done things” just won’t work. Here are a few ideas of things that can help keep a prompt script organized.

  • highlight character names & then use a different colour to highlight stage directions (this way you can ignore them while prompting)
  • track props & quick changes on the side of the page
  • create a space to track entrances and exits
  • use maps with the groundplan for the show (anywhere from 1-3 or more depending on what works for you)
  • write notes about specific character things from the director on the back of the script page (between the script page and the blocking page)
  • use post-it tabs to mark dance numbers or fight scenes on the top of the page
  • Tab the musical numbers & scenes down the side
  • use tear-away pages for original blocking with new copies for each version that you keep until opening when you can write out the finalized blocking

In a perfect, beautiful world the process of tech would look something like this:

1. Paper Tech with designers, director & SM

  • An opportunity to begin putting the cues into the SM’s book but also to talk through sequences, especially the beginning and end of the show and make sure that everyone is on the same page
  • It may seem like common sense, but it is very important that the director be a part of this meeting. This ensures that the vision the designers are sharing with the SM are the same vision the director has for the show.

2. Lighting level session with Lighting Designer, Director, & SM

  • The rule of thumb in this situation is that if the director is there, the SM should be too. If they say they are just going to check out some looks, then make sure that they mean that (and in that case the SM does not need to attend), but if they are going to set cues, the stage manager should be there. No matter how well the director thinks they know the show, there is always going to be that time when the director says, “So the scene plays out entirely in this small area” and you look at the blocking in your script and say “What about the actor you blocked to be on the opposite side of the stage?” The designer has probably only seen one run and chances are good that things have changed since then. Having the stage manager present for the setting of lighting levels & cues is just going to save time when you reach Cue to Cue.
  • If things are all going smoothly during the level session, this is a good time to confirm the calling points from the paper tech and to begin writing in standby cues. Here are some general rules for standby cues:
  • If you trust your operators, you can give them standbys as short as 6-7 lines ahead of the cue.
  • If the operator is really busy with cues (or say your sound operator has multiple CD players, a minidisc player & a laptop) they are going to need a longer standby.
  • Fly cues get a warning about two minutes ahead, then a standby & go
  • If you’re working with a new crew, ask them how they like their standbys
  • Always give your standbys in the same order: lights, sound, flys, extras, actors
  • Write out exact standby information – this is your script & ensures that you say exactly what you mean.

3. Hold a spacing rehearsal in the theatre under work lights

  • This is a time for the cast to get used to the set & the stage before they worry about being plunged into darkness & to discover any safety issues.
  • If you don’t have time to do a full run this way, give the actors 30 minutes to just step through their blocking.

4. Hold a Quick Change rehearsal

  • Cue to cue should not be the first time you tackle a quick change. Spend time on it in rehearsal making sure you have got it down to an art form and as tight as possible.

5. Q2Q

  • There are two primary ways to approach Q2Q
    1. Start at the top and jump from cue to cue (this is the traditional way & works really well for a straight play where cues are just at the top &
    bottom of a scene)
    2. Stumble through the show. Of course you are still going to start & stop to fix things, but for a show with a lot of cues (that are all pre-built) this
    is going to be the most time-efficient approach to tech.
  • Make sure you include quick changes during Q2Q but it should never be the first time
  • First make sure the tech for the transition works, then go back and actually do the quick change with the tech.
  • As you start to figure out the calls for the show, try to get each department down to one syllable (Lights as opposed to LX). This gives you an economy of speech in your calling.
  • Remember that there are some cues you SHOULDN’T call. Light switch cues or sound cues that are timed to actors pushing buttons on fake stereos should be taken visually by the operators. You should still be giving the standbys, but they should take it.
  • When you are deciding where to start tell the ASMs first so they can start pre-setting the stage, then inform the cast and politely ask them to wait until you are ready for them, and finally speak with your crew and make sure they are good with what you are running.
  • Don’t worry if the first page of the script takes an hour or more to work through. The top of the show is the first thing the audience is going to see and at the beginning of the day everyone’s a little on edge. If you can’t solve the opening sequence, move on and go back to it later when everyone has relaxed a little and settled into the way the day is working.
  • Remember that even though tech day is really about the stage manager, it is very important to keep morale up with the cast and one simple way to do this is with politeness. Make sure you continue to use your “please” “thank you” and “Ladies & Gentlemen”.
  • Be prepared. Simple things like having spike & glow tape pre-cut will make a huge difference over the course of the day.

6. Tech Runs

  • Now you are getting to practice calling your show & finding the rhythm of it. This is when you want to be shifting your standbys to make sure they are working best for everyone.
  • Limit the distribution of headsets to only those who need them. At this point your designers are still going to be on headset making changes to the looks of some of their cues with the operators. This is a good thing, but be up front with them about your headset protocol. A good place to start is the no one talks between the a standby and its go unless there is a fire, flood or blood.

7. Dress Rehearsal

  • Now you should be calling the show from your actually calling position and seeing the show as you will during the run.

8. Open the Show

Of course, that’s in a beautiful, perfect world and we don’t usually get that in theatre. But it is something to aspire to and gives a run down of things you need to cover in whatever time you do have.

