SCHEDULING: Who writes your rehearsal schedules?

[ChaCha]

I am curious to know whether in professional theatre in the USA (especially with all your union rules to track ) it is always the stage manager who writes the rehearsal schedule? Does the Director just tell you where they want to get to each day/in the week and then leave it to you? Does the director do a draft which you then check meets union rules and slot in all the extras such as wardrobe and media calls?

I worked with both systems - sometimes a director was so bad at knowing how long scenes would take to block that I would eventually manage to wrest schedule writing control away and write it myself. It usually worked out fairly well and less time was wasted because needed cast were not present. Other directors wrote great schedules and stuck to them quite faithfully.

Is there a standard procedure where you are?

ChaCha

[Jessie_K]

In most cases, I have worked with the director to make the schedule.  We discuss what scenes to rehearse and how long each requires.  Sometimes directors write a draft and we discuss it together and check against union rules, actor availability and other schedule restraints.  Sometimes they leave more of it up to me.

I don't necessarily think there is a set standard.  It is best to discuss the schedule making procedure with your director before rehearsals start.

Schedule making at my current job (which is not a theater and not in the US) is really complicated.  We have 62 artists, 12 coaches and 6 rehearsal spaces.  Juggling all of that and outside needs (consulate visits, vaccinations, injuries), is a huge challenge.  I take input from the artistic staff, coaches and our technical departments including requests, demands and constraints.  I create a draft for the following week and go through it with various people a few times before publication.  We also do a review of the next day's schedule each afternoon before publishing it officially.

I do most of the puzzle work (who where when) and then make adjustments based on notes from directors, etc.  There is no way that a director or coach could make a schedule in this environment.

[MatthewShiner]

Usually, either the director will tell me what they want to rehearse . . . and I work in fittings, union rules, etc . . . or, I come up with a draft, and run it pass the director.

[missliz]

Definitely a collaboration between the director and the SM. Sometimes it's more them than me, but I'll also take note of things that need to get worked, put them into a schedule, and run it by the director. Mostly it's checking availability (space and actors), making sure other things that need to happen that day get done (costume fittings, publicity photos), and having an efficient use of time within Equity standards.

[SMrose]

I do a French Scene breakdown of the show, turn it in to the director and we either work together on a schedule or the director does the schedule and we refine it together with fittings, PR, etc.