"Dear Abby" posts are from members of the site need advice but want to remain anonymous. They can send their questions via private message to a staff member, who will post the message on their behalf.
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Dear Abby,
I'm having trouble with dealing with a production manager.
I am working with a small company who puts a lot of the work on the production manager. The production manager has been working with the company for about 5 years so he is familiar with how they work. This is a project that has been in workshops for a couple of months with a previous stage manager.
My problem is that he tends to leave his duties incomplete. This predates my hiring. For example, not getting budgets to designers, not getting contracts to the designers in time, not informing the director that I had been hired or that we were lacking a member of the creative team until 2 weeks before first rehearsal. There's some animosity towards the PM from the director and the designers, and I can't say I disagree with their feelings. I signed a contract months in advance and kept e-mailing him about needing to get involved early. He introduced me to the director and filled me in on production details 5 days before first rehearsal. I was left scrambling to play catch up and prep.
This company's budget does not allow for a stage management budget, so I cannot make copies of scripts and get supplies. I have to request them if need be. So I would request ahead of time. Nothing I requested from the production manager was prepared for first rehearsal.
Once rehearsals began, the info coming from the rehearsal room didn't match what I'd heard from the PM. I was learning of actor conflicts, unexpected AEA contracts, new dates of rehearsal and tech - not minor things. When I seemed surprised, the response I got was, "Didn't the production manager tell you?"
I have been asking for copies of new scenes and supplies needed for about a week, and nothing on his end has been done. Designers, the Director, and the Actors also have been requesting things that are not getting done. We have voiced these requests in reports, e-mails, phone calls, and production meetings. The production manager will say it will get done in by a certain specified and reasonable date, but does not come through. Rehearsals are suffering because we don't have the tools, people, or information we need. Some of the actors are taking out their frustration on stage management thinking we're to blame.
I brought up the situation with another stage manager who has worked with this company before. She has said that going over his head was not effective as his supervisor's approach is a simple "Do this" without follow up. It doesn't guarantee results and doesn't prevent him from dropping the next ball. The PM has 2 assistants, but they are new and he doesn't delegate anything to them.
What can I do to get the things I need in order to create a more comfortable atmosphere in rehearsal and, at the end, get things done?
Signed,
Frustrated-and-Done-With-It