# announcing times



## NHStech (Nov 1, 2011)

Is there a commonly accepted standard for when a stage manager announces to performers/crew over the PA how much time before something happens, such as when house opens, when everyone should be in places, etc? I have used 15 minutes befire house opens, house is opening, 15 minutes before show, five before show, and two (places). This is totally arbitrary. Any thoughts?


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## Sony (Nov 1, 2011)

Thats right for the most part, nothing super fancy about it. Usually for house opening there is a 30 minute call, a 15 and a 5 then house opening. Then for the show it's "30 minutes until places", then 15, then 5 and then places just before the show is to begin.


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## NHStech (Nov 1, 2011)

Sony said:


> Thats right for the most part, nothing super fancy about it. Usually for house opening there is a 30 minute call, a 15 and a 5 then house opening. Then for the show it's "30 minutes until places", then 15, then 5 and then places just before the show is to begin.


Does this vary from place to place or is this sort of standard, and if so, where would one learn this standard?


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## Van (Nov 1, 2011)

I agree with Sonys assessment, on times. as far as variants go it can depend a lot on the venue and the production. Some shows might require more on stage prep time from the crew in which case an added 45 or 1 hour till house, might come in handy. I've had emergencies in the past where I have asked that the SM give me a running time, on the 5's, so I know how much I need to rush.. One might learn thes things in school, or in a good SM program or one might learn them here, on CB, the Greatest Compendium of Theatrical Knowledge on the Web.


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## rochem (Nov 1, 2011)

Generally, the "official" announcements are Half Hour (combined with house is now open), 15 minutes, 5 minutes, and Places. It can get kind of confusing though, because most SMs I've worked with tend to call like this:

Half Hour - 30 minutes before curtain up
15 - 15 minutes before curtain up
5 - 8 minutes before curtain up
Places - 3 minutes before curtain up

Or some variation of that. When you have an onstage fight call before the house opens, they'll also call 45 minutes and Fight Call. Before that though, the department heads usually manage their time mostly by themselves. The SM will often pop out to give a friendly "15 to house, guys", especially if we're still working on stage, but I don't see those as part of the traditional "must be called" times. The 30 and 15 are pretty standard, but I've heard SMs also call a 10 when needed for a show.


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## chausman (Nov 1, 2011)

We've always had a "house is open" (30 mins), "15 mins", "5 mins", "Announcements" (when the artistic director (usually) goes to introduce the show), and then we usually call the scenes as they start during the show. This is for CYT, in a few days I can tell you what my high school does.


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## Footer (Nov 1, 2011)

Some theatres don't even call the actors until half hour, so that decreases the calls quickly. Around my place, I usually give a 10 and a 5, but thats working with a different artist every night... and I usually give them a 10 to give them enough time to finish their beer. 

Whatever works for you. Sometimes you can give too many calls.


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## Tex (Nov 1, 2011)

Footer said:


> Some theatres don't even call the actors until half hour.


That was SOP when I was acting. If you weren't signed in by half hour, you were getting a phone call and someone's blood pressure was going up. I once walked in at half hour as the stage manager was checking the sign in sheet and was reprimanded for being "almost late".


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## NHStech (Nov 1, 2011)

Van said:


> or one might learn them here, on CB, the Greatest Compendium of Theatrical Knowledge on the Web.


I am assuming you are saying this sort of tongue-in-cheek, Van, but I bet I am not the only one who would say that this forum has been a real blessing to me and has saved my backside more than once!!!


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## Van (Nov 1, 2011)

NHStech said:


> I am assuming you are saying this sort of tongue-in-cheek, Van, but I bet I am not the only one who would say that this forum has been a real blessing to me and has saved my backside more than once!!!


 
Not at all, I was going to say " The Greatest Compendium of Theatrical Knowledge Outside of My Head" but I thought that sounded too conceited.


