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Messages - amylee

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1
if you use (or can borrow) a macintosh computer, it will create a pdf file through the "print" command.

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Employment / how long do you wait for a response?
« on: May 15, 2006, 01:48 pm »
fine - don't send individual responses.

but if you have a website - you can post ONE announcement that the position is filled.

I've often used the website method, or mass-email for audition follow-ups. The last email that involved more than 100 addresses took about 20-30 minutes to put together. The website announcement takes about 2 minutes.

I'm also a subscriber to several lists that disseminate information very quickly to large groups of people, and it wouldn't take much to create one that sent out employment updates - folks could subscribe or unsubscribe themselves according to their interest and announcements would only be written ONCE.

There are solutions - and saying "oh well, that's just the way it is" is a pretty lousy one.

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Employment / how long do you wait for a response?
« on: May 15, 2006, 09:59 am »
i'm sorry - but i don't buy the "it's so hard to be the bearer of bad news" excuse.

how easy is this:

Dear Candidate:

Thank you for your interest in the X organization. This message is to let you know that we have filled that position and will keep your information on file for X amount of time. Best of luck to you.

Sincerely,

Interviewer

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Employment / how long do you wait for a response?
« on: May 10, 2006, 12:23 pm »
i have applied for over 200 jobs since the begining of this calendar year - some in the theatre, some in education, some in business, some at museums and some that defy classification.

so far, i have received approximately 25 "thank you but no thank you" emails or letters.

of the jobs that i actually got as far as interviewing, sending requested documents, etc. (about 30 to date), I have received about 5 "thank you but no thank you" messages. The rest forced me to call and wait for messages to be returned and then call again and repeat the degrading process until I finally got a human who admitted that they'd filled the position weeks earlier.

It is EXTREMELY rude - you don't even need to spend the 40 cents for a stamp - just inconvenience a few electrons and send a blinking email!

grrrrrrrrr.

(by the way - i have a new teaching job for next year at a charter school where i will be starting up a brand new theatre program! woo-hoo!)

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SMNetwork Archives / Calendar Programs?
« on: May 01, 2006, 11:52 am »
yahoo has a terrific calendar that is part of their "groups" service.

it's free, and even better - it will send emails that alert all subscribers to any changes that are made.

also - if any of your contacts are using a PDA, they can set it to automatically download into their regular calendar.

The "groups" feature is also a great way to send out messages, post documents, database lists (like a contact sheet) etc.

You can set it up to be non-searchable and completely private.

I use a yahoo group for any show that involves more than 6 or 8 people. Total lifesaver!

6
I recently was pulled in to ASM a production of JOSEPH....DREAMCOAT that a nearby theatre does every year at Christmas.

This show is a props nightmare - plus it's a youth production - plus the crew is usually the kids' parents (who don't do any other theatre).

I made a plot-ladder that was basically a three-column chart. First column listed the name of the song (I have also done this with names for scenes or beats). The second column is "what's being used onstage". The third column was "what's the crew doing backstage".

The third column was usually a mix of recovery tasks from the last scene and prep work for the next one.

It worked very well for my situation - an inexperienced crew that had a different composition pretty much every night (there were a few parents who came to most of the shows, but also a lot who were only there once or twice)

I made about a million copies - you couldn't walk 10 feet backstage without seeing one :)

7
Employment / Opinions on Producers
« on: Apr 25, 2006, 11:24 am »
i'm sorely tempted to suggest that you do what you need to do to get information where it needs to be and copy the producers......

what's the worst they can do to you? not hire you again? is that necessarily a bad thing.........if there's more at risk (possible vindictive blacklisting or bad-mouthing, for example) then you have to weigh those risks for yourself.

when i've had situations where someone was trying to restrict information as a control method, i usually follow what i'm told to do and then sidle up to the people i know need information and pass it along orally (no record) - at the very least, i pass along "heads up" notifications such as "you need to ask so-and-so about some changes that were made tonight"........or even just suggest that now would be a good time for a particular production team member to "check in" with the producer "to see if there's anything i should know"

with the heads-up strategy, one of two things will happen - 1) the producer will get fed up with being bothered for information all the time and will just let you provide it or 2) they'll get off on having "control" and be happy that you're following the rules, even if they do wonder how the design team always seems to know exactly when to "check in for updates"

good luck!

