What do you do when a director wants to be in the booth?

[ship]

Originally Posted by thebikingtechie

I don't know how to ask a director to leave but I can say that it is really distracting for me when the director stands over me. She has a really comanding personality and our booth is tiny. I think if I asked her to leave I would never touch the board again.

This could be something to work on and with in a good way. Not in asking her to leave but in getting used to working with people that intimidate that are even looking right over your shoulder. Do your job, don't attempt to impress them, just do your job and nothing more or less.

Best days for me are often when I say nothing more than is needed, don't intend to make a point or statement and just get stuff done.

You have to let dad/mom see that you can ride your bike without training wheels before they remove them. This weather or not you wish them to be removed in fact. I know I did not want the training wheels removed, nor did I ask to become anything from LB operator to Marine NCO. Just stuff others thought I was ready for and even afterwards watched over me until I was by way of them feeling comfortable eventually in leaving me do my job and often still not me - being ready. Such things I might have at times gone for and gotten, or not - often not when I went for them, or other times when forced into a position by those supervising me. It's always been based upon me just doing my job and eventually trusted with it fully in addition to most often only doing the advice or changing the world thing when asked. No matter if you think you are ready or not, the instructor in control here and she is gauging your ability to take the next step or not. And in gauging the trust she has in you by way of letting the show go off into someone else's hands. Or even in trusting herself without you having any real role in this - have you considered that what if she does not trust what she has done sufficiently to let it go?

Relax, do your job, compensate with her for her changes at times as needed - even if confused (lots of times you will find confused people in charged of you, it will be good practice to get used to. Just do your best to reflect the situation in doing what you are there to do and to support at times what changes need to happen (that's good practice also.) Looking over the shoulder, so what, are you doing something you should not be? Guilty concience? If not, shouldn't be a problem up until the point you worry more about her being there instead of you just doing the job and being glad that you are the one doing the job - no matter if the full extent you could be or not. To the extent you have the job, be glad for the extent of it you have. Do it well to the extent you can and eventually or not you might get to fly by yourself.

[PhantomD]

Oho this is a topic I could go on for days about.

The key in this situation is to develop a good, productive "working relationship" with the person involved (the director) and gain their trust and respect. It then becomes easier to work with them.

I have become heavily involved in my high school production, doing a lot of planning and organisation. The director (deputy principal) used to do all this work, and I believe she has appreciated being under less stress with me doing some of the job, to a high standard.

As a result our shows have become higher and higher in standard. I have moved from Radio Mics board (two years) to Lighting Board Operator, and I have been given a fairly free reign with the show, with us this year replacing our 25-year-old lights system and using movers for the first time. Next year I will negotiate to use more colour and creativity in my design.

I guess the key points I am trying to express above are communication and co-operation.

It does not come easy, and I have had to work hard to gain the respect of the people involved. This involves having a minor blowout with the director in my first year over tech, which meant that we weren't really talking for a few weeks, but the resultant improvement in sound with my method of operation was such that this was quickly forgotten.

As a result, I would not mind any of the "big-wigs" being in the booth as I know I can co-operate with them.

I was horrified to read above of directors coming in and actually fiddling with levels, I would walk out in that situation. I make a point of doing my job, and only my job, and letting other people do theirs. If they ask for help I give it. If I am running lighting, I run lighting only and don't pester the sound operator.

I guess I now have a "secondary janitor" position in the whole theatre area of the school, in terms of rigging and maintenance. I have just taken the sound system to task ,resoldering leads that had brown joints causing the left speaker channel to drop out, and replacing a horn tweeter in a speaker (the magnet had slipped and there was shocking distortion).

I guess, to be noticed, you have to be "unnoticeable", if you get my drift.

[TalBrite]

While I understand directors who want to be in the booth during a show, I'd do everything in my power to keep a director out during a show. The biggest problem is that the when it comes down to the show, the director is the only person who have nothing to do, and in the middle of so many people trying to get things done, it's almost impossible for a director to not somehow be in the way.

First, a director fluttering over my shoulder is marginally distracting to me and my board ops, and VERY distracting if they're trying to point out problems or fix things in the middle of the show. If a director sees things they'd like worked on, they can take notes from an audience seat and bring them to the stage manager or other parties after the house has closed.

