Build a project plan (activities and timeframes) based on the tasks described in the case;?

On September 5, 1993, Francis Vanden Hoven, producer of the University of Western Ontario's (Western) Gilbert and Sullivan (G&S) Society, met with his assistant Deborah Carraro, the costume coordinator, Mona Bryden, and the artistic director, Elizabeth Van Doorne, to obtain their advice on how to plan for the performances of H.M.S. Pinafore which would take place from Thursday, January 13 to Saturday, January 22, 1994. BACKGROUND The University Students' Council (USC), the student governing body which represented Western's undergraduate students and funded projects from school fees, funded the G&S Society. The Society's mandate was to give students, faculty, alumni, and the greater community an opportunity to participate in and enjoy high quality theatre productions at affordable prices. Each year the G&S Society staged a single production. From 1871 to 1889, during the Victorian age, the well-known English humorist and playwright William S. Gilbert teamed up with the English composer Arthur Sullivan to prepare witty operettas satirizing British society. The quality of both the lyrics and the music made these plays perennial favourites. Each year, Western's G&S Society staged one of the 13 famous operettas on the Western campus in London, Ontario. The 1993/1994 season marked the Society's 40th year. Francis and Deb had already made a number of key decisions: they had decided to stage H.M.S. Pinafore, one of the most popular of the operettas; they had set the ticket prices at $14 for adults, with a $2 reduction for students and seniors; they had decided to have a cast of 40; they had hired a musical director; and, in common with past practice, they planned to stage 10 evening and matinee performances in the 360-seat Talbot Theatre. The Society operated under a budget set and administered by the USC. In 1992/1993 the total budget had been $28,000 and Francis believed that the 1993/1994 budget would have to be about the same. Although Page 2 9A95D015 the Society hired some paid staff, particularly musicians, it relied extensively on volunteers in all areas of the production. Although most of the people involved were Western students, about 40 per cent of the cast and crew came from elsewhere in the community. Because the fixed costs such as honoraria, theatre shop fees, costumes, and radio and television advertisements totalled over $14,000, the producer had to be careful managing the variable operating costs. THE PRODUCER'S JOB The producer's job was to help the production staff to complete their assigned duties on time. Specifically, his or her duties included: along with the production's business manager, formulating a realistic budget to ensure that each department received its financial compensation and behaved in a financially responsible manner; assembling primary production and artistic staff; booking sufficient suitable rehearsal space for each audition and rehearsal; arranging for the rental or purchase of the words (scripts) and music (musical scores) a different one for each instrument) for the operetta; arranging for the sale of tickets; in conjunction with the production's advertising director, formulating and carrying out an advertising campaign; along with the show's production manager, gathering the secondary production staff and ensuring that they are informed of their duties and obligations; and, making a final report to the USC's theatre commissioner. Thus, the producer had overall responsibility for all aspects of the show. The USC expected him or her to plan the show's major phases, delegate authority to several managers, provide moral support, and ensure that revenues and expenses met budgeted targets. The USC believed that the producer could achieve these ends by being available to all cast and crew, by holding regularly scheduled meetings of department heads and theatre staff, and by keeping the USC informed of all important production matters. Because there were no formal organization chart or lines of authority, control and reporting were more challenging, and open communication was critical throughout the pre-production, production, and post-production stages of the show. The producer and his or her assistant were typically students who took the job for a single season. Francis Vanden Hoven was in his final year of Western's well-known, two-year honours business administration program. Although he had experience in theatre and was seeking a theatre career, this was his first experience as a producer. THE MEETING Francis knew that he would face some pressing issues in the near future. In order to become more familiar with what he was getting into, he invited Deb, Mona and Liz to help him plan for the upcoming weeks. They had had experience with similar roles in earlier years. Francis began the meeting: Francis: Thanks everyone for meeting on a Sunday afternoon and on a long weekend too. Deb, I know that you were part of the production last year. Can you give us any advice on how to run things this year? Page 3 9A95D015 Deb: Yes, there is plenty that you can learn from last year; we faced some major problems in a couple of areas that you'll have to think about. One was in getting the program completed was that a headache! Before you do anything else, make sure you hire a publicity director! We can't run any ads without one. They are always tough to come by and it might take you two weeks to find a capable one. After that, you should start working early on the program. You have to get photographs taken of the cast and the crews, and collect biographies of everyone so they can be included in the program. It may take you four to five weeks to get them. Everyone keeps putting it off. After you've collected the information, you will have to enter it into a computer program. That will take a full day. Francis: What about getting it printed? Deb: Well that's not so bad. Once you've keyed in all the information, all you have to do is to deliver it on a diskette to the printer so she can complete it. It will take her about five days. This job might well cost you $3,500 after all the adjustments are made, so you want to make sure it is right before you go ahead. It all has to be ready by opening night. By the way, how is your budget coming? Francis: It is almost done. What a job! I am going to present it to the USC for approval on Tuesday morning. Until they approve it, we can't do a thing. Don't we need the cast arranged before we work on the program? Deb: Yes, of course we do! We have to nail down the names of everyone in the cast, crew and orchestra before the bios and pictures. Liz: Of course all that stuff is important, Francis, but don't forget that what really carries this Society is what happens on stage! Now listen. What I am concerned about is getting our set designed and built. That will take six weeks and must be completed before the costume parade that's when the cast members put on their costumes for the first time. Of course, you will have to hire the production crew before you begin designing or building. Some of them will do a lot of the construction. It might take four weeks to find them. Who really knows though? That is the price you pay when you rely on volunteers. We also need to train the production crew for their stage work. That might take 12 days. We should advertise in the student paper to attract volunteers. We could kill three birds with one stone by