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Messages - kiwitechgirl

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1
The Green Room / Re: Keeping Focus avoiding burn out
« on: Apr 23, 2015, 02:19 am »
I definitely agree with keeping work at work.  Of course there are some times where this is not always 100% possible - there are some people I will always answer a call from, regardless, but if an orchestra member calls me out of hours (I'm the operations manager for a very busy opera and ballet orchestra) then I usually just let it go.  I'll listen to their voicemail and then I can make a judgement call as to whether I need to call them back now or when I'm at work!  I've found it's really the only way for me to avoid feeling completely over it and unfocused by the end of the week. 

Interests outside theatre have also been my saving grace - I took up roller derby a few years ago and on a Friday night after a tough week at work, getting onto the track and skating my legs off is amazing.  Not to mention the hitting other people side of it which is great for pent-up frustration, so long as you do it within the rules!  My partner and I also try and get out either walking, biking or doing some geocaching at least once a weekend which seems to have made a big difference to my sanity.  And if all else fails, after a difficult day there's nothing much better than a glass of wine and a bubble bath, preferably with a good book...

2
Stage Management: Other / Re: Orchestra Calls
« on: Mar 30, 2015, 03:43 am »
I'm late to this one but my orchestra (opera and ballet orchestra) gets two calls - for a 7:30 show the first call is at 7:23 and the second tagged on to the beginners call so is usually just after 7:25.  In opera season the conductor gets their own call to the pit but not in ballet season as they tend to be up on stage and someone on the SM team sends them to the pit.

3
Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Rehearsal Room 101
« on: Jun 30, 2014, 02:32 am »
If a member of the SM team asks you to do something, please just do it.  You may not know or understand the reason, but trust us, there is a reason and it's probably a good one.  A request from the SM is not a starting point for negotiation.

4
I agree that she has been perhaps subjected to a lynching which should not have happened - a lot of people have jumped on the bandwagon.  However there has been some fairly detailed investigations going on by various people and some of her explanations (the gay march the same day as the church service to honour war dead) proved to be false (they were not the same day).  And blaming her husband (but saying in an earlier interview that her views agreed with his) is also less than ideal.  I will fight to the death for the right to hold an opinion, no matter who doesn't agree with said opinion, but I don't think there's a place for hate speech, vilification and incitement to violence anywhere in the world.

5
http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/opera/opera-australia-sacks-soprano-tamar-iveri-over-gay-slurs-20140623-zsiol.html

It's been an interesting start to the week.  My personal feeling is that there was never going to be any other result but this one - there couldn't be.  I was ready to walk out with the orchestra if it came to that. 

6
The Green Room / Re: IFTTT
« on: May 28, 2014, 02:39 am »
I like the look of this a lot...time to have a play with it and see what I can make it do for me!

7
Definitely get a music theory book - I don't know that you need to take piano lessons but theory lessons would be very useful.  I just did a really quick Google of "teach yourself music theory" and found what looks like a pretty great website - www.musictheory.net - could be worth checking out.  I find it hard telling people where to start due to the fact that my mother is a music teacher and taught me to read music at the same time as she taught me to read, so it's something that I've just always done - but that website is pretty good from my quick look at it.

Once you've got the basic idea, it can be really useful to get hold of a hard copy of a piece of music and a recording of it; put the recording on and follow along.  Start out with something simple - piano only probably, and as you get more confident work your way upwards until you're comfortable with a full orchestra score (just don't try and follow Strauss scores first up - something like Mozart is a whole lot easier!).

8
Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: SM Team Hierarchy
« on: May 20, 2014, 01:46 am »
Australia is fairly similar to Chris's diagram in terms of company organisation.  Our senior stage manager does act as SM on productions, heading up the SM/DSM/ASM (sometimes 2) team, and we don't have a Company SM but we do have a company manager and two company office assistants.

9
I love it, particularly the donkey which liked its moment in the spotlight too much! We have two horses in a current production of Carmen - Kiko and Drummer - and it does occasionally end in a mess on stage but there are chorus members whose job it is to deal with it (brush and shovel kept in the wings).  It also involved the singers going for a few riding lessons beforehand. Kiko is particularly popular with the audiences as he's a beautiful palomino, and when they come on for curtain calls they actually bow, thanks to some clever training.  We did have one night when Drummer was off as he was lame, and he made the illness list on the show report; both horses also have their own access passes for the Sydney Opera House!

10
The Green Room / Re: Broadway Opening with Major scenic issue
« on: Jan 25, 2014, 03:42 am »
Now this is scary.  Show delayed by half an hour due to the revolve not revolving (different show and revolve from the one earlier this week!) and it looks like we'll be doing a concert version because it does not want to turn.

11
The Green Room / Re: Broadway Opening with Major scenic issue
« on: Jan 20, 2014, 10:29 pm »
I wonder if there has been a motorized turntable that has not broken at a crucial moment in a production somewhere.

How appropriate that I read this topic after we had to stop a Magic Flute matinee today because the revolve didn't want to revolve...we did get going again fairly quickly though!

12
Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Script Copy
« on: Jan 20, 2014, 10:23 pm »
Technically you're not supposed to,  but I don't know a single theatre company that doesn't copy scripts for exactly this kind of purpose.  I personally think so long as you keep track of them and they don't get copied hundreds of times and "released into the wild", you aren't likely to strike any problems.

13
I used to write "1XO" or "2XO" - meaning first or second time only - in front of the cue.  Having said that, I am a musician and that's fairly standard notation in parts.  Figure out a way which works for you and which is clear enough that someone else could call off it if they needed to...

14
I don't think I'd allow it either, certainly not in the professional world, anyway.  If it was community theatre I might think about it, but I'd probably still say no.  Having said that, I did have an episode where a guy approached us about proposing to his girlfriend on stage during our late-night improv show (he wasn't a performer).  We made it work - much easier in an improv show, the players "chose" him and his girlfriend out of the audience for a game requiring audience extras.  He did surprise all of us a little when he started out with the words "xxxx, I know we've only been going out for a month but...." as he hadn't given us that piece of information - I could see the horror in the eyes of the players as they realised it could all go very wrong, but mercifully she said yes!

15
Also tends to be the case in the opera world - all our shows are called by the DSM.  The SM is still in overall charge but usually runs a wing, looking after singers, crew and set changes.  Our SMs also deal with backstage musicians in conjunction with orchestra management.

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