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Scene Nights are when members of the Ensemble perform a group of both Shakespearean and non-Shakespearean scenes in one night of fun. Usually they are organized by the Officer-at-Large for recruitment events at CPW and/or REX, though this won't necessarily be the case with all scene nights. This document describes how to organize a scene night, including examples of organizational spreadsheets and surveys from the CPW 2016 Scene Night. Feel free to 100% plagiarize any and all of those example documents.

Organizing a Scene Night

Step 1: Send an email to gather ideas for scenes

This email should be sent about three weeks before the scene night, or after the spring term show is over for a CPW scene night. It can be pretty simple email where you have people reply-all with ideas for scenes we can perform. You should also announce the time and date for the scene night and the time for any rehearsals that we've decided on.

The spreadsheet of ideas we collected CPW 2016 here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1SpPT8dPppJ7ZiF-cmUPr7MMYD6PRsx9mM9bvg1Fb6WU/edit?usp=sharing

Step 2: Decide on scenes

Chances are, there will be more scenes suggested than we can perform in one hour, so you must choose which scenes we will actually do! Weed out scenes you don't think would be fun/appropriate/doable. Try to choose a combination of Shakespeare and Non-Shakespeare; usually mostly comedy with some interspersed drama/tragedy makes for a good balance. You don't need to pin down the show order for the scenes you choose yet, though you may if you're feeling inspired.

This step is entirely you - no need to send out a survey or anything - but you can of course consult officers or other members for suggestions.

Step 3: Announce scenes and send out casting survey

Announce the scenes we're doing! You should include scripts to all the scenes in this email (as links or attachments). Get scripts from people who suggested scenes if you can't get them yourself.

To decide casting, have people fill out a survey like this one: https://goo.gl/forms/TvyrSM15Zh7xMATR2. It's important to specify how many actors of what gender are involved in each scene. You also should do whatever you can to gauge interest levels of people so that tetrising is easier. The "which scene is most important for you to be a part of" question is especially helpful.

Step 4: Tetris actors and directors

Once you have results from the casting survey described above, you must figure out who is acting in what. If you run into problems, cater more towards preferences of seniors, then juniors, sophomores, freshmen. Additionally, if scenes are repeats from previous scene nights, you should check with the actors who did it last time if you want to cast other people in those scenes.

You should also find directors for most scenes to oversee them, guide blocking, and make sure they're rehearsed well by the performance. If scenes have more than 2 people, they should have a director. For scenes with 2 or fewer people, ask the actors if they want a director. For scenes of any size being repeated from a term show, you probably don't need a director unless significant changes are being made. For scenes that are repeats from previous years, you probably don't need a director if the actors are the same.

Step 5: Announce casting!

Once you have a full cast list for every scene, send out the casting in an email. Spreadsheets like this one are helpful: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13ttpIPNCQttijamcODqZpHbI2DRbeAUDeBOmHFXYLDw/edit?usp=sharing

Have directors coordinate rehearsals as they desire (you don't have to worry about individual rehearsals!). You should also remind people of the dress rehearsal time, date, and location, and announce that actors must be off-book for the dress rehearsal.

Step 6: Dress rehearsal and tech

You run the dress rehearsal (if you can't, delegate to someone else, but you probably will know the most about Scene Night at this point). Make sure everyone is there. By this time, you should have decided on a scene order so that you can rehearse the scene transitions.

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In terms of tech, usually all we have for scene nights is props and costumes. You should also have directors list props and costumes necessary for their scenes in the spreadsheet above. This will be helpful to reference on the day of Scene Night. If there is other tech like sound or lights, do whatever is necessary to make that happen. For example, a lighting designer should probably come to the dress rehearsal so that they can see what lighting is necessary/possible.

Step 7: SCENE NIGHT!

It's the night of the performance! Have all actors and any techies meet in the Ensemble Office 1.5 hours before it the show starts. People will gather props and costumes and then head over to the performance room together.

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