Technical rehearsals and requirements?

We're a small community theatre - staffed with volunteers on and off stage.
The actors typically have six weeks of rehearsal after casting. The stage manager usually is involved from casting until the end.
The technical crew (lighting, sound and stage) doesn't come in until "tech week" and is there until the end. The lighting is set on the Sunday before tech week and the cues (or submasters) are set at that time. The sound cues are usually picked and loaded into the PC by that time.

This is the basic timeline:
Sunday - lights set, sound loaded, cues roughed in
Monday - rehearsal
Tuesday - rehearsal
Wednesday - rehearsal (first dress)
Thursday - Dress rehearsal
Friday - opening night

The tech crew is grumbling (as one of them is my wife, I really have to listen!). They want a real Tech rehearsal to iron out technical problems rather than have to do things on the fly. We often have concerts on the previous Saturday night (usually on the apron), so it usually isn't possible to set the lights on Saturday.

Tech rehearsal is important to having a polished performance. The director usually want's to just do a complete run-through as opposed to anything else. This leaves little or no time for the techies to do any real technical rehearsal. We're usually getting there about 6:30 and the rehearsal doesn't start until 7:00 or later.

Should I push for a real tech rehearsal to work on just technical stuff? I mean if we're supposed to be triggering a sound effect or a lighting cue when an actor delivers a particular line, isn't that important?? Shouldn't this include the actors?

The "semi-professional" community theatre I used to work for had a schedule similar to yours with one difference. Sunday was both a lighting cue in and a tech rehearsal. We would show up and from 9am-1pm we would "cue in" the show with both lighting and sound. At 2pm we would start a full tech rehearsal w/ actors. This was usually in a cue to cue format. After the cue to cue, we would then do a full run. This was a LONG day, however it all got done in one day. Monday-Wed was used as polish with as few stops as possible. Thursday was an open preview. Friday was opening. We would sometimes cue in on Saturday which made Sunday shorter.

I think we're in the same boat when it comes to tech rehearsal time. For some plays, fixing cues while the actors go through yet another run-through is all that is needed, but for plays like the current one I am working on we need more time to iron out the kinks. The only way to get that time is to educate the director. I think it's a theatre axiom that lighting is the last crew on the list when stage time is handed out.

It's a question of making good use of the time you have and optimizing what can be done in the absence of the stage time you need. Some things that have helped me:

• Talk with the director and stage manager frequently. Attend as many rehearsals as necessary to know what the actors are doing, and to let them know where you are going to be having challenges of your own. Sometimes a small blocking change early can save you time later.
• If there are tricky sequences then arrange time to rehearse those separately and out of sequence prior to the run-through.
• Setting aside the first 30 minutes of a run-through for tech time with the actors can go a long way to make up for a missing real tech rehearsal.
• Consider adjusting your rehearsal schedule so something approximating "first dress" happens earlier in the week. That way you expose issues (slow costume changes, tricky scene changes, blocking problems that impact tech, etc.) while there is still time to do something about them. It also gives you more options for fixing the problem since the director won't automatically put the kibosh on some change that might involve the talent.
• A pre-visualizer and an off-line editor for your console can extend your tech time since you can prepare in advance and test drive the show while watching any rehearsal without any disruptions to the cast or director. Thankfully, Capture Sweden finally came out with a package that is affordable for the community theatre market, Capture Polar Solo. I would be sunk on the current show without it.