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## Footer (Nov 1, 2011)

Tex said:


> That was SOP when I was acting. If you weren't signed in by half hour, you were getting a phone call and someone's blood pressure was going up. I once walked in at half hour as the stage manager was checking the sign in sheet and was reprimanded for being "almost late".


 
I hate the 10 minute rule for exactly that reason. If you want me there at a certain time, I will be there. At that time I expect to clock in. If you want me to be there earlier, you better be paying me. Then again, I'm salaried so all that is out the window!


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## icewolf08 (Nov 2, 2011)

Footer said:


> Some theatres don't even call the actors until half hour, so that decreases the calls quickly.



This is the typical AEA standard, actors are not called until 30 minutes prior to curtain. Sometimes this may be altered if you have costume or makeup requirements for a cast member that take more than 30 minutes to do. I have even seen some actors whose half-hour call was pushed back to after the show had started because they didn't go on until the second act. It can vary, but the standard call time is 30 minutes prior to curtain. So the typical calls are: half-hour, 15, five, and places.

As far as time calls before half-hour, it seems fairly rare unless in the circumstances mentioned earlier in the thread where they were requested to keep pace on fixing issues. After


Tex said:


> That was SOP when I was acting. If you weren't signed in by half hour, you were getting a phone call and someone's blood pressure was going up. I once walked in at half hour as the stage manager was checking the sign in sheet and was reprimanded for being "almost late".


 
This should be true in any aspect of life. If you have any appointment and you walk in the door at the exact time the appointment is to start you are inevitably late. If I set a call time for 6:00PM, I want to be able to start working at that time, I don't want people showing up, taking off their coats, putting on their tool belts and pouring a cup of coffee at 6. If you can walk in at the call time and be ready to go right to work, fine, but typically that is not the case with most people. If the wardrobe staff is waiting to start with the actors at half hour, and you walk in the door to the theatre at half hour, you are late by the time you sit at your dressing station.


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## Tex (Nov 2, 2011)

icewolf08 said:


> This should be true in any aspect of life. If you have any appointment and you walk in the door at the exact time the appointment is to start you are inevitably late. If I set a call time for 6:00PM, I want to be able to start working at that time, I don't want people showing up, taking off their coats, putting on their tool belts and pouring a cup of coffee at 6. If you can walk in at the call time and be ready to go right to work, fine, but typically that is not the case with most people. If the wardrobe staff is waiting to start with the actors at half hour, and you walk in the door to the theatre at half hour, you are late by the time you sit at your dressing station.


Wardrobe staff? How many SPT's have a wardrobe staff that does more than wash clothes and fix grief sheet notes during the run? I was ready to start doing my 15 minutes of makeup and dressing when I walked in the door (which was about 12 steps from my dressing station). This was the third week of a six week run. The stage manager was very familiar with what I needed to do before going on stage. The stage manager was a twit and wanted exercise her power. This is not uncommon. 
Until I miss a call or curtain, I'm not late. If the wardrobe staff wants me at 6, I'll be ready for them at 6. If I have a half hour to get myself ready, I'll be ready by warmups or places. What am I proving by being ready for places at 15? "Almost late" is, by definition, on time.
99.9% of the time, I'm 15 minutes early...


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## mstaylor (Nov 4, 2011)

I don't know how it is on the actor side but the tech side it is genearlly understood that 15 minutes early is on time, on time is late. Your supervisor will tend not to use you if he has to constantly be worried if he has a crew. As a local crew supplier, I hate standing there with the show guy standing on my neck for his crew and me looking for the guy sliding through the door.


