We admit it: we are first-time producers who have never been involved in any production before, let alone a musical. So we are often asked how we were able to go from script to performance in five months and “pull it all off” so successfully? When we are at the theatre conference later this week, the session we are running will answer that precise question. But for now, here is our handy-dandy how-to guide.
The short answer is that it was a lot of hard work, sweat, and worry. But if you need it broken down further, here is our month-by-month replay:
1) Month one: Reach out to everyone we know who had done ANYTHING in theatre at ANY point in their lives, and ask two questions: (1) What do we need to know/where to start? and (2) Who else can you connect us to who might be helpful? This process, repeated dozens of times, helped us solve the “You don’t know what you don’t know” problem. Or at least it got us 95% there.
2) Month two: Recruit a director, and then cast for the parts. We had to figure out what we needed, where to advertise, what questions to ask, how much to pay, and more. We also took care of the logistics – from contracts, to scripts/music, to rehearsal spaces, to building the marketing collateral, and more. We invested a huge amount of time at this point for one simple reason: People make theatre happen.
3) Month three: Finalize cast and crew, begin rehearsals; Build our social media and email outreach. We spent a ton of time supporting the director and cast – our work was to clear the way so they could focus on their work.
4) Month four: Rehearsals, keeping the cast and crew motivated: ramping up partner communications and ticket sales.
5) Month five: Rehearsals go “off book”, blocking complete, wardrobe, lighting design, video backdrop, pop-up performances. Beyond the mechanical, the cast really understand their characters and it shows in their acting, singing, and dancing.
6) Performance!
Our hidden secret: Setting up a collaborative environment, then using the right tools (Trello and Google Docs) to make sure nothing slipped through the cracks.
Our “real” hidden secret: An incredible creative team, cast, and crew.
At the conference, we’re sure we’ll figure out that we missed some short-cuts, but we also hope that our presentation also adds some “out-of-the-box” thinking for others.
The video shown is of the cast during one of the rehearsals, just starting to put together a scene.