Spinning Our Wheels

When CMU closed campus for the rest of the semester we had to figure out what was going to happen with the balance of this semester's production course.  We were obviously not going to finish building and installing shows but the higher ups were opposed to just declaring the class over for the semester.  There's an objection to giving students credit for work they haven't done as well as an objection to simply abandoning content students are supposed to have.

For some of the various options this was really problematic, or at least really caused them to have to think out of the box.  For technical direction, especially within the framework of the Crazy Scheme it seemed like it was a lot simpler.  Since in our system everyone does everything there would be very little in the way of content loss - and in most of those cases it was with students who (at least in theory) would have an opportunity to visit this content again next year (more in a moment).  Plus there was still real work we could do.  The fourth mini of the calendar is when we start the early phases of the production for the fall.  We usually get into budgeting for 2-3 shows and get drawings started for at least one.  Even working remotely there's no real reason not to continue with that work.

That's not enough work to fill out the units.  We're only a little concerned about that since a decent argument can be made that they are always working more than we assess them at.  But it did seem like it was worth to come up with some more program.  The team decided that they would spread the work they have a little wider and do it redundantly to evaluate different approaches - plus they would take their time, something we never get to do under normal circumstances.  They've also added what would nominally be called "professional development" in other contexts.  They are spending time learning new software for CAD and data management.  Some of them are doing an online OSHA class.  I'm working on getting a few panel discussions together utilizing alumni.

Altogether it felt like we had a plan.  It wasn't perfect and it wasn't "crew" in most cases but it was a good use of time and most importantly it would work in the current setting.  Today at least part of it came off the rails.

The design of the fall shows is a collaboration of a team of designers and a director.   Today we heard that on at least two of the fall shows one or more of the team members was sick.  Maybe capital S sick, maybe just plain sick, we don't know yet.  But the sick they are is sick enough that they aren't working and will likely not be able to meet the deadlines that will allow my team to keep working.

Suddenly we were in a discussion about the expectations around fall production both right now as well as in the fall and through the summer.  Did we need to hold to existing deadlines?  Should we be assigning "understudies" to all the personnel in case of illness?  Could we slip deadlines from the spring since it was unlikely that folks will be working summer production like they normally would and could therefore maybe work on the show through the summer?

All of those are good questions but they got me thinking bigger.  If we're remote in the fall will there be any students?  If we're back in the fall is the Governor going to allow large assembly?  Would we do production if there can't be any audience?  Before the stay at home there was an order prohibiting assembly of more than 50 people.  Our mainstages probably have about 35 people around doing the show.  Would we do the show for an audience of 15?

The interesting thing there is that the only thing we could do that would be under our control would be to cancel right now (although I am not sure we would be permitted to do so even if we wanted to).  Any other decisions are fully dependent on the decisions of outside people.  What will the University decide?  What will the Mayor decide?  What will the Governor decide?  What will students and parents decide?  Students can elect to take a leave of absence into the semester so there's no way we would know how many students and what program they're in until they are standing there in the building.  As a planner by profession this is fairly worst case for data.

In the mean time, the latest revision to the first fall show arrived with my team on time.  Maybe it will be in budget and we can keep going.  Here's hoping.  And here's hoping for a vaccine and sufficient tests by the end of the summer.