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

Yeah, I didn't mean to assume that FRS and GMRS where the same. I just have never heard or found any information about them being illegal to use for business use.

Even if GMRS is illegal to use, for any Theater environment, FRS is more than capable of handling the situation. I know FRS can be used in a business environment, its just not as "secure" as a dedicated business frequency.

The radios we use are the TriSquare TSX100. they operate in 900Mhz range.
 
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I vote for tying the director up with gaff tape when they're in the booth!

When I've done semi-pro or community theatre, one director liked to be in the booth, but they only wanted to see the cues from my end (and probably make sure I was keeping track but once they saw my prompt book they left).

The professional directors I've worked with want nothing to do with me. I'm my own little world. They just make sure I know what they want changed and that I have the cues, other than that, they're just yelling at the TD and designers.

In one of the early posts, someone mentioned about having a director in the booth in HS. I'd agree with that especially to help a struggling SM learning the ropes. Here in Vegas, most of the HS teachers seem to be actors with little or no technical experience, so the SM has to learn on their own.
 
Ok, here's the perspective from the theatre teacher of a small program. Yes I am a full time theatre teacher, no english or history or anything else to clutter my fragile little mind! Anywho, I sit in the workroom/greenroom/dressing space just offstage where I can hear the show and talk to cast members and backstage crew. I basically am there to troubleshoot in case anything happens beyond my crew's control since we have no com system and a relatively unexperienced group of actors and crew (very young program). I walk around the building to the tech crew in the house to check on them every once in a while just to take care of any immediate concerns. This is how all my directors have done and I love it. I'm out of the way, but there in case. I enjoy my cast and crew's excitement and share in their emotional moments when they emerge after great scenes.
This is not how all directors are or should be. Every director has their quirks and unique traits you have to live with. This is their job and they will do it how they want and how they know best. Doesnt matter if you know its not working or ruining a show, but you deal with it or try to find a diplomatic way to discuss it with the director. I would rather my techs talk to me about over-stepping bounds so I can explain myself so we can reach a mutual agreement than have them lock me out of the booth and make me even more angry. They do that and they will not be working a show with me for a long time, if ever again. If you deal with it, do so without complaint. Period. Dont complain to your buddies, or your blog, or to anyone. It will get back to the director and you'll be in much more trouble.
In conclusion, be professional about it: Deal with it quietly or handle it diplomatically.
 
Lock the door....and hope they don't have blasters.

Hahaha. Excellent. With some directors, the hands-on type, I might resort to that. Generally, as stage manager, I don't let directors or guests in my booth. There may come a time when I do. During tech week the director sits next to me in the house, and during shows they sit in the audience, and I handle all communication from director to crew. I once had my sound op in the house and the director ending up yelling at him to fix a problem that he had no control over, so from then on I've been very firm on this point.
 
Our director usually sits in the audience, but right near the booth so he can come in if there's a problem. We don't let him sit in the booth because we've usually got 4 or 5 people in there already, so it's pretty crowded.
 
Where I do some shows, the "booth" is just a table in the house, so we only have room for 2 people at most. One for the board, one on headset. Our stage manager is backstage because we don't have a way for crew to all be on headset backstage. For sound, they are the same. One on board, one on headset listening to cues. At one of the places we do shows, there is lots of room in the booth and I don't care if people are in the booth, but they need to SHUT UP. I need to be able to not only hear the show, but the headset and the person next to me. And if they won't shut up, then need to get out. Our directors usually are the kind that pace somewhere quietly or only come for the beginning of the show and then leave.
 
To me, a director has no business in the booth. They have done their job and if they wish to give notes after the show, fine. During the show you are working and even if it is going in the dumper, the techs are working and the director has nothing to add.
 
To me, a director has no business in the booth. They have done their job and if they wish to give notes after the show, fine. During the show you are working and even if it is going in the dumper, the techs are working and the director has nothing to add.
I'm a teacher in addition to being a director. If something is going wrong in the booth, I'm going in there to find out why, help them fix the problem and teach them how to avoid it in the future. My show, my reputation, my problem. Oh yeah, my booth too...
 