I'd like to share our tech-week schedule as it might help your situation.
First, understand that even though we are a 'Profesional Theatre' we are working under an Equity SPT contract < Small pro Theatre> and as such we are very limited on rehearsal times and tech-week schedules. We usually have a 4 week rehearsal period, from First Read through Tech Week. I do not remember the total number of hours but I believe the actors are limited to 6 hours a day under a spt contract. When we get to Tech week things change up a little.
We have 1st tech on Tuesday, typically a 6:00 actor call with a 6:30 'Go'. Now it varies greatly depending on the show and its technical requirements as to how the SM runs the rehearsal and, make no mistake, it is NOT the Directors rehearsal it is the SM's. Going into 1st tech we know what schedule we are going to be using because the SM and Director and the designers have already had a 'Paper Tech' usually the Saturday or Sunday before 1st tech. This gives the SM a chance to get all the cues in the right place, and let's her coordinate and new cues the LD or SD might have thrown in during their work time in the theatre the previous week. Again depending on the complexity of the show we may or may not discuss the choreography of scenic elements and that sort of thing but since we are a thrust we 'usually' don't have much shifting going on or if we do I've automated it or already worked out how it's happening.
Ok, on a crazy show we'll most likely go cue to cue: we start Tuedsay at 6:30 run a cue, adjust timings, make minor tweaks, re-run the cue, then move on. In this scenario we can usually get 1/2 to 3/4's of the way through a show in the first night. < sometimes all the way.... almost never> Wednesday, finish from where we left off. If there is enough time we will then start at the top and start a run. Although some Directors prefer to go back and tweak entrances, cues and timings prior to attempting a run. Thursday, typically a full run through or two depending upon the length of the show < we've got from 6 to 11 allowing for mandated breaks, per Equity rules> Friday 1st Dress, start with getting dress usually have a 'Go' at 7 - 7:30 and then attempt a straight run barring any major stumbles. Staurday and Sunday are both "10 out of 12's " Actors are Usually called from 11 am to 11 pm with two, one-hour breaks. ( hence the name) these are usually full runs but will often be broken into a working rehearsal in the morning and a run at night. Sunday afternoon is typically a run with the Production photographer gadding about on stage getting in peoples faces and snapping photos like a mad man, Sunday night is usually an informal IDR (Invitational Dress Rehearsal). Monday is Dark Tuesday through Thursday are previews with option 4 hour rehearsal periods during the day. then we Open on Friday Night.
I know as a Community theatre you probably have even shorter rehearsal periods < hour -wise> but even a loosely based copy of this tech week schedule would contribute greatly to the smooth operation of a complex show.
Hope it helps a little.

As a friend of mine once said - "I would trade all of this technology for a bucket of time"

For my two cents, the proper relationship of tech rehersal to pure run-thru is largely based on who needs the time more. If your cast is rock solid and the show technically complex, you can profitably spend a lot of time in a cue to cue, working out technical details. If the set is not complete, or the cast is unsure and the show is not set - it is probably more important to do actor run-thrus.

As a lighting designer, I have done it a number of different ways.

• In some venues where the schedule is really screwed up ( literally a death in the family so the tech time was severely limited ) we did a cue to cue with three warm bodies on stage immediately after we focused the show. We then did three dress rehearsals and opened the show.
• Other times I have played with looks during the first few on stage rehearsals and then had a cue to cue.
• Other times I have not had any kind of tech rehearsal. If the actors were secure I could stop if I had a disaster, but that was about it. If the actors were not secure I just had to keep on trucking and do the best I could.
• In an equity house, I have seen multi day cue to cue / technical rehearsals that just go on forever and ever.

I think the best way to approach this is to have a discussion with your director / artistic director about what makes sense for that show. When appropriate, you have to be willing to say 'This big cast of actors needs a run-thru more than I need a cue to cue tech'. If you take that attitude with your director, you will get better results when you say 'This show is complex technically - we need a technical rehearsal'

Before you start eating into the directors time to do run-thru ask yourselves what you can do to make the tech process run more smoothly.

• Are you doing a paper tech? If so, are you including the director. If the director sees what is going on, he might be more willing to parse out some time to you.
• Are you absolutely organized so you can make optimal use of whatever time you have on stage with the actors? IE Do you know who is going to shift what scenery and props before you get to the scene change for the first time? ( It's OK to be wrong, it is not OK to figure it out when you get there)
• Have you thought about doing a tech without actors ( Say Sun after the cues get roughed in - or while they are being roughed in depending on what kind of show it is?)

