Hello all, 

I am thinking about not having an intermission during my fall play this year. We are doing Decision Height and I feel like it doesn't really make sense. There is a separate Act I and Act II, but I feel like the play has a nice forward moving pace that might lose momentum with an intermission. Has anyone seen this play produced before and if so, was there an intermission? My other factor is that our administration does not allow us to sell concessions, so intermission is really just a bathroom break. The play runs about 90 minutes, which I think people should be able to handle seeing that most movies are longer. Thoughts? 

Thank you for your time.

------------------------------
Sarah Aanderud Wahlen
Director of Theatre & Film
Holy Names Academy
Seattle, WA
------------------------------

Hello,
We did Decision Height last winter, and I LOVE this show!!!  I've been recommending it to everyone.  I can see how-without the incentive of concession sales- an intermission seems.  However, 90 minutes a long time to sit and stay focused for an audience.  We found pictures and stories about WASPS and had them posted around our lobby so people could read them pre-show and at intermission.  I know what we needed the break to get the character out of the well and allow for the cast to change into pajamas.  
In addition to concessions, we also sold "candy-grams" which are messages/well-wishes the audience can send to cast and crew members.  After the final show, we deliver the candy-grams, and it's a highlight of the experience for them.  The directors and stage managers write a candy-gram to everyone and the kids usually (especially for a cast/crew for a small show like this) get a candy gram for everyone.  We sell them for $1 to participate and you can get as many as you like.  We also put a single giant candy bar or bag of Skittles in everyone's bag (rather than match each note to an individual piece of candy...that was too time-consuming and expensive).  
At any rate, whatever you decide. Decision Height is the BEST decision!  I even gave the cast a pair of wings to keep as a souvenir!  I see them on their backpacks!

Break a leg with the show!!!  And, how are you doing the deaths?  We did white (black for the characters who don't die) umbrellas and had the girls do a specific walking sequence.  When the audience saw a white umbrella, they started to cry!  I didn't know if people would get it, but It was great!


------------------------------
Lisa Dyer
Henrico VA
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 09-23-2017 11:58
From: Sarah Wahlen
Subject: No Intermission?

Hello all,

I am thinking about not having an intermission during my fall play this year. We are doing Decision Height and I feel like it doesn't really make sense. There is a separate Act I and Act II, but I feel like the play has a nice forward moving pace that might lose momentum with an intermission. Has anyone seen this play produced before and if so, was there an intermission? My other factor is that our administration does not allow us to sell concessions, so intermission is really just a bathroom break. The play runs about 90 minutes, which I think people should be able to handle seeing that most movies are longer. Thoughts?

Thank you for your time.

------------------------------
Sarah Aanderud Wahlen
Director of Theatre & Film
Holy Names Academy
Seattle, WA
------------------------------

Original Message------

Hello all, 

I am thinking about not having an intermission during my fall play this year. We are doing Decision Height and I feel like it doesn't really make sense. There is a separate Act I and Act II, but I feel like the play has a nice forward moving pace that might lose momentum with an intermission. Has anyone seen this play produced before and if so, was there an intermission? My other factor is that our administration does not allow us to sell concessions, so intermission is really just a bathroom break. The play runs about 90 minutes, which I think people should be able to handle seeing that most movies are longer. Thoughts? 

Thank you for your time.

------------------------------
Sarah Aanderud Wahlen
Director of Theatre & Film
Holy Names Academy
Seattle, WA
------------------------------

Original Message------

Hello all, 

I am thinking about not having an intermission during my fall play this year. We are doing Decision Height and I feel like it doesn't really make sense. There is a separate Act I and Act II, but I feel like the play has a nice forward moving pace that might lose momentum with an intermission. Has anyone seen this play produced before and if so, was there an intermission? My other factor is that our administration does not allow us to sell concessions, so intermission is really just a bathroom break. The play runs about 90 minutes, which I think people should be able to handle seeing that most movies are longer. Thoughts? 

Thank you for your time.

------------------------------
Sarah Aanderud Wahlen
Director of Theatre & Film
Holy Names Academy
Seattle, WA
------------------------------

@John Monteverde, we dealt with 3 acts when we did Ernest a couple years ago.  We had to keep both intermissions because of the set changes, but we made them short - 10 minutes each.  We usually do a 15 minute intermission, so it was just 5 more minutes of intermission than we usually have.

------------------------------
Laura Steenson
Theatre Director
Reynolds High School
Troutdale OR
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 09-24-2017 15:39
From: John Monteverde
Subject: No Intermission?

