LORT - Rehearsal Questions

[Sarah]

50(C)(6)(f) Says REHEARSAL has to be consecutive, but says nothing about the the relationship to rehearsal to performance.

Well, yeah. I always read the rule the same way as your rep...at least a 1.5 or 2 hour meal break must be given, but longer is A.O.K. I've never interpreted the rule to mean a meal break of exactly 1.5 or 2 hours must be given to each actor. Why the heck not? Would you call an actor for a scene he or she isn't in, just to have them around for a particular hourly requirement and a "compact" span of day? That makes no sense. As long as the meal break plus rehearsal doesn't violate span of day or rest period, what is the problem? I'd be making schedules for three hours after rehearsal if that were the reading...

50(E)(4) There shall be no less than 1½ hours and no more than three hours between
curtain down and the rehearsal call.  The rest period may be reduced or extended by a
cast majority vote.

I've always read that this rule refers to the fact that a cast has voted to rehearse on a two-performance day or to a rehearsal held after some sort of matinee performance, does it not? To what else would it refer?

[EFMcMullen]

So, word back from LORT is the 3.5 hour break is kosher, as it does not break any rules. 

The word back from LORT and not AEA, right.  Maybe it is something to bring up for the negotiations to make clearer.  I would still double check with AEA, as we work for them and not LORT.

[MatthewShiner]

Well, to be fair, I technically work for a theater company who has a contract with AEA - and it was LORT who had their lawyers look over the rule book and give me their interpretation. 

But, I totally agree that is is vague enough that it should be made clearer in the rule book.

[MatthewShiner]

LORT has a 12 hour turn around and 12 hour span of day.

They are only rehearsing 5 hours and then doing a show in the evening.

They are rehearsing Show B, but performing Show A in the evening.

[MatthewShiner]

FYI . . .

I spoke to my LORT business rep about this today . . . well, I was calling about the damn daylight day of rest after a day off when Christmas falls on a Thursday and your theatre wants to do six shows in three days afterwards . . . but I digress.

I brought this up, and he back up the LORT's Lawyer's ruling.

So across the board, it's legal.

Interesting, huh?

[EFMcMullen]

Thanks for the update.  I stand corrected. 

[MatthewShiner]

FYI . . . this is an east coast ruling, I wonder what the west coast would say.

I have head conflicting rulings before.

[RuthNY]

Digress some more, please.  Do tell us about the damn DD of R after a DO!  What did the Rep. say about that?

FYI . . .
I spoke to my LORT business rep about this today . . . well, I was calling about the damn daylight day of rest after a day off when Christmas falls on a Thursday and your theatre wants to do six shows in three days afterwards . . . but I digress.
<snip>

[MatthewShiner]

We are doing the following . . .

we are taking both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day off, and then doing six shows over three days.  (well, someone is, I am on vacation that week) - my question was since we are taking two days off completely, does there still need to be a DDR after the day off.  He said no, that basically Christmas eve is the Day off and then Christmas Day becomes the DDR for the week.

DDR is becoming the bane of my existence, I always find it very hard to explain to a director why they need a DDR rehearsal is they are rehearsing four weeks (well, tech and preview add up to six, somewhere in there we need a DDR).  Although, we have gotten permission to flip the DDR, and basically work 10:00a-3:00p on a Sunday, to allow everyone to go back to NYC.

[forner]

I guess I'm jumping into pretty cold water at this point but I would be interested to know the reason for the
early call for actors who are performing as well . When you are making-- and you alone are making up the schedule-- you might want to consider allowing outside time (and I'm thinking morning hours) for your actors to learn and prepare the new lines, staging, music or choreography for the next  day's call. It might make for a better rehearsal later that day.  It is however nice to know you were allowed to schedule  a long break between  the end of 5.5 rehearsal and the half hour call and not just  1.5 or 2.

[MatthewShiner]

You bring up a very good point, but the reality of the situation is as follows.

