When should the stage crew become involved?

At what point should the stage manager start coming to rehearsals? Coming for the first rehearsal is surely unnecessary as there is nothing to see or do. My personal choice is to have them start coming once the play has been fully blocked.
Comments?

Would it not be better for the stagemanger to see and record the blocking as is one of the roles of a stagemanger.

I would posit that the SM ideally should be there from day one. That way, all the cast get to know the person who is responsible for the smooth running of the performances, and the SM can get used to the idiosyncracies of the cast. It also relieves the director of the onorous task of "disciplining" the cast when they can be concentrating on the creative process of bringing a script to life.

As for the remainder of the crew, I personally like having them there once the show/act is blocked, as it gives them a better feel for the piece when it is almost ready to run and, especially for lights and sound, gives them a better clue as to what they're finally working with/against.

Eliot

I agree with Eliot. I think a good production is a partnership between the director and the SM with both supporting each other. This way all the technical concerns are handled by the SM right from the start. When I SM I like to discuss all details with the director well before auditions and certainly before blocking.
Given such a partnership the director can concentrate on the artistic side and the cast have every confidence that that these artistic concepts are based in reality and that the technical support will be there.

The SM is a major part of the production team along with your designers who are concerned with the whole 'mise en scene' - long before your auditions as their input is also required for budgeting and staging the show.

The times I have seen so many good productions suffer because they have not followed the 5 PÂ’s, "sorry you did not get the part - but would you like to be the SM?" .

The SM isone of the most important and is in fact the mechanical extension of the directors concept. In most productions they are the one to pull it all together. DonÂ’t use them as a prompt or just to call a show, as this is a waste of their abilities and empirical skills, you will be doing the show a disservice

Joe McCabe

I'm a firm believer in the SM being involved as early as possible, but that would depend on whether I have an Assistant Director. When SMing, I have made myself available throughout the initial blocking process, always taking notes on blocking, and any other important information to the production.

I know a lot of this is AD's job, but as a director, I haven't always beeen able to have one, so that role falls to the SM.