Question about Broadway rehearsal periods

[carolinaguy]

Posted: 3/4/20 at 12:51pm

Just out of curiosity, for those who work in the business: What is the schedule like during the typical Broadway rehearsal period? How many days per week and hours per day is common? And do actors get paid their full salary during rehearsal, or does that only start with performances?

I've read that during previews a cast will typically rehearse changes all day and perform at night, but is the schedule that demanding during rehearsals?

Thanks!

[Ledaero]

Posted: 3/5/20 at 2:25am

I can't confirm, but I believe actors are paid their full salary starting on the first day of rehearsal. Shows typically rehearse 6 days/wk, 10am-6pm before tech. Tech is longer with 10 out of 12's, but I believe each employee on the production (actors, designers, crew, etc) aren't called for more than 8 hrs/day otherwise overtime begins to accumulate and producers get concerned. In previews, the actors still are only called maximum 8 hrs/day for the same reason. So if the show is 2.5 hours long, they'll only rehearse the actors for a maximum of 5 hours (often calling in actors only as needed and in blocks of time).

You can think of this really as a 9 to 5 job. The hours are different and clearly the job is, but Broadway is a business and has to follow the same fiscal laws that all other institutions have to follow, so weekly hours and pay logistics follow suit.

[willep]

Posted: 3/5/20 at 8:52am

Ledaero said: "...Tech is longer with 10 out of 12's, but I believe each employee on the production (actors, designers, crew, etc) aren't called for more than 8 hrs/day otherwise overtime begins to accumulate and producers get concerned...

Ten out of twelves are exactly what the name implies, the actors are there for 10 hours with a two hour meal break. Designers are potentially there much longer on those days.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 3/5/20 at 9:22am

Plus, the Union requires a mandatory 10 minute break every hour.

[kingjames2]

Posted: 3/5/20 at 9:39am

For a typical Broadway show, the actors will rehearse in a rehearsal room for around 3 weeks, six days per week (Monday used to be the standard day off, but Sundays off is now becoming more common). Shows that are opening cold might have a longer rehearsal period and shows that are coming in from a tryout more or less intact might have less. The hours are either an 8 hour day with a one hour meal break (10-6 or 9-5) or the company can elect to do what's called a "straight-six" where you rehearse for 6 hours with a 20 minute break in the middle. 

Once technical rehearsals begin ("tech", a typical 10/12 day has the following schedule:

• 8am-11am: Work notes with the crew (set changes, rigging, lighting changes, physical construction, etc).
• 11am-12pm: Crew lunch
• 12pm: Actors called to get into costume/wigs/microphones
• 12:30-5pm: Technical rehearsal onstage
• 5pm-7pm: Actor dinner break
• 5pm-6pm: Crew dinner break
• 6pm-7pm: Crew work notes on stage with no actors
• 7pm-7:30pm: Actors get back into costumes/mics
• 7:30pm-12am: Resume rehearsal onstage
• 12am: director, designers, and technical staff heads gather for a meeting about the day's work and the upcoming schedule

The show will have a certain number allocated 10 out of 12s and a greater number of "8 out of 10s" which follow the same idea with two less hours of rehearsal. 8 out of 10s might mean a work call from 8am-12pm with a 1pm start onstage, for instance. (And as I can tell you from personal experience, these days are brutally long, especially for a crew member or designer working from 8am to past midnight six days a week).

A Broadway show will typically tech anywhere from 4 days for a very simple play to up to five weeks for an incredibly complicated musical. But the more time you're in tech rehearsals, the less opportunity you have to sell tickets and make money, so producers push to have only as many tech rehearsals that the show needs to get up and running.

During the preview process, a typical Broadway show starting immediately with 8 performance weeks will generally rehearse Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays for four hours each day (12-4 or 1-5, depending on curtain time) followed by a performance. Occasionally a show will do a 7 show week during previews to allow for an extra day of rehearsal on Wednesday or Saturday. This schedule will generally continue for a few weeks until the show is considered "frozen" (no more changes will be made), critics are invited, and then the show officially opens. The length of the preview process is highly dependent on the type of show, how complicated/new it is, etc, but the overall schedule will have been worked out months in advance between the creative team, producers, and technical staff.

Again, this is a sort of average/typical scenario. There's a lot of variability show to show but this is a basic baseline. 

Updated On: 3/5/20 at 09:39 AM

[kingjames2]

Posted: 3/5/20 at 9:42am

BrodyFosse123 said: "Plus, the Union requires a mandatory 10 minute break every hour."

Equity mandates a 5 minute break after 55 minutes of rehearsal or a 10 minute break after 80 minutes of rehearsal. IATSE break rules are different and are generally less stringent (one 15 minute break in the middle of a four or five hour call).

[brendcat]

Posted: 3/5/20 at 11:57am

This is an intense schedule, and then somehow they add in time for press interviews with cast and creatives...is that time in their contracts or compensated?

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 3/5/20 at 12:40pm

brendcat said: "This is an intense schedule, and then somehow they add in time for press interviews with cast and creatives...is that time in their contracts or compensated?"

Actors are not compensated for press appearances, though principals often have grooming (clothes/hair/makeup), transportation, and/or food contractually provided to them for press appearances. Higher-level individuals may also have specifications about when they will and won't do press (i.e. not on rehearsal days in previews) or how much press they're willing to do.

[carolinaguy]

Posted: 3/5/20 at 12:45pm

And in Bette's case in Dolly, wasn't the amount she was willing to do none? :)

 

Thanks for the information, folks!

[Alex Kulak2]

Posted: 3/5/20 at 2:11pm

kingjames2 said: "BrodyFosse123 said: "Plus, the Union requires a mandatory 10 minute break every hour."

Equity mandates a 5 minute break after 55 minutes of rehearsal or a 10 minute break after 80 minutes of rehearsal. IATSE break rules are different and are generally less stringent (one 15 minute break in the middle of a four or five hour call)."

One of my acting professors told me that a skill an actor has to learn is how to smoke a cigarette in 7 1/2 minutes. You get a ten minute break every 80 minutes, it takes 1 1/2 minutes to walk outside and 1 1/2 minutes to walk inside, so you have to go through a whole smoke break in 7 1/2 minutes

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 3/5/20 at 9:31pm

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "brendcat said: "This is an intense schedule, and then somehow they add in time for press interviews with cast and creatives...is that time in their contracts or compensated?"

Actors are notcompensated for press appearances, though principals oftenhave grooming (clothes/hair/makeup), transportation, and/or food contractually provided to them for press appearances. Higher-level individuals may also have specifications about when they will and won't do press (i.e. not on rehearsal days in previews) or how much press they're willing to do."

They may not receive additional compensation, but the time does come out of the allowed hours for the week. 

[Speed]

Posted: 3/6/20 at 8:53am

I've done shows in which rehearsals and performances were paid differently.  I can't remember if it was this way when I was on Broadway as it was a long time ago.  But I do remember doing an opera at Lincoln Center and I was paid one sum for the rehearsal period and then I was paid a certain amount PER performance.  When I did Radio City Christmas Spectacular, I was paid per performance on the AGMA contract.  That was even longer ago so I don't know if it's the same now.