Keys to Visiting Acts

In my time I have had one or two tour managers ask for a key to a dressing room or production office. In general I shrug it off and we always will just be around to lock and unlock as needed. Anyone here always give acts keys to their dressing rooms? I know its on every rider... but anyone actually do this? We have the capability to do it now that we got re-keyed but I am willing to bet I would never see those keys again after the 1st show.

Our dressing rooms all have combination locks on the doors, so easy enough to give the combo. As well many, many signs stating not to leave valuables, that we provide a safe on stage.

I'm certain we would not give out keys regardless of what the contracts states as it would be in violation of our Public Safety Dept. regulations.

And we don't typically have a production office for a visiting company. We just barely have backstage WiFi.

It's your house, you set the policies. I've worked in houses that did both, and yes, eventually keys walk.

What Rigger? said:

It's your house, you set the policies. I've worked in houses that did both, and yes, eventually keys walk.

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One of my venues would give dressing room/office keys to tours that really insisted and attach like a $200 missing key fee if it didn't come back. The dressing room keys only went to the dressing rooms and a few other inside doors... nothing high security. Building keys were different and were not given to tours/non-staff so no huge security concern over lost dressing room keys as they're rather useless if you can't get in the building.

When I TDed at such a venue we never granted that request. Only had one manager ever make a fuss, but his talent also tried to get the 16 y/o young lady in our box office to come back to the bus after the show... Neither thing happened.

We saw a pretty large mix of both. I would say on the average the nicer places took care of locked doors for us, and the ones that had less staff availability wanted us to be responsible for keys.
When I was shooting pyro and had to be given a key to the mag it wasn't uncommon for me to have to sign the key out personally so my company could be held responsible for re-keying the lock if I didn't return it.

A lot of places simply have a security guard at the dressing room/band/ artist /production area. Another option is have all the dressing rooms and production offices all keyed to blanks, then order a box of blank keys. Try to collect keys or cash at the end of the day, but if the keys walk, you have a box of spares.

MikeJ said:

Another option is have all the dressing rooms and production offices all keyed to blanks, then order a box of blank keys. Try to collect keys or cash at the end of the day, but if the keys walk, you have a box of spares.

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The cost of duplicating lost keys isn't usually the concern. Most often when there is a fee for a lost key, the fee covers the cost of rekeying the lock and reissuing new keys so that the integrity of the security provided by the lock is not compromised. However, if policy is simply to replace lost keys, I think keying the locks to blanks is a good idea as that would provide an indication to the user of the key that the lock provides very little security.

Nicopress and GAC the key to a pig weight.

derekleffew said:

Nicopress and GAC the key to a pig weight.

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Next time the tour comes to your theater, they will specify size and weight limits for the keys in the rider.

Nowhere I've worked gives keys to short term visitors, and its as much about the cost of lost keys as it is about having a known staff member around when anyone is in the building.

And if a one-off, it's not like they're going to cancel the gig if they don't get the keys....

derekleffew said:

Nicopress and GAC the key to a pig weight.

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I like it! The rider doesn't (yet) have those specs. THAT key will not walk away!

11 years of touring shows through my space and I have never given out keys. Not even sure I have seen this on any rider, maybe I just miss it, but will look on the next one for it. Our dressing rooms are really close to the stage and close to my office so it really hasn't been an issue or even asked for. Our main floor dressing areas are keyd separately from the rest of the building, so I could give out a key to just those rooms, but I just don't. Don't want to go through the hassle of re-keying or dealing with replacement keys.

We don't for short term rentals, and can't really, the dressing rooms are keyed the same as a few other rooms that most don't need or pay for access to. We do have a summer rental that I believe gets keys, but they are here for 6 weeks and it's "sponsored" by us as community outreach, so that's different.

I wonder how long till theaters start using digital locks? The price is going down rapidly (though still more expensive than standard locks, or padlocks) but the use is a lot more prevalent in commercial and even residential. Most of the bugs have been worked out, and the locks can be reprogrammed "on the fly." So give out a key-card (like a hotel) or even just a numerical code and change it after the client leaves. Plus then with the logs you know who is accessing what rooms at what times.

No worry about lost keys, re-keying, or only giving access to certain rooms.

Morte615 said:

I wonder how long till theaters start using digital locks? The price is going down rapidly (though still more expensive than standard locks, or padlocks) but the use is a lot more prevalent in commercial and even residential. Most of the bugs have been worked out, and the locks can be reprogrammed "on the fly." So give out a key-card (like a hotel) or even just a numerical code and change it after the client leaves. Plus then with the logs you know who is accessing what rooms at what times.

No worry about lost keys, re-keying, or only giving access to certain rooms.

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We considered it a few years ago. The access control was very appealing. Not just for visiting acts but for the local staff as well. Being able to issue cards to part time staff and then control which doors they could access, and restrict it to days and times that they were scheduled to work. In the end it was just to cost prohibitive.

The community theatre I work for was remodeled (rebuilt) after a massive flood a few years back. At this point, if it swings it's on card access. With the number of volunteers, including a stage manager, needing access it saves a lot of headache. Plus, you can keep track of people, or only allow persons in the building between certain times.
Related, they make stand-alone reader systems (reader and controller in one) for cases like this. Hard keys for most of the doors, soft keys where there's a lot of "churn".

One theatre I work at NEVER does, and another always does. I prefer the "never" method personally, stuff doesn't go missing nearly as much and such. The one that does give keys has had a lot of issues.

At The Grand Theatre (London, Ontario) we never give keys out. If you really need into something and a tech is not there for you, security can let you in. Basically if the theatre is open for the visiting or renting show, one of our techs needs to be there (of course the case in the IATSE section of the theatre, but also the case in the non-union areas such as the studio theatre).
Security will let you into the dressing rooms if you need. Other than that you can rest assured that things will be locked up and your stuff wont go missing or get messed up. Very important in my eyes.

Sometimes it can be a pain, but more often than not it is not an issue and keeps things secure which gives piece of mind.

When I'm in someone else's theater, I actually prefer not having keys so long as it's not a huge pain in the butt to get places I regularly need to get into. If the venue has someone around to give me access as I may need it, I'm happy.

The exception being, I really don't want to put things in fire doors to prop them open because a building is keyed weird. If something is keyed weird with crash bars that cannot be keyed open, then I'd rather have a key than prop a fire door open. Surprising how often people base their normal operations on a holding a fire door open with a stage weight...