New Members - Remember to contact the new members of your ensemble early; anyone involved in the production process. This could include run crew, board ops, spot ops, warddrobe, etc. If you have a run through of the show before tech week, invite these people to watch the show from the audience - this might be their only chance.

Tech Week Schedule - It’s important to articulate expectations early and clearly. The Monday before tech week starts would be a good day to send an email to the entire cast and crew laying out the calendar, call times, end times, and any notable changes to the pattern of rehearsal you’ve been following over the last several weeks. Again, it’s wise to make this email clear and concise.

Well, what is that calendar you might ask? This Handbook lays out a typical schedule - follow that - then discuss with your director and designers (notably your Faculty and Staff) if there are any necessary alterations.

Cue Lists and Prompt Books

• Remind your cueing designers that it’s helpful to have their cue lists to you at least 48 hours prior to paper tech.

• Once you have their cue lists, step through your prompt book and place each cue into your script. This could be a written notation (in pencil, not pen!) in your script. Some SMs like to have post-it note strips with the cue written on it (different colors for different design areas). Then draw a line from the post-it to the place in which that cue is called. Many of these cues will change, so draw in pencil lightly. If you want it to look clean and nice, use a ruler.

• Once you’ve gone through the show, you can also add “Stand By” cues or other reminders for yourself or for others - whatever needs to be communicated to the rest of the production staff.

• Keep a running list of questions for your designers. No one knows the show better than you and the director - so perhaps a cue is misplaced or misunderstood. Another question might be if two cues can be combined into a single call. Keep this list for paper tech.

Paper Tech - This is a meeting (typically Thursday during TPE) between everyone who decides when cues are called (SM, Designers, Scenic for transition heavy shows, Costumes for quick change heavy shows). This is not a time to place all the cues in your prompt book, it’s a time to affirm and confirm cue placement, to answer questions, and to talk through difficult moments as a group. Some directors like to be present for paper tech, at least to talk about the top of acts or difficult moments.

Dry Tech - Occasionally we will have a Dry Tech on the Thursday before 10 / 12. Dry, meaning without performers. This can be an opportunity to see how different design areas come together. This can be a chance for a director to see a younger designer’s work without a slew of other people watching. This can be a chance for you to practice calling difficult moments in the show with your board ops. All good reasons; however, it’s another night in the theatre so we rarely call dry tech rehearsals.

Another option if you’re feeling nervous is to record a run through with your phone and practice calling difficult moments of the show with the video. This can be especially helpful in musicals when the music calls the cue rather than the action or a line.

Calling Cues - For most stage managers, this is their favorite part of the process. To call a show means to follow along in your script and to instruct your board operators to execute a cue. The process typically involves the following parts …

• Stand By: When the action of the play is nearing a cue, you’ll announce a standby to the corresponding area and with the corresponding number. For example, “Stand By Light Cue 124”. The board operator will confirm they heard it by responding “Lights Standing”. Once in a stand by there should be no chatter over headset so that we don’t miss the cue.
  
  If there are cues from multiple areas you can call them all into Stand By. For example, “Stand By Light Cue 124, Sound Cue 88, and Spot Lights”. They would respond by saying “Lights Standing”, “Sound Standing” “Spot Ops Standing” (this is why they begin their response by telling you who they are).
  
  Occasionally you’ll enter into a series of cues. In this case you can list a range. For example, “Stand By Lights Cues 124 through 148”. We will then be in active stand by until we have finished this series. Or if listing it all is just too much, you can just say, “Stand By Death Scene” and everyone probably knows what you mean.
  
  How much time before the cue should you stand by? If you’ve had a long stretch without cues, a longer stand by (half a page) is okay. If you’ve had a lot of cues, a quick stand by (just a few lines) will suffice.

• GO: The word “GO” is sacred and should never be used on headset except by the stage manager and only when telling someone to execute their cue. Any other time we’ll refer to the word by their letters as “G - O”. As you approach the actual cue, you’ll announce the area and cue that is about to be called, hang if necessary, and the say “GO”. For example, “Light Cue 124 …. GO”. A quicker might simply look like, “Lights GO”.
  
  If there are cues from multiple areas you can call them together, “Lights and Sound GO”.
  
  Occasionally the time between your “GO” and the board operators press of a button is too great. This is often the case for visual cues where something is moving or falling or opening or breaking. In this case you can let the operator take the cue by saying “Light Cue 124, take the cue”. In no other scenario should the board operator GO on their own. If you messed up, let it be your mess up - but you know the show best and are the person who will make adjustments live.

• Headset Conversation: Once we’ve finished a cue or cue sequence, it’s now okay to return to regular chatter. But be careful, too much talking can be heard through the windows and backstage or can cause you to miss a cue. But it’s also fun, so there’s that.

