A Long Day Devoted to Walterdale...

Yesterday I spent from 9-3 at Walterdale working with the Board on Policy and Procedures. That was good but I was very tired from being out the night before (A Chorus Line). Then I scooted off to the Post Mortem for Come Back to the Five & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean. That took a little longer than I thought it would, but I am glad we got it done. The major complaints/issues were with one particular person and that will need to be addressed. There are other issues to be looked after, and I will get on starting those in motion today. 90% of all issues that happen in our organization (and in most) have to do with communication. There were many things that came up to which I said "How come I didn't know about this when it was happening - I would've helped" but the perception was that it wasn't my job to help in those cases. I believe that if you aren't getting the help you need then come to me. I may not be able to help directly, but I can usually get the ball rolling... if I know. Oh well. This happens in a changing organization where people approach roles differently - the membership is unclear about who can do what or who will do what. I am trying to change that. Anyhow, after that I headed back to the theatre to watch a bit of the Lend Me a Tenor rehearsal. They were doing the curtain call which is a riot and I had fun watching different parts each time they ran it. It was a bit of a marathon for those in the cast. It was good to check in with the Team on this one as with Sweeney and illness I have really only checked in via email. They seem to be rolling along and it looks like a lot of fun!

In the Lull...

I am in between projects right now - not really, but it feels like it. I do have a script I need to work on for New Works, but the time to work on that is flexible, not scheduled like when you are in rehearsal. Soon I will be in rehearsal and that will shift my work schedule on that, but for right now, 2 weeks after Sweeney and a week before New Works auditions, I am in a lull. The worst thing about lull time is that I eat more. It is strictly boredom and because it's there eating, but it happens and that sucks.

So, to try and make the lull work for me, today I finally wrote several drafts for the Handbook we are putting together at Walterdale. I wrote about Theatre Etiquette for Audiences and Actors (and Production Teams as a whole) and I wrote about Rehearsals (for the Director and the Actor) and the Previews and Late-Comers Policies. There was a whole lot of writing. I think at the end I got kind of snippy, because some of the stuff I shouldn't have to spell out, but clearly we need to because people are frequently late to rehearsals and give notes to other actors and eat in costume. You know, that sort of stuff. But the drafts are done and all I have left is the Welcome Letter (from the AD) and the Chain of Communication Flow Chart (which I will hand draw and get a better computer person than I to make it digital!). I should be able to pull that off tonight.

I do have some rewrites on two plays that I need to get to work on, and I need to got through Much Ado, The Seagull and Hedda Gabler to find a good scene or scene(s) from each to sell them at the Donor Voted Show Gala Evening in January. Better get on that, I suppose!

So much for the lull...

Policies and Procedures... a.k.a. Best Practices...

This weekend the Walterdale Theatre Board of Directors will be meeting to work on our policies and procedures. This is something we have been loosely working on for the past 3 years and in the last year we became much more focused and directed in terms of getting it all together. My hope is that we will produce a document that can be a good guide for the various teams that come through the building and that it will offer assistance but will still be flexible to allow for a variety of personalities. Because this is the challenge. Every team that comes through the theatre is unique and has it's own style of communication and ways of doing things. There are some people that might be the same from team to team, but change one designer, one ASM and you get a slightly different dynamics. And I have noticed that because these teams come from different levels of training and experience there are plenty of people who break the rules. Here are two extremes that I have seen that make me cringe and make me wish for a usable document.

1. The "Director is God" school of thought - in this dynamic the Director dictates everything. This Director confuses design with concept and dictates ever element of the show to all their designers instead of letting them design. This Director often steps outside their areas of concern, dictating set/costume design, the sound design, the program design, the media for the show and how the theatre as a whole is run and operated. Sometimes this Director will interfere in the middle of the construction process because the set/costumes do not look like they want and they will throw tantrums and yell. I get scared of this type of process as an actor and an AD. Where is the collaboration? Have you ever been in a show where the director literally tells you to say this line, take 3 steps and on the word shampoo, turn and wink? If this happens, it can really obliterate anything organic within the production. Everything feels orchestrated. What bothers me about this model is that all those other people who have something to bring to the production are stifled. It becomes about one opinion, one point of view, and the discoveries that could be made by listening and sharing are lost.

