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Final Runs and Preview Mindset: Consistency, Clarity, and Performance Readiness

Capítulo 13

Estimated reading time: 8 minutes

Final Runs and the Preview Mindset

The last stage of directing is about making the work repeatable. Your job shifts from “finding” to “locking”: protecting the audience’s understanding, stabilizing timing, and helping actors deliver truthful performances inside consistent staging. Think of final runs as building a reliable machine that still feels alive.

1) What Must Be “Set” vs. What Must Stay Alive

In final runs, confusion often comes from mixing two categories: elements that must be identical every night, and elements that must remain responsive. Name these categories out loud to the company so everyone knows what is negotiable and what is not.

What should be set (repeatable, measurable)

Blocking and spacing: entrances/exits, furniture relationships, traffic patterns, and any safety-related movement.
Transitions: who moves what, in what order, and where items land (spike marks, preset tables, handoff points).
Cue timing: light/sound cues, scene shift cues, and any actor-triggered cues (a line, a door slam, a prop pickup).
Business tied to props/costumes: quick changes, weapon handling, food/drink, microphones, fragile items.
Focus moments: where the audience must look at specific beats (reveals, turns, punchlines, emotional pivots).

What stays alive (responsive, human, present)

Listening: actors respond to what they actually hear, not what they expect to hear.
Objectives and tactics: the “what I want” stays consistent, but the “how I try” can flex within the staging.
Moment-to-moment reactions: micro-timing, breath, and emotional truth can vary as long as it doesn’t break cues or clarity.
Connection: eye contact, shared attention, and genuine partner awareness.

Practical framing for actors: “Your feet are set; your attention is alive.” This protects consistency without turning performances mechanical.

Locking protocol (step-by-step)

Declare the lock date: “After tonight’s run, blocking and transitions are frozen unless there’s a safety or clarity issue.”
Publish a lock list: a one-page document of frozen items (e.g., “Scene 3 cross on line X,” “Chair preset SR,” “Cue 24 on door close”).
Define exceptions: safety, broken tech, or a recurring clarity problem seen by multiple observers.
Assign ownership: who maintains each locked element (ASM for presets, stage manager for cue calling, actors for spike accuracy, crew for shift order).

2) Run Strategy: Full Runs, Targeted Notes, Then Polish Passes

Final runs should feel like performance, not rehearsal. The goal is to gather accurate data: what the audience will experience in real time. That means fewer interruptions, clearer note priorities, and short, specific polish sessions afterward.

Full run rules

No stopping unless there is safety risk or a major technical failure that invalidates the run.
Director watches like an audience member: sit in a consistent seat, take time-stamped notes, track clarity and energy.
Stage manager tracks repeatability: missed spikes, late entrances, cue drift, prop issues, transition length.

Post-run notes: targeted, not exhaustive

After a full run, give notes that change outcomes, not notes that polish feelings. A useful filter is: “Will this note improve clarity, pacing, or consistency tomorrow?”

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Post-run note structure (step-by-step)

Start with the run goal: “Tonight we tested cue timing and act break energy.”
Give 3–5 company notes max: focus on shared problems (e.g., slow transitions, muddied focus, cue drift).
Department/scene notes next: short clusters by scene or by transition number.
Individual notes last: only if they affect story clarity, safety, or repeatability.
Confirm the fix: “Tomorrow we’ll do a 15-minute polish on Transition B and the Scene 6 pickup.”

Polish passes: small, surgical rehearsals

After full runs, switch to “problem-section rehearsals” rather than re-running everything. Keep these sessions short and measurable.

Polish pass menu (choose one per session)

Transition drill: run a single shift 3–5 times, timing it, then lock the fastest clean version.
Cue-to-cue micro-pass: run only the moments around late cues or missed pickups (e.g., 30 seconds before to 30 seconds after).
Entrance accuracy pass: rehearse late entrances with a clear trigger (line, sound, or physical action).
Clarity pass: replay a confusing beat and adjust only one variable (spacing, focus, or timing), then test again.

Rule: In a polish pass, change one thing at a time. Multiple simultaneous changes make it impossible to know what solved the problem.

3) Maintaining Pacing With Minimal Interventions

In final runs, pacing is best managed through measurement and small adjustments. Large tempo pushes often create rushed acting, dropped intention, and cue instability. Your goal is to protect the show’s overall shape: runtime, act break energy, and peak moments.

