At Walterdale, we are all members and volunteers.  Everyone is considered equal within this structure, however, we do have different roles and responsibilities and by respecting each other we can make theatre in a safe, productive environment.

Walterdale is proud to be a community theatre and welcomes members of all experience levels.  Stepping into your first production can be a daunting experience as there are many unwritten rules and etiquettes followed in theatre.

To help new members acclimatize and to refresh the memory of experience members, below are some best practices for the rehearsal process in our theatre.

Directors:

1. The rehearsal schedule you set will be different for every show and will depend on a variety of factors such as the availability of the cast and when the build is happening and when space is available for rental.  Prior to casting your show, you should give some thought as to your rehearsal schedule so that you can ask your auditioners about their availability and use their provided schedule conflicts to refine the schedule.  This will also prepare you to know before casting an actor if he or she will have an impractically difficult schedule.
2. Break your show into units and outline which characters are needed for each unit.
3. Create a ‘starting point’ rehearsal schedule based on that unit breakdown.
4. Once you get your actors’ conflicts, adjust your schedule to reflect them.  This might mean you will be working with the script out of sequence.
5. Build some rehearsals in to the schedule marked as ‘To Be Announced,’ particularly towards the end of the process.  This allows you to be more flexible as which units you need to work might shift and change depending on a variety of factors.
6. Do not call actors to rehearsals at which they are not needed.  Everyone is a volunteer and has responsibilities outside theatre.  Making actors sit in rehearsal doing nothing is disrespectful and often casts a negative pall over the production process.
7. Work what you have scheduled to work.  This ensures actors have the opportunity to properly prepare for a rehearsal and prevents anyone being caught off-guard.
8. It is good to have a routine at the beginning and end of rehearsals to cue the work process.  This is especially helpful in a production with members who come from a variety of experience levels.  Your routine could include a warm-up, check-in (or check-out), or other activity.  Establishing a routine helps to ensure production members arrive on time and do not leave early.  It also provides you a built-in buffer in case a production member is unexpectedly running late.
9. Schedule breaks within your rehearsals to provide production members time to digest the work, prepare for the next section, and refresh their minds and bodies.
10. Stick to your schedule.  This means starting on time, breaking on time, and ending rehearsal on time.  Everyone in a production deserves to have his or her time respected.  If you need to go over the scheduled time, ask your production members if they are able to stay late before you go over the time.  If a production member is unable to stay late, respect the fact and work around it. 

Actors:

1. Come to the audition with your schedule.  This helps ensure a smooth rehearsal process for everyone.  If you’re concerned presenting conflicts will hinder your chances of being cast, hiding your conflicts and revealing them later is a very unpleasant surprise for a Director.  As well, if a Director really wants to work with you, he or she will try to find a way around scheduling conflicts.  Once you are cast, ensure you continue to update your Director and Stage Manager with any changes to your schedule.  Your Director does have final say as to whether it’s appropriate for you to miss a rehearsal.
2. Arrive on time.  If you need to come early to prepare, do so, but be ready to work at the scheduled time.
3. Arrive prepared.  If you are supposed to have done work since the last rehearsal, do it.  This includes learning lines, being off-book, practicing choreography and any other assigned tasks.
4. Remain positive.  Negative attitudes can spread quickly and create tension in a production.  Sometimes the work is hard, but it pays off if you let it.
5. Don’t miss rehearsals.  Sometimes an unexpected circumstance arrives and in this case you should contact your Stage Manager as soon as possible.  Remember that missing a rehearsal impacts everyone else in the production who took the time to show up, prepared to work.  This is especially critical during Technical Week, as now the Production Crew are involved and have a very limited amount of time to get all technical aspects of a production together.
6. If you are not active during part of a rehearsal, be respectful of your fellow artists.  If you are not being used, please remember that it often can be part of the process.  These can be excellent times to quietly rehearse your lines and blocking or prepare for the next time you will be active in that rehearsal.

Production Crew:

1. Many of the above rules apply in general terms.  For example, if you are a Designer and the Director has asked you to be at a rehearsal, then please accommodate the request, or if you are on the Running Crew, respect the work as scheduled and be at all rehearsals that crew are called for.
2. Take the time to get to know the other members of the production and make sure socializing doesn’t happen when work is being done, as it can be distracting.
3. Frequently, the Stage Manager, Assistant Stage Managers, Running Crew, Floor Crew and Operators need to be at the theatre before the actors to prepare the stage and their technical elements.  For example, a 7:00 p.m. call for actors might require members of the Production Crew to be there for 6:30 p.m.  Check with your Stage Manager (or the Director, if you are the Stage Manager) to see if they would like you to be there earlier for set-up.