Hi,

Does anybody out there have any society rules that I can pinch (on the basis that well stolen is half done!)

What I'm looking at are rules about timekeeping, attendance, responsibility for costumes etc...

Rather than re-inventing the wheel (which I could do) does anyone already have one?!

Any word.doc taht I could cut and paste from would be helpful..

Cheers.

Sedg.

Don't have any that are email-able but I have a hard copy I can copy and post/fax to you if you like. Let me know if you don't have any joy with other societies and I'll then send them. But email me with your details rather than posting here.

I find each director tends to have their own rules. I know some rather lax directors who always starte rehearsals a quarter of an hour late to allow for latecomers, thus annoying those who turn up on time, for example.

I tend to issue a friendly notice at my group audition, outlining more or less what I expect.

When I write to people and offer them roles, I give them a nice friendly letter but making sure they are under no illusions - these shows cost a huge amount of money to put on, and the people watching them expect very high standards.

I find that if I'm up front about absences, lateness, everything right down to what time to arrive at the theatre for the dress rehearsal so you'd better make sure you've allowed for it - they do tend to respect it, and you can always casually reinforce it at rehearsals. I usually have a short "notices" section at some point during each rehearsal, and I try to get other committee members or production team members to say a few words about something that needs reiterating - so that it doesn't all come from me and make me out to be the Big Bad Wolf.

So basically, what I'm saying is that we do tend to all direct differently and want different things from our team.

Just a thought!

We dont have hard set down society rules but we give the prompt start times on the rehearsal schedule, asking them to come 15 minutes before to get drinks, chats and ablutions out of the way. If they're not there, we start without them and they'll miss rehearsing their section. It has worked quite well. Mobiles must be off or silenced, wanderers are fetched immediately and talkers are silenced and beaten by our Chairwoman (also our Production co-ordinator!) Attendance isn't really a problem as our cast tend to let us know before hand and we have a form listing dates and they fill this in for their holidays, etc so we can work around them.
I think as a director or Production Team, you can make the rules and make sure they are enforced. This works well for our small group anyway.

Sedg - am curious to know. Have you had problems with things like timekeeping, costumes etc that has lead you to do this?

No, I know what you mean. I had a big row with a member of cast who didn't turn up to 3 rehearsals in a row so I phoned her to check she was ok (sensible, after all!) only to be given a complete shoutdown about how it's "only her hobby" and she "wouldn't be dictated to as though she was at work" and "it's only amdram". Apparently she'd had a tiring time at work so decided to have a night in every night.

Needless to say the person concerned wasn't required at any further rehearsals. We all know it's a hobby and that everyone has to work too, but the paying audience still expects a good well-rehearsed show at the end of it.