Rehearsal Reports - Do you use them?

[gafftaper]

As a High School teacher I never used them. I was a one man show, I was there for the whole performance, it made no sense. I sat down with the stage manager at the end of each performance for a few minutes and discussed if there was anything that needed to be fixed that I didn't know about. Anything more formal would have been silly under the circumstances.

So I guess my answer is it depends on how involved you are with the production and how many people you have working under you to delegate work to.

[elite1trek]

Not only do we do rehearsal reports, but we do production meeting reports, performance reports, design process updates, a load in report, costume fitting reports, and the dreaded post production analysis.

Now...we don't always do all of these, it depends on what the director wants.

And when I say we, I of course mean the people that work for me.

[Sayen]

Originally Posted by gafftaper

As a High School teacher I never used them. I was a one man show, I was there for the whole performance, it made no sense.

After reading this thread, I used them for our last performance at my high school. I had my SM and ASM complete forms during dress and tech rehearsals, and then distributed information to crews to carry out notes. It wasn't perfect, and I still caught the burden of the labor, but I think it did help build awareness of the work needed. I'm going to need to experiment to find a form and procedure that works for me in my environment, but I think I just added this to my show process.

[Van]

Originally Posted by Sayen

After reading this thread, I used them for our last performance at my high school. I had my SM and ASM complete forms during dress and tech rehearsals, and then distributed information to crews to carry out notes. It wasn't perfect, and I still caught the burden of the labor, but I think it did help build awareness of the work needed. I'm going to need to experiment to find a form and procedure that works for me in my environment, but I think I just added this to my show process.

I'm really glad to read this! Taking info from here trying it out, adding your own twists to it...... It warms my Heart.
I will tell you having a centralized / setup distro list for e-mailing makes it so much easier. We add a new one to the server for everyshow with all the new designers, sm's, pa's, etc. Good on ya for trying something new!

[Pixie]

Rehearsal Reports/Performance reports are a HUGE must. We never used them during my high school, and I believe it's definitely something that needs to happen in a larger production. Main reason we didn't, is that all teh people involved in the technical work for HS, were at the rehearsal, so knew what needed to be done.
Rehearsal Reports help everyone, not just the tech. My rehearsal reports include general notes for the actors, schedule for the next rehearsal, what we did that night, as well as notes for myself, director and each one of the designers. If it's a musical, it usually has the choreographer on it as well.
I put a blank one on this. We post a copy of it on our call board, which will also contain personal actors notes that go out with the report if they have any that night.
We're required to send the report out by the morning after the rehearsal, so the technicians/designers, can get their notes and see that they are fixed (hopefully) in time for the next rehearsal.

~*~ Pixie ~*~

[seanandkate]

Professionally, show reports were a must. As a high school teacher, not so much, although I now am willing to give it a shot since Sayen is having some success with it!

[themuzicman]

From the perspective of a designer, they are a must. The SM for any given show, will email out rehearsal reports to the design team/board ops. As we are not required to be there at every single rehearsal, if an issue comes up It is helpful to read it in the rehearsal report and be able to fix it by the next rehearsal.

[Walshd5000]

Originally Posted by themuzicman

From the perspective of a designer, they are a must. The SM for any given show, will email out rehearsal reports to the design team/board ops. As we are not required to be there at every single rehearsal, if an issue comes up It is helpful to read it in the rehearsal report and be able to fix it by the next rehearsal.

I've never been a designer on a show that's had rehearsal reports, but would have been handy. Every show that I've stage managed has had them. Whether or not I initated or the PM or TD wanted them, they'd go out. Using a free PDFwriter (CutePDF is my fav) it means anyone can view them. Email was the best way. Setting up groups of email addresses means you can add all the relevant people with one click to the email and the report goes out. I think I used Excel for mine so it could be all compartmentalized and on one page. Designers aren't necessarily picky, but boy the TD and PM are picky as all get out.

If nothing else, the rehearsal and performance reports are necessary for CYA. I would have gotten kicked out of a few shows had it not been for the reports and the emails. People just don't like to admit they screwed up and move on. There is so much drama in theatre. SAVE EVERYTHING!

Break Legs!

[type2]

I'm a high school stage manager and I started sending out rehearsal reports and everyone loves them. At my school until myself we never had someone stage manage more than one show, so nobody ever had time to learn all the things that help out a production. But everyone involved in my school's current show loves them and is glad that I use them. Obviously my reports don't have the same information a professional stage manager would include but I have found that sending out notes to designers and reminding actors of what we are doing the next day is very helpful to the run of our show.

[shiben]

We use rehearsal reports at Calvin Theater Company currently, and I have noticed that it is hit-or miss for each SM you get. The one we have currently is not very good about putting in relevant information. As the ME, this becomes a problem when, oh, a few lamps blow out in a hard to reach area, and now im up on a ladder interfering with sound check and whatnot because I needed to move the band to get to their lights, or when their monitor goes out during a performance and no one knows about it until the band complains the next day (it was an electrical service problem). To me, if there is not a detailed report sent out, especially during performances, there is just no way to make sure that things happen correctly. One of the most frustrating things I have ever encountered is SMs not using a simple tool like this to communicate, which is critical in such a massive collaborative project like most theater productions are.