Curtain call for crew?

Should the Technical Crew appear onstage for the curtain call?


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We have always had our crew go onstage and take a bow. We usually get to go on last. I think its a good idea so that the public realizes that there are more than just the actors involved in the show.
 
We have always had our crew go onstage and take a bow. We usually get to go on last. I think its a good idea so that the public realizes that there are more than just the actors involved in the show.
 
Hey

We do the same thing. The last night of ever performance the entire crew and stage managers and the dirrector and all that have to come up on stage and we get gifts and we have to stand there and all. I think its a nice idea, but part of the point of being a tech is that you normally don't want to be onstage. We never say anything and don't really mind, I mean it is a nice tradition. But it does seem somewhat odd at time.

~Nick
 
At my school, at the end of the curtain call, the actors point toward the booth. I always liked when people started to clap louder for that. And then, once, I saw an article in the newspaper with a picture of the cast doing this. The caption: "Students at a recent rehearsal acknowledging the audience that they hope to have tomorrow on opening night."

That was the end of the warm feelings.


Funny recognition by the cast:

Whenever I do something that they like, the cast of the Acting II Ensemble says "STEEE-VENNN!!" It's funny.
 
I thought I would add my two cents worth. This is coming from the angle of a high school drama director.

I let my stage crew take a curtain call after the actors AND I have the cast and crew acknowledge the tech crew by pointing to the tech booth (or tech table at our old... ahem... "auditorium"). Why?

We have a history of not closing the main drape until intermission and until the end of the production. I have noticed that the audience at our productions sit and stare at the stage in wonder because they can see the shadow of the set moving around, but not necessarily our stage crew who are all in black. They marvel with the speed, accuracy and precision of our scene changes, and they oooh and aaaah at our visual effects and sound effects. I want the audience to see the students who are responsible for that particular enjoyment that the audience has. I also want the parents of these students, many who attend every production we have just so they can "see" their child change the set or run lights/sound, be able to truly view their child on the stage. I want to give them the opportunity to turn to Frank... who has rubbed in that his daughter is the star of the show and has held every lead in every production... puff their chest out and say "that's MY kid there".

I also like giving the stage crew and tech crew a curtain call because I want them to know that I consider their job as important as the actors. What I tell my actors is that they have weeks of rehearsal to learn their roles while the crew gets 4 rehearsals... much of which is wasted tweaking the actor's laziness at learning lines, cues and hitting marks... to learn theirs. This is why the stage crew and tech crew get "props" from us with a curtain call and acknowledgement.
 
Same thing at my school. I'm the TD, and I love making a slick show. We can't close the grand drape because our stage is not deep enough. I think that my crew deserves curtain call, but our Drama Teacher doesn't allow that. I'm already pushing my luck with her, so I don't want to push it any farther.
 
tech crew curtain calls

I'm on the fence... i agree that the life of a techie is one lived in the shadows of the curtain... but i definitely think that techies deserve their props... our cast often will acknowledge the crew at the end of the curtain call by gesturing up to the control booth. and the last show, our two backstage girls poked their head out and waved. it was cute. of course, it's a junior high, what do you expect? i do think techies deserve their props, though. maybe not through bowing themselves, but maybe through acknowledgement by the cast
 
One part that I didn't right is that like alot of other people they gesture to the back of the stage and when they do for a second or two we make the lights go nuts. Its awesome and everyone looks back. Personally I think thats good enough.

~Nick
 
Rule number 1 in high school theatre: Do Not Alieanate(sp?) Yourself From The Actors. When I came to my high school from junior high I made it a point to get to know all of them. And now, when I'm solo in the booth for the improv team shows they all do the open palm pointing at me thing, just as they are told to for actuall productions. I don't think theres anything wrong with recognition especially for us up in the booth as I am sitting in the window hanging my feet out the whole time(our booth us raised up in the AP).
 
What an interesting thread. It's been going forever and yet people seem to keep having new things to say.

As a H.S. drama teacher I always pushed to run the most professional theater I could. As has been mentioned several times professional technicians don't take bows.

It seems to me the main reason this would happen is that the drama teacher want's to encourage the crew and thank them. Well, I can do that much more sincerely backstage on my own time. Most of my students work backstage because they would never want to be seen in the spotlight anyway.

Closing night of the last show of the year we did the final bows... which are always followed by the cast dragging the teacher out on stage for flowers. I would thank the cast and tell the audience they are dismissed. About half would stay and half would leave. I would then gather the entire cast and crew together on stage in a circle. We had a toast to say good bye to the show and year. I then said a few words about each graduating senior from cast and crew and gave each a rose. Yes this was a break of "professionalism". However I felt it was an important ritual for our "family". I always clearly explained to the audience that the show was over and they were free to go. This was our time to acknowledge seniors and share the moment cast and crew.
 
