This guide will help you understand the steps you’ll need to take on the day of your recital if no stage manager is available to work your concert.
Arriving at the venue
You should arrive at the venue one hour prior to your start time. Enter through backstage, turn on the house lights and prepare the stage for your recital.
Unlocking the house doors
When you’re ready to let your audience in, proceed through the house and prop open one of the house doors so that audience can enter. There is a music stand there where you can place your concert programs.
Timing for your concert
It is important that your concert start right on time. If you run late, it may negatively impact your recording and/or other recitalists using the hall.
Thinking through your stage changes
If you have any changes to the stage during your performance, it would be useful for you to think through who will be moving stands/chairs. You may, of course, do this yourself but depending on what needs to be done it could be useful to recruit a member of your studio to assist. If you have collaborators for your recital, you will also want to involve them in this process and make sure they will know that no stage manager will be present. Think about whether it will be easy for everyone to enter and exit the stage between pieces. The most important thing will be to step through your program and imagine how it will flow — ideally during your dress rehearsal. This will help you plan for potential challenges before your audience is in the hall.
Operating the lights
The lights in Recital Studio can be controlled by the buttons just inside the backstage door. The controller is a black button box with notes taped to it. Use a “Pre-performance” setting until you are ready to perform. When you’re ready to go on stage, switch the setting to “Performance” to bring down the house lights and bring up the stage lights to full. Watch the lights while you operate the controls to make sure they’re responding as expected.
Resetting the hall
Be sure to clear the stage, turn off all lights, close the house doors, when you are finished. No need to lock the house doors in RS.
If you have questions about any of this, please contact the production manager (tweller@austin.utexas.edu).