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bullet Posted: 5/15/06 at 8:11pm
Originally posted by Topper

The only person(s) I can imagine being reprimanded for receiving a DUI would be any one of the drivers assigned to command the tour bus or one of the scenery trucks.

The Bus Driver would be on the payroll of the company from which the vehicle was rented and I'm sure his boss would have something to say about it.  The Driver(s) of the other trucks might be independent contractors or they might be members of the stage crew who have the right class of license.  In either case they would be directly answerable to the Producer.

And the only reason the producer would care is a DUI on their record would most likely raise his out-of-pocket insurance costs.  (The safety of the other people on the tour might be a smaller factor.)  Repeated infractions would be dealt with no doubt by the Producer, CM or SM if it affected the quality of the show.

"Minute I enter a stage door the bottle gets put away ... until intermission."

 Gay Wellington You Can't Take it With You.

Speaking from 10 years of commercial driving (school bus, don't you know), receiving a DUI while operating a commercial vehicle is an automatic revocation of your license in most states (and that includes your Class C [normal automobile] license).  The producer would be required to replace an offending driver.

DUI by an actor in his own vehicle--the only way it should impact the show (unless he is touring with a religious group who has standards against drinking or overindulging) would be if he were incarcerated (jail time) during the run.

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bullet Posted: 5/15/06 at 8:18pm

Originally posted by Bonnied

Not unless you know stuff about drugs.

I never did them myself (honest!), but I did go to college at Humboldt State--part of the "Emerald Triangle" and world capitol of psychedelic mushrooms (or "shrooms").  I have witnessed a few actors under the influence of marijuana on stage.  They generally play their characters more "mellow," which is usually taken for the actor just having a lower energy level.  Occassionally, an addicted actor would become quite hyper when he needed a "hit."  Generally, the actor was unaware he was performing an differently than he had in the past.

Those who had done the shrooms usually were off in their own little world and wouldn't even respond to those around them.  Fortunately, I never witnessed anyone using shrooms during a performance.

I don't know anything about cocaine, heroine, or LSD.  If you do some searches on drug addiction, you might get some more information.

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Gaafa
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bullet Posted: 5/16/06 at 9:22am
 Having been a Justice I never got into drugs or knew of any that did backstage, that comes to mind anyway!
Except alcohol, chocolate, caffeine & nicotine of course.
But back in the 50?s a lot of headliners & chorus in theatres, Smoked the marijuana puff?n stuff, known as ?Reefers?. Which were deemed as a status symbol as opposed to smoking the common ?Willies Woodbine fags, put out by WD & HO Wills.
I have known of quite a few that have done themselves in, with overdoses or topping themselves, by putting their head in the gas oven - which is very difficult to do these days! But that have resorted to cruder methods from throwing themselves from an overhead bridge onto a freeway & the old rope trick on the back verandah!
But that?s all another story & off topic!  

      Joe
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to a full house}

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Aimee
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bullet Posted: 5/16/06 at 1:55pm

Back to the Tech for a moment. One of the theaters I work in brings in traveling groups all the time. A part of the Tech crew (running crew) that works for the theater, in my experience the company usally has the routine down and things go relatively smooth. (Yes each group is different) If it is early in the tour we experience for confusion as to how things are set up and what goes where. I spent proabaly 2 hours for one show tying, untying and their drops as they could not decide where they should be hung...it was very early in the tour for them. other times it goes so smoothly we get 3-4 hours downtime before the show.

Load in and load out are long hours...and if it is all done in one day, exhausting!  depending on the type of show and the company's schedule, yes it can be all done in one day. The cast usually show up well after everything is set up or nearly set up to run their rehersals, and checks, but the SM is there bright and early to help with load in, and load out.

Drugs, can't help you there....other than to say someone is bound to get hurt if there is drugs or alcohol being done...yikes

Good luck, this does sound rather intersting!

Aimee

 

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bullet Posted: 5/16/06 at 5:58pm
I have seen a few folks smoke the wacky tabacky while doing a show.Depending on the person the results vary. I would not put up with avy company member being drunk or high on stage, but if a tour is on the road and someone is drunk there may not be a way to replace them right away. I worked one summer of stack with an actor who had a drinking problem that the company managerment looked the other way. He was a long time member of the company and the public loved them, they did not know he was drunk on stage all the time ( or high on some kind of pills) He played his parts well and noone cared. untill he forget to pull his punch in a fight scene and knocked the other actor out cold! Mangerment asked him back the next year.
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bullet Posted: 5/17/06 at 6:59am
I agree about the booze & drugs, not being tolerated on the crew!
 But following on from Aimee!
Most touring shows the bump in/out [Load] dove tails in well at nearly all venues!
In fact a lot of touring company?s run a sort of unofficial table of the fastest bump out times at each venue.
It is timed from ?House Rag? In until the truck doors are shut!
I remember we became the fastest Bump out of Phillipe Genty Company?s world tour ?For get me not? production at the time. We beat a theatre in Dublin N Ireland. Who held the record to that point of 28 minutes 45 seconds, using 8 pro crew. We used 2 pro with 4 FOTT [friends of the theatre] volunteer crew & did it in 23 minutes & 41 seconds.
Of course this is a way of keeping costs down, & playing up on the bragging rights & Techies ego!
When we did the John Watters ?Glass Onion?, which took almost 15 hours to get in, because of the tours LD who kept changing his mind & experimenting with the lighting focus! The show opened on the Thursday for a 10 night season. We were informed by the venue management on the next morning, after the opening, by a stressed out FOH wooden top. That they had forgotten they had booked a heat of the Australia Eisteddfods for all day Saturday. John Waters had agreed to allow them to perform until 6:45 PM & they would go up later at 7;30pm to accommodate them.
Which meant returning every thing back to the standard  lighting rig & putting the Glass Onion set on rolling trucks. Because we had less than 45 minutes between the rag fall of the Eisteddfod & the first cue of Glass Onion.
Which meant it would have to be focus & set in less than 45 minutes!
I?m glad to say we had enough time to have a coffee & a smoke, before the ?Beginners Cue?!
The only thanks we received for busting guts & fixing up this stuff up, was from John & his cast. The FOH management was too busy compiling about not having enough time to clean up the mess in the auditorium & restock the Kiosk!
As Aimee posted the only time their is any confusion is near the beginning of a tour or with the calibre of the in house crew.
Symphony Orchestras are great, the bus pulls up at the loading dock 30 minutes before the performance. They are all back on the bus within 10 minutes of the final House Rag coming in! Then they are long gone before the punters clear the house.
The most drama & confusion is always create by Ballet & Opera Company?s on tour or not! But as they consider themselves as being & special? They are unique & another  story completly!

