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Tools of the Trade / Software for Stage Managers & Theatre Companies
« on: Mar 05, 2011, 11:13 pm »
Hi,
Before I begin I thought I'd just say that I'm a self-taught software developer, and that I've been involved in the backstage team of a youth theatre company for 5 years now. I've toured across the UK, however I haven't as much as set a toe inside a US theatre, so I don't pretend to be experienced.
I've been looking for a niche to write software for for a while, and about a week ago I realised, that I was standing in one! I also realised that there was a void of good software.
Currently I have one concept that I'm interested in:
The first is a system for organising a theatre company. It would allow show to be planned, rehearsals to be planned, and jobs to be assigned to people and allow an overarching view of the progress.
The software would also (and that's where you come in!) have a facility for stage manager's rehearsal reports to be entered, and would automatically break them down into "Mini-reports" for each person (eg: the lighting designed doesn't need he sound notes). And also allow the SM or others to view when everything on that report has been completed. Additionally there would be a facility for show reports as well.
The software would be hosted on the Internet, meaning that anybody in you company could interact from it, from work, home, or on the stage.
I'd love to get some feedback on this, I'm interested if you think it would be helpful to you. If not what would make it helpful? Also, if there's something else you need which hasn't been done, I would be very interested to know!
--Mod Note: Thomas sent a PM to me asking before he posted this thread, and has assured me he has read through the other responses in this forum to similar questions. -Mac
Before I begin I thought I'd just say that I'm a self-taught software developer, and that I've been involved in the backstage team of a youth theatre company for 5 years now. I've toured across the UK, however I haven't as much as set a toe inside a US theatre, so I don't pretend to be experienced.
I've been looking for a niche to write software for for a while, and about a week ago I realised, that I was standing in one! I also realised that there was a void of good software.
Currently I have one concept that I'm interested in:
The first is a system for organising a theatre company. It would allow show to be planned, rehearsals to be planned, and jobs to be assigned to people and allow an overarching view of the progress.
The software would also (and that's where you come in!) have a facility for stage manager's rehearsal reports to be entered, and would automatically break them down into "Mini-reports" for each person (eg: the lighting designed doesn't need he sound notes). And also allow the SM or others to view when everything on that report has been completed. Additionally there would be a facility for show reports as well.
The software would be hosted on the Internet, meaning that anybody in you company could interact from it, from work, home, or on the stage.
I'd love to get some feedback on this, I'm interested if you think it would be helpful to you. If not what would make it helpful? Also, if there's something else you need which hasn't been done, I would be very interested to know!
--Mod Note: Thomas sent a PM to me asking before he posted this thread, and has assured me he has read through the other responses in this forum to similar questions. -Mac