Chapter 3 Summary

Personnel for the Theatre:

Humphrey Bogart said: A professional is a guy who does his job well - even when he doesn't feel like it!

A professional in regards to this chapter is someone who is paid to work, and their work is of a high quality. A nonprofessional is someone who works without monetary compensation (despite other rewards.)Theatre productions and companies are comprised of three levels of personnel and three divisions of labor:
1) leadership level (producer/board/theatre owner)
2) management level (artistic/managing directors)
3) staff level (artistic, production, administration)
a minimum staff requirement is a healthy idea for all theatres. A theatre should know the minimum people that it needs to run, and in times of hardship job doubling can save money for the theatre. To attract applicants a eye and attention catching ad must be written. It should explicitly describe the job position so an applicant knows what will be required of them. The job should be broadcast in many localities - newspaper, internet, word of mouth, and places specific to theatre. A standard interview and subsequent training should follow. Personnel should be supervised according to their realm of work (a concessions worker over seen by a concessions manager). communication is important to let employees know how they're doing. job reviews should be held on a regular basis. U.S. labor laws should be taken into account and followed for all workers. The book goes into much technical detail about the union and labor laws - not very pertinent to my current theatre experience. Other people who need to managed carefully are the volunteers, interns, apprentices, and students. They are a unique worker, and need to be handled so. Any person who is in charge of others in the theatre dept should be aware of the artistic temperament, and know how to deal with "a diva."