# Backstage Security/ check in



## robmonty (Apr 5, 2013)

I am trying to find out what theatres are doing in the way of backstage security. What check in procedures do you have for staff, stagehands, touring technicians, actors and musicians coming in through the stage door? 
In my theatre, we present everything from rock shows, touring Broadway shows and a wide range of community cultural and amateur presentations, grads, dance school recitals, etc. These community shows have lots of performers, dance moms and cultural committee members backstage, and it is sometimes hard to tell who should really be there. 
So, what processes work for you in keeping backstage secure? Does everyone have to check in, and who does that if you have a 500 person dance school show? 
Thanks 

Rob Montgomery 
Edmonton, Canada


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## cpf (Apr 5, 2013)

I don't know if the venue I'm about to talk about is all that comparable to yours, but here's my experience: 

General rule: If you look like you're supposed to be back-stage, you probably are. No check-ins, no badges, no uniforms.

Despite the lack of control, in all my experience I have never seen an unauthorized person back-stage, so either a) they're doing a good job of blending in and staying out of people's ways, in which case I don't really care or b) nobody is even bothering to look. 


On the other hand, I have plenty of experience being the unauthorized person back-stage (), and without giving explicit instructions, I'll say that the general rule I mentioned above is pretty much universal until you get to the legitimately large shows.


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## Call911 (Apr 5, 2013)

If you look like you belong, no questions asked. I don't have the time or staff the check people at the doors. It is usually obvious if someone sneaks backstage. The look of shock when they see how everything runs and how busy it is usually gives it away.


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## ruinexplorer (Apr 5, 2013)

Some theaters I have worked at have a backstage door with a security code to get in. If you don't belong, you don't have the code (theoretically). One theater had a backstage entrance with a security guard where you had to be buzzed in backstage (this was in a downtown metro area). I have worked in theaters where you are given a badge of some sort to wear when you check in. I have worked in theaters the crew is so regular that you know if someone is not supposed to be there. I have also worked in theaters where there is no control as there were no means to safely secure the backstage area.

In the case of a dance school show or (shudder) body-builders where you have a large number of people who will be backstage and you have no means to check them in, I would require that of the client. When I had the dance shows, I would require that the client provide a wrangler to check people in, plus they would be required to have some means of identification that they were allowed backstage if they weren't in costume. By putting it on the client, you save yourself quite a bit of headache. The wrangler was also in charge of delivering young ones to their parents in some designated fashion.


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## sk8rsdad (Apr 6, 2013)

For the dance rentals we make the renter responsible for access control. They are the ones protecting the children and they know we can come after them for anything that might go missing. We haven't had any issues except for an ironing board that went missing for a year.


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## gafftaper (Apr 8, 2013)

I have to agree with the previous posts. If it's a tour or some sort of major act you provide security and it's easy to do because there are a limited number of people backstage. However when it comes to the chaos of dance schools and other rentals, the policy is up to the renter. Some will want it locked down and others don't care. There's no reason for you to stress about it. Just ask them to set the policy. Give them the choice of providing someone to watch the door or have them provide you with a list and have them pay for your bouncer to watch the list... but there will be *no* deviation from that list.


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## porkchop (Apr 8, 2013)

Road crew and people that have worked in a venue for a long time both tend to be very resistant to formal security checks, so in my experience more often than not the "Does the person look like they belong" theory is applied. Several NBA/NHL venues even just have a secutiry guard at the door that may or may not give you a once over before they buzz you in. Although in venues like that if you're standing around wearing black someone is likely to tell you to start pushing something...


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## jwolfkill (Apr 8, 2013)

If backstage security really is an issue, you should probably station a security guard with a list of authorized personnel at the stage door. Only people on the list should be admitted backstage. It's helpful to give the security guard a means to communicate with management (radio, intercom, etc.), though, because there will almost always be someone who's not on the list but should be - the security guard can clear those people with management and add them to the list (this solves the "but I'm with the band" problem). 

I have a true and funny story about this. When Bonnie Raitt played the venue where I worked years ago, she apparently liked to ride a bike from the hotel to the venue in cities where it was feasible. The security guard working the stage door that day was well outside of BR's typical audience demographic, so when a short redhead on a bike appeared at the stage door, the security guard had no idea who she was and would not admit her because, you guessed it, "Bonnie Raitt" was not on the list (the artists usually showed up accompanied by their management people, who always were on the list and were authorized to walk other people in through the stage door). BR tried to explain that she was performing that evening and needed to get in for sound check, but the security guard was having none of it. He called it in to management, who hotfooted it to the stage door and quickly and apologetically cleared up the misunderstanding. To her credit, BR seemed to be amused by the whole thing herself and didn't get bent out of shape about it.


