Pembroke Players Guide

So you wanna produce...

First-time Producing

“What exactly does a producer do?” is an often-asked question.

In a nutshell, the director is in charge of telling the actors what do on stage. Pretty much everything else is down to the producer. You need to have a really good grasp of the director’s vision and work closely with him/her, but ultimately the responsibility for publicity, set design, costumes, sound and lighting, managing the budget and miscellaneous other responsibilities all lie with you.

Do not be put off by this however, as much of the role is about delegating tasks to other people! In an ideal world you can delegate to a team created for this purpose (publicity officer, set construction team, and so on). The best producers are those that most effectively use the talents of those around them.

Remember that your biggest asset in a student production is the cast themselves. Many will own items that will be of use, or have experience to assist you. Always ask for suggestions and get regular feedback as you go. Whatever happens, don’t get harassed into doing it all yourself!

Producing specifically in New Cellars

The Pembroke Players own venue lies in the basement of Pembroke College’s new building, Foundress. What follows here advice framed for our venue, however, much of it applies wherever you are working.

Our venue is a highly versatile studio space. This allows you to do pretty much anything. Naturally this opens up a host of challenges for the producer, so it is important to understand your directors vision from the outset. Ensure that both you and your director consider audience size potential, what you can do with staging and set, and the technical options (lighting and sound). More information on New Cellars as a space can be found here. To help get you started please find below some introductions:

Publicity

This is one of the most important areas and as such has its very own page here.

Set Design and Staging

This area is limited by several factors, the most important of which are cost and particularly the size of the venue.

The New Cellars isn’t the biggest space in the world, but this intimacy can very easily be used to your advantage. Good communication with your director is key. He or she will most likely have lots of ideas about what they envisage. However, while it’s your job to try and bring this idea to life, it’s just as important to keep the director in touch with reality. A giant rotating ferris wheel might well have fantastic impact value, but is entirely inappropriate for a space such as The New Cellars, not to mention a student production budget!

In fact, the space aspect of the venue is probably one of its most notable features, so less is often more. The props cupboard has a wide collection of old set pieces (a sofa, stools, tables) that can be modified or used.

Costumes and Props

Depending on what kind of production you’re staging, this can be either ridiculously easy or fiendishly time-consuming to the point of madness (eg. modern setting – fairly easy; middle 17th century – a little tougher perhaps). Again, it’s important to work with your director and establish what you want as early as possible, then get to work on it, and try to delegate as much as possible – or you’ll end up spending a mammoth amount of time a few days before the play sewing/ rushing around/ panicking.

Draw up a list of what costumes and props you need (make sure your director does this with plenty of time to spare), and then have a root around in the props cupboard as there are quite a few left over from previous productions.

If you don’t find what you’re looking for, it’s a good idea to have a shop around in Cambridge/on the net for what you need to see what kind of prices you can get; make sure you keep a record of everything you buy, and keep all the receipts.

Some good places to hunt around are charity shops (there are loads near the Grafton centre, and several on Regent Street and Mill Road) and the market, where there a few material stalls that sell off-cuts and so on (remember that if you shop at the market, you often have to ask specifically for a receipt.)

Occasionally if you’re lucky you can wangle a discount, some people are sympathetic if they know it’s a student production (and long may it continue). Sometimes even big stores will lend props for a play in return for an ad in the programme, so it’s often worth asking (Past Times and Habitat have been helpful in the past).

If you have very specific or important costume demands, County Drama (01223 313423) have a huge stock of costumes and accompanying props; however, at £14 per full costume you won’t be able to afford that much from there. There’s also a joke shop near Magdalene Bridge which is useful for odd little bits and pieces (e.g. blood), if a bit expensive.

Don’t forget to tell us what you’ve bought when the play’s over, and the rule is that if you claim it back as part of your expenses (see budget), it goes in the props cupboard for future productions to use.

Technical

First and foremost – find a technical director (techie). This is the one place where you can’t (unless you have experience) do it yourself.

You can find a techie by:

1. Advertising on Camdram.
2. Sending an email round the Pembroke Players list (email here).
3. Asking our technical director if they know anyone (email here).

