Abstract: In a dress rehearsal, the duration of a program which is affected by internal and external factors, is uncertain. A robust optimization method is adopted to schedule the programs to minimize the total waiting cost of actors. A deterministic dress rehearsal model is first proposed. Then, based on the above deterministic model, a two-stage robust optimization model is built, considering the uncertainty of the programs. durations and the risk preference of decision makers. Thirdly, the robust optimization model is converted into a 0-1 mixed linear programming. At last, numerical experiments are carried out by Matlab, and the results show that the actors' waiting cost increases with the decreasement of decision makers' risk preference.

Key words: rehearsal scheduling, uncertain rehearsal duration, robust optimization, duality programming