For us, the palm thing seems to be enough. They always do that for the pit first (if there is one) and then motion back to the booth. Nothing fancy, just a formal way to say thank you. Before the final show we always gather around in the green room and they give flowers and/or gifts to the directors and parents that helped make the show possible. This year I got one of those floor pillows wilth arms that had the title "Technical Director" across the back and the show name and year on the arms. It was a really cool idea.
 
the only time which the entire tech crew has come out for curtain call was during a kalidescope show because of the less formal nature of it. i think that the director and td can thank the techies well enough with a good thank you or box of chocolates behind stage after the show. Our actors will always give an open palmed point towards the booth and the lighting guy(me) will dip the lights. I have had some shows where people just thought that the lights malfunctioned. After the show, the two techies in the booth will normally stand at the booth door and watch as the people leave, many people will congraduate you and compliment the tech as they walk past.

Our sound guy will sometimes play a clip from the simpson "dough, a deer, a female deer" which i think is in apropriate, but he calls "our signature track"

I definatly agree that the tech people get under recognized and are sometimes completly forgotten about.

Thanks to the small nature of our theatre (300 seats) the actors and technicians are pretty well part of the same group, with a few of the actors even volunteering as tech crew when we are short staff.
 
Our cast always raises their left arm to the booth. I thought that this was plenty of recognition until I saw an article in the paper that had a picture of this motion, saying that it was "recognizing the audience." I now take a bow by "dipping" the lighting that illuminates the set whenever they do this. This doesn't take any light off the actors for the curtain call, but it is definitely noticable, and I think it works perfectly. "Light bows."
 
now for the main part i agree with this but here at lewport we do somtin specail for our seniours we send them out and only them out for their last play it is something that i think the seniours look forward to because after four years of being back stage with i have no problem with it is fun to finaly take a bow and get recignized for you accomplishments
 
i personally dont care. As sound director im the only one thats really ever seen considering our deck is in the middle of the audiance for accustic purposes. But, i do think that the Srs. should go outon their last major production of school...Planned or not... Ever see the look on a directors face when 4 crew members charge out of the wings with foils at each other during the talkey talkey at the end of the last night of Julius Caesar and end up falling off the stage followed by corny jokes by the stage director? Good for us, bad for everyone else. ALways a good sight for the over worked under appreciated crew. We can always be blamed, but never thanked.
 
A friend of mine on cast wants me to go out and bow with the crew. I told him I don't do that, but eventually I said I would go out on the last show, since I realized that would probably be my last chance to go out front, ever. And it would probably be my last musical too. After today, (our first show) I realized I have 2 light cues during the curtain call, and I have to run the curtain motor since the SM will be backstage. Oh well.
 
okay...so i as already here...but i have ahad a show that i need to change my standing on for a moment...
This last show we did was h** to be honest, working with amiddle school crew thats never done anything before, trying to train them to run the major componants of lighting and sound, as well as do way too many other jobs at once...all in half as many tech rehersals as were needed. Normallly, i dont like crew calls, but this one worked. Normally, we do have the srs. go on at their last major show, but this time, there were none, and it was a minor show. but...there were pies in the play...and hot dogs...and crew became covered in both duing amazingly awsome cleanups while changing mics and scenery i must say. So, of course, we have to come on and clean the stae again during call when the director desides to name the faceless heros that didnt make the program...
 
AVGuyAndy said:
A friend of mine on cast wants me to go out and bow with the crew. I told him I don't do that, but eventually I said I would go out on the last show, since I realized that would probably be my last chance to go out front, ever. And it would probably be my last musical too. After today, (our first show) I realized I have 2 light cues during the curtain call, and I have to run the curtain motor since the SM will be backstage. Oh well.
curtain motors...fancy... i call my curtain motor peter, and hes a very funny man. Whats yours called?
 
Talk about unprofessional!! Technicians should never go out and take a bow. The closest thing to a tech that should take a bow is the conductor of the orchestra. It is understood that there are people backstage that make a lot of the magic happen - that's why they are mentioned in the program (at least they should be mentioned there!). The same goes for the director - he/she should not appear on stage - no matter how famous or well known he/she is!! Once the rehearsals are over and you open a show the director's job is OVER. He is in the program with a big ol' bio - noting else is needed.
We, as performers in this large form we call theatre, have a responsibility to suspend belief for the time that people are in our care. Our audiences need to feel like and believe that the things that are happening on the stage really are happening. The moment that an outsider takes a step onto the stage we break that suspended belief. For that reason, technicians stay where they belong as does the director, if he is even in town and not someplace else working on another show.
There is a list of conduct that we as theatre goers and makers live by. I have posted it before a while back, but maybe it would be worth posting again. Watch for it!!

Suspend belief. Make it real - for it is real to those that have come to share in the experience that you have created!!
 

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