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i'll second the recommendation to call "breaks"

especially when a show has long stretches with no cues, i keep a running "pages to go" count in my call script and usually call the count down. it's just enough to keep everyone's head in the game, as it were, while still allowing them to not be on "full alert" when it's not necessary.

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Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Noises Off
« on: Apr 07, 2006, 02:55 pm »
start working on your props plot YESTERDAY.

and have fun - this show is a tremendous challenge, and is all kinds of fun

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Students and Novice Stage Managers / Be quiet!
« on: Mar 24, 2006, 09:02 am »
when the above-described method was suggested to me, i, too, rejected it. thought it was "beneath me" and all that....

what i've learned, however, is that a rant does nothing but harm your voice, raise your blood pressure, and destroy the respect your cast had for you.

any production can afford to lose one rehearsal when it means that the remaining ones will run smoothly. think about it - would you rather lose part or all of one rehearsal and make a huge point or would you rather be nickled and dimed to death, losing 5 and 10 minutes over and over and over again.

i had a professor who used this method - no sarcasm at all and absolutely no tolerance for misbehavior. if someone's behavior disrupted class, class stopped. period. then asked permission to continue class when the disruption ended. the message got through.

the other major lesson i learned from him is that rehearsal or class starts on time, no matter what. even if there are only two people in the room - work begins at the appointed time, and nothing is repeated. if someone asked, he would answer (very matter-of-factly) "i'm sorry, but i won't be able to do that".

when i started using these two techniques, suddenly people were on time, prepared and focused on a much more regular basis. also - my blood pressure dropped, general mood elevated, and i haven't had laryngitis even once since.

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Students and Novice Stage Managers / Be quiet!
« on: Mar 23, 2006, 03:23 pm »
one very effective method (although it is kind of passive-agressive) is to stop talking and calmly wait for them to finish

be willing for this to take however long it takes

when they finally stop, apologize for interrupting them and ask politely if they're finished

when they answer "yes", double-check that it's ok for you to give notes, make announcements, etc.

then apologize again for interrupting them while they were talking

keep a straight face, avoid a sarcastic tone if at all possible (you'll probably need to draw on any acting training you have) and BE WILLING for this process to potentially take a LONG time - it might even completely trash the rehearsal that day.

but, you'll never have to do it a second time with the same group, especially if it takes a long time. even if the noise becomes an issue again, if you simply stop - it will take at most 30 seconds for them to "shush" each other.

life is too short to ruin your voice or your blood pressure for inconsiderate people.

12
my agreement to what's been said already seems redundant, but i would like to re-emphasize the reassuring effect of a verbal response from the ops. Right now, i'm working a production where i am completely separated from the light/sound board op PLUS there are several intervals between cues which practially need calendars to time.

I often preface "standby" cues with a "wakeup" as well, and all is good.

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SMNetwork Archives / SM humor: SPT 1.0 Tech Support
« on: Jan 11, 2006, 11:47 am »
Small Professional Theater 1.0 Tech Support

Dear Sirs;

Last year I upgraded from Community Theater 5.0 to Small Professional Theater 1.0 and noticed that the new program began making unexpected changes. It installed something called Microsoft Stagemanager (TM) which it launches whenever rehearsal software is powered up, severely limiting access to munchies, praise, and practical joke applications that operated flawlessly under Community Theater 5.0. No mention of this phenomenon was included in the product brochure.

