Behind the Scenes

Have you ever wondered what work goes into the shows you see?

Planning for a show often starts more than a year before it opens. The artistic committee must read many scripts, decide on a show, and hire a producer and a director. Then the producer must sign a contract with the rights-holder. For most shows we must pay royalties of more than $5000, many months before the show opens. The producer must come up with a detailed budget for the show and the Board must approve it. It is the producer's responsibility to make sure the many different parts of the budget remain under the allocated expenses. And all the many positions required to put on the show must be staffed.

After auditions, and the show is cast, there are four to six weeks of music rehearsals, usually twice a week, with the music director and an accompanist. If there is a lot of dancing in the show, then there might be additional dance rehearsals with the choreographer.

Then the stage director takes over for "blocking" rehearsals, lasting another four to six weeks. At these rehearsals it is worked out precisely where the actors will stand, when they will move, who will cross in front of whom, etc. Often, a three hour rehearsal might only cover a few pages of the script. There must be an accompanist at most of these rehearsals, along with a stage manager or a rehearsal assistant, who is "on book" and who writes down the blocking notes and helps the actors with lines they can't quite remember. Then comes the polishing, working on positioning issues and working on dramatic issues, getting the actors to fully get into their character, so that the story can truly be told. During this process the actors are often working with an imagined set. Usually, the floor is simply taped to indicate where the walls and the edges of the stage will be.

Several months before this, the set designer and the costume designer have produced working models or drawings and collaborated with the director to unify the look of the show. Then the set designer makes detailed floor plans and the costume designer begins measuring and fitting the cast for costumes. Some costumes will come from our huge collection we share with other local arts organizations through the Performing Arts Production Alliance (PAPA), perhaps with some extra lace or piping sewn on, and other costumes will be sewn from scratch. Some publicity photos will be taken early to meet deadlines of the monthly magazines, before the real costumes have been fitted, so temporary costumes have to be used, or sometimes they will wear costumes with seams just pinned together.

In the final couple of weeks there might be several seamstresses working on costumes, and several people building the set, hammering and sawing, as well as painting, whenever a rehearsal is not going on. At the same time, the light designer will have a helper up on a tall ladder, hanging lights from the high ceiling, or he/she might be doing it alone.

By this time, the rehearsals have become run-throughs, although some are stumble-throughs, with lots of stops and starts, and rehearsals have moved into the performing space. Everyday, more set pieces magically appear, and then magically get color added. All of these rehearsals require an accompanist.

With a week or two to go, there is a costume parade so that the director and costume designer can see the costumes on the actors all together.

The orchestra will have a few rehearsals without the singers, and then there will be a special rehearsal called a "sitzprobe" (German for seated rehearsal) where the singers will sing for the first time with the orchestra. This rehearsal is all about the music, getting the balance and the tempos adjusted.

Then in the last week everything moves to a fever pitch. The light designer has determined when the lights change (known as a light cue-there are normally between 80 and 150 cues in a show), the costumer is fixing the last few frills on the costumes, the final painting of the set is happening and the seating risers are being built. The concession area is set up and the lobby is decorated. The producer, who has already had a thousand details to deal with, now seems to be dealing with ten thousand details. And the program designer might even pull an all-nighter, to get the program to the printer in time for opening night.

And now come the final run-throughs, on a daily basis. Some of these are with orchestra, some with just piano. The backstage crew comes on board at this time, and the light and sound operators have most likely already been coming to rehearsals for a while. The dressing room, complete with makeup mirrors and lights, gets set up and all the costumes and costume racks are brought in. At least one, and possibly more of these rehearsals, is a "tech" rehearsal to make sure scenery is moved smoothly, the light cues are done correctly, the lights are adjusted, adding a little red here, a little blue there, and the sound cues are sounded correctly. And there might have previously been a "dry tech" where all the light cues are worked through, without the actors present.

The house manager, box office manager and concessions manager are all doing last minute tasks, setting up change banks, testing credit card systems, getting supplies in, cleaning everything, checking on ticket outlets and internet sales, and scheduling volunteer ushers, box office people, and concessionaires for every performance.

There are one or more dress rehearsals where makeup and costumes are checked under the lights and quick costume changes are perfected. At this point the director might discover that a particular costume just doesn't work in a scene and there is a mad scramble to find another costume. Then there are a couple "previews" with an audience. And finally, opening night. At this point the director's work is officially done, although some directors continue to give "notes" throughout the run. After opening night, the person in charge is the stage manager.

During the run, everything gets into a rhythm. Although the routine is the same before every show, each performance is different. That's why many people like to come to more than one performance. You will notice differences.

After the closing performance, everyone helps "strike" (remove) the set and lights. And in two or three hours the set, and even the seating area, that took weeks to build is gone.

But the work isn't quite done. The set materials that can be salvaged are returned to PAPA, the rest go in the trash. The costumes must be cleaned and then returned to PAPA. And concessions supplies go back into storage. Then everyone catches their breath before it all starts again for the next show.

As you can see, we can only put on these shows with lots of volunteer help. So if you would like to participate in any way, let us know. You will be welcomed with open arms and you will be amazed at what a pleasurable experience it can be.