Speaker 1: I'm happy to report that today I will be reporting on reporting. My name is Kent, and this is your Half Hour Call.

Speaker 2: Attention cast and crew, this is your Half Hour Call. Half hour to the top of the show. Half hour, please.

Speaker 1: Alrighty, friends, we are back with yet another episode of the Almost Complete Guide to Stage Management. If this is your first time here, welcome, my name is Kent, and you are watching Half Hour Call. Half Hour Call is dedicated to shining the spotlight on technical theater and making theater training more accessible. So as soon as you hit that like button for the YouTube algorithm, we can go ahead and get started. Rehearsal and performance reports are a crucial tool in the stage manager's communication tool belt. They give designers, producers, artistic directors, administrative staff, really anyone who wasn't physically in the room, a snapshot of the process and convey detailed notes about issues or changes that come up. Like almost everything we talk about in this series, there are a thousand ways to structure and write rehearsal and performance reports, and there's no one right way to do it. So let's talk about the basics of the formatting, content, and distribution of your rehearsal and performance reports, and make sure you stick around until the end of the video because I'm going to share with you my top five tips for making your reports as quick and effective as possible. If you're working as part of a corporation, like a theme park or a cruise ship, or if you're taking over for a long-running show, odds are pretty good you're going to be prescribed a template to use for your reports. As frustrating as this template might be, you can make the most of it by really nailing the content. And these companies aren't doing this just to frustrate you or make you angry. It's because they're producing multiple productions at the same time, and the executives or costume shop or scenic shop or what have you will be getting multiple reports every single day. So the consistency in formatting is super important for those departments to know exactly where to look to find their notes to be able to support your process as efficiently as possible. But in almost any other situation, you'll be creating your own template. So let's talk about formatting. In terms of formatting the body of the report, simpler is always better. Don't give someone a reason not to read the report. For both rehearsal and performance reports, there will be a top section that I like to call the numbers and names section, and then a bottom section for notes. The numbers and names section, as I like to call it, will include things like the following. Date and time of the performance or rehearsal. Rehearsal or performance number. The stage manager or prepared by name. And I highly recommend you doing this even if you're on a team of one, because it'll be a record of the fact that you were there running rehearsal. Timings. For rehearsal reports, this would be the start of your day, start of your lunch break, end of your lunch break, and end of your day. For performances, this is your run time. So the start of each act, the end of each act, the run times for each act, the run time for intermission, and the run time for the whole show. And then specifically for performance reports, you'll want to include a section for rotating positions. So the calling stage manager, the deck stage managers, the conductor, things like that. And then the notes section would have different headings to include different information. The first one would be a general section that would include any broad strokes notes or general notes or any major issues that need to be addressed. Especially for rehearsals, you might consider adding a section called rehearsal, which is where you can outline what was accomplished that day. This would be the section if you're on an equity show where you would mention whether breaks were followed correctly or not. Some stage managers like to list out the exact times that rehearsal started and ended. And then you can figure out the five and 10 minute breaks from there. Or some stage managers just write all breaks were taken per equity rules or breaks were regular and appropriate or some other similar phrasing so they don't have to write all of that out. It depends on what your employer likes and what you like and frankly whether or not you've been having issues with going over time or not. An injury, illness, absence, lateness section where you would put any issues with performers as well as include for performances at least, your in and outs. So if there are understudies going on in the show. And then individual headings for each department. For me in rehearsal, every department gets their own section. But then once we move into performances, similar or closely collaborating departments will be combined into one section because the odds of there being multiple notes for every single department is a lot slimmer. Here's what I mean. For rehearsal reports, my department delineations may look like this. Script, music, costumes, sound, lighting, projections, scenic, properties, effects, automation, and facilities. Generally speaking, the sections that I end up with are who has an individual that would be looking at the report and looking for notes in that section. For example, if you're doing a show and the lighting designer and the projections designer are the same, it might make more sense to combine them. But in performances and especially after previews, I would remove the script section entirely because your show is probably frozen by then, combine sound and music into one section, combine lighting and projections into one section, and combine scenic and properties into one section. Or if it was a particularly lightly teched show, I might include a single section that