Practical Technology for the People Behind the Curtain

Theatre production involves hundreds of connected decisions, from organizing rehearsal notes and preparing cues to writing programme copy and making performances accessible. Digital tools and artificial intelligence can help with some of this work, but they also introduce questions about accuracy, ownership, privacy, cost and the time required to supervise them. This publication covers the practical intersection of theatre-making and technology.

The intended readers are stage managers, directors, designers, drama teachers, accessibility coordinators and volunteer boards working in community, school and small professional theatres. These teams often work with limited budgets, shared responsibilities and fixed opening dates. Guidance takes those conditions seriously, including the realities of volunteers, changing casts, borrowed equipment and production schedules that leave little room for unnecessary complications.

Articles are written by an editorial desk using AI writing tools as part of the drafting process. The approach is explanatory and practical: describe what a tool can help accomplish, identify where human judgment remains essential, and make the manual alternative clear. Recommendations account for costs, accessibility, copyright, privacy and the possibility that a familiar paper-based method may remain the most dependable choice.

What you will find here

Offbook publishes 6 entries, among them T-8 Weeks: Building a Digital Prompt Book That Keeps Every Margin Note, Surtitles for a Bilingual Production: A Human-Edited Machine Translation Workflow, Cue Sheets From a Script: A Practical Method for Finding Entrances, Props and Sound Cues.

How the entries are made

Entries are written by the Offbook editors with the help of AI writing tools and are meant as general information. They are not professional, legal, medical or financial advice, and details can change, so check primary sources before you act on anything.

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