Author Topic: PROFESSIONALISM: cell phones onstage  (Read 13816 times)

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missliz

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PROFESSIONALISM: cell phones onstage
« on: Nov 03, 2010, 10:30 am »
My current show takes place in 1960s New York. An actor came to me the other day after the show to tell me that another actor had brought his cell phone onstage. More specifically, during a "drug deal" background improv bit, the actor pulled out his (ON!) cell phone and offered to trade it, saying he'd just come back from time-traveling. The other actor was very thrown and didn't know how to react.

This is not the first time this actor has brought his phone onstage...another time, it actually went off mid-performance. The sound design masked it a little, but it was definitely there.

After the subject came up, a couple actors told me they take their phones onstage, turned off. "It's a security thing," one told me. (This makes very little sense to me, but whatever.) I do a valuables call every night before the show, and let the actors choose what they want to give me, if anything. I have tried pointedly asking the actor if he wants to give me his phone/wallet, but he refuses.

I am currently looking into AEA rules about this, and have told the director about it. Any other suggestions on how to handle this would be great.
I personally would like to bring a tortoise onto the stage, turn it into a racehorse, then into a hat, a song, a dragon and a fountain of water. One can dare anything in the theatre and it is the place where one dares the least. -Ionesco

MatthewShiner

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Re: PROFESSIONALISM: cell phones onstage
« Reply #1 on: Nov 03, 2010, 11:05 am »
As far as AEA rules, it would fall under the duties of the actor "to perform his services as reasonably directed, and sustained by the Stage Manager" - unless he was directed to whip out his cell phone - then he is out of luck.

There are two things at play here . . .

1)  The actors should not be bringing cell phones on stage.  I would start by asking the cast to leave phones in dressing room, post a notice backstage that phones are not welcome onstage, and, last resort, putting places in the wings for the actors to drop off their cell phones.  Try to get management behind on this one.

2) The second issue of course is to deal with the actors little improv - and that has to be dealt with how you would deal with any sort of acting note.
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Anything posted here as in my own personal opinion, and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of my employer - whomever they be at a given moment in time.

missliz

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Re: PROFESSIONALISM: cell phones onstage
« Reply #2 on: Nov 03, 2010, 11:28 am »
Thanks Matthew- that's the AEA rule I figured was the best fit.  I'll have to get my ASM to police the entrance from the dressing rooms.

The improv is actually fine...this is one of those shows with a ton of people onstage all the time, and the director has them interacting in character when they aren't directly involved in the main scene. The drug deal is fine, but obviously not with the phone!
I personally would like to bring a tortoise onto the stage, turn it into a racehorse, then into a hat, a song, a dragon and a fountain of water. One can dare anything in the theatre and it is the place where one dares the least. -Ionesco

NomieRae

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Re: PROFESSIONALISM: cell phones onstage
« Reply #3 on: Nov 03, 2010, 05:39 pm »
Had a similar problem on my last show where the actors didn't wish to turn in their phones because while they trusted ME they didn't trust the theater company/patrons/run crew etc to be around their valuables. When I showed them the locker where I put everything each show and mentioned only the SM team has keys they all started giving me their valuables.

Might not be applicable in your circumstances, but just a thought!
--Naomi
"First, I honor life, and with it my life in theatre." -- Jacques Burdick

DoItYourself090

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Re: PROFESSIONALISM: cell phones onstage
« Reply #4 on: Nov 24, 2010, 12:32 am »
The first play I directed we had to have mobile phones on stage (I'm in the UK). I asked to see everyone's phone before we went up to ensure that it was off. As we were at a festival and had no access to safes/lockers and all cast were on stage at all times I understood.

The worst thing I've had is someone standing next to the stage speakers in the wings texting away. As I was sound tech I grabbed him and told him to switch it off (SM was on the other wing). Unfortunately, he didn't and of course he got a call. Whilst the phone didn't ring the speakers did begin to buzz something awful.

