...
- Take pictures of auditioners; it's easier for the director to remember faces
- Have people (ASMs, etc.) inside and outside the audition room communicating about which auditioners have arrived and whether they are ready to audition.
- Get the casting done as quickly as possible. If possible, schedule the last day of auditions to end early to give you time to call people. (this should be the last day before callbacks and the day of callbacks if possible)
- Help with casting. Keep a list of people, parts, and how they match up.
- If possible, make a characters list before-hand and have an idea of how large each part is (search the play name on wolfram alpha- it's super useful!) and which parts can be combined if needed. List which characters are in which scenes. This is also a good time to decide which characters are important for the rehearsals of each scene, which will help with scheduling.
- Note: the director will often do this, because they know the show better than you. Check with them.
- Encourage the director to take scheduling into account during auditions. Try to prevent giving main roles to people who don't have the time for them.
Read-through
Take a look at the child page (below) for things you should make sure to tell people at read through. This is an especially good time to outline your lateness policies and so on. Printing scripts for read through
You are in charge of printing scripts for read-through, unless you can get the producer or actors to do it. Printing scripts takes longer than you think! Give yourself more than an hour! Have the scripts ready to be printed beforehand so you don't have to deal with formatting while trying to print everything. Use the Athena cluster on the 5th floor of the student center, 'cause it has lots of printers. Print on all the printers simultaneously (or some subset of them). Print in small batches (2 to 5 scripts) so that other people don't hate you. Keep an eye out for running out of ink or paper so that you don't waste time and trees. You'll want scripts for all the actors, the director, yourself, plus a few extras for people like lights or sound who may want them. It's a good idea to also send out a digital version of the script in case people loose theirs or would rather work off an
...
iPad or smaller pages or something.
Things you should make sure you tell people at Read-Through
- Conflict policy: You must notify the SM of your conflicts before they make the schedule.
- Tech week conflicts are not a thing. You should be at all tech week rehearsals. You should be skipping classes. You should be getting out of tests. If this is an issue, you should make it clear now
- Lateness policy: Tell people what your lateness policy is, and then stick to it.
- The ensemble runs on real time. Call at 8pm means that you're there and ready to go at 8pm, not that you're walking in the door at 8:05
- Notify the SM of the day if you're running late
- give everyone the web address for Callboard.
- give everyone the e-mail address for the SM list (emphasize that this should be the address they e-mail, not the SM's personal e-mail
- the 15 hour per week policy: Make sure to tell the SM if you've been scheduled for more than this limit
Rehearsal period:
Help run rehearsals.
Take down blocking in SM script copy. Always take down in pencil as everything has a tendency to change.
Keep track of props/set/costumes- note any new changes or director notes
Be on-book for actors. (when they say "line" give them their line)
After rehearsal, put things away as necessary. The SM is responsible for securing all rehearsal items and the rehearsal room.
Write a rehearsal report. An example is attached. This helps the prod staff keep updated on new items they need or constraints on items they know about.
Check in with ASMs often, especially if they are running rehearsals on their own, and/or are new to SMing.
Attend Production meetings
...