Time Part III Scheduled Time
Stay on task. This is where the Stage Manager is the productions best friend. Rehearsals and meetings shouldn't feel stodgy and business-like, however when rehearsals turn into parties and questions lead on to multiple stories in meetings, something else is being pushed aside and time is lost.
If rehearsal is scheduled to start at say, 6 P.M. then it needs to start at 6 P.M. Not 6:05 or 6:15. That means that the Director, the Stage Manager, the Actors, and anyone else involved with a rehearsal is there before time is called and everyhting is ready to START at 6 P.M.
When time comes to end, it ends. Not a second after. If you even think there is maybe a possibility that perhaps you could go over, stop what you are doing and announce it. Let the company decide if they agree that the extra time is needed. If they don't agree that they want to spend more time on it, so be it. Learn from this and manage your time better. If they do agree, by no means let the extra time exceed 15 minutes. Finish the Scene, finish the thought, just get to a finishing place and call it a night.
There are a lot of rules by Actors Equity that I think are antiquated, anti-creative, and only perpetuate the problems that we are trying to solve. However, the thing that they get dead on right is use of time. They are mostly common sense and definately in the best interest of the actor. For example, you can't change a rehearsal with less than 12 hours notice, or you have to have a day off.
Try to view time as a challenge not a hinderance. But you say "I can't possibly rehearse a play when I can only use my actors for four hous a day, and can't change my mind." You can with a longer rehearsal period. Time of Rehearsals, Tech, and Performance can all be created by doing away with the three week American Theatre standard process of playmaking. More on this later
If rehearsal is scheduled to start at say, 6 P.M. then it needs to start at 6 P.M. Not 6:05 or 6:15. That means that the Director, the Stage Manager, the Actors, and anyone else involved with a rehearsal is there before time is called and everyhting is ready to START at 6 P.M.
When time comes to end, it ends. Not a second after. If you even think there is maybe a possibility that perhaps you could go over, stop what you are doing and announce it. Let the company decide if they agree that the extra time is needed. If they don't agree that they want to spend more time on it, so be it. Learn from this and manage your time better. If they do agree, by no means let the extra time exceed 15 minutes. Finish the Scene, finish the thought, just get to a finishing place and call it a night.
There are a lot of rules by Actors Equity that I think are antiquated, anti-creative, and only perpetuate the problems that we are trying to solve. However, the thing that they get dead on right is use of time. They are mostly common sense and definately in the best interest of the actor. For example, you can't change a rehearsal with less than 12 hours notice, or you have to have a day off.
Try to view time as a challenge not a hinderance. But you say "I can't possibly rehearse a play when I can only use my actors for four hous a day, and can't change my mind." You can with a longer rehearsal period. Time of Rehearsals, Tech, and Performance can all be created by doing away with the three week American Theatre standard process of playmaking. More on this later
posted by The Necessary Theatre at 10:01 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home