Another possibility is to chat with the director and make sure you are clear on who can stop a rehersal. If you have a tricky bit with the lights that just does not work, can you stop the rehersal on Monday - but not on Tuesday?

Set expectations appropriately. I do a lot of lighting design in a theatre that does full scale musicals. First rehersal with lights is Sat, and we open on Friday. No cue to cue with actors ever, we just do run-thrus - stopping when there is a problem ( usually with the music or sets ). The director knows that the lights will not be very close to final for the first two or three rehearsals. He can give me notes, but he understands that unless he stops and lets me work the issue, he may not see what he wants until Tuesday or Wed.

You can do what you can do. Theatre is in large part a collaborative compromise. If you don't have the time to work out the light cues that you see in your head, then you need to be willing to simplify to meet the time you have. If you don't have time to make the scene shift go in 10 seconds, it just may have to take 60. Sometimes a 60 second scene shift is better than not having an extra run-thru for a rocky cast.

You say in your space that you get there at 6:30 and rehersal starts at 7:00. If you need a tech rehersal, set the tech call for 6:00 and have a technical rehersal for an hour.

I mean if we're supposed to be triggering a sound effect or a lighting cue when an actor delivers a particular line, isn't that important?? Shouldn't this include the actors?

Click to expand...

You need the stage manager there to fill in for the actors. You usually do not need the actor unless they interact with the cue. For example, if you have a large scene shift interlaced with the actors, you probably do need to have a rehearsal with the actors to make sure that no one gets run over, but for the placement of a sound or light cue - you really don't need the actor there.

JChenault said:

Another possibility is to chat with the director and make sure you are clear on who can stop a rehersal. If you have a tricky bit with the lights that just does not work, can you stop the rehersal on Monday - but not on Tuesday?

Set expectations appropriately. I do a lot of lighting design in a theatre that does full scale musicals. First rehersal with lights is Sat, and we open on Friday. No cue to cue with actors ever, we just do run-thrus - stopping when there is a problem ( usually with the music or sets ). The director knows that the lights will not be very close to final for the first two or three rehearsals. He can give me notes, but he understands that unless he stops and lets me work the issue, he may not see what he wants until Tuesday or Wed.

You can do what you can do. Theatre is in large part a collaborative compromise. If you don't have the time to work out the light cues that you see in your head, then you need to be willing to simplify to meet the time you have. If you don't have time to make the scene shift go in 10 seconds, it just may have to take 60. Sometimes a 60 second scene shift is better than not having an extra run-thru for a rocky cast.

You say in your space that you get there at 6:30 and rehersal starts at 7:00. If you need a tech rehersal, set the tech call for 6:00 and have a technical rehersal for an hour.

You need the stage manager there to fill in for the actors. You usually do not need the actor unless they interact with the cue. For example, if you have a large scene shift interlaced with the actors, you probably do need to have a rehearsal with the actors to make sure that no one gets run over, but for the placement of a sound or light cue - you really don't need the actor there.

Click to expand...

(To preface this, I worked with JChenault for a little over a year (7 or 8 shows) in this same process)

I think this method works well enough when you do not have a stage manager calling the cues during the tech process. When it is an assistant or operator that is there through tech helping to build the cues they learn it as it happens. In a different situation with a stage manager keeping a prompt book and calling light cues I think a cue-to-cue is very beneficial if not necessary to get acquainted with the cues. Even if it is dry. that being said, it is very possible to go without it, but as a stage manager I know I would be much more comfortable with it.

As for stopping rehearsals, in a different environment we would have the director, stage manager, and designer all communicating during a tech rehearsal. If the LD and Director wanted to stop something, then that would be communicated to the SM, who would call a hold for lighting. Ultimately, though, it is the Directors decision. Although, some directors don't like to stop for lights to fix anything mid rehearsal. But, I definitely agree a lot with what JChenault said first; It depends on who needs the time more. I think that is a very good point.