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## SteveB (Apr 8, 2013)

The policy of the public safety department at my public college is that on the day of a "show", if a person states "they are a performer or musician" on a particular event, that PS will allow them access. PS finally came to understand, after a few decades, that some of our events have a somewhat vague idea as to which acts/performers will actually show up for an event, never mind who's driving and the make/model/license of the car, and that they, being PS, need to have a somewhat flexible attitude about letting in a performer as the "PERFORMERS LIST" was incorrect when they printed it. 

If it's a stagehand they have to have an ID to get on campus.

The heads of the PS department fail to understand the idiocy of this policy with the head of public safety getting really pissed off at me at a meeting when I suggested I would simply tell all the stagehands to simply tell the guard they're a musician. I was un-invited to the meetings. 

Of course this is the same department who's officers (they are actually peace officers with the power to arrest) would, immediately after 9/11, search a Corrolla with 2 old ladies (event patrons), pop the trunk, etc.... prior to allowing said vehicle to park. They ignored the Ryder rental truck that had arrived with the set and that was parked 50 ft. away at the loading dock. 

I got into a bit of a heated argument with one guard one day who refused to allow a drummer to unload his car load of drum kit while parked at the dock, PS insisting the car must be moved to the parking lot and unloaded there. There was no load in scheduled, thus no trucks. The drummer was in the show. There were all of a dozen musicians and no other vehicles in question. The office insisted that the "dock is for trucks only". I told him to call his supervisor as I wanted to see documentation of this rule to "ascertain if the guard wasn't pulling this rule out of his ass". Wrong attitude I admit. Nice to have tenure as well.


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## kiwitechgirl (Apr 9, 2013)

My venue is big enough to have a stage door which is manned by two people from about 6am-11pm, and then a security guard after that. All permanent staff and regular casuals have individual proximity cards and you have to swipe them to get through the gate; temporary staff or seasonal artists get a temporary pass which only works for that season. I'm pretty sure that the individual proximity cards, when swiped, bring up info on the stage door staff's screens so they can see if you're using someone else's card. I did have a staff member leave in not the nicest circumstance and his card was deactivated very, very quickly...

A venue I used to work at, when we had the dreaded dance schools, used to put it back on the hirers - they had to police it themselves. The only thing we did was to say that no non-chaperoning parents could be backstage, otherwise you ended up with 364756353 parents all wanting to come backstage to do their child's hair and costume. We used to insist on chaperones and teachers wearing badges so we could identify them and chuck out any parent who had sneaked in.


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## JohnD (Apr 9, 2013)

SteveB said:


> Of course this is the same department who's officers (they are actually peace officers with the power to arrest).......



Here in Oklahoma, campus security for the state universities actually outrank both city police and county sheriffs departments since they are state employees.


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## Chris15 (Apr 9, 2013)

kiwitechgirl said:


> My venue is big enough to have a stage door which is manned by two people from about 6am-11pm, and then a security guard after that. All permanent staff and regular casuals have individual proximity cards and you have to swipe them to get through the gate; temporary staff or seasonal artists get a temporary pass which only works for that season. I'm pretty sure that the individual proximity cards, when swiped, bring up info on the stage door staff's screens so they can see if you're using someone else's card. I did have a staff member leave in not the nicest circumstance and his card was deactivated very, very quickly...



And kiwitechgirl's venue hands out laminted plastic cards to be pinned on every kid involved in a choir performance or anything like that...


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## MrsFooter (Apr 9, 2013)

Right now, our venue follows the "if you look like you should be here" policy. Sometimes security is hired per the act's request, but we use the same company for all acts so the guys recognize most of us. The only time security gets at all strict is when we have to gov in, but that's an entirely different story.

Personally, I wish we put more pressure on clients to provide stricter security, especially when we have the big community groups. When I'm trying to keep one eye on the drop coming into the deck and another eye on the dance mothers trying to run across the stage after we've asked them three times not to, it's only a matter of time before someone gets hurt. Especially since people don't seem to understand how dangerous the deck during strike can be; I actually had a woman yell at me once because I stopped her from walking underneath a point that was coming into the deck. 

But the reality is times are hard for everyone, client and venue alike. The client is trying to put up the show with less money and less support than ever so that they can afford to pay for the room, and the venue is trying to cut costs and keep the client happy so that they'll keep paying for the room. It's hard enough to get clients to follow simple rules like no flame or pyrotechnics on stage, there's no way we could force them to enforce their own security. If it's not important to the client, it's not important to us, is the way things go. I understand why things are the way they are, I just wish things were different.


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