says technical notes and then for each individual note, give a little label that says, hey, this is for carpenters, this is for electrics, and so on and so forth. Ultimately, you need to look at your process and your team that you'll be working with and see what will make the information the most accessible for them. Once you've successfully created your template or gone through all five stages of grief and accepted that you'll be using a template that has been prescribed to you, it is time to decide what to put into the report. So we need to talk about the content. Before we get into the nitty gritty of writing notes, I think it's important that we take a step back and talk about the kind of frame of mind that will make writing reports an absolute breeze. Reports are kind of like Schrodinger's document. They are simultaneously legal documents and not legal documents. In two separate, completely unique situations, I've had reports that I've written pulled for legal purposes, but in no case were they the end-all be-all in terms of reports and records. So no one's gonna be arrested or go to jail because of your reports, but also you should write them in a way that you'd be okay with them being read aloud in a courtroom. So being kind of objective and professional is going to be a lot more helpful than infusing a report with a lot of emotion or opinion. But removing all opinion and emotion is going to make it very difficult to write notes about something that is as subjective as the quality of a performance of live theater. I think a really good way to find a balance between these two is to use objective indicators of subjective evaluation. This could include things like the audience's reaction to a joke, or the pacing of a scene, or whether or not there's a standing ovation, or whether someone's standing in their light. The more specific you can get about these notes, the better. Speaking of specifics, a rehearsal or performance report should paint as accurate a picture as is helpful to the people that were not in the room. When in doubt, it's probably a good idea to include more information than is necessary in the report, exception being if there is any information that is personal information that is not directly related to a work-related injury. For example, if Joanne was experiencing pain in her right ankle during the Sunday matinee, a follow-up to how she's feeling in the Tuesday evening report would be appropriate. However, it would be inappropriate to write, Joanne called out from the show tonight because her rash is acting up again. You can just say, Joanne called out due to personal illness and call it a day. We could probably do an entire separate video on work-related injuries, but for now I will leave you with this. As a general rule, avoid diagnosing anything in your reports. Just describe what pain or sensation the performer is experiencing based on what they tell you. So rather than saying, Joanne sprained her ankle, say Joanne was experiencing pain in her right ankle. And number two, any action that was taken during the show, or if the performer plans to see a doctor or would like to see a doctor about it, is also good to include because it will be relevant for workers' compensation later. And number three, and this is the most important one, check with your employer before things happen about how they want you to handle this. Because the laws can be slightly different in every state, and procedures can be different based on what workers' compensation insurance they have. Anyway, back to reports. For rehearsal reports, you'll want to keep an eye out for things that happen in the rehearsal room that will affect other departments. For example, an actor dances on a table. A piece of furniture is struck from a scene. An actor needs to pull a prop out of their pocket. And just like we talked about in the production analysis, many of these notes will affect multiple departments, not just one. And it's a pretty safe bet that the department heads are only going to read the general section and their specific section if they read any of it at all. Some stage managers will write something like, see scenic note four in the lighting section so that the lighting designer knows to go read the scenic note that might affect the lighting. But personally, I like to just copy and paste the note into the relevant sections because it makes it easier for me, and it makes it easier for the individual designer or department head to note. And again, just like the initial production analysis, you'll want to adopt the mindset of not making any artistic assumptions about whatever you're writing a note about. So if the director decides that Joanne needs a jacket, you're not going to write, Joanne needs a blue jacket. However, the contrast to that is what is appropriate to add, which is a description of the action that is being done with it. So if Joanne's jacket needs to have pockets, or it needs to zip up, or it needs a hood, you can include that in the report based on what's happening in rehearsal. Or to use an earlier example, including the note that an actor dances on the table is absolutely going to impact the choice of table that the scenic designers have. The biggest change in content from rehearsal reports to performance reports is that in rehearsals, things are changing constantly. You're adding and removing props, you're getting more detail about costumes, things like that. While in performances, usually the notes are going to be issues that need to be addressed. In these cases, it's usually a safer bet to present the problem rather than propose a solution. It conveys trust in your team of technicians to make the best decision available, and it allows them the freedom to come up with a solution that might be better than one that you could even think of. For example, instead of saying, please