A few notes on calling follow spots:

  • Each spot is given a number or letter (Spot 1, Spot A, etc)
  • Give a warning substantially ahead of time and give them a lot of information
  • Tell them who they are picking up
  • Tell them where they are picking that person up
  • Tell them what frame (color) they are using
  • A follow spots version of left/right is their own left or right hand. They still do up & down, but when you call a spot Down Right they hit DSL.
  • Before you start using spots, make sure you inform your spot ops:
  • try to keep spots of the soft goods & set pieces
  • douse down/douse up (get softer/brighter)
  • size of shot (waist up, full body, full full body)

Calling a show is something that most apprentices & assistants don’t really get a chance to practice. It is a skill that enables one to be the stage manager of a show and yet it is the one area that there is the least opportunity to train in. Whenever you have a chance to sit in the booth and observe a stage manager calling a show you should take it, even if you aren’t working on that show. One way you can practice calling a show that you aren’t working on is off of an old prompt script & an archival video. Because prompt books are the property of the theatre company when the show closes and because many companies take an archival video of the show, its a chance to see the book that was used to call that particular show. Another option is to watch a movie version of a musical (a good example of this is Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat which is very theatrical in its presentation) and figure out where you would have to call the cues to have them turn out as they do.

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Note: this post does not necessarily reflect the personal opinion of the writer. It is a summary of the SMArts session.

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For more on how to build your own prompt script, check out this post: The Show Bible.

How to make great theatre:

Jul 9th, 2009
by Lois.
6 comments

The director for Rosencrantz & Guildenstern ran across this book at a local second-hand bookstore. subtitled “A handbook for the Backstage worker; a guidebook for the Student of Drama” this book is a joke.


The sample of a “good” promptbook is ridiculous: notes scribbled everywhere & no sense of order to it.

For the actors among us, the book presents the proper way to sit in a chair, the variety of ways one can pose with certain furniture. We’ve also got the correct & wrong ways to embrace, foot positions & how the first step should be.

One of my favorites is this graph of how a laugh on stage works.


and if you’re looking for advice on aging makeup they have that too.

Florida Director Accidently Shoots Actor in the Head

Jan 21st, 2009
by Lois.
No comments yet

Following so closely on the heals of December’s prop-knife accident, I was stunned to see another story of actor/prop negligence leading to serious injury. I take this as a reminder to triple & quadruple check all props before shows & rehearsals.

From the UK’s Gaurdian newspaper:

Real-life tragedy nearly struck at a Florida theatre on Monday night, when an actor fired a live gun at a cast member’s head.

During rehearsals for an amateur production of John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men in Sarasota, the show’s director, Bill Bordy, shot 81-year-old actor Fred Kellerman in the back of the head at point-blank range, only to realize with horror that the gun he used was loaded with live ammunition. Luckily the shot only grazed Kellerman’s skull, and he was quickly released from hospital.

The incident occurred during the final run-through of the play’s last scene, in which George Milton shoots his friend Lennie Small to spare him a painful death at the hands of a lynch mob. The Smith and Wesson pistol had been borrowed from a fellow cast member in the Sarasota Senior Theater who had, it appeared, forgotten that it was loaded.

In his defence, Bordy told reporters: “I’m the actor, I’m the director and we’re running late, and without thinking I didn’t check the gun.”

“I was like, ‘Oh my God, dear Lord, no’. Luckily I was a lousy shot.”

The shooting comes only a month after the attention of the world’s media was seized by another theatrical near-disaster – albeit one that occurred several thousands of miles away, in Vienna. Actor Daniel Hoevels made headlines in December after cutting his throat on stage with what turned out to be a real blade. The city’s Burgtheater later admitted that the knife had been left out by a stage manager who had forgotten to blunt it; Hoevels suffered only minor injuries and was treading the boards again the following night.

For his part, Kellerman claimed the worst part of being shot was the loud bang, which caused him to lose his hearing momentarily, followed by a painful tetanus shot administered by nurses at the hospital.

The show went ahead on schedule just two hours later, with an understudy filling Kellerman’s shoes.

No charges have been filed, although police are still investigating the incident.

Feed the Lake

Dec 2nd, 2008
by Lois.
No comments yet

Back in early September, my friend Angela wrote a blog post following her attendance at Bard’s production of The Tempest. In it she talks about learning that there is no point in jealousy because when one artist succeeds we all end up winning. She said:

The problem is, I have a degree in directing and I’ve been doing it for a long time but I don’t know that I could create a work this accomplished. So for part of the performance I was torn between admiration and dejection – “wow this is really good/wow that’s really depressing” -something like that… But when a truly gifted artist creates a work for others to share, we get the present. My life was enriched by the production I saw tonight and as a result, my work will be enriched.

It was a sentiment she echoed after she and I attended Unity: 1918 a couple of weeks back.

But further in the post she talks about an image that appears in Madeline L’Engle’s Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith & Art (which is, by the way, one of my top arts reads, regardless of faith orientation. L’Engle was the talented writer behind A Wrinkle in Time.). She discusses an analogy drawn by Jean Rhys in which art is a lake and the artists of the world are various sizes of rivers, streams, & trickles.

She quotes Rhys as saying

“I don’t matter. The lake matters. You must keep feeding the lake.”

I love that image. The idea that all of art is this giant lake (actually I’d like to jump in and bathe in it – let it soak into my soul!), and that regardless of the size of our contribute we must continue to feed the lake.

Often, as a Stage Manager, I forget that I am also responsible for feeding the lake. I want to leave that role to the directors, actors & designers whose work is so clearly art. But creating a space in which it is possible for those artists to produce (and even better: to thrive!) is an art all its own, and I need to remember that when I get down about my role in the process.

Feed. The. Lake.

(Edited by SMLois, Dec. 3, 11:15pm)