SM made it clear afterwards that phones do not come through the doors to the wings!


jedwards

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Re: PROFESSIONALISM: cell phones onstage
« Reply #5 on: Nov 29, 2010, 07:47 pm »
I'm in high school, and that's an even worse problem- though I've never had one go off during a performance. When I was SMing 'Oliver' last year, we brought in middle and elementary school kids to work with us. Honestly, they were worse about bringing it onstage- at least the high school kids were sneaky about it!

It got so bad, I made a bucket for the phones, and they only got them back during breaks. I don't know how this will work in the professional world, but it sure helped us. I'm sorry that your actors aren't professional enough to know that bringing a phone onstage is insane. Good luck!

dancer-sm

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Re: PROFESSIONALISM: cell phones onstage
« Reply #6 on: Nov 29, 2010, 09:35 pm »
I'm in high school, that alone means its almost impossible to get people to listen to me. We have a bucket for phones as well. My actors know my routine, sign-in then put your phone in the basket right beside the sign-in book. Well here lately they have decided to keep their phones on them. This causes many problems on and off stage. So I can definitely relate to the difficulties the phones cause! :)

Lauren

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Re: PROFESSIONALISM: cell phones onstage
« Reply #7 on: Feb 08, 2011, 10:26 am »
When I was in high school I always began the rehearsal process by requesting that they keep their cellphones on silent, and not use them when working on stage. This eliminated a lot of my problems right off the bat, and I feel it was better than taking the phones away- gave them more control and responsibility. In the few instances where actors were consistently breaking this request, I would personally pull the actor aside and ask them to refrain from phone usage during rehearsals, letting them know that if they continue to interrupt the rehearsal process then if may become necessary for them to leave their phone with myself/ASM during rehearsals. During performances I always held an "absolutely no phones past the dressing rooms" rule, and did have a box I kept with me for valuables, etc, if it made them more comfortable.
Now in college the actors very much treat the rehearsals as their job (as they well should), and therefore I have yet to need to request them to keep their phones from becoming a distraction in rehearsals. The SM team does reserve the right to find a phone that keeps going off, turn it off, and hold it until the next break is called and the actor can retrieve it. We have the same rule for performance here as I did in high school, and the actors are great about it. Assigned crew... not as much. I've found that as long as you are diplomatic, and keep it general and about the needs of the show rather than a personal attack (if it's phrased as "you aren't doing your job because you're always on your phone, turn it off!", a positive response will likely not be achieved).
"The truth is rarely pure, and never simple" -Oscar Wilde

MatthewShiner

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Re: PROFESSIONALISM: cell phones onstage
« Reply #8 on: Feb 08, 2011, 11:23 am »
i just dont want anyone to be shocked in the professional world to see the backstage aglow with cell phones from both cast and crew . . . . i mean, it just happens.

It, in some ways, helps keeps run crew onstage, rather then roaming, but on deck.

I worked with one sub run crew, who makes a living subbing on like 12 different Broadway shows who has all his run sheets on his smart phone.

That trick is controlling them and not banishing them.

The origional post was about keeping a cell phone off stage during a scene.  That is screwing around with the play.  Keeping a cell phone (turned on or off) off an actor in his costume while he is on stage is also an issue.

But keeping a cell phone off an actor or crew member in the backstage areas (depending on where they get reception) is going to be an impossible task, and is just going to come off as as little over bearing.  I can think of 100 reasons why an actor will want to have access to a (smart) phone during a show . . . and I think your staff should be focus on other things then policing cell phone usage backstage.
« Last Edit: Feb 08, 2011, 11:31 am by MatthewShiner »
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Anything posted here as in my own personal opinion, and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of my employer - whomever they be at a given moment in time.

loebtmc

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Re: PROFESSIONALISM: cell phones onstage
« Reply #9 on: Feb 08, 2011, 12:09 pm »
Just something to check before anyone goes too wild in one direction or another -

Depending on the house and the phone, cells can interact w the clearcom system and, with any incoming call, create static, interfering w the ability to make calls - so that is a factor, but it's not universal. This tends to be more of an issue with smaller houses, but my board op (who polices these things) plays games on his smartphone between calls, so you need to check the issue in each space.

