Department Profiles

Artistic Director

The Artistic Director is in overall charge of The REP’s Artistic Policy, deciding which plays and performances we will present on both of our stages, as well as guiding the whole organisation towards achieving artistic excellence. Our Artistic Director also directs many productions, as well as choosing which other directors should be invited to work at The REP.

Executive Director

The REP’s Executive Director is responsible for the business side of the organisation. As well as negotiating contracts with visiting theatre companies and co-producers, the Executive Director works with the Finance Director to set long term budgets for the company.

General Manager

The General Manager is responsible for the wellbeing of the physical infrastructure of The REP and its services, the company’s personnel and its customers as well as planning and implementing long-term business strategy for the theatre.

Casting

The Casting Department works with Directors to find the right actor for every role in every play, workshop or rehearsed reading at The REP. This job involves going to watch lots of other plays at other theatres, liaising with actors’ agents and holding auditions.

Marketing & Press

The Marketing and Press teams are responsible for promoting The REP and all of the things which happen here, both onstage and backstage. The team use a variety of methods to communicate with the public, including this website, printed materials like posters and leaflets, direct mail letters and email newsletters to people on our database, advertising and working with the media. The team focuses on bringing in new audiences for The REP’s work and building relationships with our existing customers, to make sure that as many people as possible can experience as much of what we have to offer as possible.

Sales Team

The Sales Team are responsible for selling tickets for The REP’s performances, either by telephone or in person at the Box Office counter in The REP’s foyer. They also have a hand in online sales – if you purchase tickets through this website, they will be printed out and posted to you by a member of the Sales Team. Whilst selling tickets is a vitally important job, at the same time the Sales Team help to keep The REP’s customer information up to date, so that the Marketing Team can use this information to ensure that they can communicate with customers effectively.

Development

Because The REP is a registered charity, we have a Development Department whose job it is to raise money for the theatre, so that we can continue to produce world-class performances and be a centre for learning for all. The Development Department achieves these aims through various channels:

• Working with individual customers to encourage them to donate to the theatre regularly, leave a legacy or sponsor a seat
• Forming partnerships with businesses
• Fundraising through charitable trusts and foundations

Finance

The Finance Department look after the theatre’s money! They keep control of what is coming in and what is going out, as well as making sure that all the staff and performers at The REP get paid – this is very important.

Learning & Participation

Learning & Participation is central to The REP, and the theatre has a department dedicated to providing opportunities for people to get involved. The Learning & Participation team work with schools and community groups to deliver projects which ensure that as many people as possible are able to participate and to use the theatre as a learning resource.

Literary

The REP has a strong commitment to new writing and to developing new writers. Through its various schemes, the Literary Department helps us to fulfill this commitment, by working with writers and giving them the resources and expertise they need to turn their ideas into full length plays, which might one day be staged here at The REP or in other theatres.

Stage Door

Stage Door is the reception point for anyone who works at the theatre or is visiting our administration or production departments. The Stage Door team are on duty from 8.30am sometimes until the early hours of the morning, and their duties range from welcoming visitors and manning the telephone switchboard, to taking deliveries and helping with post coming into and going out of the building. The Stage Door team are also well known for being ‘founts of knowledge’, offering advice to the many actors and staff who are new to the area or to the theatre.

Theatre Management

The Theatre Management team (sometimes known as House or Duty Managers) have overall responsibility for making sure that The REP’s customers are safe, happy and well looked after during their visit to the theatre. Their duties range from making sure that everyone is seated in the auditorium so that the show can begin, to supervising the team of Front of House ushers.

Cloakroom/Front of House Staff

The Cloakroom and Front of House ushers work with the Theatre Management team to look after all of The REP’s customers during their visit to the theatre. As well as showing people to their seats and helping people who have access needs, they also sell programmes and ice creams, and look after the cloakroom.

Production

The Production team have overall responsibility for co-ordinating all of the technical elements which go into producing a piece of theatre. The REP is a ‘Producing House’, which means that many of the plays and performances on both of our stages are produced entirely by The REP. The Production Team must co-ordinate the departments that build and paint sets and props, as well as the lighting and sound teams, wardrobe, wigs and stage management, to make sure that all of these elements come together on time (and within budget!) to create the spectacular finished products which you see on our stages.

