Community Theater and allowed operations

[BNEL]

I know that there is alot of people in theater and I mean no offense to people involved in community theater productions. I am just trying to cover myself and facility liability wise

I manage two Performing Art Facilities where I have a community theater group that has a long term lease using those facilities. My question is as a facilites manager what things would you allow them to do in the theater solo without a trained facilities technican to be on duty for. Think of this group of not having any professionally trained staff in theater. Some ideas in my head were running rigging, counterweighting, hanging lights, setup the sound system, etc.

So What would you allow a community theater group do or not do in your space?

Barry Nelson

 

[Footer]

Let them do whatever they have proven qualified to do. Most people that volunteer to work at community theatres are educated people with advanced degrees in their field who want "something different" to do on the weekends or in the evening. I am TD for a community theatre. I am salaried w/ benefits but volunteers do a lot of work for me. I have a guy with a PhD in nuclear engineering hang my lighting grid. I have a mechanical engineer that does a lot of carpentry and props. The list goes on. You can train anyone to hang lights. You can train anyone to hook up a sound system. You can train anyone to run a counterweight fly system. Teach these people how to do these things, sign off on them, and let them do their thing. If its like many other community theatre groups out there, they bring in smart people who just want a break from what they do during the day. If they don't know how to do something, teach them instead of saying no. They are renting the space, let them actually use it.

 

[mstaylor]

Agreed Kyle. We have a local theatre that requires training to be in charge of an area. The board op needs to prove his knowledge of the board, the same for sound. We don't have flys so that isn't a consideration. Tell the community group to have their main guys to test out on their area of expertise and let them go. The more people that test the more flexability they have.

 

[sk8rsdad]

I am currently director of operations for a facility which we lease from the city, so I am on the other end of your situation. My community theatre does everything. The liability of our landlord does not extend to how we use the space other than in very broad terms. While I share your concern about the safe operation of the facility, I suggest you seek a little legal advice before venturing too far down the path of establishing operating rules. This may be an area where it may be best to keep your distance so as to avoid assuming liability which otherwise would not apply. By way of example, if you rent a space for a company to use as a warehouse, would you have any liability for that company's workplace safety?

 

[museav]

I should start by saying that I am not an attorney and some of the related issues should be addressed by an attorney.

I do think that one has to look at the specifics of the situation. For example, is the facility privately owned or a public facility (community center, university, etc.)? Is the community theatre group the sole user of the facility or is it also used by other groups or for other events? What tech systems do the venues have? If the lease is existing, what does it call for? All of these could likely affect what may be appropriate.

While it is true that many community theatre groups have very qualified personnel involved, the OP included the comment that the user did not have any professionally trained staff. And the warehouse space reference seems might be more applicable if they were only getting use of the basic venue and not any of the tech systems in it, however the issue seems to be more about the the operations of the tech systems and if you allow them to use systems that you do not feel they are qualified to use then you may indeed assume some liability. I would guess that if an accident were to happen in the venue then the venue could be held at least partially liable.

The aspect of whether the community group is the sole user could have a major impact on the approach. If anything being damaged or misplaced affects only that user is probably quite different than if it might affect other users or events or the facility in general. And this works both ways, both for the community theatre group doing creating a situation that affects other users and other users doing something that could affect them.

One problem I see with the concept of 'testing out' users is that you are approving individuals but may not have control over their actually being the operators. Maybe you could write into a lease that all operators must be approved by the facility some period of time prior to an event. However, that places added responsibility and effort onto both parties and if something happens you would almost certainly assume some liability since you approved the users.

So I think it likely depends on the specifics of your situation such as the venues and systems involved, the user groups and their people, the lease agreement and so on. And any potential liability should be addressed by a qualified attorney and your insurer.

 

[mstaylor]

I am assuming that you are more concerned with them destroying your equipment by not using it properly as opposed to worrying about the liability of what they are doing. If this is true then you should be able to just cover that in your rental agreement.

 

[BNEL]

Thanks for all the input. The facility is a attached to a high school so they are not the sole occupant. They are required to have a $1 million liability insurance policy. I was leaning down the path to allow them usage being that they are trained by myself and no one else in the group which is also stated in the lease agrrement. I know that they have safety on the top of their list but there are some "cowboys" in the group as well.

Thanks again.

 

[Cadmium6855]

I work for a community theater and as long as we are doing anything there has to be at least one house staff on duty, for liability issues. We are not allowed to hang any lights or counterweight or do anything like that, because of liability. If I were you I would do around the same... only house staff can counterweight and rig and hang and things like that, that is the way I would run it, you could maybe train their people to do that eventually, after you know and trust them better, but its your call, not mine.

 

[FtWorthTD]

As a TD for two Community Theatres we, for liability reasons, make sure that a representative of the building with theatrical knowledge and experience is present and available to the client while they are in the space, often it’s just me. If they wish to use any of our equipment (light/sound board, flys, etc) they have to demonstrate, to my satisfaction, that they are competent, knowledgeable, and capable to run/operate the equipment otherwise I will bring in one of my technicians. But the fly system is one system that I am very cautious letting anyone without practical experience operate because just one mistake (especially a ‘rookie’ mistake) can cost lives and cause very costly damage. It really depends on how comfortable you are with the individual(s) that would be using the equipment and potential liability issues if something does go wrong.

 

[meghanpotpie]

My theatre has a lot of community based groups come in as well as off broadway touring shows. We typically have at least 2 resident technicians on sight for every event load in or show. We do this not only for liablilty reasons but also to protect our equipment and to answer any questions the guest artist have.