The producer is ultimately responsible for all non-artistic show decisions. They select a production staff, facilitates all logistical matters, and runs all production meetings. If a production team member becomes unable to complete their position, the producer must either replace them or complete the position themself. The producer is also the final authority on the production. If something makes the producer uncomfortable for safety or other reasons, they may veto it. Additionally, the producer is responsible for handling interpersonal conflicts. It is important that the producer be organized, accounting for all miscellaneous tasks involved in the show. The producer must frequently take initiative and be extremely adaptive. Be prepared to do a lot of work.
Before/early in semester
Soon after start
Before show
After show
Just generally be around and help with anything that needs help.
You should always actively go out and rope people into auditioning, particularly if they are on the fence. Assist the SM team and the director with the audition process. Create and go over actor contracts with all auditionees. Ensure that auditions adhere to the Casting Guidelines stipulated in the Constitution.
Finding a good production staff is the most important thing you will do as Producer. Email town-crier, then spam campus. Think very carefully about your decisions. If you want advice, speak to the officers. A good production staff makes a stress-free show. When working with new dartes, you may will either need to assign them as assistants or give them a full position with a mentor (obi-wan). If they show motivation and willingness, you should definitely give them the full position. Meet with all production staff - be sure they understand the calendar and what is expected of them. Go over the contract with all members of the production team at the first meeting.
Especially in the spring, try to finalize prod positions as soon as possible to give staff as much time to work as possible. This is especially true for SD and publicity.
Old production staff and audition contracts can be found in the ensemble locker: /mit/ensemble/Private/Contracts/Current. They can be edited using basic LaTeX (files in locker). Edit names, dates, and contact info.
It is a good idea to try to make designers stick to their deadlines, it makes for smoother sailing.
Things to keep in mind include:
It is important to check in regularly with production staff to make sure that everyone is doing their jobs. If anyone is not on top of things, consider monitoring them more closely. If they are unorganized, help them get organized. If they are unsure how to something should be done, explain it to them or have them talk to a more experienced ensemble member. If they are slacking, meet them in person and create a more stringent work schedule. If they are unresponsive to email, call them. If they are unresponsive to calls, try reaching them through one of their friends. If all else fails, pay them a personal visit. Not everyone responds to email regularly: it is your job to adapt to their preferred means of communication, not vise versa.
Play by ear. Each production staff member will respond differently - some may like more guidance, others may be annoyed by prodding. Stay friendly but firm - lend a helping hand while making sure things still get done.
It is usually helpful to have a pre-first production meeting (middle of August in the Fall; IAP in the spring) with as many prod staff members as possible. Not everyone will be able to make it, but it's a good time to hear the Director's Vision and let designers start working before classes get underway.
The following key words should feature prominently in the first production meeting of the semester: contracts, calendar, deadlines, budget, schedule, read-through, designer run, prod hours, parade, put-in, paper-tech, q2q, tech week, vision. Collect contact info (phone, email) for call-board.
It helps to have production meetings scheduled at a regular time (Sundays after rehearsal, for example). The first and last prod meetings are typically 60 minutes long and include the full prod staff. All other meetings can be split in two by departments (see prod contract). Prod staff members (except the Producer, TD, and SM) are only required when their department is called. Usually, however, it tends to be easier to call everyone and try to arrange the meeting to accommodate those who have to leave.
At the first readthrough, you should make several announcements, including
If an actor decides to leave the show during the rehearsal process, email him/her once to ask "are you absolutely sure?", noting in the message that if so, you will immediately begin working to re-cast the part, and the actor will not be allowed to change their mind again. Remember that actors who leave shows during the rehearsal period are often under extreme stress — be as gentle and helpful as possible, while still being firm in your intent.
Try to schedule it before Thanksgiving for the Fall show and on the week back from Spring break for the Spring show.
People that should be there, in order of importance
Then ask the director to leave (there might be excessive hugging)
It is the job of the producer to register the show with SAO. In addition, unless admission is entirely free of charge, you will need to register the show with the City of Cambridge to acquire an official Entertainment License for each night of the performance. The following instructions are up to date as of July 2018. If you find that some links are broken or some part of the process has changed, just use your best judgment, and update this section to reflect the new system when you're done.
This process can now be done entirely online! Begin by going to atlas.mit.edu. Click "Event Planning" in the left sidebar, then click the blue "Register New Event" button in the upper right corner and fill out the form.
The form should be fairly self-explanatory. Just give a rough estimate for the expected number of participants and amount of money that will be changing hands. You'll need to upload the document from CAC that shows your reservation of the venue. You may also need the Ensemble's cost object, which you can find here under RFPs.