Stage Management

The Stage Managers make sure that the rehearsals and live stage performances run smoothly. They organise all practical and technical aspects of rehearsals and performances, and make sure that crew, performers and props are in the right place at the right time. Our Company Stage Manager oversees the Stage Management team for each production which normally includes a Stage Manager, a Deputy Stage Manager and one or two Assistant Stage Managers.

Stage

The Stage department has overall responsibility for ensuring the safe running of shows, fit-ups and get-outs (the building and striking of sets). They have particular responsibility for physical set, rigging, stage machinery, flying and winches.

Building Services

The Building Services department keeps us in good working order! They must ensure that all areas of the building are safe, comfortable and functional, by carrying out all routine maintenance jobs required by our large and busy building, as well as working with contractors to undertake larger jobs. Their duties are incredibly wide ranging, from electrical work to ‘investigating funny smells’!

Lighting

The Lighting Department works with a Lighting Designer to create all of the lighting and pyrotechnic effects needed to make a performance come to life. Their duties range from rigging and focusing all of the lights needed for each show, to ‘follow-spotting’ – where a Lighting Technician sits on a platform high above the auditorium during the show and tracks performers around the stage with a bright light, making sure that wherever the performer is on stage, they are always ‘in the spotlight’!

Sound

The Sound Department is responsible for the sound requirements of all the shows that The REP produce. This involves constructing sound effects and recording cast members and musicians, setting up and operating theatre shows and musicals, using radio microphones, mixing consoles and computerised show control software. The Sound Department are also responsible for creating sound designs for in house productions and co-productions.

Workshop

Workshop staff use the designer’s model to make detailed technical drawings for each component part of a set, which are then assembled in the workshop area. It is important to fill the REP’s large stage as economically as possible, so large steel or timber frames are covered in canvas or plywood, which are then painted. Workshop also “fit up” the shows on the main stage and the Door and advise and guide set requirements for touring shows. The main advantage the Rep has over most regional theatres is the fact that the workshop is next to the stage, and not in an edge of town industrial estate. This has significant logistical and financial benefits.

Paintshop

Next door to the Workshop lives the Paintshop, where all sets and props come to be brought to life with colour. The Paintshop has two enormous ‘paint frames’, where backcloths and large pieces of set can be fixed and moved up and down into a deep gulley in the floor, so the scenic artists can reach the very top without using ladders or scaffold. The scenic artist’s job varies a great deal, and ranges from wallpapering and painting skirting boards and furniture on a naturalistic set, to using complicated techniques and artistic talent to create spectacular scenery.

Props

The props department create realistic-looking objects for use on stage. This can include anything from fake jewellery to replica weapons and moving models, depending on what the script calls for. Prop making involves using a wide range of skills, such as carpentry, sculpting, casting, sewing, painting, welding and computer-aided design, along with imagination and the ability to think three dimensionally.

Wardobe

The Wardrobe department implements the designer’s costume designs and buys, hires or creates the costumes. They ensure that costumes get made properly and on time. There is a huge amount of organizing to be done to prepare for a production, such as taking inventory of all the costumes needed and preparing a schedule for when different costumes will be ready. Once performances start, the wardrobe department is still busy. Costumes often have to be laundered between performances, and there are always repairs and alterations to be made.

Wigs & Makeup

The main responsibility of the wigs and make up department is to make and maintain any wigs used in shows at The REP. It is unusual for a theatre to have a department dedicated to wigs as most regional theatres use freelance artists. All wigs are hand knotted using real human hair and take around 7-10 days to make. Most actors will apply their own make up but if any special effects such as wounds or prosthetics are required, the wigs & make up department will make and apply these.

Performers

As well as acting on the stage, performing in a play at The REP also involves weeks of rehearsal, taking part in publicity activities such as interviews with the press, photo calls and public appearances, as well as sometimes being involved in activities with schools and college groups – as well as performing in up to 12 shows a week!

Creative Team

For each show, The REP employs some or all of the following people: Director, Designer, Lighting Designer, Sound Designer, Choreographer, Musical Director, Dialect Coach…. together they make up the show’s ‘Creative Team’. These people are all experts in their particular field, and they work together to decide how the production will look and sound. The Creative Team are often working on planning the production for months before rehearsals even start, and are heavily involved throughout the rehearsal and building process.