Bump in day has Arrived. So how smoothly it runs depends on how you plan it. You don’t want it to take longer than necessary as you do have an important deadline. Opening night is what you are aiming for. So you need to work out a plan so that you use the people and resources as efficiently as possible.

Recently there was at a bump in. All I was supplying the lighting design. So the rest of the cast and crew did all of the other backstage tasks. Such as building the Furniture. Now this was the first problem that was encountered on the first day. The lighting was all rigged, all that was needed was to finish the final focus. This required for furniture to be in place. Unfortunately it was not all there, it needed to be delivered. It was to arrive the next day. So  I arrived the next day, unfortunately when I arrived the next day, the furniture was in the dock and the guys where assembling a coffee table on stage. 3 hours later, they completed this task and I dozed in the corner. So that threw plans out the window. So slowly plotting time was eaten by a lot of waiting around. It was good that there were not to many cues. The unfortunate thing in this saga is we did not get a full run with lights and audio. A learning experience for the client.

So what do we take from this case? We need to make sure that there is a written schedule that all people have a copy of. If the client has a problem doing that task, offer to do it for them or at least assist. Then people know what is meant to be done when. It was partly my fault – I should have offered to put something together. Therefore my time at least would not have been wasted.  I had assumed that since they had done a show at another venue that they understood time and how to schedule it. It was a good show, just a long winded process to get it in front of the audience.

Filed under: Life Ramblings, Production, Rant, Technical Tips, Theatre Tagged: Arts, entertainment, producing a play, stage, staging a show, Theatre