CALLING: Watching 100% of the show.

[PSMAK]

Do any of you feel that it is impossible to watch 100% of the show during any performance. Especially if you are calling cues and have to look at your script a bit of the time or have to execute cues yourself. I myself have been trying to watch as much of the show as I can, but I just have too much going on to do so. How have some of you dealt with this?

Added tag to subject line-Rebbe

[Mac Calder]

Unfortunately you are there to work, and that generally means that whilst over a run you will eventually see all of a show, you won't ever see a full run with all the production elements... unless you get an ASM to call the show (rehearse your absence) - in which case you could potentially see the entire thing, or if the show is really simple and your presence is really more a formality rather than a true necessity (you know the ones, you call go and have maybe 20 cues for the entire night that you know by rote, because they are all fairly obvious)

[MatthewShiner]

Yeah, but the challenge is as stage managers we have to maintain the show, and yes, having an ASM call so you can note the show is one way, you are only going to do that nightly.

I am finding this challenge on my current show . . . we are performance 123, as although I can sub out and watch the show, I am trying to be fiscally responsible and split the duties with an AD.  I find the challenge is more the ability to watch the show over and over again and keep my interest up.  I tend to trick my mind sometimes - watch one actor all the way through, watch particular scenes . . . there are nights I try to take in the whole show - but with cue calling, it is down right impossible. 

[planetmike]

At the community theater level, I tend to tell the cast late during tech week that once we open I'll be watching different groups each performance. I still miss some sequences entirely during cues, but generally I'll be able to give feedback on how everyone is doing. It's always annoying through after 3 or 4 shows when I finally "see" someone for the first time and they're doing something nutty that wasn't ever rehearsed. That always leads to the "you didn't say I couldn't do that" conversation, where I have to respond with the "if you didn't do it in rehearsal under the guidance of the director, you can't do during the show." It is easier in community theater (usually) when the director is still around for a performance, but almost always the actor has stopped doing the extra bit they added.

[missliz]

I KNOW I can't watch 100% of the show. There's always a chance I'll miss something. I have to prioritize. Fight sequence? My eyes are always on that, regardless of the rest of the action onstage. If there's a quick-change that's been having some problems, I'm looking out for that. Difficult cue sequence...well, sorry actors.

[dallas10086]

I might be missing something, but I've never thought of not being able to watch 100% of the show as a problem persay.  Isn't it a given that you won't see all of the production? There are simply some sequences I'm going to miss because of business offstage or difficult sequences onstage.

[PSMAK]

OOPS! Ouch I knew if forgot to add something...Tag Line. Sorry about the Rebbe!

It's nice to know that I'm not alone in this. With my current show Into The Woods, which is very cue heavy. Blame it on the lighting and sound designer (Pointing to myself!) there are just sequences where I can't watch. So when an actor after the performance says "Did you see that?", I have to tell them no.

Difficult cue sequence...well, sorry actors.

There are simply some sequences I'm going to miss because of business offstage or difficult sequences onstage.

--Exactly!

... unless you get an ASM to call the show (rehearse your absence) - in which case you could potentially see the entire thing, or if the show is really simple and your presence is really more a formality rather than a true necessity

I'd love just to watch the show, but that is not possible, because lack of personnel. Of course I watch what I can and try to catch what didn't get this time, next time. Just wanted to see what everyone else's thoughts where on this.

Thank you all for your input!
--PSMAK

[missliz]

OOPS! Ouch I knew if forgot to add something...Tag Line. Sorry about the Rebbe!

It's nice to know that I'm not alone in this. With my current show Into The Woods, which is very cue heavy. Blame it on the lighting and sound designer (Pointing to myself!) there are just sequences where I can't watch. So when an actor after the performance says "Did you see that?", I have to tell them no.

I actually used to make a little announcement at the beginning of tech...just to say "Hey, actors, now my focus has to switch to the tech elements, and that's my priority, not the acting. If there's something you want me to watch for, let me know, but know I might not be able to."

[MatthewShiner]

But, here is the thing . . . if a sequence is getting too difficult during tech, you might need to cry foul.

I was in the middle of tech of Richard III, and we were getting to the battle sequence.  Huge walls parting, sword battles, lights, sound effects, in the middle of the sequence, Richard had to get his harness tightened, so that he could get hooked up to a Fly Line, and then have ropes tied to his arms and legs and be "drawn and quartered" on stage.  90 minutes into tech, it was obvious that the tech elements were becoming OVERLY complicated, and I would not be able to focus my attention on the people . . . so, I had to have a little pow-wow and we ended up not making anything simpler, but actually midi-connecting  lights and sounds . . . so I called fewer cues, got the complicate sequence the designers and directors wants, and I felt confident I could watch what I needed to watch (as well as two deck Stage Managers who could keep and eye on the things I couldn't see.)

