I thoroughly agree with Linda, parent support is essential in an educational setting where we don't have enough funding (most?).
Here's a couple of excerpts from my book, High School Theatre Operations, about parents; gaining their reluctant support, and controlling their over-zealous support...
STAFFING Chapter:
PARENTS
As you can surmise from some of the examples above, another problem with having students run your shows (school events and/or outside events) is not so much the students themselves, but their parents. Parents don't understand the level of commitment, such as the need to be there for both the rehearsal and the performance. Once you are involved in a rehearsal, you are then the only person who knows how to do your job and when to do your job. So, you can't not turn up for the performance, because curtains won't get flown, lights won't get turned on and so on. Conversely, if you haven't been at the rehearsal you won't know what to do during the performance.
I can't count the number of times during the tech week for a school play that parents have informed me that their student must be home by 8:00pm or 9:00pm, when the rehearsals are usually expected to go until 10:00pm. Rehearsals are not only expected to go until 10:00pm (in every high school theatre I've ever been involved with), but parents are informed about this ahead of time in the information packet that they are given when their child is cast or put on the crew. Nonetheless, the reasons that parents want their children home are because of homework, a test the next day, or just a general curfew. Unfortunately, parents don't have the big picture. What parents don't realize is that inevitably during tech week there is some big exam scheduled. This is a very common 'Murphy's Law" phenomenon – it happened when I was in high school and it happens every time I work on a high school production now. Some parents simply worry about how tired their child will get, staying up until past 10:00 at night for a week and having to get up to be at school the next morning. But, what parents also don't see is that there are 40 to 80 other students in the same boat – they think it is just their child who is affected. What they also don't see is the educational and real life experience their children are having. I don't know of any good high school theatre that doesn't run their productions without professional expectations. Parents also don't realize that once the curtain goes up on opening night that it is primarily teenagers who run the show in its entirety. Parents also don't look at the big picture and see that tech week happens just once or twice a year (sometimes three) – they are fretting about one or two weeks out of 52.
There are some ways around this – and you have to approach it on a case-by-case basis with each parent. During one high school show that I worked on I had one mother who wanted her Stage Manager daughter to leave by 9:00pm every night. Never mind that this student was in charge of running the entire show and that rehearsals went on until 10:00pm. This mother came in one day early on in tech week and was helping serve dinner during the break. So I brought her into the theatre and put her on headset. She listened for about 45 minutes entranced. She had had no idea the level of 'grown up' responsibility that her daughter had, nor her level of competence and confidence. I never heard a peep out of that parent for the rest of the run of the show. Another set of parents in another high school theatre were concerned about the hours that their son would have to commit to in order to run the followspot for a show. So we invited them into the theatre and gave them the 'grand tour' and their son demonstrated to them, and his younger brother, how he was up in the catwalks running the followspot. That young boy has now graduated from college with a degree in theatre production and has gone on to get his masters and is now gainfully employed in the industry. Also his younger brother participated in every school production thereafter.
Another way to gain student and parent commitment is if your district can pay your students. This not only makes the students even more committed to their calls, but perhaps more importantly validates their time spent not doing homework, or getting less sleep, to their parents. However some school districts don't want to deal with hiring people under 18, because of the added expenses and paperwork and additional insurance required to hire minors, so this may be a moot point in your school district. (However, you can – and I have – hire a student the day he or she turns 18.)
SAFETY AND RISK MANAGEMENT Chapter:
Set Building Workshop for Volunteers
Another group it is imperative to teach theatre safety and protocols to is your parent volunteers, especially the set builders. Mothers and fathers who want to volunteer in a high school scene shop usually have some sort of background and interest in construction. When I started working at one theatre there were a group of dads who were already building a house set for "The Sound of Music". And that's just what they did – they built a house on stage. That thing was never going to budge. As luck would have it, throughout the year they were able to repaint it and use it as a factory in "The Pajama Game" and later a community variety show used it as a brothel!
This isn't standard practice in set building though, we were just lucky with the choices of shows that year. There are techniques to building sets so that they can be modular, portable and also safe for student actors to stand on. If you have parents who want to build sets, it is best to instigate an annual set building and rigging workshop, which is mandatory for anyone (teachers, parents and students) who will be building sets to attend. Teach about modular set pieces, general theatre construction techniques for flats, platforms, stairs, etc, and how to safely hang drops and flats using the correct rigging hardware with the correct techniques (although a rigging technician must be present to supervise any hanging of scenery). If you don't have anyone on your theatre staff who can teach this, hire a professional from the community, such as www.theatricaltraining.com in the Seattle area. Spending the money on training set builders will be less than spending the money on lawsuits down the road. Consider the cost of hiring a professional as a form of insurance.
Here's a suggested list of topics for your set building workshop for volunteers:
CONSTRUCTION AND APPLICATION
FLATS
PLATFORMS AND WAGONS
STAIRS AND STEPS
CROSS BRACING
CONNECTIONS
RIGGING
HARDWARE
PAINTING
TYPES OF PAINT
BASIC TECHNIQUES
SAFETY
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Beth Rand, EBMS
FREE RESOURCES to help you level up your admin's support and funding of your school theatre operations
JOIN OUR CONVERSATION ABOUT THEATRE OPERATIONS
https://www.facebook.com/groups/presettwww.PRESETT.orgbeth@PRESETT.orgWestminster, CO
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Original Message:
Sent: 06-15-2023 14:37
From: Linda Phillips
Subject: Emeritus Sage Advice
Parent Volunteers:
I always struggled with parent volunteers and was very envious of my band boosters as they seemed to have a lot of volunteers around all the time. The band instructor explained that the parents were "protecting their investment" as they pay for instruments and lessons for their child.
Some things I learned about parent volunteerism are:
1) Make a list of things you need help with and send home a survey so parents can see where they can help ahead of time and it helps them understand just how much needs to be done for a show.
2) Bring coffee and doughnuts. Parents are just like kids. Give them some caffeine and sugar to get things started. This is a great time to thank them for helping and see if there is a specific task they would like to help with. Also consider which kids will work with them. The more specific the task and the more structure, the more successful your work day will be.
3) On work days have a solid plan for volunteers. Have a task list and ask them to pick what they would like to assist with. Anything that will make your life easier down the road. Even ironing costumes early on will help later. Also, don't be afraid to do some cleaning during your work day. Parents are usually great organizers. One less thing you will have to do later!
4) Show night volunteers- Having a parent backstage to help with keeping everyone quiet, assisting with hanging up costumes or setting up concessions can free you up to do other things. Don't have too many volunteers back stage as the kids need to run the show. Parents are their back up!
5) Make sure all the students thank the volunteers before they leave. It helps the adults feel valued and helps the students show gratitude.
6) Be careful about an all call for volunteers for field trips. Many times they can be your eyes on these trips but the last thing you want is someone who is going to fight with your students. Try to find those parents that give rides, help whenever you need them to help and seem to have a good rapport with students. Ask them privately for their help and be sure to get a small gift card as a thank you!
7) Keep a sign in list of parent volunteers and be sure to include them in your end of the year ceremony or awards night. If you have an exceptional volunteer consider making them an honorary Thespian. I still have many parents that became personal friends and am still in contact with them today.
Hope this list was helpful!
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Linda Phillips
Arizona Thespians
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