"Do their notes first"

This lesson/rule comes from Sarah Hughey, a friend and fantastic lighting designer who I have worked with on numerous productions.

The rule is simple; When you are working on a show, especially during tech, you will likely have a long list of notes you would like to complete. On that list, you will have notes that you took yourself for things that you would like to work on/improve, and notes from the director, actors, and maybe other designers and collaborators. When it comes time to start crossing the notes off your list, always take care of notes given to you by others before the notes you took on your own.

The reason for the rule should be obvious. If a director or other designer sees the same problem several nights in a row, after a note has been given, it begins to make you look bad. People can get a bad impression regardless of how many other notes have been completed. You want to be the person who completes notes quickly and efficiently, and who never has to be asked twice.

As obvious as the rule seems when typed out, I was terrible at this before Sarah explicitly explained it as one of her personal rules. It can be very easy, especially when the notes others give you are small or simple, to push them to the bottom of the list in favor of larger or more complex notes that will take more focus.

Now, I have begun to employ the rule (sometimes needing to say it out loud to remind myself).  I take care of the notes from others first, especially if they are simple. And when I am unable to complete the notes from others by the next rehearsal, I make a point to let them know how progress stands on that specific task, and when they should expect to see it completed (often this involves waiting on shipping, or waiting for the weekend until a store is open on Monday).

High School Tech Portfolios

While looking for another email, I recently stumbled across a conversation I had with a friend who is a high school drama teacher. He had two students who were looking to present tech portfolios for colleges and wanted to know if I had any tips. After re-reading the conversation, I decided that it might be worth sharing more widely.

Some of this I learned by creating my own portfolio during college, some of it I learned while working in the theatre recruitment office as a work study position. Please feel free to pass this along to any high school tech student you know, and please feel free to comment below or email me directly if you have any questions. 

Adam: hey - do you have any quick and dirty tips for a portfolio presentation for college?

 me: what kind?

  lighting?

  set?Stage management?

 

 Adam: Lizzie wants to SM, Zoe wants to do Lights

2:20 PM those are the only tech folks this go around

 me: They want to see progress as much as finished product

2:21 PM so if you have research images, sketches etc, include as many as you can with the pictures from the production.

  For Lizzie (SM), she should divide her paperwork into two books

2:22 PM one is a rehearsal book that contains blocking notes and anything else she used in rehearsal

  the other is a show binder that contains the script neatly marked for calling the show

2:23 PM The show binder should be so neatly and cleanly marked that any other stage manager could pick it up and call the show without having to ask any questions.

  The more samples of clean, easy to understand paperwork Lizzie can provide (that she created) the better. Contact sheets, schedules, rehearsal reports for example.

2:25 PM For both of them, it is more what you have to say about what is in the portfolio than what is physically included, so practice talking about it.

  What were your challenges on this show and how did you overcome them?

  What did you learn from working in this way?Remember, all high schools do not work in the same way. You should not assume that if you tell a college rep that you were the lighting designer, or the SM or the props master that they know what that means. You need to tell them what that meant at your high school. What exactly were your responsibilities in that position. 

2:26 PM Also from a asthetic standpoint...the pages should be easy to look at, not too cluttered (this is mostly for designers) 3-5 images per page depending on the size of the pages.

2:27 PM No cutesy creative fonts, just clear and easy to read.The photos should be straight on the page with a simple clean border around each photo (no overlapping photos or tipped artsy angles). Resist the temptation to turn this into a scrap book.

2:28 PM Make sure you can easily read the name of the show, author, director and perhaps the names of the costume and set designers (whose work will also be pictured in the lighting design photos)

  keep your shows on either two or four pages, never one or three

2:29 PM In other words, I want to open to a page and have everything I see belong to the same show.

 

2:37 PM Also, shows do not need to be in chronological order

2:38 PM take your three most impressive pieces and put #1 first, #2 in the middle of your portfolio and #3 at the end. Fill in with your other shows in between.

2:39 PM Those top three don't need to be the ones with the prettiest pictures, they may just be the things that are most unique, that set you apart

2:40 PM Anything that might be different than what the college reps have been looking at all day.  

 

Adam: does Lizzie (SM) want to include any pictures in her portfolio?

