At your performances, pre-show announcements regarding safety, etiquette, and intermission should be conveyed to your audience members. You may choose to deliver the announcements on stage, from backstage, or via a pre-recorded message.
General Pre-Show Announcements Template
ProduceAPlay.com had a great template for a standard announcement for the performing arts:
“Welcome to the Sidewalk Studio Theatre’s production of Milk and Cookies by Jonathan Dorf.
At this time, please turn off or silence any cell phones or electronic devices and refrain from texting, and please keep in mind that recording the performance or taking photographs is not permitted.
There will be one fifteen-minute intermission, and next month, we hope you’ll join us for our production of Great Expectations, adapted from the Dickens classic by Rocco P. Natale.
In case of an emergency, please exit through the door through which you entered, or through the curtain to your left. Thank you, and enjoy the show!”
The language can be customized for your studio. Produce A Play is clearly geared towards a drama production, not a dance recital, but they nail some of the basic information to include:
- Welcome and Introduction to the evening
- Cell Phone / Photography / Recording
- Information about the order of events (this may already be in the program, but it’s often worth it to mention it again)
- Announcement about any other dance studio events coming up
- Emergency exits or other emergency information
This year, we are going to start our show with our Opening Number (in order for the audience to be attentive), and THEN we’ll play the pre-show announcements. This method also helps us facilitate some quick changes before the second piece!