In addition, Stage Manager 1.0 uninstalls many other valuable programs such as Hamming 2.0, Smoking in costume 7.5, Coming and Going at will 5.6, Unlimited Comps 8.3 andBorrowing Theater's Equipment 7.3 and installs new, undesirable programs such as Schedule 3.1, Discipline 1.3, Expectations 5.0, and
Accountability 2.4. Divafit 4.1 no longer runs at all, and invariably crashes the system. Under no circumstances will it run Whining 14.1. I've tried running Attitude 5.3 to fix Stage Manager 1.0, but
this all purpose utility is of limited effectiveness. Can you help please?!!!!

Jane

Dear Jane:

This is a very common problem many actors complain about, but  is mostly due to a primary
misconception. Many people upgrade from Community Theater 5.0 to Small Professional Theater 1.0 with no idea that Community Theater 5.0 is merely an ENTERTAINMENT package for actors.

However, Small Professional Theater 1.0 is a performance   OPERATING SYSTEM and was designed by its creator to run as few applications as possible, eliminating unnecessaryroutines and delegating as many tasks as it can to the enduser in order to conserve all system resources for its own use. It is impossible to uninstall, delete, or purge the Stage Manager files from the system, once installed, as Stage Manager 1.0 rewrites your other software so that it rejects Community Theater 5.0 routines once  exposed to SM's superior methods.

Having Stage Manager 1.0 installed myself, I would suggest you  read the entire section of the owners
manual regarding General  Director Faults (GDFs). Thisis a wonderful feature of Stage  Manager 1.0, secretly installed by the parent company as an integral part of the operating system. Stage Manager
1.0 will take on ALL responsibility for ALL faults and problems, regardless of root cause, and will somehow
solve EVERYTHING. To activate this great feature enter the command C:\DIRECTOR\SCATTERED DREAMER-SENSITIVE ARTIST\CAN'T FUNCTION WITHOUT YOU

Sometimes ActorsRIdiots 6.0 or higher must be run simultaneously while entering the command. Stage
Manager 1.0 should then run the applications Organize 12.3 and Miracles 7.8.

TECH TIP! Avoid excessive use of this feature. Overuse can    create additional and more serious GDFs, and ultimately you may have to give a C:\APOLOGIZE\RAISE\PERSONAL DAY command before the
system will return to normal operations. Overuse can also cause Stage Manager 1.0 to default to
GrumpySilence 2.5, or worse yet, ArtSearch 6.0. GrumpySilence 2.5 is a very bad program that can
create Disfunctional.acting files that clog all rehearsal and performance programs and are very hard
to delete. Save yourself some trouble by following this tech tip! Just remember, the system  will run
smoothly and take the blame for all GDFs, but because of this fine feature it can only intermittently run
all the entertainment applications Community Theater 5.0 ran.

After several years of use, Stage Manager 1.0 will become familiar and you will find many valuable embedded features such as FixesBrokenThings 2.1 and Ensemble Loyalty 4.2.

A final word of caution! Do NOT, under any circumstances, install any version of MeddlesomAdministrator. This is not a supported application, and will cause selective shut down of the operating system. StageManager 1.0 will run only CurtGoingThrutheMotions and CovertArtSearch until    MeddlesomeAdministrator is uninstalled. I hope these notes have  helped. Thank you for choosing
to install Small Professional Theater 1.0 and we here at Tech Support wish you the best of luck in
coming years.

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Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Backstage or In the Booth?
« on: Dec 21, 2005, 04:26 pm »
i prefer to be in the booth, with a trusted ASM backstage

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SMNetwork Archives / go-go-go-JOSEPH
« on: Dec 05, 2005, 01:23 pm »
I was called in to manage the backstage traffic for the annual youth production of JOSEPH....DREAMCOAT (year 7). The call came on Tuesday of show week LOL. (I've SM'd for this theatre a few times and have developed a reputation as an instant-organizer)

I finally have it organized - all it took was making the props plot myself (since the darling girl who was given the props job was never properly trained).

Lots o' moms around - and about half of them are great - can-do attitude, and their only concern is making the show run smoothly. The other half - well, they're either in the way or nowhere to be found, and they only want to do the "fun" jobs and they bitch incessently unless they are profusely thanked every time they move a muscle (which i am not inclined to do LOL).

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