RUNNING: Prop/costume responsibility

[dallas10086]

This happened tonight, and I thought it would make a good point of discussion since it was a lively topic of debate for me and my crew:

We had a two show day today, and between shows one of the costume crew forgot an important preset: hang 3 clothes on wooden hangers, plus an onstage change dress, also on a hanger. These clothes on hangers touch 2 actors hands and 3 crew members hands (not in that order) before making it onstage.
Tonight however, those clothes weren't on their hangers and the dress was still in the dressing room. A crew member handed off the clothes without hangers, warned the actress she hands them off to, and the actress covered by laying them on the bed. When someone offstage realized the onstage change dress wasn't there, they went to the dressing room, grabbed it, and the actress onstage took it from them - unfortunately with the dress still on the plastic hanger. The actress covered by taking the dress off the plastic hanger and covered it up under the bedsheets.

So, who was at fault? The crew? The actors for not checking their props? Or a combination of the two?

Edit to add topic tag. - Maribeth

[KMC]

It seems to me the first mistake caused any/all subsequent mistakes, no?

Had the costume been preset as intended this discussion is not taking place. 

Attention to detail!  Critical. 

[MarcieA]

It's always been my belief that regardless of who sets what, it's the ASM's responsibility to ensure that those presets are done.

So, if blame should be placed, that's where. Both parties are at fault to me: the costume crew member who's actual, physical responsibility it is to hang those costumes and the ASM for not being sure that the stage was properly set before the show started. I suppose one could also say that the actor should have checked as well, but this is a really a crew responsibility.

Also, rather than just placing blame, why not use it to truly prove how collaborative an experience this job is?

[loebtmc]

Ditto what MarcieA said - there is a reason two sets of eyeballs check everything. Actors shd always check their presets, ASMs shd have a check list, and the costume shd have used his/her plot. But the bottom line is, everyone has bad days and makes mistakes; what's important is that we have each others' backs. So emphasis is on helping the team working together better (and proves the equality of theater, because any one piece can cause disruption everywhere).

[leastlikely]

I'm not sure "fault" really matters here. There are five people who should have caught this, and none of them did. I guess you could say it's the fault of the first person for missing the pre-set, but any of the other four should have been checking their pieces and noticed that it wasn't there. So everybody messed up here. What's important is that the pieces all got on! It may not have looked exactly like planned, but it worked out fine. There may have been a panic, but it really wasn't a major disaster. And I bet that pre-set will never be forgotten again!

[RuthNY]

So, I believe that, in every show, there are props/costumes to be preset that need to be double checked and that, in many shows, there are props and costumes that need to be preset, without which the plot or the show itself CANNOT continue (at least with the story/plot fully intact.)  These presets are the ones I consider "traps," and you don't want to ever fall into the trap of being without them. For the "trap" props or costumes there should always be a verbal acknowledgement between crew and SM (s) that these items are in place, and for many of them there also needs to be a backup plan in case something happens. If your verbal communication/triple check is not in play for these items, you are taking a risk. It is up to the SM (s) to identify all "traps"and act accordingly. At the end of the day, you need to have a plan B to deal with all story/plot-necessary items. As for blame, if I were the SM of this show, the blame would be mine for not identifying certain things that might go wrong. (No, I know that no one has ESP, and no SM can identify all the "what ifs," but one CAN identify and plan for the most important ones.) In the story above, the one person who cannot be liable, is the actor. It's great if they check their props, but I live in a world where for 90% of actors, it's not a reality.

[NomieRae]

I think an important detail in this is the fact that it was a two show day - I find that very often on a two show day things get lax with presents and etc because, hell, we're gonna be here all day. So instead of resetting at the top of your crew call, you might say wait until right before house opens, but then you get to talking... and something gets forgotten.

Making a habit of doing your preset checklist the same time and same way every night helps this for me - makes it muscle memory and routine so nothing gets forgotten.

I've had it happen before to me on a show with next to no preset. I mean, literally all I had to preset was one prop and two handheld mics on stage. One day (only one day in nearly 1.5 years on that show) I forgot to set the mics and they weren't there for the very first moment of the show. Egg on my face. Never happened again, though.

[MatthewShiner]

Physical Checklists you Check Off Every Show.

Use them, get your crew to use them.

Two shows days are always ripe for mistakes . . . you have the memory in your head "Oh, I already set that prop."

[Kelasaurus]

I agree that everything should be checked by multiple sets of eyes.  Especially on a long run, things can get forgotten.

[RuthNY]

Yep. Two show days, are the biggest trap ever, as Matthew says. "I did that already!" Yeah...you did...

Two shows days are always ripe for mistakes . . . you have the memory in your head "Oh, I already set that prop."

[loebtmc]

thirding 2-show days. That info wasn't mentioned in the original post - and that is the most important piece. Truly, that is when everyone - everyone! - on the team needs to triply check not just their own lists but everyone else's. Cuz yes, your muscle memory tells you you just did that same action.

[On_Headset]

I'm down for not apportioning blame as such. (What are you going to do, burn the heretic?)

Nobody died. Nobody's going to be filling in paperwork for your insurance company. Nobody has to be dispatched to apologize profusely to the producer's wife. You won't be getting an angry letter from the NAACP. Your company is getting the really really really important stuff right, and while this was unfortunate, it sounds as though your backup systems (improvisation by the actors, frantic backstage searches, etc.) kicked over just fine.

If your guys are anything like the companies I've worked with, people will now be hyperattentive to every aspect of prop and costume preset, and this problem won't happen again. We learn, we move on.

[MatthewShiner]

But . . . wait . . .

I think there is something about doing a quick post-performance investigation and figure out what went wrong.

A mistake was made, and, to be honest, a bit of a rookie mistake - this is a pre-set issue - not something that went off during the show causing the mistake to be made.  Something is not working in the flow of the show if something is going wrong.

Ultimately, if this was my show, who was to blame?  Me.  As the stage manager I am the one to blame - it was my responsibility to make sure the deck stage management and run crew had a system in place to make sure the show is ready to go every time.  (Not all stage managers manage this way, this is how I would deal with it.) 

To sort of shrug it off and say "well, mistakes will be made" is not the way to change, improve and set up the best environment for closer to a 100% success rate every time.

[loebtmc]

I agree w Matthew - the buck stops with me - and the blame game is worthless. I actually started to state this w basically what MWS said, but erased it all -and yes, it needs to be dealt with but not as blame. Rather, it is an opportunity to create a cross check that makes sure it doesn't happen again and makes the team of crew and performers conscious of proactively anticipating and pre-solving problems.

 

[MatthewShiner]

There is blame - no fire and pitchforks - but without responsibility - this problem will happen again.