The Costume Supervisor’s Toolkit explores the responsibilities of a Costume Supervisor within a theatrical, opera or dance production company. Rebecca Pride provides an insight into all manner of processes, beginning with a definition of the role, and offers explanations of the timeline from the first design meetings, leading all the way up to managing fittings and final rehearsals. This how-to guide outlines best working practices, including building a team and creating a Costume Bible, whilst also providing helpful resources such as sizing guides, a list of useful addresses, and case studies from renowned theatrical organizations.
The Costume Designer’s Toolkit explores the wide-ranging skills required to design costumes for live performance in theatre, dance, opera, and themed entertainment. Arranged in chronological order to create a design, each chapter describes tools, strategies, and techniques costume designers use to create lively and believable characters within a story environment. The book provides a step-by-step outline of the costume design process beginning with developing as an artist and creating an artistic vision for a script. It covers a wide range of topics, including: Assessing the scope of a production Understanding design thinking and the creative process Project management and budget forecasting Collaborating with and leading creative teams Current practices in costume rendering and communication Mixing purchased, rented, stock, and built costumes to form a design Designing a garment with impact Fitting costumes on performers Combining grit and grace for a successful career Each topic includes case studies and tips from experienced professionals, identifies vital skills, describes techniques, and reveals the essential elements of artistic leadership, collaboration, and cultural acumen. The Costume Designer’s Toolkit is the perfect guidebook for the student, aspiring, or early-career costume designer, to be used alone or in costume design university courses.
"Our theater world is so much better with this book in it, and even better with Cary and Jay at the helm." –David Stewart, Director of Production for the Guthrie Theater The Production Manager’s Toolkit is a comprehensive introduction to a career in theatrical and special event production for new and aspiring professionals, given by expert voices in the field. The book discusses management techniques, communication skills, and relationship building tactics to create effective and successful production managers. With a focus on management theory, advice from top production managers provide insights into budgeting, scheduling, meetings, hiring, maintaining safety, and more. Through interviews and case studies, the history and techniques of production management are explored throughout a variety of entertainment venues: theatre, dance, opera, and special events. The book includes references, tools, templates, and checklists; and a companion website contains downloadable paperwork and links to other useful resources such as unions, venues, and vendors. This book is written for student and professional production managers.
"Nearly four hundred and fifty years in, ballet still resonates-though the stages have become international, and the dancers, athletes far removed from noble amateurs. While vibrations from the form's beginnings clearly resound, much has transformed. Nowadays ballet dancers aspire to work across disciplines with choreographers who value a myriad of abilities. Dance theorists and historians make known possibilities and polemics in lieu of notating dances verbatim, and critics do the daily work of recording performance histories and interviewing artists. Ideas circulate, questions arise, and discussions about how to resist ballet's outmoded traditions take precedence. In the dance community, calls for innovation have defined palpable shifts in ballet's direction and resultantly we have arrived at a new moment in its history that is unquestionably recognized as a genre onto its own: Contemporary Ballet. An aspect of this recent discipline is that its dancemakers, more often than not, seek to reorient the viewer by celebrating what could be deemed vulnerabilities, re-construing ideals of perfection, problematizing the marginalized/mainstream dichotomy, bringing audiences closer in to observe, and letting the art become an experience rather than a distant object preciously guarded out of reach. Hence, the practice of ballet is moving to become a less-mediated and more active process in many circumstances. Performers and audiences alike are challenged, and while convention is still omnipresent, choices are being made. For some, this approach has been drawn on for decades, and for others it signifies a changing of the guard, yet however we arrive there, the conclusion is the same: Contemporary Ballet is not a style. That is to say, it is not a trend, phase, or fashionable term that will fade, rather it is a clear period in ballet's time deserved of investigation. And it is into this moment that we enter"--
In the world of theatre, the technical director is responsible for overseeing the safe and efficient realization and implementation of scenery for the stage. The Technical Director’s Toolkit is the first book to address every nut and bolt of this multifaceted job. This book guides readers though the step-by-step processes of technical direction and the responsibilities of the TD in the mounting of a theatrical production. Leadership, management, relationship building, personal responsibility, and problem solving are addressed, demonstrating not only how to become a more efficient and effective TD, but also how to be a collaborative member of a production team that artists will seek to work with again and again. The book also addresses scene shop design, facility repair and maintenance, and finishes with a brief overview of other areas of technical theatre that help round out the far reaching skill set of a successful TD. This book is perfect for university courses in Stagecraft and Technical Direction and for the aspiring Technical Director.
