Hey everyone,
We recently had a technical theatre session with Darren Page, LPAC’s technical coordinator. This was a session dedicated to all things technical that we would have to consider for the preparation and execution of our debut show, The Truth About Bedtime…
Although this was extremely handy for myself and our tech designer, it was really helpful for everyone when considering the decisions that were being made for the future of the show. We were reminded to look beyond the one assessed show that we were preparing for, and to always consider the future and how the company can prepare for the longevity of the production beyond the assessment. This encouraged us to think about the touring aspect of every decision we make. For example, as we are including a microphone and a stand in our piece, we were urged to consider pricing up a mic and stand for ourselves, so we would not need to ask every venue if they had a mic and stand, as this would be risky and potentially deal breaking. As we are still at early stages with the both the performance and the company we cannot guarantee that we will be pursuing it further, the use of a mic could even potentially change as we devise further, so buying a mic and stand may not be the best use of our budget at the moment.
The rest of the session was mainly a recap of all the technical documentation that is needed in preparation for a professional performance. I was aware of many of them due to previous modules such as Shakespeare and Production Skills. However, this session was really helpful as it had been a short while since I had to produce a lot of this documentation. We were informed of fundamental documents such as:
- Cue sheets – documents that are dedicated to lighting, sound and/or AV which are used to programme.
- Prompt script – script that include all cues for the production, used for calling the show.
- Props/Costume List – document that lists all props and costumes used, who is in charge of them, where and when they are on stage, where they are stored and whether they have been returned.
- Risk Assessment – document that considers all potential risks that entail with the performance, and provides actions that will be undertaken to prevent the probability of the risk happening.
Many of these documents I had encountered before but we were introduced to a technical rider in this session which I had not come across before. A rider is documentation of all requirements of the production from technical equipment to dressing room needs. Barrel M. Kay stresses the importance of riders as “A touring company must send a sheet of specific requirements detailing their technical needs … to the presenter as a rider or attachment to the contract. The presenter reads the requirements and either agrees to them or reaches a compromise with the company” (M.Kay, 1991, 8). The importance of both parties knowing what is and is not being provided from both sides was also stressed by Darren who informed us of the specificity that had to go into a rider, especially in terms of technical lingo. This has inspired me to research different specific technical terminologies for what we may need to request from the tech team in LPAC so that I can create a well informed technical rider. For example, I know I will not state that we need one microphone, I will specify that we need a wireless SM58.
In brief, always consider the future and tour-ability of the show and learn the lingo for the rider. So, if we do decide to take the show further, I can guarantee that a “wireless SM58” will be at the top of our “To Buy” list.
C.M.
Works Cited:
Kay, M. (1991) The Technical Production Handbook: A Guide for Performing Arts Presenting Organizations and Touring Companies. New Mexico: Western States Arts Federation.
Morris, S. (2014) Technical Theatre. Arizona: Horizon High School Drama.
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