hot glue the glasses to the tray, you could say something like, Joanne is having trouble keeping the glasses on the tray when moving it from table to table. Can we make them more secure? If a note doesn't get addressed right away, it's okay to leave it in the report until it gets addressed, but after a day or two, I would follow up with a separate email to make sure it's not getting missed, or that they don't need more clarification, or just to see what's going on. Once you've finished the content of your report and you've had a member of the stage management team proofread it, it's time to distribute. Distribution lists can vary from employer to employer, so check with the person who hired you to finalize this list. But regardless, almost always, reports are not sent to the performers. Distributing printed copies is becoming increasingly rare, but some employers want it posted in a production office or in a mailbox or something similar. And that's all fine and good. However, do not post the report publicly on the call board in the theater. If there are any notes about an actor's performance that are in the report, it's actually a violation of equity rules to post that publicly. Not to mention that pretty much the only thing performers would be interested in on the report is going to be the running time, because some performers like to have their finger on the pulse of how the pacing of the show is keeping up with how it was opened. And in that case, you can just put a piece of paper on the call board and write down the running time as you go through the run so they can keep their eye on whether it's staying consistent or speeding up or slowing down. Email copies of the report are usually sent to your team, the creative team, designers, department heads, administrative staff, managers, and producers. And here's where things get a bit more… varied. For two show days, should you send two emails with one report each after each show? Should you send one email with two reports attached to it? Should you send one email with one report that covers both shows? The stage management community is pretty well split on this issue, which means that the only correct answer is whatever your employer prefers. Personally, unless otherwise directed, I am in the one report for two shows camp. If when I'm working a theme park, I can fit six shows into a single report, I think I can handle putting two shows in one report. Plus, anything that needs immediate attention between the matinee and the evening show is gonna get a separate phone call or email anyway, so there's no realistic urgency in getting that report out there unless the employer wants it. But one thing that almost all stage managers can agree on is that it is best practice to copy and paste the report into the body of the email and attach a PDF. Fun fact, if you aspire to be in commercial theater like Broadway or National Tours, you may be expected to, once the show opens, do an additional weekly report. This is mostly for the general managers to know who needs overtime, who was in and out that week, and any other big picture business-y aspects that may be relevant. For example, this is a weekly report from the Broadway production of Rock of Ages. As you can see, it is an overview of specific, relevant information, and it is not eight performance reports combined into one document. And now the time has come for my five tips to make your reports as quick and effective as possible. Let's go. Number one, just like with daily calls, I like to do my reports in Excel, which allows me to not only keep all of the reports into a single spreadsheet file using different pages, but also allows me to automate the distribution process using macro buttons. Click up here to find out exactly how that works. Number two, while creating your template, copy and paste it into the body of an email and send it to yourself and look at it on your phone. Because a lot of people are going to read the reports on your phone, and if it's not easy to read on your phone, change the template. If it's not easy to read, notes will be missed. Number three, if you don't want your laptop out during rehearsal, print up a blank version of your template with space to write so that you can start filling out the report by hand while rehearsal is going on. Then at the end of rehearsal, all you have to do is type out the notes that you've already written down and hit send, and you know you haven't missed anything. Number four, some stage managers like to put none today, thank you in every box in their template as a default. To me, this is a very dangerous game because it opens the door to the possibility of you forgetting to write a note in a box and sending it out and it still says none today, thank you. It's worth it to take the extra time to physically type out none today, thank you in each category and leave my template blank so that it's that extra insurance policy that I'm not going to miss a note. Number five, make writing and sending the report out part of your ritual to end your day. Personally, I like to write and send my report before I leave the building, whether that's the theater building or the rehearsal room. That allows the send button to be a tap out to let you go home and actually rest and not think about work, which is easier said than done. Down in the description below, there are links to samples of rehearsal reports and performance reports and in the comment section, let me know what's the weirdest note you've ever had to give in a performance report. Thank you so much for watching, liking, commenting, and subscribing, I hope you enjoyed this video. My name is Kent, and this has been your Half Hour Call. This snazzy feathered production assistant, as well as other cool stage management merchandise, is now available at kentjamescollins.com/. Link in the description below.