Tech + Actors in Costume

[XanderQCall]

This has come up for me recently on a show and I just wanted to get some clarification to make sure I am correct on this.

Here is the scenario: It's after 1/2 hour, actors are in costume, and the director decides to do a stumble-thru of the show (which is only about an hour and five minutes long).  Actors were called at 11:00a so they are due a 10 minute break at 12:20 (or whatever time the actual run-thru of the show ends).

When we get back from break, the director wants to start at the top of the show, requiring actors to get back into their top of show costumes.

In this situation, actors were put on a fifteen minute break: five minutes to get back into TOS costume and then the actual ten minute break they were due. Is that breakdown accurate? Or would you have actors get out of costume and then put them on a break?  Does Equity define the act of an actor getting into and out of costume as work and therefore an actor cannot be put on break and have part of that break time be changing into and out of costume?

Now here is another scenario that came up: Different show. The last part of our tech rehearsal was spent doing a run-thru of the show. The director wanted to have time to touch base with the actors about the plan for the next day before the actors left the theatre. END OF DAY is 11:00pm. Actors were kept, IN COSTUME, until 11:00pm, and then released.

If the act of getting into and out of costume is considered to be work, does this mean that the actors end of day was actually once they were out of costume which was around 11:15? Should the run-thru have been stopped with enough time to have the actors get out of costume, take their break, while still leaving time for the director to talk with them prior to END OF DAY?

I was not the stage manager in either situation, it was just something I observed. Thoughts, comments, concerns. You all are such a wealth of knowledge I figured I would throw this out there. My apologies if this is already a thread but I couldn't find anything along these lines when I searched. Thank you!!

EDIT: Added line breaks for easier reading. --PSMK

[MatthewShiner]

Some contracts do require time to get out of costume.


If an actor needs to get into costume you need to give them 30 minutes is a myth.  This is not true, you are not required to give them a half-hour except for PERFORMANCES.  (There are a lot good reasons why you might want to give them half-half).  You can give them ten minutes to get dressed.

In tech situations, where you give half-hour, half-hour needs to be counted as work.  (I know, it's odd) So often what I do during tech is give the actors 25 minutes to get dressed, give them a five minute break, and then we are set to do anything.  (Some producers think that half-hour is not counted against break time . . . so, a 12:00n half-hour, they think the first break would be do at 1:50p.  It is really do at 1:20p.)

The reason why some contracts have getting out of costume as part of work hours is, well, it's 12:00m end of the day, I should be able to just walk out. But, for some reason we count getting dressed as work, getting undressed doesn't count (on most contracts). 

The keeping actors in costume is a tad bit disrespectful to your wardrobe crew - I tend to before any notes - to get them out of costume - usually saying, "You guys are on ten, and not required to be in costume at the end of the break . . . so if you want to get out of costume during your break - you are free to do so."  It's amazing how often then we get out of costume.

But again, check your contract . . . as to if getting out of costume is required.  If my cast asked for that, I would do an exchange, okay 15 minutes to get in costume, 15 minutes to get out of costume.  And then I am not losing time.