using the same ads for the publicity crew, the production crew and the cast. I think you can get advertising space for about $40 right now and it will probably take a week. You've hired a set designer, right Francis? Francis: Well, not exactly.... Liz: You haven't! All you producers seem to worry about is the bottom line. You have to have a set designer before you can design and build the set or train the stage crew. You should spend some time selecting your set designer, because a well designed set is critical for a high quality show. This shouldn't take you any longer than two weeks. We will also have to arrange to audition and choose the cast. We should be able to get through them in a couple of days probably a Friday and Saturday but we will have to advertise first and make sure we arrange a time and a place with a piano. We should try Talbot Theatre again but they may be busy so allow a week to get a place. What about the music, Francis? Page 4 9A95D015 Francis: Well, we have hired Chuck Baxter as musical director. He has had quite a bit of experience with G&S productions in the past, both as musical director and also in other roles. Once the USC approves the budget, he will recruit the orchestra members and arrange to get the sheet music. It will probably take him a week to recruit and a week to get the music. Liz: Look, we have to have music before the cast starts rehearsals. I would like to rehearse on a regular basis for three hours each Sunday afternoon and Monday and Tuesday evenings every week for 12 weeks. Don't forget about the Christmas exam and holiday period. Exams start on December 5, and run through to about the 22nd. The exact duration varies from student to student but when you have a cast of 40 you can essentially write off the whole period. Students are understandably reluctant to do much either during or just before exams. We also have some trouble in late October when many write mid-terms and essays. And, the university will be officially closed from December 23 to January 3. Even if our cast and crew is in London, we won't be able to get access to Talbot Theatre to practise or build the set during that time. And, that is just days before opening night. Will Chuck get the scores on time? Francis: Let me check and get back to you. The orchestra will only rehearse for about four days though, so they won't need the music immediately. Mona: Francis, Liz's sets and the cast are important but don't forget about my costumes! That's when my job begins. I will need some basic supplies and someone to help me out. After I collect the supplies and measure the cast, we can go ahead and order costumes from Toronto. The whole thing should take about a week, even allowing for delivery. However, just to be sure, I would like to have them here a week before we absolutely need them in case there are any problems. The total cost shouldn't exceed $6,500. Sometimes I can negotiate an extra 10 per cent discount. Francis: What happens once the costumes arrive? Mona: Then I will have to organize a costume parade to ensure that there are no problems before opening night. Invariably, some costumes will need to be altered. The costume parade and alterations will take about five days but shouldn't cost much but it works best if the set is complete first so we can get a better idea of how the costumes are going to work. Right after the costume parade we can do our dress rehearsal. That is the first time when it all comes together. We only have one dress rehearsal a day or maybe two before opening night. That is the first time that the orchestra and the cast actually work together. And, of course, the stage crew works that one too. Deb: Oh yeah, and one last thing Francis. Don't forget about publicity you wouldn't want to forget about selling tickets, would you? Once you've hired a publicity director, you can advertise and then select a crew to develop an advertising plan. It will take about four weeks in total. It shouldn't take more than about a week to develop a plan, but after that we should blitz all types of advertising media over about three weeks. It is important to take the time to hire capable crews after all, they are volunteers and if they do a poor job, the whole production, and all of us, will suffer. It might take you up to four weeks or so, but it is probably worth it. Don't forget that your time is valuable too, though! Francis: I am sure we have lots of time. But, if something goes wrong, can we speed up any of these activities if we have to? And, by how much? And, how much will it cost? Page 5 9A95D015 Deb: Well, Francis, we can probably speed up most of the things we have to do. You have to be careful though. Don't forget that we are dealing with volunteers here. They are committed but we don't pay them anything and they do have other responsibilities. If you push them too hard they might quit and there isn't much you can do about it. If that happens, especially at crucial times, we are toast. Liz: Yeah, that's right Deb. But, there are some things we can do, especially on the activities we pay for. For example, if we spent more on advertising, we could attract more good candidates and shorten the time to find the crews by a couple of weeks. And, we could also get the printer to speed up by doing it on overtime. I think we might be able to get it done in only two days if we were prepared to spend an extra $750. Mona: And, that costume place will do the same thing for an extra $100 per day. We could get them delivered in 48 hours if we paid for it. With our small budget, though, I wonder if it is wise to spend our money that way. Francis: What about the set? It is one of our primary activities. Deb: Well, we obviously couldn't get the time down to zero. But, by hiring an extra master builder we could probably knock a week off. Don't we pay about $80 per day for the master builder now? Francis: Yes, that is what last year's budget was. What about rehearsals? Can we speed them up? Liz: We could, but again we have to be careful. The orchestra isn't much of a problem. But, if we push the cast for more hours per week we will run into problems with cast members not having time to absorb the material and with rehearsals interfering with their other activities. We might lose some of them. And, if we cut down on the total time, we won't look as polished as I would like come opening night. CONCLUSION Francis summed up his feelings: We want to have the most professional looking production we can for our money. We have certain standards we would like to keep, such as the glossy posters and radio and television ads. But the true test will come in the music, singing, dancing and acting on opening night. A great opening night performance will generate the newspaper reviews and the word of mouth that will either make or break the run of the show. All the producer can do is set the stage and attempt to have everything flow in an organized fashion. After I get the budget approved on Tuesday, I will need a schedule so that I can prioritize my time. Although many tasks can be performed at the same time, I have to know which ones are critical so I can focus on them. After all, I am a full-time student in a tough program and I can only be a part-time producer. Right now I am only concentrating on Page 6 9A95D015 what needs to be done up to opening night. I will worry about the clean-up activities later. I will also need a more complete budget so I can make some of the tough financial decisions.