How-to

Tech week, hour by hour

Six sessions take a show from the rehearsal room to an audience. Here is each one, and how you know you are done.

If you're new

Tech is the week the show moves out of the rehearsal room and onto the real stage, with lights, sound, set and costumes added one layer at a time.
It is slow on purpose. Most of the waiting is people fixing things so nobody gets hurt in the dark.
Each session below has a "done when" line. Hit it, then move on.

If you're a pro

Six sessions, paper tech to previews, with the attendee list, a typical length and the exit test for each.Kent StateWTAMU EMU thesis UNI
Two sample days below: a cue-to-cue on a ten out of twelve, and a dress night.Kent StateEMU thesis
Running US and UK rooms? Topping and tailing is the UK name for a cue-to-cue.Theatrecrafts

The shape of the week

A short straight play can tech in a day or two. A professional run takes four to six days. A big musical or university mainstage can take one to two weeks.Kent StateWTAMU Equity (US)
Before actors arrive on a lit stage, the crew hangs and focuses the lights, programs light and sound levels, and (for a musical) holds a sitzprobe with the band.UNI MIT MTG
Tech is the handover. The director leads rehearsals; by the end of tech the stage manager runs the show.UNIKent State

Put dates on your tech week

Session 1 of 6

Paper tech

Glossary entry

When: About 6 to 10 days before opening, before you move into the theatre.UNI MIT MTG EMU thesis UCF
How long: About 4 hours.EMU thesis
Who: Stage manager (running it), director, lighting and sound designers, plus anyone else whose department has cues: projections, set, technical director, costumes if quick changes touch cues, music director. No cast.EMU thesis UCF UNI

What gets done

Go through the script page by page and place every cue: light, sound, projection, scenery, fly, quick change.EMU thesis UCF
Agree on numbering so nobody mishears on headset. Many teams give sound its own range or letters.EMU thesis Theatrecrafts
Pin each cue to an exact trigger: a syllable, a move, a beat of music.EMU thesis UNI
The stage manager writes all of it into the prompt book in pencil, or on sticky tabs.EMU thesisKent State

Watch for

Lighting usually has far more cues than anyone else. Meet the lighting designer first so the others are not sitting idle.
Pen in the book. Every cue will move at least once.Kent State
Marking a whole word as the trigger when the cue really lands on one syllable of it.
Forgetting cues taken by the band or by crew with no headset.

Done when

Every cue and shift is in the book in pencil.
The stage manager knows the order, the trigger and the reason for every cue, with no open questions.
Bonus: the stage manager has practised calling during the last runs in the rehearsal room.

Session 2 of 6

Dry tech

Glossary entry

When: About 4 to 6 days out, after the lights are hung and programmed.WTAMUKent StateUCF Langham Court
How long: Anything from a 4-hour block to a full noon to 11pm day with a dinner break.Kent State
Who: Stage manager (now in charge of the stage), ASMs, director, designers, technical director, board operators and running crew. No cast, except stand-ins walking positions.Kent StateWTAMU

What gets done

Step through every cue in order on headset, setting timings and levels.Kent State
Thin out clusters of cues that are too dense to call; an auto follow can carry some of them.Kent State
Train crew on fly lines, headsets, mics and any automation.Kent StateWTAMU
Choreograph each scene change: first under work lights, then slowly under show light, then at speed.Kent State
The stage manager practises the calling rhythm: warning, standby, go.IU South Bend Emerson

Watch for

Long pauses while designers set levels for the first time. Normal, but plan breaks around it.
Designers arriving without cue lists or pre-programmed states.
Taking the stage to blackout without warning everyone first.
Some directors find a cue run with no actors stressful. Tell them what to expect.
If your scene changes are all done by actors, some programs skip dry tech entirely.Davidson

Done when

Crew know their gear, and every big shift has an owner and a safe path.
Run crew hand in their own cue sheets by the next rehearsal.Kent State
Cues work well enough that actors walk into an organised room.

Session 3 of 6

Cue-to-cue

Glossary entry

When: Usually the tech weekend, 5 to 7 days before opening.UNIKent State
How long: A long day, often 9 to 11 hours, sometimes split over two days.EMU thesisKent State
Who: The full company. Cast usually in clothes the colour of their costumes, never white (it glows under stage light).UNIKent State

What gets done

Start from the top-of-show preset. Actors say the lines around each cue, then skip ahead to the next one.UNI EMU thesis
Walk dark scene changes under work lights first so actors learn their paths safely.Kent State
Walk and time every quick change from exit to re-entrance.Kent State

Watch for

Cap any one problem at about 5 minutes, then move on and fix it after.WTAMU
Actors drifting out of earshot during long waits.
Acting notes in the middle of a cue-to-cue. Save them; the whole crew is on the clock.
Calling a hold during a quick change before seeing whether the actor makes it.
The stage manager spending dinner rewriting scribbled cues. Build that time into the day.

