Messages

1

Employment / stage management college degrees

« on: May 12, 2006, 01:10 am »

I've done both.  I spent about 5 years doing SM-ing for community theatres and working towards a degree in psychology before I realized taking a degree in stage management was even possibe.  I knew I still had lots to learn and I obviously couldn't learn it all from books or on my own, so I decided to maybe try taking a degree in something I actually enjoyed.

It's definitely something you can't learn in the classroom, you have to learn while doing it and hopefully you get the chance to work under someone who has experience, it's the best way as opposed to learning by running a show yourself. You'll still learn lots, but you always learn new/better/bad ways of doing things working with others.  

So I'm glad that my BFA program was partially hands on with show assignments.  I don't think either going to school or learning by doing is better than the other, just depends what type of learner you are, cause school isn't for everyone.

2

Employment / Under what circumstance is it right to...?

« on: May 01, 2006, 02:00 am »

With freebies that want to try to get me in advance, I've tentatively said yes to them with the understanding that I really needed to get paid work and may opt out if that occured, and that if they couldn't agree to that, then they should probably try to find someone else, and usually, people are fairly agreeable to a tentative agreement when it's a freebie.

The only other times I've backed out on a paid agreement was when I agreed to do work with a theatre company that knew me really well and really liked me, or with a group of people that were friends/old classmates, and were very understanding and encouraging about taking a job that paid more.

Generally, it's a bad idea, unless you know them well enough to know that it would be ok with you backing out.  

Even then though, I generally try to make sure I know another stage manager who is not currently busy that I think would be appropriate for their project, and was confident enough in their abilities to recommend them to the theatre, incase they don't have anyone in mind that they can call last minute.

3

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Cardstock pros and cons

« on: Mar 29, 2006, 05:59 pm »

I would just use a heavier paper, cardstock seems like overkill, especially if you have a lot of pages in your script, it could make your binder a lot thicker and fuller than you'd like.  Plus, I would think it'd be much harder to convince a theatre to buy you 200 pages of cardstock which is more expensive than plain paper in order for you to put together your prompt script.

4

Employment / Interviews with Theatres for Apprenticeships

« on: Mar 29, 2006, 05:55 pm »

Does anyone have any advice on how to prepare for interviews for apprenticeships?  I had 2 interviews last year and I thought 1 went well, but I didn't wind up getting jobs with either theatre.  

Are there any questions I should be asking?  Any research I should do on the theatres other than looking at their line up for next season and making sure I see some of their shows in the current season?  Anything I shouldn't ask?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

5

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / The SM times are a-changin'?

« on: Mar 29, 2006, 05:40 pm »

I always found it difficult to "maintain the show" while in school as well, not only because they didn't exactly go into any depth about this other than the fact that we were suppose to do it, but also because with the shows we did in school, either the run was so short 1-3 days, that you either didn't have to maintain the show or there wasn't much opportunity to.

Or because the director was a student or faculty member, so they were always around giving notes and going to the shows so we didn't have to maintain the show, and also it seemed like the BFA actors weren't informed that maintaining the show was part of our job, so some would often wonder why we were giving them non-technical notes.

6

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Tieing actors up onstage?!

« on: Mar 10, 2006, 11:15 pm »

There are a few methods that usually involve props to rig something so it looks like it's a knot, but actually it's not.  Instead the knot is pretied and glued so it stays, but the loop is cut and attached back to the underside of the knot with a quick release like a caribeener or dog leash type connector.

Another method we've used is the fake knot, but you use thread and sew the end of the cut loop to the knot so if the actor needs to break free, he just tugs hard and the thread breaks, freeing them.

7

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Dealing with stress

« on: Mar 10, 2006, 11:09 pm »

I did a "stress management handbook" for my special projects class in my final year of stage management.  It gives a variety of information on what stress is, what it can do to you, and a slew of ways people can deal/do deal with it from a variety of sources (books, psychologists, health professionals).  

I'd be happy to email it to you if you'd like, or provide it for posting on this website as an article.  Message me if you'd like a copy.

8

Employment / Visas to work in the USA

« on: Jan 13, 2006, 07:35 pm »

Hi,

I'm interested in doing internships in stage management in the states, as there are many more opportunities to work there during the summer than here in Canada.

Does anyone know anything about how to go about getting a work Visa and what type I would have to apply for for our field?  I've attempted to find this information on my own, but the US Gov't website gives me a headache because all the documentation is so confusing, and all the websites that deal with getting visas for you are generally targeted at students (which I'm not anymore).

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks
Eva

9

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Blocking notation help, anyone?

« on: Aug 13, 2004, 08:28 pm »

I'm not big on using post-its in my book, mostly because post-its and flags have a nasty tendency to get loose.

Instead, I was taught to mark blocking that isn't done again with sort of a system so after they haven't done the same thing 3 times, it's pretty safe to assume that it's not going to happen.  That way you have a record of the old blocking for a little while if they want to go back to it, but after a point, they probably won't.  So for example:

Original blocking:

Deb. x SL, PU glass, 'drink'

Rehearsal 2 (they change the blocking, so you write the new blocking and indicate that they didn't do the old blocking by adding some marks)

(Deb. x SL, PU glass, 'drink')

Rehearsal 3 (they change the blocking slightly from last rehearsal and again, don't repeat the blocking from the 1st rehearsal, so you add another set of marks around the last ones)

' (Deb. x SL, PU glass, 'drink') '

Rehearsal 4 (they change the blocking slightly from last rehearsal and again, don't repeat the blocking from the 1st rehearsal, so you make a line through the blocking)

' (Deb. x SL, PU glass, 'drink') ' (imagine a line through this blocking)

Rehearsal 5:  if they don't do that blocking again, it's probably safe to erase it from your book

Eva