I'm a teacher in addition to being a director....
...My show, my reputation, my problem. Oh yeah, my booth too...
As a teacher you have cross jurisdictions. HOWEVER, it is your show and the techies' booth. How do you establish ownership otherwise?

Andre
 
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I'm a teacher in addition to being a director. If something is going wrong in the booth, I'm going in there to find out why, help them fix the problem and teach them how to avoid it in the future. My show, my reputation, my problem. Oh yeah, my booth too...

You have a good point. Its the directors that don't know tech that think they need to be in there at all times.
 
It's fine if they just use the booth as an observation point, not as a way to control the ongoing production to fit their vision. Really, anybody giving you (artistic, not immediate safety) suggestions while you're/the tech people are busy should just wait until the end of the show.
 
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When I started at my present school 17 years ago, it was practice that the teacher/director was on headset during the show. I was shocked that no students stroked out while being 'directed' while trying to do their job. I trust my operators, and yes, sometimes things go wrong, and I have to trust them to cope with problems if they occur. More often then not, they cover (when needed) just fine. That being said, I'm working in a black box theatre with a fixed grid with no fly gallery, so if Tex is going into the booth to avoid a problem that will result in injury, I'm on board. If a director is going into the booth to protect their artistic vision or reputation (like I saw 17 years ago) it generally resulted in 1) distractions that caused even more mistakes, and 2) the impression that the operators and SM are incapable of doing it themselves. Nobody can swoop in and save my actors if things go off the rails, so they learn valuable lessons in how to cope. Those lessons are not wasted on my technicians either. Again--all bets are off if safety is the issue being addressed.
 
When I started at my present school 17 years ago, it was practice that the teacher/director was on headset during the show. I was shocked that no students stroked out while being 'directed' while trying to do their job. I trust my operators, and yes, sometimes things go wrong, and I have to trust them to cope with problems if they occur. More often then not, they cover (when needed) just fine. That being said, I'm working in a black box theatre with a fixed grid with no fly gallery, so if Tex is going into the booth to avoid a problem that will result in injury, I'm on board. If a director is going into the booth to protect their artistic vision or reputation (like I saw 17 years ago) it generally resulted in 1) distractions that caused even more mistakes, and 2) the impression that the operators and SM are incapable of doing it themselves. Nobody can swoop in and save my actors if things go off the rails, so they learn valuable lessons in how to cope. Those lessons are not wasted on my technicians either. Again--all bets are off if safety is the issue being addressed.
First of all, I should say that my point of view is only valid for high school theatres. Having said that, if a director has to be on headset during a performance, (s)he didn't schedule enough rehearsal. That will only result in what seanandkate describes above. My shows are prepared to go on opening night and the kids run them. I expect and trust that I'm going to get a high production value and I get it. Going into the booth during a performance does nothing to impede my students from having ownership of the theatre program or from the sense of accomplishment they get from doing it themselves. I want them to own the product of their hard work, not a room in the back of the house.
I'm only in the booth when I need to be, but I don't feel that safety is the only valid reason to be there during a performance. My main reason for going into the booth is when something goes wrong that doesn't get fixed quickly. That's usually an opportunity to help teach troubleshooting techniques and get things working again. If, for example a mic stops working in the opening number and then doesn't work again on the next cue, I'm going to the booth to find out why and to help fix it if they can't. If that makes me guilty of "interfering", so be it. We're going to do a quality production, even if that means I have to do some work during a performance. My job as a teacher is not over on opening night.
In the professional theatre, the director has no business in the booth. I can even support that idea in a college setting. In high school theatre, the booth is just another classroom.
Sorry if I sound a little irritated, but the high school students who think that they should be able to lock their director out of the booth need to deflate their egos a bit and have some respect for their teachers, even if they do know more about tech theatre.
 
