Rock bands are fine, as long as you only have like 2 or 3 of them. Then space them in with the
intermission and standup comedy acts that you can close the curtain for and set up/
strike behind. If your organized, you can even do the entire thing on the fly if you have to, but its usually better to just
cue it up and let er rip. Rehersals = good. At our college, we made people show up for a
blocking rehersal, a technical rehersal and a dress rehersal just to be allowed to participate. Tech and dress were on the same night, with
catering in between for the crew... I approve this idea much. I think the 2 bucks in
advance and 4 at the door is probably a good idea... maybe charge a discounted price if you bring a canned good for some local charity. My HS had a talent show that cost 5 bucks to go to, but you could bring a can of food to knock a dollar off the price, and it stacked, so you could bring no money and 5 cans of food. They also gave free pop/food to people with canned food, but the entire
point was to raise canned
goods for the local food bank. They raised about a semi of food or something outrageous like that. Basically, pick a cause and charge based on that. Food and drink is a good thing. You can also have one of the rock bands that is slightly better than the rest/can
play a 20 min set do the
intermission in the
lobby. Also, if you dont get music from the band/group that they want played, then they dont get it played. You would be shocked how few dance groups want to perform without their backing
track. However, this will probably raise your
level from ok
theatre geek to total not ok
theatre geek in the eyes of that entire group's friends, so be forwarnd. Best delegate this task of telling people they cant go on with music. CDs are good.
QLab is even better,
IMO. Another thing with CDs, if you have the facilities, make a single CD and have the entire thing mastered so that all songs are about the same volume, or at least give the
FoH engineer some notification as to when the volume will be higher/lower. I second the comment on using crappy mics. We had just gotten a new
Shure wireless hand-held last summer (2, actually), when the hip-hop group decided to end their set by tossing the mics into the air. Needless to say,
NFG after that. Use cheaper/studier mics. Also, take the cable, bring it up to the
windscreen and then back down, and etape the crap out of it. Allows mic to be swung lightly more safely. Not to encourage it, its going to happen, so just try and prevent an SM-58 from hitting someone in the
face when it unclips. Lighting: go big or go home, but go big for everyone. Dont pick out the "coolest" act and hit them hard with cool effects. Make that stand up guy feel like hes on Comedy Centeral Presents, even if hes barely funny. He will have a better time, and people will be more excited by him, generally. Crowd blinders are great for rock shows, dances should look nice.
Haze = very good. Have some people designated security, either local off duty cops (usually costs money), or find some teachers willing to do it. Keep people out of the backstage/green room unless they are the ones performing. We usually had 2-10 guards from campus security at our college talent show type gigs. If you have them, security types should all wear the same thing so as to be identifiable. Ours were campus security, but yours might just be black t-shirts with "security" stamped on the back or something. Nothing fancy needed. Time: 5 minutes for a bad act can be forever. Make it fair and limit everyone, if the talent wont get off the
stage when they ought, the
mute and
blackout buttons work wonders at getting people shut up. So does the grand drape in conjunction with the
mute button. Also, try and
screen the acts. Last thing you want is the principal shutting you down because some dummy spouted his mouth with a good naughty word or two, or that dance group forgot to put on the actual costume. Had this issue at my college 2 years ago, it was not pretty. Actually had to keep some higher
ups off the
stage using force (hooray for campus security). Just dont let it happen if you can help it. PS, West Michiganders ftw.
Oh, and since good communication is key, have a talkback in the monitors for rehearsal (and for the performance, if the acts are poorly behaved. Also, yell as little as possible. Have
clear-com/
telex or some other intercom between the booth,
stage, backstage, and
house management. If you can, a video feed of the
stage to the
greenroom/ backstage area can be helpful in prepping acts. And yell as little as humanly possible. If someone is yelling at you, take it, and respond calmly and professionally. Only raise your voice if you need to in order to be heard over a lot of noise, and a mic is preferable to yelling. Makes people happier.
