Better three hours too soon than a minute too late. -William Shakespeare

Everyone in theatre has heard it before, "If you're early, you're on time. If you're on time, you're late." We hear it from the first rehearsal of our first show and for every first rehearsal after. But the point of this post isn't about being 10 minutes early to appointments, interviews, rehearsals and auditions. It's time management in the grander sense.

Recently, I was asked to direct two plays but two different playwrights at two different theaters. The first was offered to me two weeks before opening and the second was offered three weeks before opening. The former I took as it was a simple script and I, by chance, had actors readily available to do the parts. The latter, however, I was annoyed by. The playwright specified several video montages, whole and broken laptops, a cast of seven men. Now, video montages take time to create! You need to find someone to create them (hopefully for free as it is theatre we're discussing). Then, the clips must be found or shot. Then, edited. Then, worked into the play and most likely edited again. This is a serious process. Then we come to the problem of finding or creating something that looks like a broken laptop. Also no small feat. Finally, the cast of seven men. Now, I did find a way to get it down to five men, I could even stretch it to four if I wanted to muddle things up, but men are harder to tie down into a part than into a relationship! Every actor that I have ever had pull out of a show has been a man. I don't begrudge them, really. Good men are a hot commodity in theatre and good for them for knowing it.

My point is that this was a play that required preparation and the work of at least one person besides me (I am not skilled in the art of editing video). I had three weeks in which to cast, rehearse and produce the technical aspects of this play. For those of you who are unclear on the time it takes to put a show together, usually, even if you are casting by calling and asking people to do roles, it will take you three days to fill your parts. With men, I'd say a week. That leaves two weeks for rehearsal. With everyone's schedules to consider, you'll probably get three rehearsals a week, four if you're lucky. Then you have to spend the rest of your time figuring out the video, looking for props, and doing all the things the theatre needs you to do like gather bios and confer about your lighting and sound needs (ah yes, sound, another thing to worry about). This process should really start at 5 weeks from tech. And yes, those two weeks make a WORLD of difference.

The playwright did not take any of this into consideration. He was late late late. In theatre, as in any business, it is vital that you be able to think ahead to manage your time in the greater sense. Actors: how long will it take you not just to learn the lines but to feel at home with them and ready to make them a part of your character? Designers: How can you manage your time so you have room to adjust the costumes or set, not just finish before the curtain goes up? Producers: How long do you need for each leg of this journey we call putting up a show? Development? Fundraising? Casting? Publicity?

Always give yourself more time than you need because you will actually end up needing it! My writing partner and I made a somewhat difficult decision just last month. We are writing a new musical and were planning on submitting it to NYMF (New York Musical Theatre Festival) on March 1 for the 2010 season. However, when we sat down and evaluated the time we needed to create an exceptional show instead of just getting it in in by March 1 (and you know it would have been sliding into NYMF's offices at 4:59pm that day), we decided we'd put it off and wait until next year. It killed me to do that because I wanted to get our show out there! But, with this new timeline, we can have readings, create quality demos, put together a band and really produce something professional and fantastic.

So, to leave you with something specific, here is the schedule I'd recommend for a 15-20 minute play (this is because a short play can be a pressure cooker when thrown together in the last minute and because you will usually be given no more than one hour and sometimes as little as 20 minutes to tech):

6 weeks until tech: offer show and send script to director, designers, stage manager
5 weeks until tech: show has been cast and production people are in place
4 weeks until tech: have had a read through and production meeting plus at least one other rehearsal (probably table work)
3 weeks until tech: Director is focusing on blocking (2-3 rehearsals in this week of at least 2 hours each). Directors should know the ground plan before going into this rehearsal. Designers have presented director with the start or rough draft of their designs
2 weeks until tech: Director is working with actors focusing on specific scenes (3-4 rehearsals in this week of at least 2 hours each). Off book date is at the start of this week. Designers present director with a "second to final" product that director can tweak and approve.
1 week until tech: Director is running show with actors (at least 3 rehearsals of at least 2 hours each this week). Designers are supplying final products for rehearsals. Sound is being used in rehearsals.
Tech: Director goes into tech with annotated script for board op and with a clear idea of what lights and set should look like so there is time to work out issues that will only present themselves when you arrive in the space.

Hope this helps!
Be happy, be brilliant!