Messages

1

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Plots

« on: Jun 02, 2006, 08:16 pm »

I typically do...

-Scene Breakdown by page (unless the script is retardedly long and then I might do scenes, but I typically stick to pages), proves invaluable in helping directors plan rehearsals/calls and it aids the LD and Costume Designer too.

-Rough Prop List: I never to a props plot until the rehearsal process is under way and I can track things, doing it early without the official list just seems like a lot of extra work to me.

-Sound Cue List: Just of what's mentioned in the text

-General Mic List: Approx. how many you might need vs. how many the space/company has

and then I just take notes, like others said, about weird gags we might have, or tricky scene shifts etc.

2

The Green Room / thank you notes

« on: May 30, 2006, 03:00 pm »

My last show I did a general thank you to the cast by making a big plate of cookies and sticking them on the table in the makeup room downstairs with a note on them.

I did smaller thank-you notes for my crew, they weren't fantastic but they tried so I felt they deserved something.

My booth crew was awesome, so I wrote a little more in their cards than the others.

And then both of my ASMs (both non-SM majors, one is a dramaturg and the other is my best friend who's an actress who got thrown in due to lack of ASMs and did amazingly well) a dozen roses and Venti Frappuchinos that I sat on their tables right before they got to the theatre.

As for the director....well...she got the finger for her thank you gift when she wasn't looking...

3

Tools of the Trade / What goes inside a SM Kit?

« on: May 30, 2006, 02:49 pm »

I don't really work with a kit either. I had one that was pretty much a glorified first aid kid that I kept on me while I was doing MacB b/c of the fight scenes and the fact that we were dealing with 40+ weapons and clumsy actors.

But, For the whole runs of the other shows I've done I have a kit...it just stays in my car and is in desperate need to refilling. But since I'm in school we have a decent first aid kit that I just pull out when I need it. The only things I have in mine that's different are those ice packs that you step on to bust and they stay cold for forever, and I kept a stash of claritin this spring b/c I had an actress with horrific allergies. I keep medication in a little tiny fishing lure box (it's like 4x4) and it says on it "Meds, ask first!" and I keep it in my purse during rehearsal b/c Kristin the stage manager isn't allowed to dole out medication, but come find Kristin, your friend, and she'll give you what you need.

I just don't see the point in lugging around this huge ass box of crap when you hardly ever need it. A pencil box with my office supplies and my 2 notebooks (one for paper work, one for rehearsal script) and my laptop suffice just fine

4

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Audition

« on: May 30, 2006, 01:55 pm »

With the auditions I've worked they've all been 3 minute slots with a 2 1/2 maximum acting/singing time. It's kinda crazy, but it works.

Along the lines of what everybody else said, mostly it's up to the director. But I think the most important thing is to keep your mouth shut. We had some SMs working auditions for our school shows (one big audition at the beginning of the semester for all the shows) and was privy to some of the discussion in the room of directors and chose to spread it amongst the auditioners. Not cool. If a director asks your opinion, great, if not, that's okay too but don't just chime in with it. The director I worked with on MacB this past December asked my opinion about how the sets of girls he was auditioning for the witches looked together and took my opinon to heart. But then a different director might not do that.

5

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Calling a HUGE Show... HELP!!!!!

« on: May 30, 2006, 01:51 pm »

I know it's a little after the fact, but I thought I'd chime in with some suggestions (and echo some others).

I used to use dots in my book, but my current SM professor loathes them with every fiber of his being. Now we're required to use the pencil/ruler method and just go with it. I like it SO MUCH MORE. I'm very big on organizing my books and having things look nice (to the point to where I redo things later, which I need to stop doing b/c it takes too much damn time) and it just reduces the clutter 10 fold, and plus...dots fall off. I was calling a show and had three cues missed b/c my dots disappeared.

One thing that I'm very greatful the school I'm at is willing to do is that during tech, more specifically wet tech, nothing moves unless I say so. I know some places are hellbent on getting out of there fast, but I've managed to get the directors to see that sometimes you need time to work a difficult sequence and they understand, and we're still out of tech by 9:30-10pm most times.

Also, and again it helps b/c I'm in educational theatre right now, I tend to know the designers fairly well. On both shows I had this past year I knew the lighting designers very well (both undergrads) and there were two impossibly hard cue sequences in both shows (Mass Battle and MacDuff/MacB fight scenes in MacB and the blinding scene in Equus) so we set some time aside before tech or before the opening night show to run the sequence with each other so we could see how things needed to be timed. It really helped.

A thorough paper tech is nice too, but sometimes it's just not possible. Equus was a rushed paper tech b/c the director was an idiot and just "didn't get the point of doing it".

Anyway, hope some of that helps....but above all..SCREW THE DOTS!