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Stage Management History?

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PSMKay:
Good heavens are they still using Brockett after all this time? I'm amazed at how many of the texts I used in the mid-90's are still in use in college-level training.

Anyhow back on topic, yes, it would take a combination of tax returns and playbills, certainly, and newspapers from assorted eras, and possibly correspondence from assorted playwrights and directors. We know that there's mention of a prompter in G&S's era, there are prompt scripts so that part of the role had emerged already.

Brianna speaks of the Greeks and of non-western emergence of a stage manager. If you want a counter-thesis, very well. The stage manager may not have evolved but sidestepped into theatre from liturgy. After all, I was an acolyte in my church growing up, and I can attest that what I did during the service had a lot in common with a sort of stagehand/ASM position. There are altar boys, altar guilds - a whole bustle of "backstage" folk working to coordinate a church service. If one could see the stage manager anecdotally emerging from the role of the actor-manager, then one could just as likely see someone who performed a similar function in the church stepping in to coordinate a large production of, say, mystery plays.

Keeping a troupe of social outcasts together on the road is one thing, and requires a certain type of skill, but coordinating an entire town to perform something like the York Mystery Cycle year after year would mandate something more akin to what we do, I would think, and the skill set might already be in place from working in the church. An analogue could possibly be found in performative experiences from non-western cultures - shamanic rituals, eastern operas & spiritual shadow puppetry, etc - how is the backstage structured for these? (Of course, there's no guarantee that we evolved from a similar structure, but one could argue that history repeats itself and performers the world over still need organizing.)

But really, couldn't you see it as  ... troupe pulls through a town where they do regular performances of their own. The fellow who puts together the annual shows takes one look at the merrie bande and says *tsk* "oh no, here, let me show you what I've learned from getting 500 people to show up for choir practice." The organizer, being of fine Christian mettle, will not run away to join the travellers so they appoint one of their own to serve the same role going forward. No? Maybe?

It's such a hodgepodge of a role that it certainly evolved based on tradition, but how did this particular hodgepodge of tasks become so very consistent from theatre to theatre? And while chasing that particular train of thought, how did the two very disparate roles of Stage Manager and ASM evolve into their current forms?

Prompters have been needed since the dawn of scripted drama, but the "boss of backstage" part required backstage tech to evolve to the point where a boss was needed. Somehow it did grow from small travelling troupes to the 200+ member companies that Brianna speaks of from the 18th c, but at what point did the manager emerge from the mess? (One would suppose early one, given performers' needs to boss others about and stand out from the crowd!)

And what about the whole "maintains the show after the director departs" bit? I'd think that requires mass media first - the contract with the audience, the promise that what you see tonight is pretty much the same as what your brother saw last night, rather than extemporaneous speech. Were they all separate roles at one point, consolidated into the stage manager position to save on cash? Were our stage managerly ancestors such go-getters that they simply stood up and said "well, sure, I'll do it!" every time a new backstage demand came along?

So yes, I'm seeking something bigger than just the term. I mean, finding the first use of the term is great, and will be an excellent piece of trivia, but it also serves as the transition point. My bet is that the more exciting parts of the development of the craft happened immediately before the emergence of the actual job title.  The first "stage manager" of record serves only as a boundary around which is the territory for prime exploration. I guess I'm looking for a legitimate origin story.

BLee, the article you link to is lovely, it definitely shows that in Garrick's time the prompt-book was created by the actor-director and then handed off to the prompter, who therefore took a far more passive role than that of a modern SM. English stage management roles have developed quite differently from American ones - I can see in the Garrick books the beginnings of the English traditions, and certainly opera traditions, but American stage management seems further removed. I'm thinking the greater distances and different entertainment styles in the US (Variety shows, burlesque, magicians etc) may have nudged us in a different direction early on.

Brianna, I'd be interested to see what else you can dig up. I don't have access to much out here although in theory I have lifetime access to the Ivy Libraries if I needed it.

Samazon:
Thank you for reviving this thread! I saw it a few months ago when beginning a paper on how and why SMs were included in AEA for a college class but could not find it again while doing more research a few weeks ago.

As for particulars, I do have a mention of SMs and prompters in a document entitled "Boston Museum Rules and Regulations, 1880". In rule 9, it states, "The stage manager's and prompter's tables are strictly private. All business will be transacted in the stage manager's office." While I am aware that this is a very recent account, it is a good starting point for the investigation.

In terms of non-primary documents, I have found several listings for SMs and ASMs on IBDB, but I'm hesitant to rely completely on this as I'm not sure of their reliability. Also, I've found mention that Ludwig Kronek was credited as SM to George II, Duke of Sax Meningen, but his role seemed to be more of a director rather than an SM.

I know these do not form a complete origin story (or even come close) but I'm currently during more research into the role. At this point, I'm researching records of managers as they seem to have performed some of the tasks of modern SMs. I'll let you know if I find more.

PSMKay:
I wonder if we don't need to pay some attention to the role of Assistant Director in these investigations. After all, if you look at the role of AD in high opera it contains a lot of the tasks that are normally assigned to the SM in straight shows & musicals.

Y'know, Tom Kelly spoke a bit about the origins of the SMA in his chat with us a few years back. Let me see if there's anything worthwhile in the old transcript.

LCSM:

--- Quote from: BLee on Jul 24, 2012, 01:22 am ---Another method of seeking the development of "stage manager" as a position is to track one of our most identifiable tools: the prompt book. The Folgers library has a wonderful record of prompt books (http://www.folger.edu/Content/Whats-On/Folger-Exhibitions/Past-Exhibitions/David-Garrick/What-is-a-Promptbook/) that certainly suggests the roots of our position as a stage prompter.

--- End quote ---

I love looking at old prompt books. The Victoria and Albert have quite a few in their collection, as well and a whack of old theatre paperwork:
 
http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/p/prompt-book-for-radamisto-by-george-friedrich-handel/
 
http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/d/doyly-carte-prompt-books/

Rhynn:
Linda Apperson references the following book in her book Stage Managing and Theater Etiquette:

Townsend, Stephen.  Short Account of the Amateur Dramatic Club of St. Bartholomew’s Hospital.  London:  Knight Publications, 1888.

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