Tech week signage

[ZTucker]

Question for everyone: what kinds of signs do you usually find that you need to put up for the tech/run of a show?  I am the SM for a children's production of Guys and Dolls (12-18 y.o. is the age range) and I am having a hard time thinking about what might need to be labelled...

So far:
Male Dressing Room (on actual door)
Female Dressing Room (on actual door)
Male/Female Dressing Rooms Directional (on stairwell door)
DO NOT USE ELEVATOR (next to elevator opening)
Mic Station (above mic pickup/dropoff station)

Am I missing something obvious here?

[loebtmc]

sign in sheet and tech thru run calendar?

[nick_tochelli]

Daily Schedule (with the daily breakdown of what's happening which is a little different than the Run Calendar loebtmc is talking about)

Run Orders Everywhere!!! (Dressing room, green room, hallways, Upstage L/R, Downstage L/R...)

Directional To Stage Left, and To Stage Right

On-Stage Cross Over (if you have one)

Directional To Green Room Signs (If you have one)

Directional To Bathroom Signs

Stage Manager Office (If you have one)

Directional To Pit (If you have an actual pit room. If you're in a high school auditorium probably not as necessary)

Directional To Musician Room (they and their stuff has to go somewhere)

[BeccaTheSM]

More "Quiet Backstage" signs than you can shake a stick at....

[loebtmc]

Run Orders Everywhere!!! (Dressing room, green room, hallways, Upstage L/R, Downstage L/R...)

assume Nick is talking abt show order/run sheets - yeah, tons of these too - posted backstage, in the dressing rooms, in the hallways, lots and lots of them so no matter where they are, the kids know where in the show they are

[ZTucker]

@Nick - I hadn't thought of the pit musician-related signs... we are holding the program in a 2,300 seat theatre, so we will defiantly have that issue!

@loebtmc - I had made up run sheets, but was only planning on posting them around the stage/green room, putting them everywhere sounds like a better idea =)

@picket - You mean I just can't yell "Quiet Please" during the performance?

Thanks for the suggestions guys!

[BeccaTheSM]

I mean, you will probably still end up repeating "quiet please" (with the silent curses following) a million times anyway. But the signs will help too.

[BayAreaSM]

I second what everyone has said, as I do a lot of children's ballet performances, but just a few more...

Should you have a separate room for Hair/Makeup, be sure to have directional signs to/from that room from the dressing rooms.

Depending on the layout of your theater, it's worked well for me to post one of the "Quiet Please" signs on the reverse side of the stage door. The children come up a staircase from the dressing rooms and see one door with the "Quiet Please" sign that leads to the second door to the stage, which also has the sign. And once they come through that door, they run into my calling station.

If there are spaces in the theater that you don't want parent volunteers or performers going into, a good amount of "DO NOT ENTER" signs are a must. In one venue, there's a random staircase in the middle of the dressing level that does not lead to SL or SR, quite frankly, we have no idea where it goes. So I post one of those DNE signs on the door leading to those stairs, as well as on the electrical storage room and on music stands that I use to block hallways leading to other unknown areas where no performer needs to go. (Though I do make sure I'm not blocking an emergency exit with my stand.)

[On_Headset]

If the house staff haven't taken care of it, research how the house phones work, and post a short list of emergency directions by any exposed phone. In particular, find out which number the theatre uses for external numbers (usually 9, but it can vary), and whether or not this applies to 911/your local emergency number.

You should post:
- The emergency number ("For emergencies, dial 9-911")
- If available, the number for building security
- If available, the number for the house manager's office
- The facilities/maintenance number (For those "We have a show in two hours and the women's dressing room is flooded!" situations)
- The technical director's number, if their contract/understanding with the company includes ongoing maintenance and emergency response ("The set fell over during our lunch break! What do we DOOOO?!")
- At the very bottom, your own number

In all cases, keep it simple. I would encourage you not to provide general-use directions (You don't want to encourage company members to use these phones except in emergency situations, so leave off instructions like "For local calls, dial 9 before the number." and focus on specific directions: "To contact building security, dial 45000. To contact the house manager, dial 30000." etc. etc. etc.)