Headset Etiquette

• On / Off Button: Every headset has the ability to mute, talk momentarily, or be always on. This can be accomplished by single pressing the talk button for momentary or double tapping it for always on mode. For the most part only the SM needs to be always on. Anyone in earshot of the audience should never speak - these people can use the “call” button (and a red light will flash) to respond to standbys or questions.
  
  Remember to always mute your headset when taking it off or putting it on.
  Remember to always mute your headset when loudly speaking to the cast.
  Remember to always mute your headset when coughing or sneezing.

• Going On/Off Headset: It’s important that everyone stay on headset when in production and announce when they’re leaving or have returned. This is simply communicated by saying something like, “Sarah going off headset”. Then you, as the SM can say, “Thank you Sarah”. When she returns she can say, “Sarah is back on headset”. This is also a great way to check at the top of the show or check out at the end.

10 out of 12 / Q2Q

• Typically Friday from 6:00-midnight and Saturday from noon-6:00 - this is the rehearsal during which tech is grafted on top of acting. Design and tech is the purpose, acting is secondary. This rehearsal won’t be perfect; the idea is to see if the calling and timing of cues works with the rhythm of the show. Things will change. Stay calm. Stay cool.

• Style: Be sure to decide which style you want to run your rehearsal as at your final production meeting; Q2Q, Stop & Go, Transitions, Problem Spots, or another model that suits your needs.

• Test your Tools: Make sure all your equipment is working ahead of time. This means headsets, your SM mic (which will allow you to make announcements over the speakers without yelling), table laps, power cables, internet, etc.

• The First Page - The beginning moments always take forever. Assume the first hour of rehearsal will be devoted to the first page of text. We would encourage you to begin rehearsal by discussing head set etiquette with your board ops, discussing stand-bys and calls, discussing expectations and fielding any questions. Next run the first page dry (without actors). Once all the technical elements are confidently up and running, invite the actors into the space. In fact, we often don’t call them until 6:30 (30 minutes into rehearsal) and ask them to gather in the lobby and warm themselves up.

• Actor Expectations - Once the actors have entered the space it’s important to convey their expectations.

  • Hurry up and Wait: This rehearsal will involve a lot of standing around and waiting, but please hurry to get to that place.

  • HOLD: If the stage manager announces HOLD over their microphone everyone should immediately stop and wait for further instructions.

  • Thank You: Hopefully you’ve developed a healthy response of “Thank you” to the instruction that comes next.

  • Conversation: Any conversations while holding should be kept to a whisper to avoid distractions to the tech table.

  • Announce Long Holds: If you think a HOLD might take a long time (and you can ask a designer who is working if it might take a moment); let everyone know by saying “Please give us two minutes to fix something” and people can then take a seat or relax.

  • Acting Notes: If a HOLD a director might give actors notes or rehearse a moment or a scene. If you’re ready to move on, it’s your prerogative to ask them to wrap it up so we can continue with tech rehearsal. Don’t feel bad. It’s okay.

  • People Off Stage: Anyone not in a scene should feel free to work on homework or other activities; but should do so quietly in the space - ready to be called upon at any given moment. We’ll often times skip entire scenes so don’t go off into another room.

• Breaks - Don’t forget to take breaks in the same model as rehearsals; 5 minutes for every hour, 10 for every two hours. Here it’s often nice to take a break at meaningful moments (i.e once you’ve finished a scene or a particularly difficult moment). And we can’t stress this enough, you also need to take a break.

• The Second Day - Depending on how extensive the show is, you might finish stepping through all the cues on the first night. In this case you can decide what to do with your time on the second day. You could re-run trouble spots or you could do an entire run through. Whatever you need!

• Ending Rehearsal - Once finished, share the load by asking everyone to help restore the space for their next rehearsal (i.e. please put away your props, shows, costumes, etc). We do not end these rehearsals with a production meeting.

Dress Rehearsals

• Performance Conditions - Dress Rehearsals will largely mimic performances, we’re rehearsing the whole process. Skip to the next section to see the full performance schedule. Here are a few pieces that are different for the rehearsal process.

• Call Times - Make sure everyone knows when their call time is for each day. You are practicing performance situations so need to figure out what time everyone needs to arrive. These times might shift as people get more comfortable or if you add extra layers of complexity (i.e. adding makeup to a dress rehearsal).

• House Closed - During performances the house manager will let you know when to start. During dress rehearsals this should be decided upon with your director. Try to get as close to performance time as possible.

• Production Meetings - Following each dress rehearsal, the designers, director, and stage managers will gather in the house for a quick production meeting. This should happen while the actors change out of costume and doesn’t need to include board operators, warddrobe, run crew, or other backstage staff.

Preview - This is a final dress rehearsal under full performance conditions. Here we include audience members, often friends from around campus and people in TPE, to help practice the response from an actual audience. Remind your actors and backstage staff to treat this as a performance in full; however, it is still a rehearsal and things could go awry.