Open Forum

Hey all! 

I just got a job as a TD for a local high school. The one area I have concern with is the actual workflow of how this school builds sets. 

Our shop is rather small, so it seems like it would be a good idea to build the set directly on the stage. However, like many of you, I am now in a school where the stage is a hot commodity, so we need to break down whatever we can make and store it within our small shop. This is a completely different flow of work than I'm used to.

In high school, I was lucky enough to have a program which was allowed to build scenery and leave it onstage, so I'm simply unfamiliar with this process and am looking for suggestions. How do you manage a workflow like this?

Bonus points if you have any ideas for how we can create sets that can come apart and re-assemble easily.

Thank you for your time and thoughtfulness.

Outside perspective..... there are multiple things that you can do.

1) build off stage, then install the week before your show.

2) If you have wing space, use rolling scenery, that can store in the wings and small shop space then roll out when needed.

3) Minimalized scenic design, furniture and representative pieces that come out for the production.

4) use fly sets if you have them to lower in scenery/walls

5) use tracks and drops to one-way draw on drops

6) Projected scenery

In your situation it is going to be dependent on your physical space and the size of the other functions, but the physical design of your space is the ultimate decision maker for your possibilities.

As a retired theater teacher of 30 years, I would suggest to try working on the calendar of events for the theater.  See if you can be in charge of managing that calendar or if you and your department could manage the calendar.  Secondly, work to meet with people who will be using the space, probably as you already are in some ways, to see what their technical needs might be and in so doing, can you set up things for them and or provide student crews for their events?  This builds a lot of good will and allows you to learn the various needs for various events and then you can adapt your build and staging plans to meet the usage of others.  Meetings with other users also allow you to advocate for your program; build rapport and trust... can theater events, for example, get two weeks of dedicated stage time where there are no other events on stage?

Other than that, Jerry has made some good suggestions.  My only add here is to ask outside users if they need all of the stage space and perhaps scenery can be placed behind a midstage drape if you have one.

I second the events calendar idea.  My job is as the auditorium director (no teaching, just facility management and directing the shows).  Our space is the only space for our k-12 district.  Part of  my job is to build the calendar.

I have emphasized that for our non-musical we have at the very least the week before the show and the week of the show with no other events. For our musical I strive for an extra week.

Our tech theatre classes do most of the building and painting for the shows.

There are also lots of great suggestions about set design and construction on this thread!  

Inverted Periaktoi - Dramatics Magazine

I absolutely agree with the aspect of a shared calendar. Our facility is a stage at the end of the gym and is also our shop/build space. I am blessed to have had Athletic Directors that are willing to work with us to collaborate on who needs the space and when. We are fortunate to have an administration that supports the idea of renting other facilities for our teams so that theatre can have the space for tech week. It takes some work and flexibility but developing that working relationship pays great dividends!

Peace and blessings,

Two thoughts. First, our auxiliary department now runs our calendar on an approval system. It is a Google calendar specifically for theater use. They input all classes at the start of the year, and we send our shows and techs for the next year before this year ends. Our stage is our shop, so once the school year starts, I put in requests for painting days on which I can leave out everything we paint overnight (when there aren't any other evening events). Everyone submits theater date requests to the calendar master to approve. If they conflict with an existing event, such as a class, sometimes I'll offer to meet elsewhere for a day for a college visit, for example. This builds goodwill for when I really need the space around shows!

Second, we moved one of our curtain bars toward the back of the stage, about four feet from the cyc. For many events, we offer classes, guests, student groups, etc. all of the stage up to that curtain, so we can store any sets-in-progress behind that spot. Four feet usually isn't a big loss, and they just need to know the curtain will be black instead of our white cyc. A lot of times they hang decor off the same bar in front of the black curtain for their own events.

Good luck!

Laura