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Topics - kdshort1

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Hey gang!

I'm currently stage managing The Diary of Anne Frank and they speak specifically about not wearing shoes in the annex.  They are wearing stockings.  Just wondering if anyone has done this and/or has suggestions for how to do this safely?  We'd like to explore options to avoid having to go without some sort of foot protection. Thanks in advance! :)

Edited to add topic tag - Maribeth

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Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / SHOWS: Mary Poppins HELP!
« on: Apr 10, 2016, 10:53 pm »
Hi all!

My next project (after I finish RENT) is Mary Poppins.  We THOUGHT we had the budget figured out and could work in the flying effects and also have a really intricate two story set.

Turns out we might not.

We're currently scratching our brains about what to do.  My plug was to keep the flying effect and utilize lighting to help with the set issues that might ensue due to a lack of a practical second story.  Hardly any of the sets are stationary, and we planned on rolling them on from the wings (some of the house ones anyway).  I digress.

We're trying to think of alternatives to both the flying and the set.  Our show doesn't open until the last weekend in July, so we have time.   If you have any ideas or solutions or innovative ways to fake one of the two (or both!) I would forever be indebted to you.

Seriously.  I'll draw you a really mediocre dinosaur.  I'll write you a really average rap. 

Thanks in advance! :)

Edited to add topic tag- Maribeth

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Self-Promotion / Rent & Mary Poppins!
« on: Feb 07, 2016, 09:21 pm »
Two of the best musicals!


I've known that I would be stage managing Rent at Pit & Balcony in Saginaw, Michigan for four months or so - auditions are next week!  We used Google forms for our audition forms (which if you haven't used you should totally check out & if you have any questions about how amazing it is feel free to message me) and so far we have almost 20 responses! 

But I also just got asked to stage manage Mary Poppins for Stage M in Big Rapids, Michigan!  It's my first show with mostly strangers, so I'm really excited about the opportunities to meet and work with new people. 

Also, in April I'll be receiving Hamilton: The Revolution .  WHICH I'M LITERALLY THE MOST EXCITED FOR. 

This has been a shameless self promotion/fangirl moment. :)

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Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / PROPS: Hairspray spray.
« on: Sep 04, 2015, 01:55 pm »
We're currently a month out from our production of hairspray and we're still trying to figure out which kind of spray to use. We've looked at dry shampoo and moisturizing spray, but neither of those would be good for set/costumes/mics/lights. I was just wondering what some other options may be that are cheaper, as our next plan is to order from the supplier that makes the Ultra clutch "spray" and it's 12 bucks a can.

Thanks!

Edited to add title tag. - Maribeth

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Self-Promotion / "Hairspray" at P&B!
« on: Jul 07, 2015, 08:13 pm »
Hey there!

I'm very excited to announce my first post-graduate job!  I'll be stage managing Hairspray (my first musical!) at Pit & Balcony Theatre in Saginaw, Michigan.  The show goes up in October!

It's not only my first musical, but it's also the largest cast I've ever been in charge of, with 38 cast members.  It's also my first experience with actors under the age of 18.  I'm very nervous, but also completely confident in my abilities with this show.  I have two great assistant stage managers, and the team is awesome.  Plus, it's a great musical.  I will never get sick of our Motormouth singing "I Know Where I've Been."

The talent in this cast is out of this world, and I am so excited. :)

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Tools of the Trade / Google Docs.
« on: Mar 24, 2015, 04:05 pm »
So I'm currently ASM-ing How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, along with one other ASM and my awesome SM, whom I've worked as SM with him as the director.  And since there are three of us while working a with a 30 person cast, there's always a note to take.  My SM was all excited about using google docs, and as someone who's used Dropbox almost exclusively, I was really nervous about using a different program for note-taking.

HOWEVER, GOOGLE DOCS IS MAGIC.  We can, all three of us, be working on line notes or rehearsal reports or blocking or scene shift...  At the same time.  Jess, the other ASM and I usually work on the line notes while our SM, Tommy, can update the report or blocking notes or the scene shift plot.  I think Google Docs is a godsend, and I absolutely love using it.

Just wondering if anyone else out there found any other uses for Google Docs.  Or didn't know about the magic that was and tried it, I want to hear your impressions of it.

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So I was asked to stage manage a show in which the director had asked that the SM not be present until tech week.