Done when

Every cue and transition, preshow to curtain call, has been done with cast and crew.
Safety problems are solved: glow tape, dark transitions, hazards on the set.
The prompt book is clean enough to call a full run.

Session 4 of 6

Wet tech (stop-and-go run)

Glossary entry

When: Right after cue-to-cue, 3 to 5 days out.WTAMU
How long: A 4-hour evening, or a full ten out of twelve.Kent StateWTAMU
Who: Full company. No costumes, hair or makeup yet, apart from show shoes and anything that changes how someone moves.Kent State

What gets done

Open with a safety walk for the cast: stairs, traps, glow tape, ways in and out.UNIKent State
Some venues require management to sign the stage off as safe before anyone runs.ADC Cambridge
Run the show in order with everything working, stopping only to fix technical problems.Kent StateWTAMU
Hold a production meeting straight after, then send the report.Kent State

Watch for

Unfinished cue-to-cue eating the run.
Stop-and-go breaks the actors' rhythm and shows up shaky lines.UNI
Late notes sessions running into the building curfew.UNI
Chatter on headset during a standby.

Done when

The whole show has run start to finish with every non-costume element.
Every cue, shift and emergency procedure is in the book, and the fixes are logged.

Session 5 of 6

Dress rehearsals

Glossary entry

When: The last 2 to 4 nights before opening or previews.
How long: Around 4 to 5 hours a night, including 60 to 90 minutes of prep before the top.
Who: Everyone, now including wardrobe, dressers, hair and makeup. Final dress may add a photographer and a small invited audience.

What gets done

Run under show conditions: the half hour call, places, fight calls, mic checks, timed intervals.
First dress adds costumes. The next adds hair and makeup.
Final dress is a performance. No stops unless someone is unsafe.
Tech notes while the cast changes, then the director's notes to actors.

Watch for

Prep taking longer than planned. Wigs, mics and makeup all need the same mirrors.
Costume surprises: slippery shoes, failing zips, quick changes that cannot be made.
Allergies to makeup or food props that nobody mentioned.
New props or rewrites appearing at dress. Nothing should be new by now.

Done when

Final dress runs without stopping, safely, with everything working the same way twice.
Nothing on stage is new.
With no previews, the director gives final notes and hands the show to the stage manager.

Session 6 of 6

Previews

Glossary entry

When: Between final dress and opening night. One or two nights in community and school theatre; a week or more in regional and commercial runs.
How long: A show each evening, often with 4 to 5 hours of work in the afternoon.
Who: The full running company, the director and designers, the playwright on a new play, and a paying audience.

What gets done

Evenings: perform, and watch where the audience laughs, goes quiet or gets lost.
Afternoons: notes and fixes, from small cue tweaks to cut songs on a new work.
Under Equity rules the first paid public performance moves the contract out of tech and into the run.Equity (US)

Watch for

Previews can be harder than tech: rehearsing all afternoon and performing every night.
Trying to change more in an afternoon than people can safely absorb by curtain.
Holding for a laugh that last night's audience gave and tonight's does not.

Done when

The show is frozen a few days before opening: no more script, staging or design changes.
From opening night the stage manager keeps the show as it was frozen.

Two days, hour by hour

Shift the clock to fit your venue. The proportions are the useful part: a long tech day is mostly waiting, and a dress night is mostly prep.

A cue-to-cue dayKent StateEMU thesis

10:00 Crew call. Stage set to the top of show, headsets checked.
12:00 Cast on stage. Hard start, from the preset.
17:00 Dinner, one hour. Stage manager cleans up the book.
18:00 Back where you stopped.
22:30 Stop. Notes and tomorrow's plan.
23:00 Out of the building.

A dress night

18:00 Company call. Wigs, makeup, mics, warm-ups.
18:45 Fight call and any lifts on stage.
19:00 Half-hour call. Checks done, crew on preset.
19:30 Places. Go.
22:00 Curtain down. Tech notes while the cast changes.
22:30 Director's notes to the cast, then home.

Keep going

Build a prompt bookWhat goes in the book, in what order, and how it runs tech and every show.Your first week, by roleCheat sheets for stage managers, ASMs, directors and more.School, community, pro and UK theatreWho calls the show, what the rules are and what everything is called, side by side.

Sources

Written in my own words from handbooks, guides and rulebooks I read for this suite. Tags beside each point show where it comes from.