In the case of a technical problem occuring, most directors sitting in the booth won't be able to resist shouting out a suggestion that may not be what the stage manager orders, causing more confusion and possible a bigger mess.

And it's a show of confidence and good faith for a director to hand over the reigns to the stage manager, board ops, and crew for the run of the show.

[asm]

i found that the best way to keep them out of the sound box and the lighting box, is to tell them to go away. obviously not being so direct, but something on the lines of: can you come back in about 2hrs, when the rehearsal is done and give me some notes to look over then? this keeps him yelling at the actors, and him out of my hair.

[Synchronize]

Originally Posted by What Rigger?

When all else fails: FART! LOUDLY! REPEATEDLY! I swear to ever-lovin' God, this does work.

Agreed. I always get a number 1 and number 4 from Taco Bell right before the show. Thats a burrito, a mexican pizza, and 3 taco supremes. It keeps everyone out of the booth .

[Spikesgirl]

Originally Posted by charcoaldabs

Ha, running lights on Friday (for the coffeehouse) during a quiet song I decided I was thirsty, and now was a good time to open my soda... I sorta held my hand over the top to try and muffle the sound of pressure equalization. However, it just ended up sounding like loud flatulence... I had a dozen people turn and look at me simultaneously with a look of shock on their faces, and all I could do was point wildly to my coke while managing to my muffle my own laughter.

At least you didn't do it artistically or they would want you back for each show!

Did you ever get your paper written?

Charlie

[David Ashton]

This is one crazy thread, I thought it was a joke, well a director never has and never will sit with me in a control room, its unheard of, and why, the show is plotted and rehearsed, you need total concentration on doing your job.The director is in the audience seeing what works and what doesn't, she takes notes and hands them out after the show, if you stuffed up it's your fault and you deal with it and it's not because some idiot ruined your concentration trying to re-direct the show in real time.If a director feels the need to be present they have failed, at some point they have to walk away and opening night is that time.

[genericcomment]

Well first of all I liked what gafftaper said and second of all even during tech rehearsals in high school our 'Drama' teacher (who did teach English before but had lots of theatre experience and the person who helped open me to the world of theatre) actually was never present in the booth with me or the sound person. Partially because it was 3 flights of stairs up and she had injured her leg the previous summer, but most of all she trusted tech. She had more problem with the actors which is why she stayed in the house. Gafftaper was right about techies having a passion about what we do, and I know that if my old director in high school had a problem with lights during a rehearsal she'd tell me, and by the next rehearsal it would be fixed.

Now in college running lights, having my lighting/sound professor in the booth with us was a little nerve racking during rehearsals, but when it came to shows he would stay for about the first 5-10 minutes in case of troubleshooting and then he would leave because it was now our show.

I'm not sure if this helps any but I wanted to put in my 2 cents.

[Pip]

Our director would sit in the booth with us for first tech, but leave us alone after that. I like that because that way she could give us immediate changes since it was first tech- mostly she worked with the lighting guy redoing really bad cues and stuff, I mostly got left alone in my sound world.

After that though, all of our notes were done afterward with the rest of the cast and crew.

The only "com" my high school had at our disposal was Motorola 2-way radios and headsets. :P

[Spikesgirl]

What to do when a director wants to be in the booth?

Tell him or her no, providing that they actually listen to you. We have both in our theater.

We are lucky in that our booth locks and we can control who come in and out of it simply by keeping it locked during the show. The logic is that anyone who needs to be in the booth is there at the start of the show and if anyone needs to leave, they can always prop the door open. The director is not one of the essential booth folks and we've had to invite them to leave.

We have directors who walk out after opening never to be seen again except possibly during the last weekend and we have others who insist on being there every night to watch the show. The only problem we have is keeping the directors from being backstage, pestering the actors or techs during the show. Our producing director has actually had to step in and 'toss' a couple out from the backstage area.

There is no easy answer to this question, except to be firm, have the appropriate backing to handle the situation and do it in a professional manner. There is no room in the booth for a director.

Charlie