Remember, if there are things we have to watch (either for safety purposes or to maintain the show artistically) - we sort of need to figure out how we are going to do it during tech and NOT let the sequences get out of control.   

[BLee]

With my current show Into The Woods, which is very cue heavy. Blame it on the lighting and sound designer (Pointing to myself!) there are just sequences where I can't watch. So when an actor after the performance says "Did you see that?", I have to tell them no.

Lol, First Midnight by any chance? When I did Into the Woods last summer our ASM literally gave us the heads up right before that sequence that we shouldn't even attempt to speak until it was over. Her spot cues alone were overwhelming, let alone mic, scenic shifts, etc.

[PSMAK]

I actually used to make a little announcement at the beginning of tech...just to say "Hey, actors, now my focus has to switch to the tech elements, and that's my priority, not the acting. If there's something you want me to watch for, let me know, but know I might not be able to."

--I'll have to use that next time.

But, here is the thing . . . if a sequence is getting too difficult during tech, you might need to cry foul.

...we sort of need to figure out how we are going to do it during tech and NOT let the sequences get out of control.   

--This is one of the things I'm trying to implement for next season and make things easier. Thank heavens for Qlab. I'm trying to get the theatre to go MIDI so that I can just press one button for lights, sound and any other device QLab will allow to be used with it. Especially on some shows next season that are projection heavy. This will be especially useful since 98% of the time during the season I don't call a show, I execute cues on my own. I've only called two shows this season.

Lol, First Midnight by any chance? When I did Into the Woods last summer our ASM literally gave us the heads up right before that sequence that we shouldn't even attempt to speak until it was over. Her spot cues alone were overwhelming, let alone mic, scenic shifts, etc.

--LOL! Actually no. First Midnight only has cues at the top and end of the music number. The hard cues are where scene shifts happen. Ones like the tower coming on stage and then going off after 30 seconds or so, trees being moved on stage, certain cues happening on certain visuals, board ops or spots taking own cues on actor visuals, etc.

[KMC]

But, here is the thing . . . if a sequence is getting too difficult during tech, you might need to cry foul.
...we sort of need to figure out how we are going to do it during tech and NOT let the sequences get out of control.   

--This is one of the things I'm trying to implement for next season and make things easier. Thank heavens for Qlab. I'm trying to get the theatre to go MIDI so that I can just press one button for lights, sound and any other device QLab will allow to be used with it. Especially on some shows next season that are projection heavy. This will be especially useful since 98% of the time during the season I don't call a show, I execute cues on my own. I've only called two shows this season.

My two cents if you are going to make the investment to upgrade to any type of automated show control, do it the right way and go straight to a TCP/IP based system.  MIDI is a 30 year old archaic technology that was never intended for many of the things it's used for.  The first two letters of the acronym are "Musical Instrument" after all...

[clurston]

Ahh, now, I'm pretty lucky in this respect - I'm at uni so although our shows are a very short run, they always get filmed! So technically I do eventually get to see the entire show! Although it does tend to make me just slightly uncomfortable..."how is that happening when I haven't called it!?"

Also I tend to find the only thing I miss/ am not able to watch is the thing an actor asks about...

[Stage Rose]

......................................
 

Unfortunately you are there to work

......................................
OK, I know that there IS a difference between an actual show and a rehearsal....but come on. How many times do you have to watch the show? I myself am guilty of occasionally peeking through the curtain, but if you want to keep your job, I would stop trying to watch the ENTIRE show....
Best of luck.
-Rose

[loebtmc]

Stage Rose - I see you are in high school so this may not yet be a part of your experience, but in face, watching the show is part of our job. In the professional world. we are responsible for maintaining the director's vision, seeing and procactively solving problems, making sure repairs and fixes happen, training understudies etc. It's not that we watch in the same way as audience members, but instead we are watching for the expected and the unexpected, for safety, and so forth. In fact, you might want to start teaching yourself this technique, of watching a show and, while focusing on one or two specific factors, still seeing the whole show, calling cues, listening to the people around you and staying centered. How is the stage picture? Did the fight go as planned or was someone too far away or too close? Who do you ask to pick up that prop that fell and no one has touched (or that character can't justify touching). It's a great exercise.