My main reason for going into the booth is when something goes wrong that doesn't get fixed quickly. That's usually an opportunity to help teach troubleshooting techniques and get things working again. If, for example a mic stops working in the opening number and then doesn't work again on the next cue, I'm going to the booth to find out why and to help fix it if they can't. If that makes me guilty of "interfering", so be it. We're going to do a quality production, even if that means I have to do some work during a performance. My job as a teacher is not over on opening night.
In the professional theatre, the director has no business in the booth. I can even support that idea in a college setting. In high school theatre, the booth is just another classroom.
Sorry if I sound a little irritated, but the high school students who think that they should be able to lock their director out of the booth need to deflate their egos a bit and have some respect for their teachers, even if they do know more about tech theatre.

Good points. That's still good teaching. I totally back that.
 
First of all, I should say that my point of view is only valid for high school theatres. Having said that, if a director has to be on headset during a performance, (s)he didn't schedule enough rehearsal. That will only result in what seanandkate describes above. My shows are prepared to go on opening night and the kids run them. I expect and trust that I'm going to get a high production value and I get it. Going into the booth during a performance does nothing to impede my students from having ownership of the theatre program or from the sense of accomplishment they get from doing it themselves. I want them to own the product of their hard work, not a room in the back of the house.
I'm only in the booth when I need to be, but I don't feel that safety is the only valid reason to be there during a performance. My main reason for going into the booth is when something goes wrong that doesn't get fixed quickly. That's usually an opportunity to help teach troubleshooting techniques and get things working again. If, for example a mic stops working in the opening number and then doesn't work again on the next cue, I'm going to the booth to find out why and to help fix it if they can't. If that makes me guilty of "interfering", so be it. We're going to do a quality production, even if that means I have to do some work during a performance. My job as a teacher is not over on opening night.
In the professional theatre, the director has no business in the booth. I can even support that idea in a college setting. In high school theatre, the booth is just another classroom.
Sorry if I sound a little irritated, but the high school students who think that they should be able to lock their director out of the booth need to deflate their egos a bit and have some respect for their teachers, even if they do know more about tech theatre.


I completely have to agree with that, although some take it so far as to sit in the booth and be completely over the shoulder of the light board op or sound board op and that's where i draw the line. If I hear my old high school director one more time over my shoulder telling me he wants this light on because he thinks it will look better, I would have quit the program. I finally got him to write notes down for after the show to change. I understand when a show doesn't look quite right but there is no reason to change a small light cue in a show during a performance.
 
As much as Tex makes a valid point, having a person in the booth talking to you brings the ability of the Ops to focus way down. As much as an Op should be able to filter out the nonsense, most HS students are not very well focused in general and the director over their shoulders just makes it a lot worse.

On the other hand, I can handle it if he wants to be in the booth so long as he knows what he's doing.
 
As much as Tex makes a valid point, having a person in the booth talking to you brings the ability of the Ops to focus way down.

Gotta go with Tex on this one. If he's in the booth, it's because something is wrong that has not been able to be corrected without intervention. Under those circumstances, focus is already blown.
 
Come to think of it im never quite sure where our director is during the show.... I think shes in the audience, but im not sure.... I've never acutely seen her....

Thats my favorite kind of director. The invisible one.

When a show finishes teching and we go into our tech runs I sit down with the director of the show and tell them "If you need to be in the booth you may, as long as I can't see or hear you. If i feel like you are interrupting my running of the show I will ask you to leave"

I have also worked shows where the SM podium was backstage and the director would be sitting at a table in the back corner behind the curtains or walking around backstage and that specific director i asked her to limit her movement to places were i couldn't see her.
 
When a show finishes teching and we go into our tech runs I sit down with the director of the show and tell them "If you need to be in the booth you may, as long as I can't see or hear you. If i feel like you are interrupting my running of the show I will ask you to leave"

I have also worked shows where the SM podium was backstage and the director would be sitting at a table in the back corner behind the curtains or walking around backstage and that specific director i asked her to limit her movement to places were i couldn't see her.
LOL. If you said either of those things to me, you would no longer be a part of the program.
EDIT: I should add that if you were in my class, you would know that on the first day. :)
 
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