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Messages - centaura

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1
Stage Management: Other / Re: Backstage at the Nutcracker
« on: Jan 16, 2011, 01:31 pm »
Every year the local ballet company takes over (for a week of Nutcracker), and they have about 150 or so kids that are running around.  But, they are the most organized group that comes here - with multiple parents assigned to each room/age group, meticulous checkin out procedures, etc.  While it can be scary to wander through - it truly is ORGANIZED chaos when they are here.  But, I worked a year once at a professional children's theatre - can't remember how big the biggest cast we had was, but it was entertaining.  And as the ASM, I spent a lot of time child wrangling.

-Centaura

2
Stage Management: Other / Re: Risk Assessment
« on: Oct 27, 2010, 11:02 am »
This is an old topic, but I just viewed an IAAM webinar yesterday that said that OSHA (in the states) was going to start focusing on the entertainment industry, and one of the things that they were talking about implementing was Risk Assessments for entertainment venues, etc.  So, while its something that has not really affected SMs, I'm wondering if the SM will be tasked with coming up with the RAs if the new regulations get passed?  Does anyone here work for a venue that has RAs in place?  It sounds like Mac does - who came up with the protocols for your venue?

Any way it goes, it looks like OSHA has its sights set on the entertainment industry now ( the head of OSHA was quoted in May as wanting to focus on entertainment, after some high profile accidents this year in the states), so I think we're all going to start getting very familiar with RAs, inspections, etc.

-Centaura

3
Stage Management: Other / Re: Concert SM'ing tips?
« on: Mar 02, 2010, 01:06 pm »
I would need to know more about what level of concert it is, before I can give any advice.  Is it local bands?  Or a national tour?  The bands on the national touring scene generally don't use stage managers, and wouldn't have much specifically for you to do during the show.  Their need of a local person would be for fulfilling their rider requirements before their arrival.  If its a local event, then I would assume that you'll be helping with starting and stopping, getting bands onto stage at the right time.

-Centaura

4
The Green Room / Re: Road Life Advice
« on: Feb 12, 2010, 12:45 pm »
I agree with #2 wholeheartedly - drink lots of water.  I use Crystal Light to cover up the flavor of "interesting" local waters, to help me drink more.  That way I can buy one large bottle of water every week or so, and keep refilling it.  They didn't have the little single serving packs when I was on tour, but now its much easier.  There are ones you can get at dollar stores for just a buck a box.  Water helps you with everything from how your joints feel to dealing with higher elevations (Denver, anyone?).

-Centaura

5
I've never had the goal of wanting to work on Broadway.  I don't like the atmosphere in NYC and could never live there on a permanent basis.  I'm a midwest girl, and after spending 10 years touring the US, pretty much figured out that the area that fit my personality was the midwest.  I could possibly live in the pacific northwest, but have nothing drawing me there at this time.

As well, most of the really successful shows on Broadway run for years, and I don't think that I could work on one show that long.  I would do one show for 9 months at a time on tour, but there was always challenges with each day's venue or town that made life interesting and varied.  I'm at a roadhouse now, and I have that variety still.  My goal out of college was to tour, which I've done, and that goal morphed into becoming a venue person once I got tired of the road.  Fairly happy with where I'm at now.  I make my full time living with theatre, have good benefits.  All that I was really looking for.

-Centaura

6
The Green Room / Re: A thief caught by F. Murray Abraham
« on: Jan 27, 2010, 04:37 pm »
I've dealt with theft numerous times - and in every case it was someone who was familiar with the theatre.  Unfortunately these folks are out there, and they can inspire each other (we had a copy-cat theft after one theft here two years ago).  All we can do as stage managers is to try to recognize where we are weak security-wise and try to get our actors to give us their valuables.  And to lock up as much valuable house equipment as is feasible to do.

-Centaura

P.S. - If you ever have to get the police involved, be wary of fingerprinting powder - its basically condensed ink.  Wipe as much of it up dry as possible before adding liquid.  It gets really messy really fast when wet.  Not that I have experience spending an entire day cleaning it up from my office / work area.

7
The Green Room / Re: Mind Games
« on: Jan 07, 2010, 09:06 pm »
Quote
Has something like this happened to anyone else, where certain things become so second nature but they only really apply to the stage?

I kinda view my maglight and leatherman in this category.  I tried to go without them the first time I got home from tour (as in 'yeah, I'm on break - I can take the tools off'), but found that it was so ingrained in me to reach for them, even when not at work, that I finally gave up and wear them all the time - whether I'm at the theatre or not.

-Centaura

8
Oh, too bad I'm at work - at home I had at one point picked up a book on dance terms, but its been so long since I've looked at it that I can't recall its name.  I think it might have been a USITT publication - I seem to recall picking it up at a conference.  Sorry that that's not specific, I'll try to remember when I go home tonight to look for it to get the title.