 




      Joe
Western Gondawandaland
turn right @ Perth.
Hear the light & see the sound.
Toi Toi Toi Chookas {{"chook [chicken] it is"}
May you always play
to a full house}

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bullet Posted: 5/25/06 at 9:03am

I have a question about the proper protocol for dealing with someone who?s late to a performance. Say this person arrives only a half hour (or less) before curtain. She?s been unreachable by phone. The understudy is all set to go on in her place. Would the stage manager have her sit out a performance and let the understudy carry on? Besides a verbal reprimand, would there be a financial penalty? How would the near absence be dealt with? 
 
Or, what if the performer was completely late and the production already begun, what would be the fallout from that?

I had a very useful writers' convention, btw, met a lot of online writer friends and had a couple of meetings with agents and editors. The high point of the week was when an editor from a publisher I'm interested in told me to re-send my proposal package (for a completed book, not this one I'm working on) directly to her! That's huge--getting off the slush pile and onto an editor's desk.
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bullet Posted: 5/25/06 at 2:19pm

I have my fingers crossed for you.....have you been following the thread in the Play Selection area?  We are talking about a parody of Taming of the Shrew called the Screwing of the Tame.....it might be a fun writing exercise for you although you sound as if your plate is full right now.  Again...good luck to you.

Now in answer to your question.....at our little theater we have had actors show up minutes before curtain (for various reasons) and we always let them go on with a minumum of fuss.  Afterwards, however, everyone had something to say to that person and, in this age of cell phones, there is no excuse for not being in touch.  The guilty person usually goes around and apologizes in person to everyone.  It is never forgotten and often brought up when we are considering casting that person again.

"behind a thin wall of logic panic is waiting to stampede"
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Topper
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bullet Posted: 5/25/06 at 4:19pm

In professional theater, half-hour call before curtain is fairly standard.  Unless their makeup, costume or warm-up procedures are very extensive or elaborate it would be unusual to require professional actors to arrive earlier than that.

That being said, there is nothing preventing actors from arriving at the theater BEFORE call (unless the doors are locked and the SM cannot let them in).  The SM is usually prepping the show at least an hour before showtime.  Usually it is the female actors who need to arrive early to spend time on their hair and don't want to rush.

If an actor arrives late, it is usually the SM who reprimands them.  The SM's wristwatch is always right.  Fines are not uncommon (anywhere from $5 on up to $50 or more) which can take quite a bite out of performer's salary on the road. 

Unless the SM was "trying to teach them a lesson" there would be no reason to prevent a late-arriving actor to sit out a performance in favor of their understudy.  And, depending on how much clout the actor might wield with the Producer or Patrons, the SM might be considered to be overstepping his authority to exclude the tardy actor.  In that case, it would the SM who was reprimanded for "not keeping closer accountability of their cast."

The SM might say, "The curtain goes up in five minutes; will you be ready?"  If not, it is up to the SM to hold the curtain for a reasonable time until the actor is placed.  I've seen situations where the show has already started, the understudy is in place, but the character who's missing has not made their first entrance yet.  The late-arriving actor makes it to the theater before his first cue, slaps on his costume and make-up and breezes onto the stage.  

If the show has already started, and said actor has already missed his first entrance, then it is most likely the understudy would complete that performance and the tardy actor would be penalized by fine or dock in salary.

This is where the messy problems of contracts come into play.  Most contracts would state that the actor on tour is obligated to a minimum number of performances per week.  If the actor fails to achieve that minimum, the producer can arbitrate this matter as he sees fit.  Fines, cuts in salary or even dismissal are all options.

And Joan 54 is right.  Peer pressure from the rest of the cast, or losing face in the presence of one's colleagues often carries much more weight than any monetary or legal consequences.

"None of us really grow up. All we ever do is learn how to behave in public." -- Keith Johnstone
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bullet Posted: 5/26/06 at 9:26am
Thanks. That's about what I'd expect. Guess I need to cut it closer to curtain time for additional drama.  Or maybe have her miss a performance entirely, showing that she's starting to mess up and slowly unravel.
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