Unless you make a killing on concessions or have to make a major scene change, or it's a show that really calls for an act break, I say go for it. Intermissions rarely add to the dramatic impact of a show and frequently detract from it. I produced the updated Wendy Kessleman The Diary of Anne Frank a few years ago. I believe that play is written to be performed without an intermission. This was a company that made a lot of money off concessions but we discussed the awfulness of watching a show about real people in hiding, literally starving to death, and then heading to the lobby at intermission for a Coke and a chocolate chip cookie. It was vulgar. 

I'm dealing with the opposite problem. I'm doing the Hamilton Deane Dracula this fall because I wanted to work with the students on classical mid-century melodrama. We are actually underscoring the show with live musicians, we have footlights, painted drops, etc. 
But the show is three acts. It has to be in part because of major scene changes but that's also just how it's written. I can't remember the last time I did a three act play (Our Town I think?) and I'm wondering about two intermissions. That just seems excessive. All I can think to do is keep them short. Anyone else dealt with a three act play lately? 

John D. Monteverde
PHS - Drama Teacher
jmonteverde@pittsfield.net

Original Message------

Hello all,

I am thinking about not having an intermission during my fall play this year. We are doing Decision Height and I feel like it doesn't really make sense. There is a separate Act I and Act II, but I feel like the play has a nice forward moving pace that might lose momentum with an intermission. Has anyone seen this play produced before and if so, was there an intermission? My other factor is that our administration does not allow us to sell concessions, so intermission is really just a bathroom break. The play runs about 90 minutes, which I think people should be able to handle seeing that most movies are longer. Thoughts?

Thank you for your time.

------------------------------
Sarah Aanderud Wahlen
Director of Theatre & Film
Holy Names Academy
Seattle, WA
------------------------------

One of the biggest trends I've seen in the last 5-10 years in professional theatre here in Los Angeles has been the emergence of the 80-100-minute play without an intermission. While there are still plenty of shows with intermissions (particularly when theatres are doing more "classic" plays), there's something nice about not interrupting the experience of the play. If you don't feel that there's a natural break/cliffhanger written into the play--particularly if you can't sell concessions--it's definitely worth seriously considering.

Having said that, school audiences often have younger kids in them who will have a hard time sitting for that long, and teens too may struggle.

One of the things that theatres here do is make sure people know that there's no intermission, so it sets up expectations (i.e. make sure you go to the bathroom right before the show!).  So if you do it, make sure there's clear signage and that your ushers let people know, and prepare your actors for people going in and out a little (which probably happens even when a show has an intermission) for bathroom breaks.

Break legs!

Cheers,
Jonathan

------------------------------
Jonathan Dorf
Playwright/ Co-founder of YouthPLAYS/ Co-chair of The Alliance Of Los Angeles Playwrights
Los Angeles CA
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 09-23-2017 11:58
From: Sarah Wahlen
Subject: No Intermission?

Hello all,

I am thinking about not having an intermission during my fall play this year. We are doing Decision Height and I feel like it doesn't really make sense. There is a separate Act I and Act II, but I feel like the play has a nice forward moving pace that might lose momentum with an intermission. Has anyone seen this play produced before and if so, was there an intermission? My other factor is that our administration does not allow us to sell concessions, so intermission is really just a bathroom break. The play runs about 90 minutes, which I think people should be able to handle seeing that most movies are longer. Thoughts?

Thank you for your time.

------------------------------
Sarah Aanderud Wahlen
Director of Theatre & Film
Holy Names Academy
Seattle, WA
------------------------------

Original Message------

Hello all, 

I am thinking about not having an intermission during my fall play this year. We are doing Decision Height and I feel like it doesn't really make sense. There is a separate Act I and Act II, but I feel like the play has a nice forward moving pace that might lose momentum with an intermission. Has anyone seen this play produced before and if so, was there an intermission? My other factor is that our administration does not allow us to sell concessions, so intermission is really just a bathroom break. The play runs about 90 minutes, which I think people should be able to handle seeing that most movies are longer. Thoughts? 

Thank you for your time.

------------------------------
Sarah Aanderud Wahlen
Director of Theatre & Film
Holy Names Academy
Seattle, WA
------------------------------

When I saw Glengarry Glen Ross on Broadway in 1984, and half the audience thought it was intermission when the house lights came on after an hour and 15 minutes.  Then the actors came out for their bows.  So many plays are 80 to 100 minutes now.  