Submit the form, wait for an email confirmation in response, then wait for it to be approved. This may take upwards of a month; there's a neat little progress bar on the Atlas Event Planning page that will show you who hasn't signed off on the event yet, so feel free to email these people if it's been a while to poke them nicely.
Once the event is approved, click the event in the Atlas Event Planning page. From here, the red "print pdf" link in the upper left lets you download the completed event registration. The red "request license" link purportedly lets you go on to request an Entertainment License from the City of Cambridge, but as of July 2018 doesn't actually work. Give it a try just in case, but if it’s still not working, proceed instead to the official City of Cambridge website's Entertainment License page and click on the "One Day Entertainment Application" link in the sidebar on the right.
Once again the form is fairly self-explanatory. There may be a bug that prevents you from giving the actual address of KLT as the proper venue, but don't worry; get it close enough and it’ll be fine. You can put yourself down as both the host and the responsible person. At the end, you’ll need to upload the event registration you downloaded from Atlas, as well as the CAC reservation once again. You don't need an ID, because hopefully the show will not be serving alcohol.
Submit the form when you're done and wait. It takes about ten days for the City of Cambridge to process the form, schedule a hearing, and vote to approve your license. There's a checklist on the application page that will let you know where along the process your application is.
Eventually, you'll receive an email informing you that your application has been approved. Then you'll need to pay. The license costs $50 per performance, plus a small processing fee. Print the receipt for reimbursement purposes. Once they've processed your payment, you should be able to download and print your shiny new Entertainment License.
Congratulations! You are now licensed. Before the show, put up the Entertainment License somewhere for all to see. Nobody really pays much attention to it, but at least you'll know it's there and that you obeyed the law. Good job, you.
From conflicts between designers to angry actors to broken up couples to the inevitable conflagration between the SM and the director, you need to get the parties back into a state where they can work together and fulfill their responsibilities. Remember, especially as the show approaches, everyone is hosed, everyone is tired, everyone is looking for an excuse to start screaming, and much of the time squabbles are born more of general frustration than of real interpersonal problems.Try to remain calm and be understanding of the situation. Hugs are also good. 
You should make it very clear to the actors, prod staff, and director at read through/the first prod meeting/routinely throughout the production that you are there to be a shoulder to cry on, to mediate, and to make sure no one dies or kills anyone until after strike.
ensemble-current
ensemble-tickets
people-who-should-come-to-builds (add ensemble-current-members for term shows)
For Romeo and Juliet in Spring 2011 we required the use of Rapiers. The ensemble owns both bastard swords and foil-type swords, neither of which was perfect. We therefore rented rapiers from [[http://www.weaponsofchoicetheatrical.com/|Weapons of Choice]]. If they are no longer around, contacting either MIT theatre arts or perhaps Ted Eaton (our R&J director) to find another place. Prices can get expensive - it's probably around $30 to $40 for each weapon for the run of the show, but that have a quite good selection. For R&J our director found a contact who gave us money to pay for the renting, but if we were willing to skimp on other areas we should be able to rent 2 or 3 ourselves. Shipping will take about 5 days, so rent them a bit before you want them to show up.
A couple general notes about renting weapons:
Keep the packing material around so you can pack them up neatly for the return trip.
Take care of them. They aren't ours and we don't want to be on the hook if they break.
Keep them safe. Make sure they stay in the office and people don't play with them. This can't be emphasised enough.
Make sure to rent one more than you need. Weapons do have a way of breaking we you least want them to.
If you're renting them for spring semester, the buffer for returning them can creep up fast. Either do it before leaving for spring break or right after you get back.
Organization is good. Keep a calendar of all deadlines. Email out upcoming deadlines before every prod meeting, and keep in touch with designers regarding progress and likelihood of missing deadlines. If designers are behind, help them create action plans for getting the job done, or point them toward mentors/obi-wans/Rinaldi/assistance. Request and update a spreadsheet that has at minimum the following information for each scene: each actor in it and who they are playing, props needed, set, time/day, and any special effects (projection, blood). This helps figure out where quick changes, set changes, or other technical elements may become problematic. An idea is to do this as a Google Spreadsheet that only the producer can edit, shared with the cast and crew by a link from Callboard.
Producing can be a lot of work, so in certain cases, it might be reasonable to split the job between two co-producers. However, co-producing requires a lot of coordination and organization. Be prepared to see your co-producer a lot. A good pair of co-producers will typically:
If you decide to co-produce, it is useful to have a Google spreadsheet shared between the two co-producers of all the producer tasks. Assign a co-producer to make sure it gets done; when it is, check it off on the spreadsheet so both co-producers know. To make sure both co-producers are kept in the loop, create an email list with both co-producers and make sure that prod staff/actors use this email list.
It can also be fun to make a couples' name for the co-producers. 