We have six weeks to rehearse a big show; nine of my principals are in shows performing in the evening - some at my theatre, some at other theaters.  We are trying to get as much rehearsal time into the day as possible.  So instead of having 288 hours to rehearse, we have 132 hours (given the weekends are a complete wash) . . . so, we are trying to make up time where we can.  By spreading the day, I can get 168 hours (7 hours x 4 days x 6 weeks) of rehearsal time.

We are not going to be calling every actor, every day at 10:30a, especially those who are performing in the evening, but having the option allows up to get more rehearsal time in the day.  (Think instead of 12:30p - 5:30p, now we can get 10:30a - 5:30p) - as long as no single actor or stage manager works more then 5 (or 5.5 depending on the vote), we can get more work done - which will be invaluable in this process.  We are very lucky in that the play is very episodic, and basically has three story lines, so breaking it down should be easy - after table work, we are hoping to give at least one "Short" or "off" day per major actor.

I am a huge advocate for not burning out the actors, but at the end of the day, I have to figure out a way to make this work.  And at the end of the day, I am not calling them any more hours per day, so the will still have time to learn music, line, staging etc.  Sometimes in the morning, sometimes in the middle of the day.

[hbelden]

I guess I'm surprised by this because in the majority of votes I've been around, casts have always tried to compress the time they are at the theatre; allowing straight-sixes, choosing one-hour meal breaks, etc.  And I was thinking of the complete cast, not individual cast members.  We've all had to call Lady Bracknell from 10:30am-11:30am and again from 4:30pm-6pm, for instance. 

It doesn't seem so bad in Matt's situation, when a small subset of actors have the long break and the subset changes every day.  But I can't imagine the mutiny I would face if I told my current four-character cast that they were all called from 10:30am - 3:30pm, then 7:30 half-hour call for an 8pm show and 10:30pm curtain down.  According to this ruling, that's what we could do - the rules are the same even though these are very different situations, right?

[MatthewShiner]

The rule would be the same, but that's the rule.  If they wanted to mutiny, they could - but they wouldn't have a leg to stand on. Again, it's not an ideal solution, but the cast is being told up front about how we are making the rehearsal call from day one, so it's not going to be a surprise - and at least I am looking out for their interest.

I too have noticed a trend in actor's wanting to tighten their day, but always, when a show is involved, it's always different.  (For example, in my five years here - my actors have only voted once to allow me to reduce the break to 1.5 hours before a performance, although they are fine in reducing it to one hour during rehearsal.)

But in reality, since we are planning a seven hour day, we are doing your Lady Bracknell example, we are going to rehearse from 10:30a - 5:30p, but not everyone is called the whole time.  I would never see the point of calling people from 10:30a - 3:30p, and then just take a four hour break (unless we rehearsing a rep and a change over needed to happen - which is where I think this rule actually has it's history . . . )

Actually, some actors like to have a more time between rehearsal and performance - go home, walk the dogs, take a nap, have dinner, and then go to the theatre.  (note, our rehearsal and performance venues are NOT in the same location.)

If you were to use this without a good reason, then you are probably going to face some sort of mutiny.  But, there are lots of ways you can take the rules and abuse your cast (like the way to rehearse 24-hours a day . . . like 7:00a costume fittings, calling someone in for a 10 min shoe fitting during the day and then nothing else.)  And the end of the day, a lot of this job is style and how you enforce the rules.

[Aerial]

Actually, some actors like to have a more time between rehearsal and performance - go home, walk the dogs, take a nap, have dinner, and then go to the theatre.  (note, our rehearsal and performance venues are NOT in the same location.)

That has frequently been my experience as well, last season when I was working at at LORT theatre where nearly everyone was local.  They liked to go home and spend some time with their families before coming back to the theatre to do their show.

[MatthewShiner]

Another note from my conversation with the business rep. 

He pointed out there at times the rules in the book are ambiguous on purpose to allow for interpretation - so that there is some flexibility to address situations as they come up.  I find that interesting, in that we always turn to the rule book for answers, and yet sometimes it just leads to more questions.