Author Topic: PEOPLE: Keeping it Straight with BIG CASTS  (Read 12138 times)

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Maribeth

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Re: PEOPLE: Keeping it Straight with BIG CASTS
« Reply #15 on: Mar 13, 2014, 06:41 pm »
Working in opera, I'm also a big fan of having the number of people that you'll be sending onstage. I'll keep a list of last names (tends to be easier to differentiate between 5 different Marys, or the Billy Smith/Betty Sacks issue) so that if I'm missing a person I can go through the list of names, but if I know I'm supposed to have 27 people entering from the SR3 ramp, I find it easier to count heads before going through the list of people.

Ditto- and having a headcount for each entrance helps for operas where the chorus is XX people in heavy makeup/wigs/costumes, where they are virtually indistinguishable except by height.

Maggie K

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Re: PEOPLE: Keeping it Straight with BIG CASTS
« Reply #16 on: Feb 23, 2016, 02:28 pm »
I also have used nametags on shows with big casts.  I've found it also helps the director/choreographer/music director since they frequently don't know all the names either.  One other method I've used is to take my contact sheet and write next to the name an identifier.  Example: Sally Smith (long red hair) etc.  I've not used it for a larger cast than 40 or so but it does help.
I like the ephemeral thing about theatre, every performance is like a ghost - it's there and then it's gone. -Maggie Smith

 

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