A Beginner's Guide to Rehearsal Reports

This week’s post will be geared more towards the backstage position of a theatre production. The role I will be specifically highlighting is what the theatre community would refer to as essentially the backbone? of every musical production. To some, that might sound like a twisted overly dramatic opinion, but to anyone who has been involved in theatre for a while, no matter the position you hold, you know that nothing would get done without a kick butt stage manager. I have been very fortunate to have worked with some pretty incredible stage managers and throughout my experience stage managing, I have learned from their example and picked the elements that make them successful in their field, to help steer me in a positive direction and put my best foot forward when I’m serving in those “behind the table” roles. Now, there is simply no way that I could encompass all of the elements that make a perfect stage manager in one blog post, however I think that there is one major responsibility that a stage manager has that not only proves their ability to retain and export information, but serves as a blueprint for the entire production and the key players involved that I will be covering in my post this week. What is this major responsibility you may be wondering? That my friend is the holy grail document that we in the theatre community call the rehearsal report.

For those who might be unfamiliar, the rehearsal report is essentially a report from that day’s rehearsal that highlights the various department teams and what progress was made in those individual sectors. This report is pivotal in order to keep up with the rapidly changing elements in the production and make sure every head of the individual departments are on the same page. The Stage Manager is the point of communication for all of the various department heads, so they are the one to draft a report, in addition to making sure that all departments are on schedule and deadlines are met when they are expected to. The rehearsal report should be sent out to all department heads at the end of every rehearsal. The rehearsal report should also notate what the upcoming opportunities for the production are, what the following rehearsal will consist of, and various notes to keep in mind for the rehearsals ahead.?

The rehearsal report and the production schedule go hand in hand as well considering that the rehearsal report is used to track attendance of cast and select creative team, and that will play a role in how the actors absent, will learn their missed material moving forward and stay up to schedule with the rest of the cast. As I always mention, there is not a one size fits all approach to creating a rehearsal schedule. In fact, I would strongly advise varying your rehearsal schedule template based on production. What I would not advise, would be to edit your format each week during the same production. This report is all about efficiency and consistency, and issues with formatting will lead to much confusion for the other parties involved.

Below, I included an example rehearsal report from one of the previous productions I stage managed for. I would consider this a beginners template for creating a rehearsal report. Once you get comfortable and want to be more creative with your reports, I would definitely recommend formatting in a graph style template, and play with highlight, color, and adding more sections based on what the production calls for. Feel free to copy this template and use it as a guide to craft your initial rehearsal reports!

Production Name: ? ? The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

REHEARSAL DATE: ? ? March 25, 2021; 3-6pm

Called:? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Entire Company A/Entire Company B

Blocking pg. 10-21, 25-36 Music: Prayer of the Counselor, Act 1 music review

Absent: ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? All Present

Staff Present:? ? ? ? ? ? Katie K, Kendall DeVecchis

PRODUCTION NOTES:

-No intermission

-Each actor gets 4 pre order tickets a night

-Show Nights Cast Spelling: Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday Night

-Show Nights Cast Bee: Wednesday, Friday, Saturday Morning

?

SET/PROJECTIONS:

?-Load in 5/01

-Middle School gym being utilized on the weekend for a spelling bee concept

?

PROPS/SET DRESSING:

?-Thermometers

-Hand sanitizer

-10 rolling chairs

-2 clip boards and covid check papers

-Trophy

-wipes

-mic and stand

-mixing bowl and spoon

-brownie mix

-bags of “nuts” for coneybear family *james has a nut allergy so just bags that resemble bags of nuts*

-juice boxes

?

SOUND:

?-no ding in “the rules” panch will need to hit that cue himself.

?

LIGHTS:

?-freeze red lights in “I Love You Song” make it seem like they are in a dream, moving in slow motion

?

COSTUMES:

-mitch costume (jake)

-chip sash seams possibly need to be loosened

-foot costume ordered and is expected to arrive 4/1

???????????

NEXT CALLS:

-3/26 A and B Music review 3-6,?

-3/29 Blocking 35-53 3-6,?

-3/30 Music and Dance: Pandemonium,?

-3/31 Music/Blocking 53-69,?

-4/1 Dance: 6 Languages

?

As I have previously mentioned, this is one of the most basic ways that you can format your rehearsal report and is a great starting point for beginners! As you grow and become more confident in your role as the stage manager, you will adapt more practices and ways of doing your job which are unique to you! There are many important responsibilities entrusted to the stage manager to make the production run seamlessly. I have no doubt that if you use this template as a guide, the idea of the rehearsal report will become the easiest part of your job. Step outside of your comfort zone! The best way to get your start as a stage manager is to test out the waters and assistant stage manager or even help out on the stage crew! The more first hand experience that you get, the more confident you will be when the time comes to yield the ever important show bible.

Break a Leg!