I don't think 90 minutes is too long for an audience to sit, especially if your school is on block scheduling, and students are trained to sit that long.  But I am curious as to why the play is divided into two acts, if there is no need for an intermission.  

We did Museum last spring without an intermission.  It is one of those 90 minute plays that has a rhythm and momentum that an intermission would disrupt.

But when we did She Kills Monsters last fall, I put in an intermission at a point where I thought the audience might need an emotional breather and chance to talk over what they had seen so far.  I think that worked well.  Nearly all the audience went to the lobby for the break, then dashed back in when I blinked the lights.  

I personally love an intermission that is placed so that the audience is really curious about what will happen next.  It gives folks a chance to stretch their legs and go to the bathroom.  I love listening to people guess about what will happen in the show after intermission.  And we make a tidy sum on concessions.  We are doing A Midsummer Night's Dream this fall, and we'll break between Act III and Act IV.  

Good luck with two intermissions.  Audiences just don't understand them anymore.  The last couple of shows I attended that had two intermissions lost a third of the audience at the second intermission.

    


------------------------------
C. J. Breland
Asheville High School
Asheville NC
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 09-24-2017 19:10
From: Tom Schulz
Subject: No Intermission?

I haven't done that show, but i am a BIG FAN of no intermission. Especially with a show 90 minutes or under.

just sayin'...

Tom

Tom Schulz

High School Theatre

I am currently reading "A Tale of Two Utopias: The Political Journey of the Generation of 1968"

 by Paul Berman

---

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Original Message------

Hello all,

I am thinking about not having an intermission during my fall play this year. We are doing Decision Height and I feel like it doesn't really make sense. There is a separate Act I and Act II, but I feel like the play has a nice forward moving pace that might lose momentum with an intermission. Has anyone seen this play produced before and if so, was there an intermission? My other factor is that our administration does not allow us to sell concessions, so intermission is really just a bathroom break. The play runs about 90 minutes, which I think people should be able to handle seeing that most movies are longer. Thoughts?

Thank you for your time.

------------------------------
Sarah Aanderud Wahlen
Director of Theatre & Film
Holy Names Academy
Seattle, WA
------------------------------

I have not seen the play, but my opinion is that you are correct.  An audience at the high school should be able to muster 90 minutes sitting still.  This is particularly true if the play clips along.  If it drags, then an intermission may be needed, just for  a mental break.

------------------------------
Margaret Watt
Artistic Director
Mountain Dream Productions
Victoria BC
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 09-23-2017 11:58
From: Sarah Wahlen
Subject: No Intermission?

Hello all,

I am thinking about not having an intermission during my fall play this year. We are doing Decision Height and I feel like it doesn't really make sense. There is a separate Act I and Act II, but I feel like the play has a nice forward moving pace that might lose momentum with an intermission. Has anyone seen this play produced before and if so, was there an intermission? My other factor is that our administration does not allow us to sell concessions, so intermission is really just a bathroom break. The play runs about 90 minutes, which I think people should be able to handle seeing that most movies are longer. Thoughts?

Thank you for your time.

------------------------------
Sarah Aanderud Wahlen
Director of Theatre & Film
Holy Names Academy
Seattle, WA
------------------------------

Hi everyone!

If you're looking to add or remove an intermission, please check with your licensing representative. It's just like altering a line or any other portion of the script, and we need to make sure the authors and their representation are okay with your proposed changes. Every aspect of a script is purposeful, and we want to make sure we're honoring the author's intentions.

------------------------------
Rosemary Bucher
Licensing Representative, Educational Theatre
Samuel French
New York NY
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 09-24-2017 22:16
From: Margaret Watt
Subject: No Intermission?

I have not seen the play, but my opinion is that you are correct.  An audience at the high school should be able to muster 90 minutes sitting still.  This is particularly true if the play clips along.  If it drags, then an intermission may be needed, just for  a mental break.

------------------------------
Margaret Watt
Artistic Director
Mountain Dream Productions
Victoria BC

Original Message:
Sent: 09-23-2017 11:58
From: Sarah Wahlen
Subject: No Intermission?

Hello all,

I am thinking about not having an intermission during my fall play this year. We are doing Decision Height and I feel like it doesn't really make sense. There is a separate Act I and Act II, but I feel like the play has a nice forward moving pace that might lose momentum with an intermission. Has anyone seen this play produced before and if so, was there an intermission? My other factor is that our administration does not allow us to sell concessions, so intermission is really just a bathroom break. The play runs about 90 minutes, which I think people should be able to handle seeing that most movies are longer. Thoughts?

Thank you for your time.

