freeze productions' and 3) discarded productions. On-going
productions are either productions that are rehearsed at the
moment or they are forthcoming new productions. Deep-freeze
productions are past productions that the DNO has decided to
keep, either with the possibility of presenting the production
again in the future (a revival), or renting them to opera
companies in other countries. This archive contains all the
production manager's correspondence, the (stage-technical)
production budgets, the production planning, stage planning,
the safety risk assessment documentation and anything else
relating to the organization of the stage-technical side of the
production, from the moment the management decides to
produce the opera up until the production starts the rehearsals.
The archive also contains the stage management
documentation including:
a. piano score with all cues (e.g. entrances, lighting,
flies, special effects)
b. scene-breakdown
c. running plot
d. checklist(s)
e. any running plots made by stage management
for other departments, eg. props running plot or
stage crew running plot
f. notes re-stage music (banda)
g. ground plans with floor marks for furniture etc.
h. curtain calls
i. rehearsal costumes
j. timings of scenes, scene changes etc.
k. photo's of stage and stage area (e.g. wings)
l. performance reports
m. any notes that might be useful for a revival
All scenery, props, costumes, sound or video recordings et cetera
for deep freeze productions are stored by the respective
departments.
Discarded productions are the productions that the
management of DNO has officially discarded. This archive is
identical to deep freeze productions except that it is moved to
the basement. All scenery, props and costumes etc. are either
recycled for new productions or thrown away. Since props and
costumes are sometimes very expensive, they are naturally
often reused.
The stage-management has a helicopter-view of the
performance. It is also documented what happens in the studio
where the stage-manager sits to direct the technicians during the
live show. For this, they use their 'bible', which is the stage-
manager's book. This book is the music sheet of the given piece
with the notes of the stage-manager, laying down everything that
happens during the performance. The stage-manager is present
at every rehearsal and writes everything down, for example how
much time an action takes or how many steps the actor needs to
take to reach something. This means that the notes of the
stage-manager are a very detailed memory, but not only that.
It also functions as evidence with which the director can prove
during the next rehearsal how he arranged something. The notes
have to be updated after every rehearsal, since there could be
changes any time during the rehearsal process. They keep every
note until a given day, but after a while an outdated note can be
removed. Ultimately the most updated notes are kept. However,
the stage-management archive is not only formed out of the
records of the rehearsal process, but also records from the actual
performances are archived. These are evaluations and notes
made after every single performance, to document the remarks,
oddities or special occurrences. These could be also important
for a possible revival.
