in this video we're going to discuss the structure of a production the structure of a production that's kind of the hierarchy of things in production that deal with pecking order who answers in this person what group of people answers that this person who's in charge of this who gets to override this that's what I mean by structure of a production and let's get this out of the way first obviously and ultimately the playwright is the first person in this structure the playwright being the person who writes the script they are ultimately the top individual and the structure of production simply because it's the playwright who gives us influence on every aspect of a given play a playwright influences every creative decision every technical decision every crafted decision that's ever made with a given production a director you know kind of gets to call most of the shots once the production makes it to the stage and people start to go to work but still the director hasn't worked within the margins provided by the playwright an actor has to work within the margins provided by the director and the playwright a designer like an actor has to work within the margins provided by the director and the playwright but a playwright has no margins from which to work they are the ones who provide all of the material that we production participants consult with in putting together our final product now playwrights if you think about it this is an obvious note don't have to be involved in production as a matter of fact most playwrights are not involved in production well the obvious would be most playwrights are dead they've been writing plays since as early as 3000 BC therefore they're not they're not around to be involved in production William shakes is not going to be on stage being involved in a next production of Romeo and Juliet with the exception of the fact that he's all over it because it's his script that everyone's consulting - even playwrights today they're still alive today and writing plays for Broadway they're not involved in the production we we will talk about the playwright later in the semester in a different video and you will learn a playwrights today they serve purely an artistic purpose they are not involved in the hands-on activities that take place in bringing a script to life on stage so let's get rid of that part knowing that the playwright writes the play therefore is at the top of the structure let's talk about the real world when all of us grab a script we grab our tools or paintbrushes you know the actors I grab their pencil and director takes notes and we start to put this thing of life let's talk about the structure of the production as it is being brought to life on stage once a play is written it separates into two phases they are the preparation phase and the production phase once a play is written it separates into two phases preparation phase and the production phase the preparation phase is the time that takes place from the first meeting to the end of the final dress rehearsal the preparation phase takes place from the first meeting to the end of the final dress rehearsal so what do I mean by first meeting I literally mean when two people sat down and one of them says honey you want to do a play the other one says yeah that sounds like a pretty good idea and they get all excited and they start talking well let's do this one yeah I'd love to Dan they realize all we don't have the singers to do that show or they all know we don't have the budget to do that show we don't have the stage space or the dancers to do that show and they narrow it down all the way from some grand musical Beauty and the Beast to some to act comedy like The Odd Couple or something like that and then they start holding auditions and then they start having rehearsals and set crews come in and they start working in lighting crews start working in all of this stuff takes place for several weeks and then you get to the final rehearsal before you open the show which we call the final dress rehearsal to where everything on stage that night looks just like it should 24 hours later when the audience comes in to watch it and you go okay we're done you shouldn't you lock the doors and you go home you've just completed the preparation phase from the first meeting to the end of the final dress rehearsal is the preparation phase at the completion of the preparation phase the entire structure of a production changes once that play goes into a run which we would call it the production phase lay in laymen terms that's the run of the show once the play goes into a run you know the authority changes hands you have a whole the only people who are around for both the preparation phase and the production phase are the performers the actors singers dancers and so forth the director is gone the designers are gone and all of this the craftspeople are gone we have a brand new crop of people taking over we don't have a director anymore calling the shots we have a stage manager you know we don't have a set designer anymore overlooking the set crews work or do we have the craftspeople who built the set around we have other people who are moving scenery around and pulling ropes on counterweight systems and stuff like this so my question to you is why why change hands at the end of the preparation phase as it moves into the beginning of the production phase why not just keep those people around I mean ultimately the director is the top problem solver there's there's nobody who knows more about everything of a given production then the director he or she can be the first person to go to to solve an issue in real time that takes place down state I backstage or off stage or on stage during the show why not keep that person why replaced the director with a stage manager why not keep the set designer on board to head up a set crew a backstage crew who's moving the scenery and pulling the ropes and stuff like that again they are the ultimate problem solver they are the ones to go to and have you know something goes wrong or have an understanding why not keep the lighting designer around to sit in the booth and push that Go button and make sure those lights operate exactly the way that he or she intended when they were putting all that hard work together during the preparation phase you have a thought on that why we change hands now by the way in my level and at the amateur level the community level we don't change people there aren't enough of us to do that but we do change hats you know we we get rid of our directors hat we do become the lighting like control person or the stage manager or something like that but at the professional level they change all the way why it's money you see the people who work during the preparation phase are the the high dollar people they are the artists and the craftspeople who really come at a high price look all of us would love for Steven Spielberg all of us with a downtown Playhouse with love for Steven Spielberg to direct our next play if somewhere along line we got a grant or some sugar daddy out there said hey I'll pay Steven Spielberg's salary to come direct to the play we would be thrilled to death with that all right he drinks movies not plays but that's the director we all know but none of us want to pay Steven Spielberg type money to stick around once we get into a run and yo of people backstage be quiet you picked that up on the floor before somebody steps on it you get over there you're about to miss an entrance you don't want to pay Steve you want to pay people like you and me that money we come a lot cheaper then Steven Spielberg so what happens is when we get into the production phase the entire concept of the production changes because it's regular blue-collar folks so to speak they get on board and keep that production alive and what we'll do in our next video is we will talk about the structure of the production as it applies to the production phase because that's when all the creative work is taking place