This is a brief overview of some resources that we or some close colleagues have used to help them keep up with the production process and the ever-changing technological needs of a production.

Theatrical Releases

Meetings and Scheduling

  • Doodle
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  • Need to coordinate everyone’s schedule to find a common time to have a meeting? Doodle allows you to send out a list of times and it collates everyone’s responses into easy-to-read data noting the time everyone is free.
  • When2Meet
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  • An alternative to Doodle to find a common time to have a meeting.
  • Google Calendars
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  • Online calendars. Create and share a rehearsal schedule, create a schedule for yourself with reminders, share a tech schedule with the design team. Google makes calendars easy to create and share.
  • Free Conference Call
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  • A great way to setup a free voice conference call between multiple parties in different locations. Includes video conferencing as well.
  • Video conferencing software is a good way to group chat or group video chat when production meetings need to take place with team members spread out around the country. This does require a decent Internet connection and some apps require payment.
  • Zoom
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  • Microsoft Teams
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  • Skype
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  • Google Hangouts
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Cloud Storage

Other Productivity

These apps are available online through most Web browsers, allowing you to access the information on almost any computer no matter the operating system as long as you have an internet connection. Most of these apps also have a mobile version, as well as apps for both iOS and Android.

  • Asana
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  • An online collaborative app that allows you to create tasks and organize them into different views (lists, boards, timelines) as well as assign tasks to team members, upload files, and message collaborators.
  • Checkvist
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  • An online checklist app that allows you to create a list and share it. Any of your shared users can check off things on the list or see what has been checked off, and the program stores who and when something was checked off. This app also allows for nesting (the ability to give any item a subcategory). There are some additional features that a monthly or yearly subscription unlocks, but these are not necessary to use this resource very functionally.
  • Google Keep
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  • A note-taking app within the google ecosystem.
  • Otter
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  • A transcription app for turning meeting recordings into text.
  • Remind
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  • A great way to communicate quickly and easily with your entire cast and design team. Set up multiple “classes,” one for your actors and rehearsal contacts and another for your design team, so you can quickly send out information without having to add everyone’s information every time. This is for quick updates and reminders, not long communiqués. This was designed for communication between teachers and classes without needing to give out a personal phone number, but works very well for theatrical purposes.

Apps (some may only be available on certain platforms)

  • Alarmed ~ Reminders + Timers by Yoctoville: Need to record the time on several different things at once? This app can do that, in addition to setting both time- and location-based reminders.
  • ETC iRFR-Preview by Electronic Theatre Controls Inc.: The iRFR allows you to watch the cue list of any ETC EOS family console. There is a slight delay between the app and the console, so do not depend on it for calling cues.
  • Genius Scan by The Grizzly Lab: A quick and easy way to scan a document, whiteboard, receipt, etc. using just your phone’s camera. The free version doesn’t allow all export features, but does allow email. The paid version unlocks all features.
  • *iAnnotate by Branchfire Inc: A very handy PDF annotator that allows for the use of many different annotation tools, Dropbox sync, and sharing.
  • iRigging by J.R. Clancy, Inc: An app that gives you rigging information and calculations.
  • *Qlab Remote by Figure 53: A remote for the Mac app Qlab, which shows the cue stack as well as allowing minor edits of levels and stopping or starting cues.
  • Remind: Safe Classroom Communication by Remind 101: A great way to communicate quickly and easily with your entire cast and design team. This is for quick updates and reminders, not long communiqués. This was designed for communication between teachers and classes without needing to give out a personal phone number, but works very well for theatrical purposes. It also has an online app.
  • Scannable by Evernote: A quick and easy way to scan a document, whiteboard, receipt, etc. using just your phone’s camera. You can then sync to Evernote or email it to yourself.
  • *Stage Manager Stopwatch: An app for recording accurate performance timings.
  • *Stage Write by Open Jar Productions LLC: An app to record blocking and choreography. This app is expensive but is very helpful for creating nice blocking sheets, especially for choreography. It is not the fastest app to work in, so recording blocking by hand first and then inputting the information later may be the way to go.
  • *Step Timer by West Side Systems: Allows you to count beats per minute as well as calculate the time between each step (the beats or movements in choreography, etc.).
  • Voice Memo: Available on all Apple products. A useful tool for recording music, meetings, notes sessions, etc.