Community Theater Green Room Discussion Board: Length of Practice

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Topper
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Posted: 5/01/06 at 9:52am

To prevent actors from being forced to work overlong rehearsals is one of the reasons Actors' Equity was established as a union. Among other things, it requires producers and directors to plan ahead to avoid pulling an "all-nighter" before the show opens. (Most directors save their 12-hour rehearsal strictly for tech week).

Unfortunately, that union is only for the professionals. Those who volunteer our time have no recourse except a thermos of coffee and a good book.

"None of us really grow up. All we ever do is learn how to behave in public." -- Keith Johnstone

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Posted: 5/03/06 at 9:18pm

Originally posted by POB14

Originally posted by avcastner

6 weeks of 3 days per week for 3 hours per day (1/2 hour is acting games and warmups, and another 1/2 hour is set up and put back)

PLUS 2 weeks of 4 days per week for 4 hours per day

PLUS TECH WEEK/PERFORMANCE WEEK THAT CAN RUN 14 HOURS A DAY FOR 6 DAYS A WEEK.

Wow. Just . . . wow. I admit my total ignorance of professional theatre, which I assume this must be, but . . . I mean . . . wow. From the LORT rulebook ( http://www.actorsequity.org/docs/rulebooks/LORT_Rulebook_05- 08.pdf):

Except for days when there are early student performances, the span of the work day shall not exceed 12 consecutive hours.

Don't things get a bit counterproductive after, oh, I don't know, the first ten hours or so?

We don't have a choice. We have 6 days from load-in to 3 performances to strike. If I had my preferences, we would have 3 weeks to load-in, tech, perform, and strike.

As for counter-productive: we don't require full effort during techs. We don't call the cast in when we are just setting lights or loading in, which can be 1 or 2 days in the middle of this. The cast also get 1 hour meal breaks and breaks in between.

Of course, this is educational theater and not professional. And I do remember a tech for Queen Christina in college that started at 9 a.m. and did not finish until 2 a.m. the next morning (with only 2 half hour meal breaks).

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John Luzaich
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Posted: 9/04/09 at 10:16am

Our last 3 character comedy had four weeks of rehearsal. Most plays are six weeks from first read throught/rehearsal to opening night.

John
cfct@cfu.net
http://www.osterregent.org
http://www.facebook.com/osterregent

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belle
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Posted: 9/04/09 at 3:55pm

Does anyone else see a connection between the discussion on no people auditioning and the practice schedule?

I would never ask people to practice 5 nights a week for six weeks. People have lives. They have kids games, church, civic responsibilities, job responsibilities, club meetings.

I expect people to learn their lines and blocking on their own time at home. They don't learn their lines onstage.

We practice on Sunday from 3-5:30 and Thursdays from 6:30-9. We practice for about 6 weeks and then the week before we open we have a Sunday practice 2-11 p.m. with a supper break. Then, we practice every night from 6-11 pm before we open on Friday. We load in on the Saturday before the long Sunday rehearsal and run the initial tech tha5t day. This is for a straight play.

We've used this approach for 2-3 plays a year for 30 years. We have plenty of people coming out for auditions.

We use a similar approach for musicals except add a week or 2 of practice. We have done musicals in 5 weeks with 4 weeks of 3 nights of practice and the final week just like the final week above. Again, people are to learn their songs, lines, and blocking outside the rehearsal period.

If what you do works for you, that's fine. However, this approach might allow more people who enjoy actling as a hobby to participate. You might give it a try and see if more people come out.

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SamD
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Posted: 9/05/09 at 8:43pm

Our organization rehearses 6 weeks, 4 times a week, 2 hour rehearsals.
I use the first two weeks as blocking rehearsals. We usually go through 20 pages at a time, then review it the next day. There is a lot of stop and go at these rehearsals, so I make sure to let them run through what they've learned at the end of the night so they can find "the flow". I give them another week or so to drop their books. Then the acting begins!

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KEB54
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Posted: 9/08/09 at 2:29pm

Originally posted by belle

I would never ask people to practice 5 nights a week for six weeks. People have lives. They have kids games, church, civic responsibilities, job responsibilities, club meetings.

My knee-jerk reaction was "how can you get by with so little rehearsal?" But then I thought about it and decided we're not all that different.

I do the 5 nights a week for six weeks,. However, actors get to list their conflicts which we schedule around, so they can do their kids games, church, civic responsibilities, job responsibilities, and club meetings. We also schedule rehearsals by scenes and make every attempt to package it so actors have scheduled nights off (ie not rehearsing any of their scenes). That is until tech week when we have a schedule similar to your's.

Originally posted by belle

I expect people to learn their lines and blocking on their own time at home. They don't learn their lines onstage.

I agree with this ... sort of ...

They should learn their lines outside of rehearsal and they may, but as you know it is more than just saying lines and moving. By rehearsing with each other they build context and character relationships, and timing and inflection, time for discovery, action/reaction, ... Of course, the forced repetition helps them to learn lines with the help of someone on book. I know that my people have those busy lives outside of theatre, so when they are home 1) they are not working on lines as much as they should, and 2) probably don't have the help to help them learn the lines (their family members are busy, too). I think the script in the hand is the biggest crutch for an actor. Get it out of their hand as soon as possible. IMHO having someone on script helps with that a lot.

But as you suggest, there is more than one right way to do something, and there is the culture of a particular company to consider.

KEB

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KEB54
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Posted: 9/08/09 at 2:42pm

Originally posted by SamD

I give them another week or so to drop their books. Then the acting begins!

For our group, as a general rule, you get your scripts for the night we do the initial blocking for that scene, and for the next night we run/work that specific scene. Then you're off book. There are exceptions, of course. If you have a lot of lines we may let you go an additional rehearsal, but surprisingly, that seldom happens. Or if it has been awhile since we last ran the scene. Or sometimes certain individuals just need more time. Or for a variety of circumstances. But generally, just the two nights.

Surprisingly, the people with the most lines tend to have their lines down the soonest. I don't know why that is.

KEB

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peacfrog50
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Posted: 11/16/10 at 4:37pm

The Show we are performing right now, is a 2 person comedy"A Christmas Carol...More oe less" rehearsed 5 weeks, 3 nights a week 2 - 2 1/2 hours. I directed Nunsense last year and we did 8 weeks 4 nights, specific nights for blocking, sionging & dancing.

typically, stage show 6 weeks, dinner theatre 6 weeks, musical 8 weeks.

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jayzehr
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Posted: 11/17/10 at 7:53am

By the by, the first page of this thread is nearly five years old!

I guess it's all still relevant though.

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MartyW
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Posted: 11/17/10 at 10:09am

Our schedule is 6 weeks for a play (this includes two nights of auditions on the first week AND hell week) We rehearse Sun - Thursday (unless peoples conflicts make us want to use Friday in leu of one of the regular days.) We take off our monthly board meeting and our monthly general membership meetings as well as holiday's. We generally work the cast for no more than 2 hours until we start to "run" the show. At that time, the rehearsal stretches out to whatever the length of the given show is. I think running an individual longer in the early days just wears the cast out and to run fewer days a week only allows them more time to forget what they did the last time they were there. Musicals get an additional two weeks for a total of 8. Normally I think it averages out to about 26-30 rehearsals for a straight and 40ish for a musical. And we are down to 11 as of tonight!!!!!!

Edited by MartyW - 11/17/10 at 10:11am

Marty W

"Till next we trod the boards.."

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