Productions

MainStage Production Manual: Schedules

Deadlines
Rehearsal Schedule
Technical Schedule
Performance Schedule
Schedule Conflicts

Deadlines

SEE SAMPLE DEADLINE TEMPLATE IN APPENDIX.

Deadlines are more than guidelines - they are the framework within which the School of Theatre and Film works.  Designers, Playwrights, Actors, Crew - everyone must adhere to deadlines or their production may not open complete and on time.  Students with deadlines must meet their deadlines, or, if they believe they will be unable to, must notify their faculty or staff supervisor before the deadline is missed to discuss options and methods for achieving the necessary work by the next deadline.

Budget
Budgets are determined before the academic year and all are expected to work within their budget.  Specific production and area budgets; e.g., props budget for a specific production, must not exceed the deadlines for submitting those deadlines just as importantly as remaining within the dollar limits of the budget.

Drawings / Designs
The School of Theatre and Film is a single, interrelated organism, and a blockage in one area affects all the other parts of the organism.  Designers must submit their drawings, sketches, material lists, etc. by their deadlines or the rest of the School of Theatre and Film stops and waits for the material it was expecting on the due date.

Designers missing deadlines face the very real possibility that parts of their design may not be realized.  There is very little slack in the deadline schedule for the School of Theatre and Film and missing a single deadline without notifying supervising faculty or staff could have a domino effect that may derail an entire production’s design, construction and load in.

Rewrites
Playwrights in residence having their work produced by the School of Theatre and Film must also adhere to School of Theatre and Film deadlines in order to ensure their production is completed in time and to everyone’s satisfaction.  Rewrites must be discussed with the Director and submitted to the Stage Manager for copying and distribution at least twenty-four hours before you expect to see them enacted in rehearsal.  Only new sections of text should be reprinted, not entire scripts.  New text should be color coded so all can clearly see which version they are using for each section and that everyone has the same version of each section.  Color coding should follow the following scheme:  1st revision - pink, 2nd - goldenrod, 3rd - light yellow, 4th - light blue, 5th - light green, 6th - lavender, 7th - grey.  At some time during the rehearsal or technical rehearsal process, the Playwright, Director and Faculty mentor (if applicable) should decide t o stop making substantive changes to the script to allow Designers and Actors to learn a “final” version of the script in time to design and rehearse it before opening night.

Changes / Additions
At some point during the rehearsal process (which will vary from production to production, depending on the complexity and scope of the production), the Director and Designers and Faculty mentors (if applicable) shall agree that changes to all substantive components of the production (major scenic elements, costumes, properties) shall stop, to allow  Designers, Actors and running crew time to learn and get used to a “final” version of the show without fear of changes disrupting the learning/rehearsal process leading to opening  night.