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## NHStech (Nov 5, 2011)

I think the whole debate on early/late is probably another thread. But since this has morphed into it...
With my crew, I found giving them a range of times to be there gets them there when I want them there. For example, if I said report at 6 pm, invariably, a few would walk in at 6:03. If, however, I changed that report time from 5:45-6:00, everyone would be there before 6 pm. Must have been the psychology of hearing the "5:45."
That said, I give them a time I expect them to be there, factoring in tings like how long it takes to get things unlocked, tools on, etc. The saying "to be early is to be on time, to be on time is late," - or some variation as such - is pithy, but I never understood it from a certain aspect. If you want someone to be somewhere at 6:00, say 6. But, if you really want them there at 5:50, why not say 5:50? 
Of course, there are exceptions in life. Doctors appointments are given at a particular time, but they expect you to be there 15 minutes early to fill out forms, etc. In many cases, though, there are signs all over reminding you they want you there 15 minutes early. 
I would say if you know your group takes 15 minutes or so to get going with things, factor that in and give them a report time 15 minutes earlier. But, don't hold it against them if you say be there at 6 and they show up at 5:58. Technically, they are early. Two minutes early. Anything else seems rather arbitrary.


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## DuckJordan (Nov 5, 2011)

My boss just uses the to be early is on time, to be on time is to be late, and to be late is to be unemployed. Our calls are specific and at that call time you must be ready to work at that second. This means no going to the bathroom, getting your basic tools, grabbing coffee or anything else. The time called is work time.

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## icewolf08 (Nov 5, 2011)

NHStech said:


> That said, I give them a time I expect them to be there, factoring in tings like how long it takes to get things unlocked, tools on, etc. The saying "to be early is to be on time, to be on time is late," - or some variation as such - is pithy, but I never understood it from a certain aspect. If you want someone to be somewhere at 6:00, say 6. But, if you really want them there at 5:50, why not say 5:50?


 
The thing is, I don't care if a person is early, I just want to start working at the time I chose. As an employer I tell my employees that the call starts at 6:00. Than means that at 6 I start handing out jobs and assignments and work begins. If you are walking through the door at 6 then by the time you get to the stage you are late, you have missed part of what I had to say, and that is unacceptable. If you need time to strap on your tools, put your lunch in the fridge, and use the restroom, then you should be walking into the building well enough before the call to do that so that you can be ready to go at the call time. 

This can be amazingly important when you have calls that have time constraints like show calls. You have to finish your preshow duties within a certain time, and we aren't going to pay you more because we have to move the call earlier so you have time to get ready. 


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## JonasA (Nov 9, 2011)

I'm with NHStech on this one; if if need them there a a particular time, I'll work out what time I give them on paper which allows for traffic/getting ready to work/etc. 

As for calls like the half hour, I've never bothered for our performers. As it's a high school none of them are particluarly professional and none of them want any more than a 'places' call. Attempts by me to introduce half-hour and 15 minute calls were met with either "I don't care", or, in the case of one director; "Why do we need to know that? We'll just tell them to start when they have to." Don't think she understood it's significance for the crew. 

When we're doing a show where we rig in the afternoon and then go straight into a peroformance in the evening with dinner happening whenever we cram it in, I usually give the crew a time-check every half hour over radios (we're a school with multiple venues), so we sort of have one hour, etc. calls too. Just helps to make sure they know how much longer they have to do longer jobs.


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## mstaylor (Nov 9, 2011)

icewolf08 said:


> The thing is, I don't care if a person is early, I just want to start working at the time I chose. As an employer I tell my employees that the call starts at 6:00. Than means that at 6 I start handing out jobs and assignments and work begins. If you are walking through the door at 6 then by the time you get to the stage you are late, you have missed part of what I had to say, and that is unacceptable. If you need time to strap on your tools, put your lunch in the fridge, and use the restroom, then you should be walking into the building well enough before the call to do that so that you can be ready to go at the call time.
> 
> This can be amazingly important when you have calls that have time constraints like show calls. You have to finish your preshow duties within a certain time, and we aren't going to pay you more because we have to move the call earlier so you have time to get ready.
> 
> ...


 
On my first union overcall I was scheduled as a climbing carp on a stadium show. It was nearly a two hour drive and we walked in fifteen minutes ahead of call time. We were told it had been filled and weren't needed. We did convince them to put us on as loaders. After that we always made sure we were there in plenty of time.


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