2:50 PM me: If she does, not many

2:51 PM They can give her something to talk about "getting all the cast organized for these vignettes and in and out and up and down the ladders and the stairs was one of my big challenges and this is how I did it"

2:52 PM "As you can see by the costumes, I had a lot of work coordinating X with the designer and the wardrobe crew"

  Her pictures should be limited, a small portfolio of pictures (could be binder sized) to go with her beautiful books of paperwork

 Adam: Should Zoe include old lighting plots that were created on Word before she knew what she was doing?

  

 me: yes she should, put them later in the book.

2:54 PM They will be interesting to the college reps because they show a desire to learn and, when shown with the better, later ones, an ability to self teach and improvise when she doesn't have all the skills yet. When she shows them she should present them in that light

  "this is where I was three years ago, I knew what I needed before I had been taught how specifically to do it, and this is the way I found to get things done"Remember that you are in high school and the colleges don't need you to know everything coming in. They want someone who is excited to learn and able to be taught. They want someone who is passionate about theatre, driven, ambitious, and willing to work hard. They want someone who is collaborative, and cooperative, responsible and respectful. Emphasis those qualities, regardless of the quality of the photos you are able to show, and you will have success. 

Cleaning Out Props Stock

 I've recently been helping one of the theatre I work for clean out their stock. I could not be more excited to do it; the stock has been overflowing since I first started working there. It took far too much time to even get to the box you were looking for and still you might not find what you needed when you got there.

There have been multiple times when I searched for something, couldn't find it, went out and bought what I needed, only to have the costume designer or assistant production manager ask me "Why didn't you just use the one we had in stock?"

Over time, after dealing with stock organization at many theatres, I've developed some rules for what is worth keeping and what should be thrown away, donated, sold or just generally gotten rid of after a show closes.

All of the boxes in this picture were dishes. most of which was packed tightly in newspaper to protect it. If I wanted to find anything I would have needed to pull all the boxes out, unwrapped dish after dish until I found something appropriate and then put it all back. As easily as dishes can be found at thrift stores and as cheap as they are when you find them. It is no wonder that many props masters didn't bother with stock. Buying was much easier, took 1/4 the time and they were able to select exactly what the show needed. It is smart to keep some common pieces in stock to pull for rehearsal props and to use when you need something basic (solid colored plates and bowls, a few versatile serving dishes, a matching set of silverware, anything that looks like it would be used in a diner or a restaurant...), but dishes with unique patterns, especially if you only have one or two of that pattern are best donated right back to the thrift store instead of taking up room in storage and preventing you from being able to find what you need quickly and efficiently.

These shelves though, when they are completed are going to be fantastic. I have found no better system than file boxes for organizing props. They are sturdy, easy to label, stack easily and hold a ton.

One of my biggest pet peeves in props stock at any theatre is liquor bottles. Especially if space is limited, please do not waste space storing empty bottles. I promise you, when a bottle of vodka, whiskey or wine shows up on the props list you will have someone in the company more than happy to empty a bottle for you. If you must keep something around, keep one red wine, one white wine, one vodka and one whiskey bottle that you can pull easily for rehearsal props. Directors can be very specific about their liquor anyway, sure as you have Jack Daniels, Jim Beam, Seagrams Seven and Wild Turkey Whiskey bottles, the director will insist that this character would be drinking Makers Mark.

So PLEASE just recycle your bottles and save room for other things.

Something else that should always be thrown away after a show is cheap disposable food and toiletries. The "vanity items" box was overflowing, but after we cleaned out all the cheap soaps, lotions, hair dyes and shaving creams that had been saved we had a manageable box of compacts, mirrors, brushes etc that really will be useful. 

The same thing goes for canned goods. I have often purchased canned goods to help fill out the shelves in a kitchen or corner store. After the show is over please just eat the corn or donate it to a local food pantry. Canned goods are heavy, take up a lot of space and can be purchased cheaply and easily the next time you need them.

This is the box of all the broken and mismatched silver

It had previously been mixed in with this box of nice matched silver. Both boxes were a mess and full of broken useless pieces. After sorting I decided to keep two full silver tea sets, a serving dish and an ice bucket. Between these two sets I am sure I will always be able to find what I need.