2. The other extreme - "Everyone Can Have a Say' school of thought - In this model everyone offers their opinions willy-nilly to everyone else. There is no guiding concept, but rather every decision is based on a discussion that everyone can chime in on. I have been in shows as Director where it was clear to me that I was working with people (actors, stage managers, musical directors, production managers) who thought that it was perfectly appropriate to give me note a about things that were part of my artistic vision. These same people would think nothing about giving actors notes and directing the costume designer to change their design. This drives me crazy. I am sure to them I looked like a real diva when I excused myself to calm down, but that is the only way I know how to deal with that other than yelling at them for insulting me and the process. The majority of people like this, but not exclusively so, have come from a less formal training background. They often do have valuable input, but by sharing it inappropriately it adds to frustration and distress within the production. They may not always understand the layers of process going on. As a director I am hardly going to give line notes the first week of rehearsal, nor am I going to be a stickler about blocking when we are working on the relationships. I will give those notes when it is the right time, and sometimes the actors just needs time to figure it out and own it themselves. There are very good reasons for Assigned Roles with dictated areas of responsibilities. First it means someone is looking after a specific area and you shouldn't have to worry about it and second it means that if everyone knows what is going on, no body's toes are going to be stepped on. Now wait you say, what about collaboration? Didn't you just say that was a good thing? Of course, but there are lines of responsibility and it is not the Stage Manager's job to design the costumes, nor the actor's job to pick the chairs for the set. There is a time and place for discussion and sharing, just make sure you are not over-stepping your boundaries.

Anyhow, those are two of the extremes that make me hungry for this document to be finished and hopefully used. I know I cannot break other people's bad habits for them, but I just hope that people in the theatre take it for what it is meant to be - a helpful tool that will hopefully make it easier and less stressful to get things done.

I Love Hosting Parties!

Last night was my 3rd Annual 40th Birthday Party. I do not have it to prolong my youth, but rather because the 1st one was so fun, I decided to keep having that party, once a year, every year, until I hit 50! I was a month off the actual birth date, but Sweeney kind of ate up the month of October, so no worries! In any case, it was so much fun. I am blessed to know so many wonderful, fun and talented people. They kept the karaoke machine running all night long from 7:20 p.m. until 3:15 a.m. (I was pretty good in my assessment that the party would go to 3:00 a.m.). We had people ranging in age from 3 1/2 months to older than me (I am not outing anyone's age!). We had the Fuss Cupcakes that I love (I think I will invest in more minis and less full size ones next year - that way you can try more than one and not feel like a piggy!). I missed a few people that couldn't make it, or forgot, or got ill at the last minute, but the BEST was that my sister surprised me by flying in from Toronto for the party. Only my Mom knew she was coming. She was in the city for approximately 24 hours! How cool is that!?! I am pretty sure she had fun, so hopefully it was worth it for her - I definitely appreciated it!

Next year it will be just as much fun! I promise!

A Picture Worth a Thousand Emotions...

Read-In Week

Today I went into the school and read in both my boys' classrooms for Read-In Week. I had a lot of fun and I liked being in the classrooms to get a sense of the classroom culture. I am so far please with this year's school. Gibson has adjusted quite well to Kindergarten and Oliver really seems to have settled down this year. I think he is developing the maturity I have been hoping for over the past few years. This week, Oliver did his homework (correctly) on the bus every day so that he had no homework to do at the table before 'fun time'. Nothing like hearing "I did all my work on the bus, Mom" to make a Mom happy! I spoke to Oliver's teacher about coming in later in the year about reading (she asked me, actually - I guess she liked my funny voices) and I hope to visit Gib's class again. This is one of the reasons I am 'home' - so that I can be that parent volunteer and really connect to their educational journey.

I feel like a fireman....

I've spent so much time this week putting out fires... I can't really talk about it, but I would get a lot more done if I didn't have to deal with arising issues...