The Wardrobe Supervisor's Toolkit: A Comprehensive Guide to Wardrobe is a complete resource for organizing and streamlining the wardrobe process for any live production, with tips and tricks to quickly and seamlessly dress performers for their next scene. This book offers a foundation for anyone wishing to improve their wardrobe skills, as well as specific steps for universities and theatre companies to implement into their wardrobe process. Elizabeth Polley draws on professional experiences to provide clear directions, numerous examples, practical forms and lists, and advice for keeping calm and bringing order to backstage costume changes. This toolkit includes paperwork samples, quick-change tricks, laundry solutions, dress rehearsal recommendations, items to have in a wardrobe kit, and much more. This book is written for new and emerging Wardrobe professionals and Costume Shop Managers, as well as students in technical theatre courses, including Costume Technology, Costume Design, Stage Management, and Production Management.
As a Stage Manager, you are responsible for organizing rehearsals, running performances, and keeping everyone and everything on track and in sync. To do the job well, you need to be a communication wizard—able to collect a wide range of details and share them as effectively as possible. The Stage Manger’s Toolkit is more than another overview book which generalizes how to be a Stage Manager. It presents the day-to-day duties in detail—discussing not only what to do but also why. Focusing on communication best practices, the book explores objectives, paperwork, and the questions that need to be asked in order to ensure a smooth production whether on Broadway, at a university, or somewhere in between. Introduces strategies for sharing information both in person and in writing Explores how document design can enhance the accessibility and effectiveness of your reports, charts, and lists Contains principles for web-based information sharing as well as hard-copy paperwork Provides customizable paperwork templates on the accompanying website, allowing you to put the ideas to work on your own show Other features: Organized based on the chronology of a typical theatre production: pre-production work, rehearsals, the tech period, performances, and post-production duties. In each section, the book outlines the objectives for the stage manager and the communication techniques that will ensure success. Provides examples of paperwork a stage manager commonly works with, including variations for plays and musicals, shortcuts for shows on an abbreviated time table, and strategies for maintaining consistency and legibility. The book highlights differences the stage manager may encounter when working on professional and academic productions.
Author Rich Dionne reframes theatre production as a project and provides essential tools for understanding and managing it efficiently, whether it be a stage play, an opera, a dance piece, or other performance that requires the collaboration of the artists and artisans creating the visual and aural landscape for it. Project Planning for the Stage is organized into four sections corresponding to the life cycle of a theatre production: defining the goals and scope of the production and assembling the crew; planning, estimating, and scheduling; executing and managing; and closing and strike. Each section focuses on relevant concepts and skills and outlines the application of effective project-planning procedures and techniques—including critical path analysis and Gantt charts. This book will be a valuable addition to the libraries of technical managers in live entertainment. Technical directors, costume shop managers, master electricians, properties masters, and video supervisors—anyone managing even part of a production—need to understand project-planning concepts such as the boundaries of authority and responsibility, parametric and bottom-up estimates, and precedence diagrams. The incredibly useful and powerful tools outlined in this book allow any technical manager to deliver the best possible outcome for a production.
Scores of talented and dedicated people serve the forensic science community, performing vitally important work. However, they are often constrained by lack of adequate resources, sound policies, and national support. It is clear that change and advancements, both systematic and scientific, are needed in a number of forensic science disciplines to ensure the reliability of work, establish enforceable standards, and promote best practices with consistent application. Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward provides a detailed plan for addressing these needs and suggests the creation of a new government entity, the National Institute of Forensic Science, to establish and enforce standards within the forensic science community. The benefits of improving and regulating the forensic science disciplines are clear: assisting law enforcement officials, enhancing homeland security, and reducing the risk of wrongful conviction and exoneration. Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States gives a full account of what is needed to advance the forensic science disciplines, including upgrading of systems and organizational structures, better training, widespread adoption of uniform and enforceable best practices, and mandatory certification and accreditation programs. While this book provides an essential call-to-action for congress and policy makers, it also serves as a vital tool for law enforcement agencies, criminal prosecutors and attorneys, and forensic science educators.
Documentary films have enjoyed a huge resurgence over the last few years, and there's a new generation of filmmakers wanting to get involved. In addition, the digital revolution has made documentaries even more accessible to the general filmmaker. Documentary films can now be shot professionally using cheaper equipment, and smaller cameras enable the documentarian to be less intrusive and therefore more intimate in the subjects' lives. With an increasing number of documentaries making it to the big screen (and enjoying ongoing sales on DVD), the time is right for an information-packed handbook that will guide new filmmakers towards potential artistic and commercial success. The Documentary Film Makers Handbook features incisive and helpful interviews with dozens of industry professionals, on subjects as diverse as interview techniques, the NBC News Archive, music rights, setting up your own company, the Film Arts Foundation, pitching your proposal, the Sundance Documentary Fund, the Documentary Channel, the British Film Council, camera hire, filmmaking ethics, working with kids, editing your documentary, and DVD distribution. The book also includes in-depth case studies of some of the most successful and acclaimed documentary films of recent years, including Mad Hot Ballroom, Born Into Brothels, Touching the Void, Beneath the Veil,and Amandla! The Documentary Film Makers Handbook will be an essential resource for anyone who wants to know more about breaking into this exciting field.
