Crew troubles

[Pan]

Hey there,

First proper post here, even though I’ve been kicking around on this site for a while. So Hi!

I’m SMing a dance show from the stage at the moment for a dance school. We are at dress and tech rehearsal stage at this moment and I can foresee potential problems during the performance that I may encounter with some of the crew.

The stage crew is a group of high school beginners in tech and on occasion my ASM finds them hard to control. She is in school with them and has worked with them before and I think that they have an established status qoe with each other that is not suitable for these working conditions. I’m all for fun as long as the work gets done but unfortunately this does not seem to be happening either at all or quickly enough through a lack of cooperation.
As I am calling from the stage I see a lot of her troubles with them from my desk at prompt side, but at this point don’t often have an opportunity to intervene. On occasion I get a chance to slip a sentence directed to stage crew in over comms, but my directions only seem to stay in their mind for so long. I get the impression that they have not yet experienced a production like this one and are not clear on the required etiquette.

I had words with all of them as a group and with my ASM after the last run and am yet to see if that has fixed this problem, but I was wondering if anyone had an idea on how I might aid my ASM to manage four 14 year old beginner techs that don’t seem serious about production work.

Thanking you.
P.

(oooh, that was an epicly longer rant than i though it would be)

[Van]

Originally Posted by Pan

.........................
(oooh, that was an epicly longer rant than i though it would be)

In the famous words of of one of your wonderful contry men; " That's not a Rant, now this is a rant...." Sort of.
No I'm not gonna rant, but believ me in the history of CB rants, your'e is tame.
Who's TDing this production? Is there a "Head Carpenter" posistion ? Honestly, your best bet would be to go through them if possible. This is one of those weird areas where a possible direct confrontation should probably be avoided unles there is a likelihood of injury. In the real world < outside education> The SM's or ASM's may snap at a Carp, or Stagehand, or whatever you want to call it , but technically those guys answer to the Head Carp and TD. I know things are different in an educational setting, but I think a nod at the "real world" could could provide some Beneficial edification, as it were.
If you system is going to be such that the ASMs are going to be calling the shots, then the hands need to know to whom they are going to answer but I feel you're going to have a bit of a time getting these guys to listen to their schoolmates. Now you didn't exactly state what the "problem/s" is/are but I take it from the inference that it's typical HS hijinx, not paying attention, and perhaps a just a bit of attitude? If there is an instructor availible to chat with the boys then have them do it as SM you really don't want to be the one doing the confrontation. Whomever runs the discussion I think you should approach it with the tack I've always tried to use when dealing with High School Tech's namely: Let's make this as professional as possible. Getting the kids to take pride in what they are doing is a lot easier and a lots less stressful than the approach of "Hey you guys are screwing up and I don't like it." Hope that helps some and I bet Gaff and some of the other folks that are teaching or have taught High School and younger < and older> techs will be along shortly to give some better ideas.

[gafftaper]

Yeah I have to agree with Van. You need to have the director or drama teacher... whoever the day to day person these students have to face... sit down and talk to them. They need to be told that the ASM and SM are not just making suggestions. There is a way things are to be done and they need to follow it or get out of the way so someone else can do their job. You or the ASM probably don't have the credibility needed to give that speech and it would only make things more complicated.

[ReiRei]

Van and Gafftaper have a good point on the whole TD/Drama teacher. It would be a better idea to have one of those authority figures talk to them. However, in my experience it doesn't seem like a bad idea to talk to your crew. As long as your respectful and make yourself clear it should be fine. Whether or not they answer to a higher power in the theatre, people need to be aware of their surroundings and safety hazards. Especially during dance shows. There is no room for goofing off.

Be glad that you have a crew though. The last dance gig I did was over the summer with 60+ dancers and I was the only person running stage. Two people pulled muscles and sprained ankles and one of the break dancers smashed his face on the stage. Definitely make sure to have ice and whatnot handy.

[Sayen]

I would have to agree with what others have said. If you can go through a teacher, do it. If my crew isn't pulling weight for a customer, especially if they're being paid, I'll consider it a pleasure to correct the problem.

If they're not being paid or there's no teacher involved at all, perhaps try rounding up them along with a couple of adult crew members, and respectfully lay down some rules. If they are volunteers you can't just yell at them, especially in high school, as they'll just quit. If they're working the show, then odds are they're interested in theater anyway, and as Van said just sharing how things happen professionally might change things. Depending on the program at the school, it's possible they've never been told how to behave.

[WestlakeTech]

Just tell them that if they don't chill out they're off the crew. Regardless of whether or not you can afford to lose them, if they really want to be on the crew, they'll act more professional. If they don't really want to be on the crew, you don't want them there anyway.

[cdub260]

Originally Posted by WestlakeTech

Just tell them that if they don't chill out they're off the crew. Regardless of whether or not you can afford to lose them, if they really want to be on the crew, they'll act more professional. If they don't really want to be on the crew, you don't want them there anyway.

Just one potential problem with this scenario. Pan may not have the authority to fire problem crew members, although I agree, that firing a couple of them may get the others to straighten out. Going through whoever the crew is answerable to seems like the best option in this instance.

Of course, there's always the cattle prod option.

[Van]

Originally Posted by cdub260

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Of course, there's always the cattle prod option.

I greatly prefer Doug Fleenor's solution over the use of a cattle prod. The Prod Option requires too much potential for breaking a sweat. I think anytime you can use DMX to solve a problem you should.

[cdub260]

Originally Posted by Van

I greatly prefer Doug Fleenor's solution over the use of a cattle prod. The Prod Option requires too much potential for breaking a sweat. I think anytime you can use DMX to solve a problem you should.

Hey! I'd forgotten about that!

Just program it onto a submaster on the board and when one of the crew starts acting up, the Stage Manager calls "ZAP GO!"

[WestlakeTech]

Originally Posted by cdub260

Just one potential problem with this scenario. Pan may not have the authority to fire problem crew members, although I agree, that firing a couple of them may get the others to straighten out. Going through whoever the crew is answerable to seems like the best option in this instance.

Of course, there's always the cattle prod option.

Well, unless I'm misunderstanding/misreading, this is a high school we're talking about. If it IS a high school production, you can cut them saying that they disobeyed and disrespected authorities. Pan may not personally have the authority to do so, but someone does.