A callboard is the bulletin board backstage, usually by the stage door, where the stage manager posts what the company needs to know: the daily call, the sign-in sheet, rehearsal reports, notes and notices. In most theaters, if it’s on the callboard, you’ve been told.
Actors and crew check it when they arrive and again before they leave. That habit is what makes a callboard work. It’s also its limit: it only reaches the people standing in front of it.
What goes on a callboard
- The daily call: who’s called, when and where, usually posted the night before
- The rehearsal or production schedule for the week
- The sign-in sheet, which everyone initials when they arrive
- Rehearsal and performance reports
- Costume fittings, conflicts and other appointments
- Company notes, announcements and union notices
- The contact sheet
Callboard, call board or call-board?
All three. You’ll see it written as one word, two words or with a hyphen, and they all mean the same board.
Your call is the time you’re expected to arrive, ready to work. That isn’t always when rehearsal starts. So a callboard is, quite literally, the board that tells you your call.
Who runs the callboard?
The stage manager, usually with the ASMs. They post the call each night, put out the sign-in sheet, take down what’s out of date, and make sure anything important is up before people leave. In a school, it might be the director or a student stage manager.
Where a corkboard falls short
The board by the stage door works well when everyone walks past it every day. Most companies don’t look like that anymore.
Changes after people leave
Move tomorrow’s call at 11 pm, and nobody sees it until they walk in. By then it’s too late.
People who aren’t in the building
Designers, crew who come in for tech, volunteers who rehearse twice a week, and parents picking up students all miss the board.
More than one room or production
Rehearsals across town, shows in rep, or a season of productions sharing one wall.
No way to know who read it
You find out who missed the note when someone says they never saw it.
What is a digital callboard?
A digital callboard is the same board, online. The stage manager posts the call, the reports and the notes once, and everyone in the company can read them on a phone or computer, wherever they are. When something changes, the people it affects are told by email or app notification, so they have the new call time before they leave the house.
It doesn’t have to replace the board by the stage door. Most companies print the call and pin it up too, so the wall and the website say the same thing.
VirtualCallboard: a digital callboard for theaters, schools and arts groups
- Post the daily call and the schedule. Everyone sees their own calls, and rehearsal scheduling warns you about double-booked people and rooms.
- File the rehearsal report at the end of the night, and it reaches the director, designers and departments before breakfast.
- Send notes with read receipts, so you know who has seen them.
- Take sign-in and attendance for every rehearsal and performance.
- Tell people when something changes, by email and app notification, and by text with the TXT messaging add-on.
- Print any of it for the board by the stage door.
It’s also full stage management software: report templates, contact sheets, files and an archive for every production. See every feature →
Questions
What is a callboard in theater?
A bulletin board, usually backstage by the stage door, where the stage manager posts the daily call, the sign-in sheet, reports and notes for the company.
What does “call” mean on a callboard?
Your call is the time you’re expected to be there, ready to work. A rehearsal call, a performance call and a fight call each have their own time, and it isn’t always when things start.
What’s the difference between a callboard and a call sheet?
A call sheet is film and TV’s version: a daily document with everyone’s call times. In theater, the daily call is posted on the callboard.
Do we still need a physical callboard if we go digital?
That’s up to your company. Everything in VirtualCallboard prints cleanly for the wall, and plenty of companies keep both.
Is a digital callboard the same as stage management software?
It’s the part everyone in the company sees. Stage management software also covers what the stage manager does behind it: reports, contact sheets, attendance and files. VirtualCallboard does both.
VirtualCallboard is also built for stage managers, schools and community theaters.
Put your callboard online
Free for 30 days, with unlimited users. See every feature or compare plans.