Families can rely on our schedules. We do not suddenly or unexpectedly change student commitments. We know families need reliable schedules. As a parent with children involved in performance groups, the director knows what it is like to deal with changing schedules or rehearsals that unexpectedly run late. Mr. Egna is committed to never doing that to Bates Drama Club families and has a long track record matching that commitment.

If a rehearsal or performance is not confirmed due to people or departments outside our control, they are marked as tentative on the schedule. Nevertheless, drama club families should treat these as obligations until informed otherwise.

On occasion, an ill cast member or unexpected conflicts may lead to casting changes. If cast members are asked to take on additional performance responsibilities that affect their rehearsal schedule, we always make sure they can meet the new rehearsal commitment. This scenario often is a last-minute change due to an unexpectedly ill student. Students who are asked to fill in, may turn down the proposed change with no consequences to their existing roles or production number participation.

The Rehearsal Schedule will tell you the day, time, and location (if not at Bates) of all the rehearsals as well as significant days on the Bates school wide calendar. It will also give you a general idea of who the rehearsal is for. For example, "FULL cast" or "selected principals"  or "ensemble." This schedule should not change much over the course of the production. Though we have built in an extra rehearsal that we may be able to cancel if we don't have too many cancellations due to weather and not too much cast illness, quarantines, or school shutdowns.

The Call Sheet will tell you specifically if your character (or role) or the group your character is in is "called" to a particular rehearsal. The Call Sheet will tell you, for example, the musical number you will be working on or the pages of the script you will be working on. It will tell you if that rehearsal is, for example, focused on music, or choreography, or acting, or blocking, or a run through. Call Sheets for productions have to be flexible to respond to difficulties that every theater company encounters. Sometimes the cast learns the choreography quickly but has trouble learning some music or vice versa. Subsequent Call Sheets are written to respond to the evolving needs of the theater company. We will publish the Call Sheet for an entire month about two-weeks before the beginning of that month. We will rarely, if ever, change a Call Sheet once published so you can rely on the Call Sheet to make other plans when you are not called. However, we will always give you at least a week's notice of Call Sheet changes and we will try to give you more advance warning if possible.

We will distribute the Call Sheet by the first rehearsal. The most recent revision of the Rehearsal Schedule and the Call Sheet will also be posted here on the BDC website and in our Brightspace club page.

Need to learn more about theater lingo? Please see our Glossary.