Directing: Scheduling Help

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Scheduling Help

Printed From: Community Theater Green Room
Category: Producing Theater
Forum Name: Directing
Forum Discription: For questions about handling shows, actors, crew, board members, children ...or do we repeat ourselves?
URL: http://www.communitytheater.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=5372
Printed Date: 11/23/24 at 12:37pm
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Topic: Scheduling Help

Posted By: sarahchristine
Subject: Scheduling Help
Date Posted: 8/31/12 at 7:35pm

I am directing my first play, A Midsummer Night's Dream, right now. Casting was finished yesterday, and now I'm trying to make up a rehearsal schedule. I was just wondering if anyone could help me estimate, for read throughs, about how much time to allot for X number of pages?

Any tips at all about scheduling/running rehearsals would be great. I'm kind of nervous about how all this is going to go.

Replies:

Posted By: edh915
Date Posted: 9/01/12 at 2:13am

Rule of thumb for just about any script is two minutes per page. So if the script has 60 pages, it's going to run two hours. -- If you're going to work on a 3-page scene, it'll take 6 minutes to get through it; so if you want to run through it four times in one evening, then allot 24 minutes - and you may as well just say half an hour because there'll be notes, etc. to get through as well. -- Granted, a "first" read-thru will probably take two times longer (four minutes per page) because of the complexity of the language; but after a while your cast should hit the two-minute page level with little difficulty.

"Dream" is a relatively easy show to direct because you can conduct rehearsals in French scenes (in other words, break it up into sections according to character grouping, and not just chronological order front to back) so you can spend a whole evening at a time on the lovers, another evening on the rustics (Bottom and friends) and another evening on the fairies with the miscellaneous Egeus, Theseus and Hippolyta scenes thrown in wherever they work best for you.

Word to the wise with Shakespeare:

(1) Don't be afraid to edit extraneous lines; the Elizabethans were more appreciative of richly textured language than their 21st century counterparts.

(2) Make sure your actors "know" what they're saying; that is, the "meaning" of each word. Many directors think that all you need to do is say the lines quickly and the "general idea" will come across. They're kidding themselves, and cheating the actors and audiences in the bargain.

Posted By: divewench
Date Posted: 9/01/12 at 3:32pm

Congratulations on your directorial debut! I am also getting ready to start rehearsals for Midsummer on Tuesday. I agree with edh915's suggestion to break the play up into scenes and group them together according to actors. I divided the scenes into four groups, so I will have one night a week to work on each group. Our rehearsals run for three hours, which is plenty of time even for my largest group, which has ~33 pages.

This is also really helpful when trying to work around conflict dates. My Titania has several work conflicts during the rehearsal period, but I have the schedule arranged so she is only in two of my scene groups. I made sure to schedule those groups on days when she can be there, so her conflicts are not an issue.

I also plan to rehearse scenes with my smallest roles first, so that I can cut those actors loose once they're done. For example, I have kids cast as Cobweb and Moth, so I will work the scenes they are in at the beginning of the night, so they can get home earlier.

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More Theatre, Less Drama!

http://www.pentacletheatre.org/

Posted By: sarahchristine
Date Posted: 9/02/12 at 1:13pm

Thank you both SO much. That advice has really helped me and I was able to make up a schedule that I think will work really well. I'm eternally indebted to you both.

Posted By: divewench
Date Posted: 9/09/12 at 11:19pm

You're very welcome! :)

-------------
More Theatre, Less Drama!

http://www.pentacletheatre.org/

Posted By: edh915
Date Posted: 9/10/12 at 4:52pm

Break a leg!

Posted By: Majicwrench
Date Posted: 9/18/12 at 1:29pm

Just did MSND this spring with a bunch of ballet thrown in. Great fun.

Like edh915 said, get rid of some of the lines!!!!!!!!!!! A lot of the lines for that matter. Tighten it up and it becomes a fast paced, riveting romp.

French scene rehearsals are OK in the early going, but for me I like to start running it like a show, from begining to end, or at least several scenes in sequence just as soon as I can.

And you didn't ask, but I am gonna say, am not a fan of read-thrus. Get em on the stage.

Can't wait to hear how it progresses!

Keith