Planning and Rehearsing

Planning and rehearsing involves working with the cast and crew to prepare for the live virtual performance.

Design Planning
You will need to work with your designers to plan out what must be down to put the performance together, as well as how to do so.

You will want to meet with your designers at the beginning of the process to discuss what you are expecting from the aesthetic qualities of the performance and the budgets with which your designers will be working, as well as listen to your designers' ideas on how to bring these aesthetics into reality.

From then on, you will want to set up a series of deadlines for your designers to meet, such as:


 * submission of preliminary designs.
 * submission of final designs.
 * submission of the designed objects or processes.
 * placement of these objects and processes in the actors' homes in preparation for the performance.
 * testing of these objects and processes during a rehearsal of the performance.

Keep in contact with your designers and schedule regular check-ins with them. These check-ins can be formal, with itemized agendas, or informal chats. However, each meeting should involve checking in with what the designers have accomplished since the last meeting, and confirming what they will be preparing for the next meeting.

Performance Rehearsing
You will also need to work with your actors to prepare them for how they will act out the text during the performance.

You will want to meet regularly with your actors in sessions known as "rehearsals," when you and the actors:


 * discuss the characters which they will be portraying.
 * practice acting out different scenes.
 * adjust performances and movement.

Each rehearsal should also start with a series of stretches and warm-ups, such as:


 * guided meditation.
 * muscular stretches.
 * tongue twisters (ex: "Red leather, yellow leather.").

You should also establish a deadline for when actors should be off-book -- meaning that they have fully memorized their lines and do not need to consult their scripts.

Technical Rehearsals
As you get closer to the beginning of your live virtual performance(s), you should begin what are known as technical rehearsals. These are rehearsals which are performed as though they were real performances for an audience. These rehearsals should include all the actors, as well as sets, props, costumes, lighting, makeup, sound, etc. Performing technical rehearsals will give you and your cast/crew a clearer sense of what is working and what is not working in the performance.