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Messages - McShell

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1
Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Dressing For The Part?
« on: Dec 09, 2007, 10:42 am »
I get my (veggie) shoes from moo shoes.  www.mooshoes.com

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Right out of college I was working at an arts organization, in the office, when I got a call from someone desperately looking for a stage manager, so i offered to do it "I'm a stage manager".  Turns out, it was a long running production of Beehive that had a sold out night, and they gave me a videotape to look at during my lunch hour, and had to call the show that night.  i had never seen it, or called a musical before, and there was no rehearsal. It actually turned out ok, the worst of it was my nerves.  I ended up doing that show for a while.

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Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Calling attention
« on: Oct 29, 2007, 08:10 pm »
This might be left over from my house management days, but I've been known to ring a bell to get a room's attention, or flicker the lights real quick a couple of times, depending on the building.

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Employment / Re: spin-off on the name dropping...
« on: Oct 25, 2007, 05:55 am »
Have you tried asking them to see if they'd give you a reference or letter of recommendation? Sometimes things like that come up in conversation, such as if someone sees you went to that school and asks you if you know "so and so." Otherwise I think it's very iffy.

I tend to keep things like that as a minimum because of several reasons.

Some people may know them and not like them.

Someone you know who is big on your book, may not be big on someone else's. 

Some people just don't like people who drop names. 

But if I was you I'd at least ask them for a reference, or letter of recommendation.  If they don't know you enough to give you one, I'd warn against dropping their name.

5
Employment / Re: indicating new plays on a resume
« on: Sep 17, 2007, 08:20 am »
"new work" "new play" or "full length premiere." 

I put an asterisk and at the bottom put "World Premiere" just because it fits the ones I've done.  I have one that had been workshopped prior (at the same theatre, the season before I got there), but the playwright and theatre awcknowledged it as the world premiere to the press, so that's how I left it, even though it had been workshopped.

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Something I do too is actually type, in bold, at the top, "This form is voluntary."

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College and Graduate Studies / Re: Colleges?
« on: Aug 19, 2007, 06:40 am »
I went to college a couple of years to get GE's done, then transferred to get a BFA.  I know the school I went to had a minimum three year residency no matter what, so I couldn't finish in two years, and even retook some classes, even though I'd gotten A's at a different school, because they considered the level different.  They'll look through your transcript to see what they'll give you.  I'm not sure all schools have this time requirement.

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Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Where do I start?
« on: Aug 18, 2007, 10:06 am »
One time I complained to my SM advisor about having to take acting classes. She said "This way when you're stage managing a show, even if you don't know what you're doing, you can act like you do."

I thought that was funny.

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I think it simplifies things for rep to have it in one, at least for the departments and SM's, and for actors especially if they're double cast, it's easier for them to see what the whole day looks like.  Sometimes there's one PSM running the whole thing an ASM's running rehearsals, and having it in one is just easier.

I've seen one big header and three columns each with a smaller header with the show name header, on Word, one for show A, B, C.  Under each one, the time and who's called underneath, time and who's called, etc.  Going all the way down.  Same thing for the other shows, so they're side by side.  The font looks really small, but readable.

It seemed to work fine.


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Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Where do I start?
« on: Aug 14, 2007, 11:23 pm »
I agree I think stage managers should teach stage management, designers design, directors directing.  And i think stage managers should take each of those classes.  A designer can't really teach me how to stage manage, but they can teach me design, and I can be more sensitive to designer's needs when I work.  If you're going to pay all that money to get a degree, might as well get your money's worth and learn from stage managers, designers, directors, etc. working in the field, not just teaching it out of a textbook.  And it's good to have an advisor or teacher that is a professional stage manager that can give you that perspective.

I don't think you need to have a stage managment degree to stage manage, but it helps to have a degree of some sort.   

11
I've personally never come across a situation where I've had to call a warning, other than in school, where we were taught to use them.  Professionally I haven't had to.

But in a scenario like Mac brought up, it makes perfect sense to use them.

So I think it is probably handy sometimes, but I don't think it's the norm.

12
Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: theatre romance
« on: Aug 02, 2007, 02:33 am »
I don't date anyone I work with. 

But I have seen successful relationships, and marrriages, within the same theatre companies.  I've also seen some terrible breakups and divorces.  But that's true anywhere.

I just don't like dating people I work with, so I don't do it.  Personal preference.

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College and Graduate Studies / Re: Internships?
« on: Aug 02, 2007, 02:24 am »
I did an internship at the La Jolla Playhouse years back, and they did offer housing.  They didn't pay, but they did reimburse me for mileage too.  I don't know if they still do, but if you want to get really far away from the East Coast, that's pretty far.

I wouldn't give up on getting non Eq. Assistant and PA jobs that pay enough to pay rent.  My last PA job was at another LORT, and I had no problem paying rent with about a week of work, health benefits, parking, overtime, and a season contract. It's not get rich money, but I wasn't broke, so it was worth the move.  Those kinds of jobs come around every once in a while.  I'd look at ARtsearch.

14
When I do seasons somewhere I usually end up hanging out with the staff mostly, because we see each other all the time and get to know each other, show after show, and sometimes actors come and sometimes not.  But, it's not a nightly thing. I don't drink to get drunk, ever, I might have a beer if someone's buying.  If someone gets drunk in front of me, it's not a topic of conversation the next day.  When we're at work, it's work.  I never really thought about it this much.

15
Tools of the Trade / Re: Painting on marley floor
« on: Jul 17, 2007, 05:25 am »
Yes, I was thinking along the same route, something waterbased like crayola markers, crayons, paint.  You'll probably lose spikes if someone spills something or the floor is mopped.

But, it beats risking dancer's safety, or having to respike every day.

I know there's some Artline markers I used that don't get out very easy.  They're semi-permanent, and you have to scrub them off, but they did come off with hot soapy water and a scrub brush.  I only know this because my friend's son got a hold of them and decided to do his school project on my floor.  I got them at Dick Blick Art Supply.  If you went that route, I'd make a tiny not so obvious mark in the corner somewhere, wait a day, and try to scrub it off to make sure it would come off your floor.  That's probably not the easiest route though because you'd probably have to scrub every little spike every time the director changed their mind.

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