# Dry Tech



## shiben (Mar 31, 2010)

How important are dry tech rehersals to the technical success of your shows? In other words, do you find that they are critical for technicians to figure out what is going on, or are they a waste of stage time?


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## Footer (Mar 31, 2010)

Depends on the show and the level your crew is at. I always have a paper tech where each designer discusses with stage management when cues will happen, what will happen during those cues, and in what order those cues should be called in. This also helps get each designer on the same page at to what is happening when. 

To me, dry tech is about taking the crew and putting them on the set. If its a highly involved show with many pieces moving and possibly automation, dry tech is a must. If its a unit set with just a few prop hand offs and such then dry tech is not necessary. To me dry tech is also a time that the director can see light cues/sound cues/scenery shifts before there is a cast onstage which can be useful.

Paper Tech has to happen. Dry tech does not.


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## Studio (Mar 31, 2010)

The last time we did a dry tech rehearsal, we ended up calling maintenance because water in the pit had shorted out the clear com units. They proceeded to unplug the whole rack a few times in the process of fixing things and I think everyone just gave up.


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## gafftaper (Apr 1, 2010)

First off for those new to the term. Dry Tech is a crew only technical rehearsal with no actors. Wet Tech is a technical rehearsal with actors. 

As Footer said, dry tech is a nice luxury for some shows and a necessity for others. I would love to have a dry tech for every show, but sometimes it's just not worth the battle to squeeze the time for it. In the end a dry tech makes your first wet tech go much smoother, but if the show is going to be easy anyway it may not be worth the time.


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## shiben (Apr 1, 2010)

For what its worth, the reason I am asking is because the director of my current show told me that dry techs just confuse the actors and technicians, and that they are a waste of everyones time because it requires more wet tech time to fix the confusion. Im trying to get a sampling of how often people do it, and if people feel they are useful.


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## gafftaper (Apr 1, 2010)

Well, I think you have a poor director who needs to come take some intro to tech classes from me.  

An actor should be nowhere near the building at dry tech. How can they be confused by it? Is the director opposed to the cast rehearsing without crew? A dry tech is just a rehearsal for the crew without a cast. Taking the time to teach the crew what they do and when they do it before the cast shows up saves everyone time and frustration. A dry tech gives the S.M. time to learn how to call complicated cues sequences. It gives crew members time to choreograph and rehearse quick set changes. Crew has probably only seen a few rehearsals (if any). How can it possibly be a bad idea to give the crew a chance to learn their jobs and learn the show without the pressure of actors whining about tech taking too long? Personally I prefer it if the director isn't even there for dry tech. Let me run it and teach my crew how to do their jobs.


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## shiben (Apr 1, 2010)

gafftaper said:


> Well, I think you have a poor director who needs to come take some intro to tech classes from me.
> 
> An actor should be nowhere near the building at dry tech. How can they be confused by it? Is the director opposed to the cast rehearsing without crew? A dry tech is just a rehearsal for the crew without a cast. Taking the time to teach the crew what they do and when they do it before the cast shows up saves everyone time and frustration. A dry tech gives the S.M. time to learn how to call complicated cues sequences. It gives crew members time to choreograph and rehearse quick set changes. Crew has probably only seen a few rehearsals (if any). How can it possibly be a bad idea to give the crew a chance to learn their jobs and learn the show without the pressure of actors whining about tech taking too long? Personally I prefer it if the director isn't even there for dry tech. Let me run it and teach my crew how to do their jobs.



Trust me, if you were anywhere closer to grand rapids, you would have 3 directors shipped out to intro to tech theatre classes. I suppose i could make a punching bag post, but it would probably be too long and contain naughty words.


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## Footer (Apr 1, 2010)

shiben said:


> Trust me, if you were anywhere closer to grand rapids, you would have 3 directors shipped out to intro to tech theatre classes. I suppose i could make a punching bag post, but it would probably be too long and contain naughty words.



I think he is referring to what is known as a "cue to cue". Basically, that is when you step from each cue to each cue in a show to figure out problems. They can be useful. They can also be VERY painful to sit through. I try to avoid cue to cues. I would rather have a full run and be able to stop when need be.

Here is how the process should go...
Load in

Cue-in-each designer spikes/cues/sets levels
Paper Tech-Designers put cues in SM's book
Dry Tech-Crew learns what is going on and SM calls cues for the first time-No talent onstage
Cue to Cue-First time talent is on stage. Step through show skipping parts of dialog that don't have cues involved.
Wet tech/First Tech-First attempt at running the show straight through (stops happen)
Tech Rehearsals-More attempts at running the show straight through (hopefully with no stops)
Preview-Running with no stops for an audience
Opening-Running the show with a paying audience


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## shiben (Apr 1, 2010)

Footer said:


> I think he is referring to what is known as a "cue to cue". Basically, that is when you step from each cue to each cue in a show to figure out problems. They can be useful. They can also be VERY painful to sit through. I try to avoid cue to cues. I would rather have a full run and be able to stop when need be.
> 
> Here is how the process should go...
> Load in
> ...



Thats what we are trying to get our program to be doing every show, if only to get a consistent process for us students. The Paper Tech may or may not take place over several days, depending on what needs to be done. We also skip previews, due to the fact that we can barely get a paying audience in, much less a non-paying one. We are trying to have a Dry tech, a cue to cue, and then a day with 2 runs of the show, both tech runs. then 3 days of full dress rehearsal, no stops unless something is screwed up, and then open.


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## ajb (Apr 1, 2010)

We pretty much never do dry tech. Sometimes lighting and sound will take an hour or two of dark and quiet time before tech to work out timing issues, but that's about it. One exception was during the last mid-atlantic snowmageddon, when the tech schedule gut FUBAR and we wound up doing a half day of dry tech just to get _something_ done that week.

For us, it's a question of a) finding the time for it in a very tight schedule, b) needing it given the number and competency of crew, c) it being worthwhile, given that the types of programming we do and some other unique challenges: having actors on hand to actually time out transitions with entrances, exits, prop wrangling, and quickchanges can drastically change what the designers need to do, and in many cases could wind up undoing a whole lot of what was done during a previous dry tech.

Also, not having any pre-tech rehearsal time on the set can make dry tech less useful since it can be hard for directors to know exactly who and what will be where when until they actually work it out on stage, which feeds into (c) above.

The sum of those factors is usually that it's more productive for us to integrate everything all at once. Even scene changes are usually only done at the appropriate point in the first stumble-through. We call timeouts as needed to proactively address any safety concerns or immediate needs (this is where a good SM is key). Anything that we'll need to come back to gets added to the list for the next day's wet work or dry work time. 

So while I wouldn't say that a properly run dry tech should ever be confusing, it is entirely possible for it to be a waste of time in particular circumstances.


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## Tex (Apr 3, 2010)

I schedule a dry tech for every show. We usually do them during my tech theatre classes so it doesn't take any stage time from rehearsal.
Here's our order:
Paper tech
Dry tech
Cue-to-cue (instead of a wet tech)
Dress with stops
Two dresses with no stops
Opening
Works for us...


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