Here Comes Tech Rehearsal...
This weekend we begin tech rehearsals for Take Me Out. For those who don’t know, tech rehearsals are where all the technical elements of a show – set (and, in this show’s case, plumbing), lighting, sound, props, and costumes – come together to build the finished product that the audiences see.
It sounds crazy to most non-theatre folks, but our tech week begins with a 10 of 12 rehearsal on the Sunday before we open – this means that everyone’s called for a 12 hour period (for us, it’s always 11am-11pm), with a 2 hour dinner break within those hours. It’s a loooong day, but so much gets accomplished to start the week off right. We begin the day with a cue to cue, where all the technical cues are plugged into the show. This is an exciting time for the actors, (she writes, with an edge of sarcasm), who get to stand around onstage in their places and jump through the script, only saying their lines that are the stage manager’s cues for taking the technical cues. More often than not, we’ll run a cue several times before moving on – a great chance to test the actors’ knowledge of their lines. (A stage manager’s main job, in case you don’t know, is to “call” the show – basically telling the board operators and crew what cues to take and when. It’s a great job, and I love it very much, but when you have a crew that’s as good as the one we’ve got, sometimes I feel like I could run out for a cup of coffee and the show wouldn’t miss a beat.)
After the cue to cue, if time permits, we go back and do a run-through of the show, where the actors finally get to work through the whole show with tech. Sometimes, if we’re feeling wild and crazy, we’ll even start adding costumes at this point. This tech run-through is our first chance to see the show start to come together into what you, the audience, end up seeing. Of course, many elements change and get tweaked throughout tech week, (sometimes all the way up until opening night), but as it stands, this is when the show really starts to come together…
It sounds crazy to most non-theatre folks, but our tech week begins with a 10 of 12 rehearsal on the Sunday before we open – this means that everyone’s called for a 12 hour period (for us, it’s always 11am-11pm), with a 2 hour dinner break within those hours. It’s a loooong day, but so much gets accomplished to start the week off right. We begin the day with a cue to cue, where all the technical cues are plugged into the show. This is an exciting time for the actors, (she writes, with an edge of sarcasm), who get to stand around onstage in their places and jump through the script, only saying their lines that are the stage manager’s cues for taking the technical cues. More often than not, we’ll run a cue several times before moving on – a great chance to test the actors’ knowledge of their lines. (A stage manager’s main job, in case you don’t know, is to “call” the show – basically telling the board operators and crew what cues to take and when. It’s a great job, and I love it very much, but when you have a crew that’s as good as the one we’ve got, sometimes I feel like I could run out for a cup of coffee and the show wouldn’t miss a beat.)
After the cue to cue, if time permits, we go back and do a run-through of the show, where the actors finally get to work through the whole show with tech. Sometimes, if we’re feeling wild and crazy, we’ll even start adding costumes at this point. This tech run-through is our first chance to see the show start to come together into what you, the audience, end up seeing. Of course, many elements change and get tweaked throughout tech week, (sometimes all the way up until opening night), but as it stands, this is when the show really starts to come together…
Heidi Shen
WTT's Production Stage Manager
posted by WaterTower Theatre @ 8:55 AM
1 Comments:
ms.shen rocks
wang shen tonite
so there
Post a Comment
<< Home