Is this common?  Does this scare the crap out of you like it does me?

I had to turn down the offer due to another project, but it just seems strange to me.

Edited to add topic tag- Maribeth

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I'm currently four shows in to a six show run of Clybourne Park by Bruce Norris.  Favorite script ever, great cast, absolutely fantastic director.

I'm having trouble with a couple of people on my crew, however. 
My sound designer is also my sound board operator.  And he has the tendency to tell me that I'm calling cues wrong (too early/late, mostly).  He's been doing this for most of the run, despite me telling him politely multiple times that as the SM it is my job to call the show. (I know this probably sounds like "it's not my fault," but I've called them in the same spot every time and some nights I'm wrong and some nights I'm not...)  I understand it must be difficult to be a designer and have control literally at your fingertips but not be able to do anything about it, but it makes me feel so angry when he tells me I'm wrong, or when he delays or jumps a cue regardless of my call.  How do I politely tell him to stop?  Have any of you had difficult operators before?

Also, I've got a running crew member who is slightly ageist and sexist.  Yay.

And, the president of the board is frequently meddling in various aspects of the show. 


Any advice on dealing with some of these issues?  This is my first show at this theatre and I've already been asked back for a second show (unfortunately had to decline), but I do want to hear what some of your experiences have been like with difficult crew members.

Thanks :)

Edited to add topic tag- Maribeth

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Self-Promotion / My first "real" gig!
« on: Dec 21, 2014, 01:11 am »
I'm working on my first non-educational (by this I mean not at my college) production!

We're a few rehearsals into "Clybourne Park" and it is going swimmingly.  First of all, it's a fantastic script.  One of my favorites.  Secondly, the cast is rocking it.  And third, my ASM and director are two of my favorite people to work with.  It's at a community theatre, and I'm excited to branch out into something besides my university.

That being said, I'm also ASM-ing "How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying" at my university.  They nearly overlap.  Thankfully(?) the director for Clybourne is also the stage manager for How to Succeed.  I also just finished working with the director of HTS on another show ("Blithe Spirit").

I'm ALSO preparing for KCACTF in January and USITT in March.  Oh, and I'm supposed to graduate in May.

CALL ME CRAZY. DO IT.

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Employment / Which is better?
« on: Oct 19, 2014, 11:17 pm »
I'm currently working on my professional resume, and as I only have experience SM-ing at my college, I was wondering which is better:

7 or so SM positions from the same place (an educational setting)?
or
6 from the same place and then one or two at a community theatre?

We talk a lot about how community theatre isn't as... professional?  But then again, is it better to have worked with different people in different settings?


What are your thoughts?


(Also, if this is in the wrong board, feel free to move it or whatever - I wasn't sure if it should go here or in Employment)




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The Green Room / My favorite website, like, ever.
« on: Aug 29, 2014, 09:33 pm »
So, scheduling is the bane of our existence, right?
Scheduling takes more time than the meeting your scheduling for.
It's complicated and messy and annoying, right?

Not with whenisgood.net

It's my favorite tool for scheduling meetings.  You simply select the time period (for example, September 1st to September 8th) and the times of day (8 a.m to 10 p.m, for example).  Then you email the link to the participants, they paint the times they're available, and here's the best part:

The website will put together that data and tell YOU when everyone is available for the meeting!  It's magic!

What's your favorite website to utilize as a stage manager?

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Introductions / I'm Katie :)
« on: Aug 29, 2014, 07:02 pm »
Hey everyone!
I'm Katie, and I'm new to this forum.  I'm in my fifth year of university, studying stage management and lighting design.  I'm much more experienced in SM than I am in LD, but I love both too much to choose just one! 

I only got to ASM one time before I went on to attempt the job of Stage Manager, but I was really lucky to have great faculty members and fellow SM's rooting for me.  My first 'big girl' stage managing experience was Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller.  What an experience.  There were 13 cast members, and that show is a beast no matter how you spin it.  But what a great first experience!

Since, I've Stage Managed 3 more shows and am designing lights for the second time for Frank Galati's John Steinbeck's The Grapes Of Wrath, which is another beast of a show.  Bring it on, I say!

Feel free to message me any time, I love talking strategy and organization tactics and swapping horror stories!

Thank you! :)

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