Usually in the New Cellars you can manage with one person to do both sound and lights, although it’s always easier if you have one for each. Some experience is necessary in order to rig the lights and programme the lighting desk, but it takes the minimum of knowledge to op them on the night.

The New Cellars is well-equipped with a lighting rig and a good sound system (look here to see exactly what we’ve got).

You’ll need to share lanterns with the main/late show, so make sure your techies meet at some point before the tech rehearsal so you can divide them up fairly. If you need more lanterns, they can be hired very cheaply from the ADC Theatre.

Budget

The Treasurer will usually ask to see a breakdown of what you want to spend your money on before we allocate you a budget. It’s best to divide this into: rights, publicity, set, costume, props, and miscellaneous (ie. for photocopying, and to cover any unforeseen expenses).

Find out exactly how much you will need for each area before buying anything at all, and stick to the constraints that you and your director set.

Think carefully about any hidden costs there might be in production; have you accounted for copyright payments for a show, if there are any? Will the costumes or set be particularly expensive? If one area is considerably expensive in terms of your budget size, then of course you will have to make allowances for that and reduce your budget for other parts of production. Above all remember that you get final say on how much you spend, not your director.

Rights and publicity will almost certainly be your two biggest expenses. Make sure you apply for the rights as soon as possible (if your director applied without you, he or she should already have got a quote, if not, you’ll need to do this). Common places to find rights for shows include:

• Concord Theatrical
• Nick Hern

Keep all receipts as you will need them so you can claim your money back: at the end of the run, you need to submit these receipts to the Treasurer together with a revised version of your budget breakdown, detailing how much you’ve spent on each area.

If you need a large amount of your budget up front, for example to pay for publicity costs, then this can be arranged; you will need to email the Treasurer (or ask your contact to do this on your behalf), who will check your costs and write a cheque for you.

Last but by no means least, remember that you don’t have to spend all of your budget – in fact it’s best to keep well under if you can, that way you are prepared should any surprise costs appear at a late stage.

Other responsibilities

Before you start

Auditions: Make sure you leave all Camdram and Facebook adverts open for a decent period. The committee will assist in this

During the rehearsal period

Booking rooms: If you or your director are in Pembroke, then you can book supervision rooms in your own name for rehearsals at the Porters’ Lodge. If neither of you are in Pembroke, then please try and book rehearsal space in your own college. There is a desperate shortage of rehearsal space in Pembroke, so if you are having difficulties then you can ask your show contact to try and find space in Pembroke. This will usually be limited to one or two times a week, in the evenings or at weekends. On a play-week, New Cellars is block-booked solely for the use of Pembroke Players from the Saturday before the plays go up, so you need to contact the other show to arrange splitting up the time in there for tech and dress rehearsals.

Programmes: Don’t forget to make programmes before the first night. (Always include the Pembroke Players blurb, which can be found if you email your contact.)

Front of House and tickets: The Front of House will be covered by the Pembroke Players committee, so you don’t need to worry about this! You will however need to pick up (and return) a set of keys for the New Cellars and Music Room from the plodge each night.

While the show is on

You may wish to get a stage manager to help you set up and clear away. However, in practice this is rarely necessary in New Cellars, and you can always rope in the cast to help.

Also please remember that:

• The PA system must be locked up each night in the tech cupboard and the chairs put away.
• Any rubbish left by the audience or created during the show must be cleared up immediately after the show.
• The Music room (which acts as a green room for the run of the show) must be completely cleared and then locked each night.
• New Cellar Keys must be returned to the plodge each night (including between main and late shows). The person who signs out the key is responsible for ensuring it gets back to the plodge – not the Players.

After you finish

You need to get all your stuff out of New Cellars (cunningly called the “get-out”).

• The get-out for shows must be completed by 11am Sunday morning.
• Stack chairs in the chair cupboard.
• Put any bought props neatly in the props store, and if possible email your contact a list of what you’ve bought so we can update the list.
• Any props borrowed from college should be returned as soon as possible.
• If stage blocks have been used, these should be stacked in the alcove.
• Put all the tech equipment in the tech cupboard, including lanterns (please ask if you want our Tech rep to help with this)
• Leave New Cellars clean and tidy.
• Enjoy the party! (which, by the way, will probably be left to you to organise!!)