Process description and analysis

Business Process

Process Description: The Mounting of a Play

This summer, I had the opportunity to take part (as an observer) in the selection and production of a new play by a local non-profit theatre organization. The data describing this process was for the most part collected first-hand through direct observation, with some of the details filled in via conversation with the active participants in the process. This methodology of information collection has the advantage of allowing for interpretation of the data only once; that is, I was not subject to someone else's understanding of the process (their description of the data), which I would then need to re-interpret for my own understanding, but rather was able to interpret/understand the process on my own terms with greater immediacy. The downside to this methodology is its inherent subjectivity and the lack of an overview regarding the process until the completion (in the form of a first performance) of the project.

The observations and conversation were made/had beginning in early June, and continued until August 6 (the aforementioned opening night). The first meetings that took place concerned the selection of a script from the various submissions the company had received; the rest of the process included choosing a director, determining budget layouts for the various departments (set, lights, front of house, etc.), approving set plans and costume choices, casting, rehearsal, and finally production. Value is created in the performance, for which admission is charged, filling the non-profits groups coffers (ideally) so that they have enough funds to mount another production. The success of one show generally determines the budget of the next (with some additional funds being found elsewhere), so the bulk of the value is actually not monetary but rather in the service that the production provides to the community (and those involved in the production).

The first step in this process is the choosing of a script. A pile of approximately thirty scripts was narrowed down to three by the head of the company, who then asked his technical director (who was also the set and lighting designer) and the company stage manager to help in the selection of the script to be produced. Discussion ensued, and the agreed upon script was announced along with a casting call for the required actors. Meanwhile, the technical director began drawing ground plans for the set (there were no changes in the script; only one set was needed). The head of the company had decided to direct, making that process simple, and he made several alterations to the ground plan before approving it. The set was projected to come in under the tentative budget that had been previously assumed, allowing more money to go to costumes as the play was a period piece, the costumer (a friend of the technical director's in a design class) was overjoyed with the windfall, and was able to rent many of the necessary costumes.