[SML] Theater Architects

[Bill Conner]

Dave makes a good point.  Why don't you do some research and compile a
list of consultants who seem suited to your project.  This could be to
contract before  or independently of the architect, or explicitly that
the architect should hold off on including theatre (and acoustic)
consultants, and plan on being a participant with the College in the
selection.  Its not good - for anyone involved - to want this
architect but not their consultant, but rather one on another team.
Its also often a better process when there is a new team, with people
who have not always worked together, not unlike the value received
from production teams with new blood.

On Wed, Sep 21, 2016 at 12:19 PM, Dave Tosti-Lane via Stagecraft
<stagecraft at theatrical.net> wrote:
> This might sound obvious, but this also is the time to be carefully
> working on your relationship with those powers that be folks. Do
> everything you can between now and the time that the project starts
> moving to make sure they see you as a positive contributor to the
> process. That can be tricky, because you will often be in the position
> of asking for more money to be spent, and that does not endear you to
> the administrator. But you have a window to help them understand how
> the shop works and what your students experience in the shop is like.
> Inviting them in on a tour during the most challenging work times when
> the shop is full and everything is crazy can help you make the point
> later that you need things like storage, electrical capacity,
> ventilation and proper lighting. Storage in my experience, is always
> the hardest sell to the administrator and often the architect - they
> just hate the idea of square footage that is not "in use". A visit to
> props and costume storage will sometimes make the lightbulb go on for
> them, as might seeing a large part of an existing shop given over to
> platform and flat storage.
> I've been through several of these, and the most successful always
> involved someone on the management team who became interested enough
> in the operation to become an advocate for including the right voices
> at the table.
>
> Dave Tosti-Lane

-- 
Bill Conner Fellow of the ASTC