Track the show like a score

What to track	How to measure	What it tells you
Total runtime	Start to finish, including intermission	Whether the show is expanding/contracting over runs
Act lengths	Act 1 and Act 2 separately	Where drift is happening
Transition times	Time each shift	Where momentum is lost
Peak moments	Mark time stamps of big laughs/turns	Whether peaks land and recover cleanly
Act break energy	Observe last 2 minutes before blackout	Whether the audience is propelled into intermission

Where pacing problems usually come from (and minimal fixes)

Slow transitions: fix with preset changes, clearer crew choreography, or removing unnecessary business during shifts.
Late cues: fix by clarifying cue triggers (exact line/action), adding a standby earlier, or simplifying a cue sequence.
Scene starts that sag: fix by tightening the first 10 seconds (entrance speed, immediate objective, cleaner stage picture).
Endings that linger: fix by locking the final image and blackout timing; remove extra “button” actions after the beat lands.
Comedy that drifts: fix by clarifying where the laugh lives (focus and stillness), then resuming quickly on the next line cue.

Pacing adjustment protocol (step-by-step)

Identify the exact location: “Scene 4 from 12:10 to 14:30 is losing momentum.”
Name the symptom: “Long reset,” “unclear focus,” “late entrance,” “extra business.”
Choose one minimal intervention: shorten a cross, simplify a prop action, tighten a cue trigger, or reassign a shift task.
Test immediately: run only that section once with the change.
Lock if improved: document it in the prompt book and shift plot.

Protect peak moments

Peak moments (a reveal, a confrontation, a laugh, a silence) often get damaged by “helpful” speeding up. Instead, protect them with structure:

Before the peak: remove clutter (unnecessary movement, competing focus).
During the peak: allow stillness and clean sightlines; keep cue timing precise.
After the peak: re-launch momentum with a clear next action (a decisive exit, a cue, a transition trigger).

4) A Show Notes Routine That Protects Morale and Consistency

Once performances begin (previews and beyond), notes must preserve two things at once: the show’s consistency and the company’s confidence. A predictable routine prevents “note panic” and keeps changes from multiplying.

Preview mindset

Previews are not “still rehearsal forever.” They are performances with a feedback loop. The audience is part of the test, but your changes should remain controlled and documented.

Show notes principles

Fewer notes, higher impact: prioritize story clarity, safety, and repeatability.
One channel: notes flow through stage management so the company receives a single, consistent message.
Document everything: any change must land in the prompt book, shift plot, and relevant paperwork.
No surprise re-blocking: changes that affect spacing or cues are scheduled and rehearsed, not dropped casually.

Daily show notes routine (step-by-step)

Immediately after the show: director writes time-stamped observations; stage manager logs performance reports (missed cues, late entrances, prop issues).
Within 12 hours: director and stage manager align on the note list and categorize: Must Fix, Should Fix, Nice to Have.
Before the next call: distribute notes in writing (short, specific, actionable). Avoid rewriting the show; focus on repeatability.
At the next call: address only Must Fix items in person; schedule any rehearsals needed for changes.
After fixes: confirm the new locked version and update documentation.

Morale protection built into notes

Use stability language: “Keep,” “maintain,” “repeat,” “lock” alongside “adjust.”
Separate performance from person: note the observable behavior and its effect on clarity/timing.
Don’t chase perfection nightly: if a moment is working and repeatable, protect it.

Final Readiness Checklist

Use this checklist during the last rehearsals and again after the first preview. Treat it as a diagnostic: if an item is not consistently true, it becomes a targeted fix.

Story clarity

Every scene has a clear start picture and end picture that communicates the situation.
Key plot turns are readable from the audience’s perspective (not just understood by actors).
Important information is not delivered while focus is split by movement, props, or transitions.
Relationships and status shifts are visible in spacing, orientation, and behavior.

Stage pictures and focus

Sightlines are reliable for major beats (no accidental masking, no upstaging during key lines).
Focus is consistent: the audience knows where to look at each turning point.
Group scenes have clear hierarchy (who leads the moment, who supports, who observes).
Tableaux and reveals land cleanly with stable spacing and timing.

Pacing and runtime

Total runtime is stable across runs (no unexplained expansion).
Act breaks have strong energy and clean blackouts.
Transitions are timed, assigned, and repeatable; no “wandering” resets.
Peak moments are protected (stillness/focus) and followed by a clear re-launch.

Consistency and technical alignment

Cue triggers are unambiguous and consistently hit (line/action is the same each night).
Presets, spikes, and hand props are checked with a repeatable pre-show routine.
Quick changes and backstage traffic are safe and choreographed.
Any actor-driven tech moments have backups (what happens if a prop breaks or a line is flubbed).

Collaboration alignment

Stage management has the current locked version (prompt book matches what is performed).
Design/crew have updated shift plots and cue lists reflecting any late changes.
Actors know what is frozen and what is flexible (feet vs. attention).
There is a clear policy for performance notes: who gives them, how often, and how changes are rehearsed.

Now answer the exercise about the content:

During final runs, which approach best balances consistency with performances that still feel alive?

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Final runs focus on making the work repeatable: set measurable elements (blocking, transitions, cues), while keeping human elements (listening, objectives, reactions) present and responsive.