We had two full sets of dishes in stock, and with all the space created by everything we had thrown away, I decided that it was worth keeping them both. One was this set of formal fine china and one was a much more everyday set of dinnerware. It they had both been formal or both casual I only would have kept one. 

I also wanted to point out the awesome thought someone had to put a picture of the set on the outside of the box. I'm sure it has saved a lot of props masters a lot of time; myself included.

Acrylic drinking glasses are getting better and better. Basics can be purchased cheaply at stores like Target and there is an incredibly wide variety online for specialty pieces. I have started to believe that while it is good to have some glassware around (for those times when glasses need to clink and the acrylic just sounds wrong), it makes sense to get rid of some of your glass if the same thing is available in acrylic. I know personally I will always choose the acrylic when I have the option to avoid dangerous breakables on stage.

In addition to the basics I tend to save things that are special and would be hard to replace. This candelabra is unique, beautiful and I can imagine it ending up in multiple shows. It is also big, heavy, and doesn't fit in any of our boxes, which makes it tempting to get rid of, but that is the reason we are cleaning out stock. We are getting rid of junk so we have room for important pieces like this. Another downside of an overstuffed props shelf is that pieces like this can get damages. It was buried in the back of a shelf, corroding (and that's likely where that one arm got bent). It could have stayed back there for years, unused and sustaining more and more damage without ever being noticed. Now it can get used and cared for and will continue to be around when we want it.

Though, with that said, some hard to replace things are worth getting rid of. I am sure there was a good reason to save this at one time. The theatre used to do a yearly cabaret-slapstick Christmas show. This would have been a perfect piece to have on hand, but they have moved away from that type of theatre and it is time for this cup to go too. Keep in mind the types of shows that your theatre does. There are some pieces that I can look at and think "That is perfect for a big dance musical," but if this theatre doesn't do big dance musicals, maybe it is better to sell it to someone who does and make room for things we will use.

Sometimes, even when something seems incredibly useful and you know it will be used in show after show, it's still worth paring down your stock. Candleholders like these are used all the time in shows set prior to electric lighting. Since we have eight in stock though I am betting that multiples have been purchased when stock ones couldn't be located (I found these spread across four different boxes).

In the end I kept the biggest one, the most ornate one and two matching ones. I put them all back in the same box where they will be much easier to locate in the future.

As we were sorting and purging I realized there was one more box we needed to make. Often I have found myself working on a big interior set and going back to stock the week of tech to pull set dressing. You always need more than you think and one thing overstuffed stocks are good for is finding a lot of junk to fill in around the edges. So I decided to make a box that I could go to when that junk was needed. I filled a box with versatile, high quality kitsch and put it back on the shelf. 

A couple other stock notes:

• After a show ends I like to offer all props to the actors and production team first. I tell them that they can buy anything we used for half of what we paid. It just makes sense to have a little extra money now, then to put the items back in stock on the hope that they might get used in the future.
• When sorting, it is ideal to have an idea of the next three or four shows that you are putting up. Having an idea of what will be needed will save the frustration of getting rid of something only to need to buy a new one in three months (it will inevitably still happen, but you can minimize it, and the fear of that frustration is no excuse for hanging onto useless objects).
• Re-donating things to thrift stores is a great way to build up some good will with the people there. If they see that you are regularly bringing in donations, they are much more likely to work with you when you need to bargain for something that is out of your price range.
• One of my favorite stories about props stock involves a local Chicago theatre. They were curious about whether the money they were spending to pay rent on their storage unit was worth the price. For a full season someone kept track of what they pulled from stock for each show. At the end of the season they added everything up and realized that they were losing money. They got rid of their stock and now, at the end of each show they recycle what they can, throw away what they have to, invite other theatre companies to come scavenge at their strikes and donate whatever is left over. I'm not saying that this will work for everyone (especially if your storage space is free), but it certainly provides some perspective when you are contemplating what to save at the end of a show.
• And finally, stocks require maintenance. Every three or four shows you need to go back, clean sort and purge again. You can help yourself when you clean by allowing room to grow. If when you sort you go from overflowing down to full, after one or two more shows you will be back to overflowing. Instead try to sort and purge until you are at around 80% capacity so you give yourself room for new items when they arrive.