What do you do when a director wants to be in the booth?

I hate to disagree, but
At the level you are at right now, you let the director do whatever they want. They know what's going on because that is a direcors job. I promise there will be more crowded booths in the future. You'll understand what I mean when you get there. If you would like to, then you should lodge a complaint with the director and let them know that there isn't much space in the booth, but if they say tough, then that's it. No argument. Part of what makes theater work is that there is an orgizational structure. Follow it. My first ulcer is named after my highschool drama teacher, but I now make in a day what she made in a week, and I kept with what I was doing, she sells cars. Trust me, it all will work out.
 
The only "com" my high school had at our disposal was Motorola 2-way radios and headsets. :p

Thats what we use, and honestly, they work fine. I cant see spending $1000 on a com system when you can get six radios for 30 bucks a piece and headsets with them for 10 more.

Half the time the director doesn't even want one.
 
Ha, running lights on Friday (for the coffeehouse) during a quiet song I decided I was thirsty, and now was a good time to open my soda... I sorta held my hand over the top to try and muffle the sound of pressure equalization. However, it just ended up sounding like loud flatulence... I had a dozen people turn and look at me simultaneously with a look of shock on their faces, and all I could do was point wildly to my coke while managing to my muffle my own laughter. :rolleyes:

ah charc. i haven't laughed like that in ages

how about during a directors speech to the cast about no drinks on stage, me opening a bottle of coke and having everyone look at me. :mrgreen:
 
Maybe he means it's against Union rules? Not really sure, Pip.

Charlie
 
There are conventions, not rules, about many areas of theatre, and one convention is that a director does not interfere during the running of a show, the director who sits in the control booth is being extremely un-professional, they may have the power to do it, but power and competence are not the same thing.
Any director who is competent will have the show ready by opening night, and overseeing in the booth is purely a sign of their insecurity and incompetence, they may demand compliance but they certainly won't get respect.
 
We had a director in my undergrad that it was mandatory that the door to the booth was locked during the show or he would barge in during the middle of a show.
 
Nope, FCC regulations.
FRS and GRMS are for personal, not organizational or business use.

HAHAHAHA I hadn't even thought of that...

Good point. :p Who cares?

I use GMRS unlicensed (just because my dad and I are too lazy to get the license)
 
99% of the time, nobody...
Thus illustrating one of the lunacies of the GMRS implementation. "We are going to allow anyone to buy the technology but to use it you need to play for a license." Kinda dumb tactics IMO. I mean if you can buy and use the gear without having the license, why buy it? This is why it isn't so heavily policed. It isn't worth the FCC's time or money to police it. What would have been smart is if the FCC had said to GMRS radio manufacturers "you need to charge $XX per unit that goes to us (the FCC) as a licensing fee." Then when you bought the gear you would effectively have bought the license, and since really all the licensing is for is income for the FCC, everyone would be happy.
 
What would have been smart is if the FCC had said to GMRS radio manufacturers "you need to charge $XX per unit that goes to us (the FCC) as a licensing fee." Then when you bought the gear you would effectively have bought the license, and since really all the licensing is for is income for the FCC, everyone would be happy.
But of course they wouldn't do that, because it makes sense.
 
Wow I can't believe this thread is active again. Just to recap for those stumbling into this midway, the answer to this question varies depending on what type of theater you are in. If it's Professional, there is very little chance that the director will watch more than one show... and no chance they'll want to do it in the booth. If it's a community theater then there is a good chance the director is a part of the company and will be there most nights. It's possible they will want to watch from the booth but really unlikely. In both cases it would be highly inappropriate for the director to watch from the booth. Now in educational theater (high school or college). The director is probably also a teacher and is likely to be heavily involved in every performance. There is a chance that they will feel that watching the show from the booth is where they want to be. Unlikely the community theater and professional world it's entirely appropriate. They are the teacher, it's their show and they typically the one who's head will roll if things go bad in the booth. You may not like it, buy you are not a faculty member and it isn't the real world.
 
When its actully running or director is in the house laughing like no other try to get the crowd hyped up. Kind of like what comedens do.

Exactly the same here. He always sits front row right next to the doors (I assume so if anything goes wrong he can madly rush out to yell at everyone); but you can always hear him over everyone else.

On occasion we've set up a mic to try to put together a laugh-track of him.
 
Exactly the same here. He always sits front row right next to the doors (I assume so if anything goes wrong he can madly rush out to yell at everyone); but you can always hear him over everyone else.

On occasion we've set up a mic to try to put together a laugh-track of him.

Feel free to stop by our new member forum and shamelessy promote yourself No X
 
My director tends to come in the booth when she gets nervous

She is very understanding and doesn't hang over us
When she first did it, I just said that it was making me nervous and she respected that. She knew what I meant

She still comes in the booth but she stays in the back
 
Just to chime in as a theater teacher - Educational theater is not professional theater, and while I try to run a show as close to the same standards as a professional group might, I am also teaching and instructing along the way. We treat every event in our theater is a learning experience, even down to silly little assemblies. That means that I do plenty of things a professional director never would, because I'm not only the director but the teacher, security, producer, supervisor, and public contact. Most of the time I'll sit in the booth just so the public can't find me, although we have a spacious booth and the crew doesn't mind, and I'm almost never on com. I try to let a show run without any interference, but I have no problem leaning over a board to help instruct an op, or moving backstage to help fix a problem.

In the original situation, the best advice I would give is to either deal with it, or maybe, maybe have a polite conversation with the director. Personally, if a freshmen started telling me how to run the show I don't think that would bode well for their future in the program. And if my technicians ever locked me out of the booth, they'd likely find themselves locked out of the program.
 
Lock the door....and hope they don't have blasters.

LMAO! too funny

In the real world, the director leaves after the opening night reception (usually very drunk) and they go off to work on their next project.

In high school, they have the power to be wherever they want. Usually the school requires the students be supervised by faculty/staff at after hour events. So you pretty much have to learn to deal.

But if they start to become a pain, you can ask them politely not to talk during stand-bys.

Good luck.
 

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