THEATRE PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT

Meet your instructor, explore how the course is structured, and get a complete roadmap of the assignments and final project you'll be working towards over the next seven weeks.

• Meet your instructor
• Course structure
• Assignments and final project overview

Learn how a production team is structured, how key relationships work across every show phase, and how to resolve creative clashes without letting them inflate your budget.

• Production management vs other roles
• Pre-production, production and post-production roles
• Working with creative and technical teams
• Hiring creative and technical teams
• Balancing creativity with production constraints
• Workshop: Role-playing and resolving production conflict scenarios

Assignment #1: Production Roles and Budget Impact
List every creative and technical role a hypothetical production needs and consider how each one affects the budget.

Discover how to build rock-solid production schedules with built-in time buffers, plan for live performance contingencies, and keep your show on track when plans inevitably shift.

• Production timeline planning
• Live performance scheduling
• Contingency planning and time buffers
• Building adaptability into schedules
• Workshop: Building and presenting a full production timeline in groups

Assignment #2: Production Schedule
Create a production schedule for a hypothetical production.

Master the financial side of production by forecasting costs accurately, allocating funds across departments, and building budget documents that hold up when circumstances change.

• Key budget components
• Cost forecasting and estimation
• Departmental budgeting

Assignment #3: Costing Document
Create a costing document with nominal budgets for a hypothetical production.

Explore how to turn creative visions into physical reality by managing the logistics, procurement, safety, and maintenance of sets, props, and costumes throughout a production.

• Converting visions to visuals
• Sets, props and costumes in storytelling
• Creating, sourcing and managing items
• Maintenance and safety precautions
• Production logistics

Assignment #4: Props List and Costings
Make a props list with rough costings for a hypothetical production, deciding whether each item should be sourced or made.

Learn to read technical plots, evaluate essential lighting and sound equipment, and guide designers and tech crews efficiently from the first rehearsal to the final performance.

• Key lighting and sound equipment
• Reading technical drawings
• Working with lighting and sound designers
• Managing the tech crew
• Workshop: Listing lighting and sound fixtures from a set design

Assignment #5: Lighting and Sound Plan Review
Study lighting and sound plans and note any issues or suggestions you'd raise as a Production Manager.

Streamline communication between creative and technical departments, set clear rehearsal objectives, and prepare every team for a smooth transition from early rehearsals into technical runs.

• Rehearsal schedules and objectives
• Creative and technical team communication
• Preparing teams for rehearsals
• Tech rehearsal cue coordination

Assignment #6: Rehearsal Schedule
Create a detailed rehearsal schedule for a hypothetical production.

Master the communication protocols of live performance, including the industry procedures for calling cues, and learn how to keep control when something goes wrong on stage.

• Show-calling protocols and terminology
• Show-calling responsibilities
• Communication during performances
• Handling on-stage mishaps

Assignment #7: Cue List
Watch a clip from a recorded performance and list every cue required.

Develop the skills to spot hazards, meet legal compliance requirements, and write thorough risk assessments that protect your cast, crew, and venue during fit-ups and live performances.

• Safety regulations
• Insurance and liability
• Emergency preparedness
• Completing a risk assessment
• Workshop: Identifying and mitigating fit-up hazards

Assignment #8: Risk Observation
Watch a clip from a recorded performance, note the risks you observe, and outline how you'd manage them.

Practise high-stakes decision-making and emergency protocols for handling technical failures, on-stage accidents, and schedule delays in real time while keeping the show under control.

• Technical failures and disruptions
• Rapid decision-making and schedule adjustments
• On-stage accidents and injuries
• Show stops
• Emergency protocol communication
• Workshop: Solving live crisis scenarios, including audience management

Assignment #9: Delayed Schedule Rework
Reconfigure your production schedule as if your fit-up or tech rehearsals were delayed.

Discover how to analyse post-show data from cast, crew, audiences, marketing, and box office, then use it to run effective debriefs and improve future productions.

• Post-production evaluations and debriefs
• Qualitative and quantitative feedback
• Cast and crew reports
• Audience and marketing feedback
• Ticket sales analysis

Assignment #10: Feedback Response Plan
Using hypothetical feedback, decide how you'd respond and what action should be taken.

Map your career trajectory in theatre production management and pick up practical strategies for building industry connections and committing to continuous professional development.

• Career paths in production management
• Networking strategies
• Building industry connections
• Continuous development and learning

Consolidate everything you've learned across the course, clarify your key takeaways in an open Q&A, and finalise your preparation for working in theatre production.

• Course recap
• Q&A