Author Topic: CALLING: Let's Talk "Places, Please"  (Read 13708 times)

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loebtmc

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Re: Let's Talk "Places, Please"
« Reply #15 on: Nov 22, 2008, 01:30 pm »
ahhh - I thought I was just having an "I'm overtired" moment

My places call is about everyone KNOWING we are at places regardless of when they enter, and being reassured by the SR/SL on headset (if I am in the booth) or from the other side (if I am on deck) that everyone on stage in the first 10 minutes of the show is in the wings (or wherever they need to be) for their entrances.




jaredinlights

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Re: Let's Talk "Places, Please"
« Reply #16 on: Nov 27, 2008, 11:33 pm »
i hold my actors to a very high standard....One of those things where if i say places its common sense to go there when i say so....and my places call has a five minute cushion so there should never be a problem.  I expect all to communicate and let me know if there is a problem. It is the ASMs Responsibility to communicate with me if there is an issue.

JDL

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Re: Let's Talk "Places, Please"
« Reply #17 on: Nov 29, 2008, 02:01 am »
I at least make sure all my actors have left the makeup/dressing rooms before heading to the booth, then I head to FOH to talk to the house manager. After that I head to the booth and do the headset role call and make sure my beginners are in places.
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SMrose

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Re: Let's Talk "Places, Please"
« Reply #18 on: Nov 29, 2008, 02:22 pm »
Places means exactly that for my cast and crew.  It's called about 3-5 minutes before house goes to 1/2.
I do a head count of all who begin the Act. Scene by scene, it's the actor's responsibility to keep up with where we are in the show.  Yes--my ASM (if I have one) needs to report any emergencies backstage involving actors entrances (among any other emergencies).  Yes--I go over the proceedure at first tech.

TheatreRacer

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Re: Let's Talk "Places, Please"
« Reply #19 on: Nov 30, 2008, 10:14 pm »
Since the company I work for does not hire ASMs, it is always up to me to make sure everyone is in place before I leave for the booth. I always stand at the door to the dressing room and watch that every actor in the first scene leaves the room and is heading for the stage. I then stop in the wings to watch that they are in place before heading to the booth.

SMLD

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Re: Let's Talk "Places, Please"
« Reply #20 on: Dec 01, 2008, 08:14 pm »
I always call places and do a head count if I am the only SM. In dance when there are several people on stage, say Nutcracker, I always double check by asking if their partner is with them and ask if anyone is missing.  I would hate to bring up the curtain with a missing dancer.

BUT THEN AGAIN...

Before I was AEA, I worked for a summerstock theatre.  The 3 girls in the cast (Ain't Misbehavin') were pushing their lateness to places everyday.  It just kept getting longer and longer because they would sit around the dressing room until I would call five.  The management didn't want to do anything about it.  I finally said, enough is enough and proceeded to show them who was in charge. It was several minutes after places, they were almost ready and I had the orchestra start.  Needless to say, they learned their lesson and never challenged a places call.  I don't think I could get away with that in an AEA house, but then again I would hope that all AEA are professional enough to get to places in a reasonable time.

geoffsm

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Re: Let's Talk "Places, Please"
« Reply #21 on: Dec 02, 2008, 01:07 am »
When I call places, I of course expect my actors to give me a "thank you, places" so that I know they've heard me.  After that it is their responsibility to get into places, or let an ASM know if there is a problem.  Before GO, I get a confirmation from ASMs that everybody in the first few moments of the show is present.  This gets kind of tricky when you're working in a black-box or other flexible space like ours, so I usually have to improvise show-by-show.  This usually just means that I have an ASM run to any entrance that they cannot see, and then report back to me.  Sometimes, I have to rely on the House Manager because depending on how the show is staged, we frequently have actors enter from the doors leading to the lobby.  So, typically I will call places, but the actors will wait in the stairwell until she closes the house and informs me that she will let the actors in.  HOWEVER, the last show I required my lead actress to be seen in an upstairs window of the set, which was accessed via the upstairs balcony of our mainstage.  This was the very first moment after the house went out, so I had to be sure she was there.  I ended up having her reach into the booth from the hallway and tap me on the shoulder as she was going her place (she had to walk past anyway).  It worked well to assure me that we were ready to begin the show, and saved me from running back and forth.

SO, I guess the point of my little tangent here, is that I have a general procedure for going to Places, but it varies depending on the needs of the show, the size of the company, and how busy my ASMs are before the show.

Bwoodbury

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Re: Let's Talk "Places, Please"
« Reply #22 on: Feb 03, 2009, 12:01 am »
I always check in with my asms. Especially in college, I find it's easy to get distracted.

Sarah, I LOVE your Music Man solution. That's such a simple way to check nervous kids in!

SM19

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Re: Let's Talk "Places, Please"
« Reply #23 on: Feb 03, 2009, 12:39 pm »
Because of my limited crew numbers, I have one person in each wing usually to make sure this happens. If they aren't there before their skit or song then I'm called . . . then that actor has a problem lol But this year, I need to have 3 extra people with me at least as I will be behind the set doing microphone duty as well as calling the show, one person in each wing and one person on the top cueing the band...so I might have to cut one wing out of that equation because I just dont have the people. So I think it all depends on what the show demands. If you have time to make sure everyone is there, then great. If you dont, that's fine too. But you need to let the actors/singers/dancers know that they're responsible for being there on time and if they aren't on time then then it's their fault and they will be called on it.
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RParker2

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Re: Let's Talk "Places, Please"
« Reply #24 on: Feb 03, 2009, 11:34 pm »
I call from FOH, so I call places 3 minutes before the Act via my ASM(s).  Usually I have them check for all members who should be standing-by, not just the ones immediately entering the stage, but if there are actors not needed for 15 minutes who are in the dressing rooms or wherever, then they don't count.  Though however one does it, it should be the same every time of course so the actors don't get confused. 

The ASM then tells me when everyone is at places, I wait for the house to close, check with all the rest of the crew (LBO, SBO, etc) to make sure we are on-line, and then call stand-by to everyone.  This includes the ASM who puts the actors about to enter the stage on stand-by as well. 

And then we go!

Libby

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Re: Let's Talk "Places, Please"
« Reply #25 on: Feb 06, 2009, 08:04 pm »
Depending on where I am calling from depends on when I give places. At the last theatre I would give the 5 minute and then head up to the booth (climb a ladder, walk over the cat walk, into the booth) My 5 minute call would also include a crew to places call.
When I got on headset I check that I have all OPs and ASMs on headset. Then check with FOH to see where they are at (running behind,etc) Depending on that I would call Actors to places at 3 min. Then my ASMs do a places check. Places check is key.

I've also been on the other side of it, where part of the places check was me looking at an actor and patting my left shirt pocket. The actor knew that this was the cue to make sure he had an important prop letter in his left shirt pocket. He would pat it back to confirm.

The places check is the last time a SM gets to see an actor before they head onstage for TOS. I can't count how many times I've had to say/been told: "Wait, so and so is missing their blah blah blah. I'm running to get it."