House is Open or Closed?

[MysterySM]

Not sure if this is the proper place, but I have a general question for everyone: When the audience is entering the house do you call "house is open" ( as in open to the audience) or "house is closed" ( as in house is closed to the actors)?
I usually call house open when we open the doors and let the audience in to let the actors know that there is audience in the house and they should not be onstage. But a friend of mine, who I was doing run-crew for, says the opposite and it created some confusion because half of us understood and the other half was lost.
So what do you say? What's the standard?
thanks!
Liz

[BeccaTheSM]

I've only ever heard that when audience is coming in, the house is said to be open. And that's what we tell the cast: House it Open.

[MatthewShiner]

House is open is the only thing I have I heard.

[BayAreaSM]

Same here. House is open refers to the doors being open and people entering. I've never heard otherwise. Your run crew friend may have heard the term from someone else who was just using it incorrectly. I've actually never even heard of House is Closed. I've heard of Rehearsals being closed - perhaps they were confusing the two?

[bex]

I've always heard house open when the audience is coming in, and house closed when the show is starting (ie, close the doors, don't let anyone in until the late seating time).

[RubCar91]

Yeah, I have always heard stage managers say, "The house is now open" to the actors and crew when the doors first open and the audience starts coming in so that no actors or crew members wander onto the stage when they're not supposed to. When the doors close and the show is about to start the stage manager then says, "The house is closed."

[VSM]

"Half Hour: House is open."

[missliz]

I've always heard "house is open" for audience going in. Maybe add "Don't go onstage!" if you feel the actors are dense?

[maximillionx]

"Half Hour: House is open."

Ditto

[amdram]

Our announcement is "Ladies and gentlemen the house is now open, please do not cross the stage."

[ChaCha]

Im with the house open people. But just as an aside - does anyone else use the phrase 'the house is live' for the backstage announcement, instead of open?  A british thing perhaps?

[On_Headset]

Not sure if this is the proper place, but I have a general question for everyone: When the audience is entering the house do you call "house is open" ( as in open to the audience) or "house is closed" ( as in house is closed to the actors)?
I usually call house open when we open the doors and let the audience in to let the actors know that there is audience in the house and they should not be onstage. But a friend of mine, who I was doing run-crew for, says the opposite and it created some confusion because half of us understood and the other half was lost.
So what do you say? What's the standard?

If you want to be absolutely certain to avoid confusion, you could borrow from the really old-school house managers and blow a really loud whistle on stage right before the doors open. So long as everyone knows what the whistle means, you're golden.

[Mac Calder]

Either that, or change your call to the one we tend to use in Corporate - Doors are Open, House is Live.

The rigger (combined with the superstitious luvvie) in me hates the thought of a whistle being used in a theatre.