The City Theatre employs 4 producers and a production manager. Each production has its own producer who prepares a budget for the production and makes sure that the production proceeds according to plan until the premiere. The production planner manages the overall schedules of all productions. She draws up performance schedules for all stages and makes long-term plans. The producer, production manager and production designer work closely together throughout the production. The director’s assistants and the curator of the stage of the Contemporary Performance are also part of the production department.
The puzzle of a thousand performances
Five stages, about 20 premieres, a total of more than 1000 performances. About 50 in-house performers, in addition to visiting freelancers. Hundreds and hundreds of rehearsals, dozens of auditions. Task: to schedule all this so that everything runs smoothly, resources are distributed sensibly and everyone knows where they need to be at any given time. And, of course, to make sure that the production proceeds as agreed.
Did I mention budgeting already?
This amazing entity is run by the Helsinki City Theatre’s producers, production manager and production designer.
“With schedules, it’s sometimes like playing Tetris,” says production planner Jari Fluuri. “It’s always a place for sparkling wine when you’ve finished one season and all the performances have gone on to ticket sales!”
“The size of this puzzle is certainly something that many people probably don’t think about,” confirms producer Pia Karetie. As a producer, he supervises the progress of the production until the premiere, makes contracts with guest performers and draws up a budget for the performances.
With schedules, it’s sometimes like playing Tetris.
“The better you know the work in advance, the better you can plan the budget. Thank God we have the best professionals in Finland in every department of the theatre! If you don’t know something, someone else does.”
As a production designer, Fluuri looks at the big picture and long-term plans.
“I make the performance schedules for different stages and make sure that the actors in my house are divided sensibly between the different productions,” she says.
An interesting addition to the logging is the hiring and scheduling of guest performers, for which Fluuri works closely with other theatres in Southern Finland.
“We have a terribly good spirit with the production planners of other theatres. We meet regularly and go through schedules. For example, I have travelled to Tampere to do “human trafficking” of one actor together with two other theatres. We all had our own papers and then we shared his time: this weekend for you and this for us. Only Sundays were left free for that actor!”, Fluuri laughs.
“But the actor had given us free rein and told us to do the job!”
Detective tasks and a psychological eye
Problem-solving skills and logic. They are needed from a good theatre producer.
“Personally, I love detective tasks! It’s great if you come across something strange in production that needs to be sorted out,” Karetie says.
And that’s what comes in this job.
“That’s the best thing about this job. Sometimes there are days when if someone asked you what you did at work today, they wouldn’t believe you.”
In addition, you have to get along with different people. Shortcomings must be taken into account and they must be corrected quickly.
“A psychological eye is needed,” Fluuri continues. “We are different people and you have to understand how to approach whom.”
Sometimes there are situations that are difficult to implement.
“An actor can have a daytime show on one stage and an evening show on the other. Sometimes there may even be two evening performances on different stages, but it has been a conscious decision. Then the actor just takes a taxi from one place to another in the middle of the performance!”, Fluuri says.
Situations where an actor needs to be replaced on a tight schedule for one reason or another cause more headaches.
It is always a state of emergency, and decisions must be made quickly at that moment.
“The schedules have already been agreed and they are tight. Finding a new actor and getting them to be there is challenging,” Karetie says. “It is always a state of emergency, and decisions must be made quickly at that moment. It increases the pressure.”
If nothing surprising comes along, the producer’s work for one production ends with the premiere. For a production designer, the production accompanies the planning all the way to the last performance.
“The premiere is always an important moment. It’s always a bit of a rush and every premiere is a little nervous. Even if the next productions are already underway in the background, the premiere is always the end of that one work. It’s special when you see how you’ve been able to complete the whole thing with your own contribution,” Karetie says.
“Even though I sometimes dream of going to work at the Airam lamp factory or a career as a tram driver, I don’t think there would be as fun challenges as here!”
Fluuri nods next to him.
“The project-based nature of the work keeps me interested. When new production begins, you really look forward to what will come with this and how this will be implemented. I always get the feeling that yes, here we go again!”