-Centaura


9
The Green Room / Re: Road Life Advice
« on: Dec 31, 2009, 05:13 pm »
Never put your stuff into hotel room drawers, always use your own alarm clock (never use a hotel alarm clock), be conscious of hygiene and strong scents when on the bus, get used to showering at night - most bus and truck shows the crews don't get their showers until the end of load-out, and then they get onto the bus and go to sleep.  Its the last thing that I wait for at my venue before locking the doors - for the last of the crews to get out of the showers.  Get out and explore each city!  Ask the locals where a good place to eat is.  Never talk bad about a theatre unless you are on the bus or two towns away, be polite to the venue folks (they remember you when you're not! - I was on a tour of badmouthed actors, and then did a one month replacement gig when on hiatus - ended up back at a theatre I had just played and they went on and on about how badmouthed my actors were - thankfully the had liked me.  But they remember bad experiences, and can be less than nice if they have a bad memory of you when you return).  Someone already mentioned the plastic bags for liquids.  I also carried a variety of teas, hot cocoa, instant oatmeal - they could all be made with hot water from the coffee pot in the hotel room.  You'll have a bus, so might have a small fridge - but have some sort of emergency snack for those times when you just can't get out to eat.  Especially breakfast - get boxes of oatmeal bars or something to start your day with, it helps give you energy to deal with the stress of tour.  And get as much sleep as possible!  Folks always commented that I was always in a great mood on tour and that I rarely got sick - I slept as much as possible and ate on a regular basis - even if it was just my own snacks.  But its amazing how quickly you can deteriorate with lack of sleep and poor nutrition.

Also, read menus completely - there are healthy food choices out there, you just have to look for them.  Order salads instead of fries, etc.  If you take care of yourself, you can deal with whatever the road handles.

-Centaura

10
The Green Room / Re: "How to get a job as a stage manager"
« on: Dec 22, 2009, 12:28 pm »
I tired to, but you have to sign up for the site which I refuse to do.

-Centaura

11
Yes, DSM is not something that's separated out in the US, as well some of the British PSM duties are really done by a company manager or production manager in the States.  I had a horrible time as an ASM over there - and I never really did figure out if the ASM doing the role of a props person was an industry standard or whether it was just an odd affectation of the place that I was apprenticing.  Most ASMs in the states would not be in charge of finding and making props, there would be a separate props person, or it often falls under the scenery department.  As well, we almost had a disaster on the show I was working on because no one told me that the special make-up effect was supposed to be done by me, they just assumed I knew and I just assumed that make-up was taken care of by the wardrobe department.  Again, there were some issues there that I was never sure after the fact whether that's really what British ASMs did, or whether it was just that place.  Anyway, I was just pointing out that things different from culture to culture, and while I fully support studying abroad as a way to expand your horizons, I've also learned that only so much translates between cultures.

-Centaura

12
Quote
I don't know, as much as I enjoy my job, it's a real treat to NOT organize things. Every year, when my friends ask me what I want to do for my birthday, I say "not to run the show"- letting someone else plan is lovely (but sometimes hard for me to be passive!)

I would have a similar problem to this when I'd get home from tours.  On tour, I always ended up making most of the restaurant decisions, because no one wanted to make any suggestions.  So, when I came home the last thing that I wanted to do was to have to decided on a restaurant to eat at.  But, all my friends, and especially my mother, would try to force me to pick the restaurant that we'd eat at.  For my mother it was my coming home treat - she never ate out, so going to a restaurant was a treat for her, and I couldn't ever get it in her head that after eating in restaurants for 9 months straight, coming home and eating in a restaurant wasn't the top of my "treat" list.  For my friends, they were just in awe of how many restaurants I was familiar with.  Being forced to be the one deciding on the restaurant just made me feel like I was at work and not taking a break.

-Centaura

13
Where do you want to end up working as a stage manager?  I ask since stage management practices vary between England and the US, and if you get too much of your education over here, it won't help you as much as a local degree will in the actual day to day practices of stage managing.  I'm not sure of the differences in Canadian stage management - I had applied to Banff but was not accepted.  That was 15 or more years ago, so I can't recall why.  But I recall having issues at an apprenticeship I had in England because a lot of the basic job roles that I knew as an American SM didn't translate, and I was not aware of some of the things expected of me in the normal British system.

-Centaura

14
The Green Room / Re: "How to get a job as a stage manager"
« on: Dec 17, 2009, 02:13 pm »
Quote
It is helpful to have prior experience in stage managing before pursuing a job stage managing a production, but it's not always necessary.

Wow, you mean I can get hired by walking off the street?  I think there are a few volunteer theatres that would take anyone off the street and make them the stage manager, but I can think of very few paying theatres that are going to do that.

-Centaura

15
The Green Room / Re: Fearless at DIY
« on: Dec 16, 2009, 04:00 pm »
I bought a vacant, fix-me-up house and have so far gotten the plumbing working, fixed some electrical issues, installed phone lines to the upstairs, replaced almost every light fixture, re-built the entryway wall - down to the foundation, through the entryway sub-floor, up to the ceiling, drywalled it, installed a new front door, stone tiled the entryway, put up some new brick siding outside, and various other "aesthetic" updates indoors (paint, new sinks, bathroom mirrors, etc).  All basically because I've worked in scene shops since I was around 13, so know how to handle power tools.  Now, I could never make it full-time in the construction business, but I got a great deal on the house because I could do a lot of the work myself.

-Centaura

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