THE PRODUCTION PROCESS

PRE-PRODUCTION
Phase One

Pre-production is the planning stage of a
production before rehearsals begin.

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A key part of pre-production is the creation of a
master production schedule.

1 Preliminary production
budget established.
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2 Play selection.
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Things to
Consider
When
Choosing
a Play

Does it fulfill its
designated purpose?

Does it appeal to its intended
audience?

Has your audience
recently seen it?

Does it provide variety in your
annual productions?

Is it adaptable to your
actors’ abilities?

Is it
adaptable to
the size and
equipment of
the
performance
space?

Does it fit your budget?

3
Production rights obtained.
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4
Production staff organized.
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5 Research.
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The director must study the play from every
angle to determine the style and atmosphere to
be carried out in the design of the production.

Then she or he
must decide how
best to express the
theme, how to
emphasize the
conflict, the
suspense, and the
climax of the plot,
and how the
characters and
their relationships
with one another
should be
portrayed.

For a period play,
the director must
also study the
historical
background, the
social conditions,
and the attitudes of
the people
represented, as well
as the clothing,
furnishings, and
manner of speech
and movement of
the period.

6Pre-production meetings with director,
stage manager and tech and design staff.
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7 Scripts ordered.
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8 Promptbook prepared.
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A promptbook is a script marked with
blocking and cues for a production.

9 Floorplan designed.
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10
Designs for scenery, lights, and costumes.
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11
Casting.
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Casting demands tact, sincerity, fairness,
and sound judgment.

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There are several types of auditions:

An open call audition is open to all
professional nonunion actors. (In a school, this
would mean all students may audition.)

A closed audition is for professional
union actors. (In a school setting, this would apply
to auditions open only to a specific group of students.)

After the preliminary auditions, the director and the
casting team might conduct callbacks in which
actors who are being considered for certain roles are
asked to return for further evaluation.

If the audition calls for a cold read, the
actor will be given an unfamiliar text to
perform at the audition.

Cold reads are a means of observing the actor’s
instrument in action; the casting team is not
expecting the auditioning actors to have an
accurate interpretation of the material.

12
Rehearsal schedule developed.
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13
Stage and costume crews recruited.
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14
Publicity committee organized.
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REHEARSALS
Phase Two

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Typically the first rehearsal is a read
through, a rehearsal in which the cast
reads the entire text aloud together as a
group for the first time.

15
Reading rehearsals.
MASTER PRODUCTION SCHEDULE

At reading
rehearsals, the
cast and the
director read and
discuss the text—
making
interpretations and
choices about
characters,
motivations,
actions, etc.

16
Costume measurements taken.
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17
Light plot prepared.
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18
Tape the floorplan on the rehearsal floor.
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19
Blocking rehearsals begun.
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At blocking rehearsals, the director and the
actors work out the basic movements, stage positions,
groupings, and timing thereof of actors during the
course of a performance.

20
Costumes acquired.
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21
Tickets ordered.
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22
Set construction begins.
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23
Costume fittings.
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24
Working rehearsals started.
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At working rehearsals, the actor’s
interpretation and characterization is
refined.

By this point, actors are “offbook.”

25
Publicity photoshoot.
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26
Press releases.
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27
Program prepared and printed.
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28
Props secured.
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29
Tickets go on sale.
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30
Set construction completed.
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PUTTING IT
TOGETHER
Phase Three

31
Load in.
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32
Hang and focus.
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Hang & Focus is
when all the lighting
instruments are properly
placed (hung) in the
theatre space and
directed onto the stage
in order to fulfill the
needs of the previously
determined light plot.

33
Special effects secured.
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34
Lighting cue sheets, run crew cue sheets,
prop plots, and pre-set sheets completed.
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35
Paper tech.
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Paper Tech is a meeting in which the director, stage
management, design team, and booth crew chronologically
discuss each cue and shift of the production.

36
Cue-to-cue.
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A cue-to-cue is a technical rehearsal during
which the stage manager sequentially runs each
cue of the production—often skipping over the
major content of the scenes in order to focus on
and rehearse cues and scene shifts.

37
Polishing rehearsals with timed run-
throughs.
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At polishing rehearsals, the director and actors
work on pacing and clarity of the performance.

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38
Tech rehearsals.
MASTER PRODUCTION SCHEDULE

A tech run is a rehearsal when the entire
show is performed (a.k.a. a run) with some or all
of the technical elements being executed.

39
Dress rehearsals.
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40
Performances.
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A preview is a run through for a select audience in
advance of release for the general public.

The opening is the first official performance
to which critics may be invited.

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POST-
PRODUCTION
Phase Four

41
Strike.
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After the run, the
production crew
strike
conducts
—the complete
restoration of a
theatre space at the
conclusion of a
production.

Strike includes the deconstruction of the set,
the restoration of lighting instruments and sound
equipment, the return of borrowed props and
costumes, the storage of props and costumes, etc.

42
Bills paid and tickets audited.
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43
Thank-you letters sent.
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44
Final financial statement draw.
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F I N