------------------------------
Sarah Aanderud Wahlen
Director of Theatre & Film
Holy Names Academy
Seattle, WA
------------------------------

If the play is divided into two acts, does that assume an intermission?

------------------------------
Sarah Aanderud Wahlen
Director of Theatre & Film
Holy Names Academy
Seattle, WA
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 09-25-2017 10:13
From: Rosemary Bucher
Subject: No Intermission?

Hi everyone!

If you're looking to add or remove an intermission, please check with your licensing representative. It's just like altering a line or any other portion of the script, and we need to make sure the authors and their representation are okay with your proposed changes. Every aspect of a script is purposeful, and we want to make sure we're honoring the author's intentions.

------------------------------
Rosemary Bucher
Licensing Representative, Educational Theatre
Samuel French
New York NY

Original Message:
Sent: 09-24-2017 22:16
From: Margaret Watt
Subject: No Intermission?

I have not seen the play, but my opinion is that you are correct.  An audience at the high school should be able to muster 90 minutes sitting still.  This is particularly true if the play clips along.  If it drags, then an intermission may be needed, just for  a mental break.

------------------------------
Margaret Watt
Artistic Director
Mountain Dream Productions
Victoria BC

Original Message:
Sent: 09-23-2017 11:58
From: Sarah Wahlen
Subject: No Intermission?

Hello all,

I am thinking about not having an intermission during my fall play this year. We are doing Decision Height and I feel like it doesn't really make sense. There is a separate Act I and Act II, but I feel like the play has a nice forward moving pace that might lose momentum with an intermission. Has anyone seen this play produced before and if so, was there an intermission? My other factor is that our administration does not allow us to sell concessions, so intermission is really just a bathroom break. The play runs about 90 minutes, which I think people should be able to handle seeing that most movies are longer. Thoughts?

Thank you for your time.

------------------------------
Sarah Aanderud Wahlen
Director of Theatre & Film
Holy Names Academy
Seattle, WA
------------------------------

If you are able to remove an intermission (assuming that you are given permission to do so) and it will benefit the production I personally prefer shows of this nature. It's important to remember who the majority of your audience is though. If there are a lot of families I'd include it, even if the show would benefit not having it, to allow for children to use the bathroom without disrupting your performance. I think it's a question of what will benefit your audience; they're the ones watching. 

Have you considered asking your audience their preference? I'd try "your" parents... the ones who are always there because you have their children all the time... You'd probably get a fairly accurate feel for your audience if you have enough of these.

------------------------------
Shira Schwartz
Chandler Unified School District
Chandler AZ
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 09-25-2017 11:09
From: Sarah Wahlen
Subject: No Intermission?

If the play is divided into two acts, does that assume an intermission?

------------------------------
Sarah Aanderud Wahlen
Director of Theatre & Film
Holy Names Academy
Seattle, WA

Original Message:
Sent: 09-25-2017 10:13
From: Rosemary Bucher
Subject: No Intermission?

Hi everyone!

If you're looking to add or remove an intermission, please check with your licensing representative. It's just like altering a line or any other portion of the script, and we need to make sure the authors and their representation are okay with your proposed changes. Every aspect of a script is purposeful, and we want to make sure we're honoring the author's intentions.

------------------------------
Rosemary Bucher
Licensing Representative, Educational Theatre
Samuel French
New York NY

Original Message:
Sent: 09-24-2017 22:16
From: Margaret Watt
Subject: No Intermission?

I have not seen the play, but my opinion is that you are correct.  An audience at the high school should be able to muster 90 minutes sitting still.  This is particularly true if the play clips along.  If it drags, then an intermission may be needed, just for  a mental break.

------------------------------
Margaret Watt
Artistic Director
Mountain Dream Productions
Victoria BC

Original Message:
Sent: 09-23-2017 11:58
From: Sarah Wahlen
Subject: No Intermission?

Hello all,

I am thinking about not having an intermission during my fall play this year. We are doing Decision Height and I feel like it doesn't really make sense. There is a separate Act I and Act II, but I feel like the play has a nice forward moving pace that might lose momentum with an intermission. Has anyone seen this play produced before and if so, was there an intermission? My other factor is that our administration does not allow us to sell concessions, so intermission is really just a bathroom break. The play runs about 90 minutes, which I think people should be able to handle seeing that most movies are longer. Thoughts?

Thank you for your time.

------------------------------
Sarah Aanderud Wahlen
Director of Theatre & Film
Holy Names Academy
Seattle, WA
------------------------------