Tempest

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Re: PROFESSIONALISM: cell phones onstage
« Reply #10 on: Feb 09, 2011, 11:38 pm »
I'm with loebtmc on this one, and it's not just clear com.  I know that, in the theatre I work in regularly, the entire sound system can start making that "aliens calling from the dark side of the moon" noise if someone's cell phone gets close enough to the speakers, certain cables, or the board.  I always turn mine totally off as soon as I know everyone involved in the running of the show is at the theatre.  Then I ask the cast to only use their phones in the dressing rooms, or just outside the stage door, and leave them in their dressing rooms, otherwise.  It only takes one cast member asking, "What IS that noise?" during tech, for them to get the point.
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Kait-e

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Re: PROFESSIONALISM: cell phones onstage
« Reply #11 on: Feb 11, 2011, 01:38 am »
Fortunately in the shows I've worked, many of the costumes didn't have pockets for the actors to sneak their phones on with and the ones who may have been troublesome had plenty of time off stage to text/call/etc back in the green room.

However with tech crew I've had to whisper-yell over headset a few times to move their cellphones away or turn them off due the beeping/buzz/whatever-that-is-sound. As for telling them to keep it off I've given up. The only ones who are bad about it are students, and I make sure to let their supervisors know if they cause problems.

My habit of keeping my cell with me during shows bit me in the rear on my last production when one of the actors decided to call me from the green room at the top of the show.
As it registered as a university number I answered - Security has my number and will call me if a show is running before they activate their incessant "we are investigating a fire alarm" message. What I instead got was what I (stupidly) believed to be an exchange professor asking about tickets. Horrendously confused and not wanting to harm inter-college relations I lost a few minutes off the top of the show with the audience sitting in half-house. It never occurred to me that the green room phone would register as a university number until the actor pushed his joke too far and called me back after show with the same shtick.
Admittedly it was a good prank. But it has taught me to be a little less gullible and to ignore phone calls when I'm in the middle of something important even if the call may be important.

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Re: PROFESSIONALISM: cell phones onstage
« Reply #12 on: Feb 25, 2011, 06:05 pm »
My problems with cell phones always start with texting in Rehearsal. When you are in rehearsal, your time belongs to the show. There is always something to do - like memorizing.  As long as the phones are on silent it is not a really big deal until the distraction starts messing with their performance. Then they all go in a bucket. I think my actors might actually fear for their lives if they took a phone on stage during a production, knowing the way I feel about it in rehearsal. I had one actor actually answer the phone (which was not on silent) in the middle of one of his monologues during tech week once. I was so upset.

The bucket seems to work well. I think taking them from all the actors makes all the difference.

little_owl

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Re: PROFESSIONALISM: cell phones onstage
« Reply #13 on: Feb 25, 2011, 10:26 pm »
I was involved with a play in which an actor was sitting at a table onstage and texting throughout the play. She kept it hidden but that was just ridiculous. It was in an era where there were no cell phones and I just wouldn't even have that person involved with a play anymore if I were a director. So ridiculous.     

BeccaTheSM

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Re: PROFESSIONALISM: cell phones onstage
« Reply #14 on: Feb 25, 2011, 10:50 pm »
Interestingly enough, I've had an experience with the opposite problem.

I was SMing a series of short plays, with literally no other crew members. The actors helped strike/setup each scene, but I had no one backstage and certainly no communication back there. In one of the pieces halfway through the first act, the story is that two brothers and a sister just witnessed their elderly farmer father's death, but not before he admitted to them and the attending priest that he had been having a sexual relationship with his best friend Ollie for most of their lives. So the oldest brother is the freaker-outer and in the course of the play repeatedly tries to call the priest to attempt to stop the 'rumor' from spreading throughout the town.

Well, one day the oldest brother is sans cellphone. The one time I wished the actor (or any of the three actors) had a cellphone on them onstage. They covered well ("I should really try and call Reverand Doobey" ...  "Do you think I should call Aunt Pearl and Uncle Bud?" ... and such) so it wasn't an awful disaster. But they always had their prop after that.
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