Messages

1

The Green Room / Re: What's next?

« on: Mar 18, 2012, 10:36 pm »

That's a little scary... you just nailed three of my major life activities since losing stage mgmt... I'm here to tell you, though, they're not bad as choices.
And, you never know how "plans" can get taken out of our control, too...

(What's out of my control? Never happens ...) :-@

2

The Green Room / Re: Things Stage Managers Say

« on: Mar 18, 2012, 09:48 am »

It's right here.

it's right there.

It was right here a second ago.

OK, here we go, no stopping this time.

If I call "hold," please don't go anywhere.

Where did you find that?

No thanks, I don't drink.

3

The Green Room / What's next?

« on: Mar 17, 2012, 09:51 pm »

OK, weird question, I know, but I'll put it out there: what would you do if you knew you could never stage manage again? (If anyone starts quoting What I Did for Love, I will find you...    )

4

The Green Room / Re: Best one-liner from a performance report

« on: Mar 17, 2012, 09:46 pm »

Rehearsal note during "Mack & Mabel" : "We'll do the baby down the pants for the hot knockwurst on a roll."

5

The Green Room / Re: "You get paid to do that?" - What's your oddest story?

« on: Mar 17, 2012, 09:18 pm »

It was not my own task, but one I had to delegate to an intern one show. We had an actor who was so old -(how old was he?)- he was so old that my guy had to go to his dressing room before his entrance, wake him up, lead him by the hand to his entry point (we were in the round), lead him to his chair in the blackout, and go get him in the next blackout to lead him back to his dressing room, where- you guessed it- he fell asleep.
but onstage, this man was a fireball!!

6

Stage Management: Other / Re: Opera tips

« on: Mar 17, 2012, 08:53 pm »

I spent 8 of the most valuable weeks of my life discovering that opera stage management was NOT for me, although I was (and continued to be) an accomplished theatre SM. I know it's been years since this thread was started,  but I think it bears revisiting every so often, because until you have actually done both, you have NO idea how different an animal it is. It is vital to understand, as stage management folk tend to be a tad perfectionist and hard on themselves, that it is possible to be excellent at one and hopeless at the other. If you can do both, you're like a left-handed pitcher for the Yankees at the World Series, and you will work forever!
A couple of points that didn't get mentioned in the past thread that I'd like to hit:
1. In opera, any costume change to take less than 20 minutes is a quickchange, and requires paperwork, a dresser, and a backstage changing area.
2. In opera, a costume change is the removal and/or addition of ANY article of clothing, including a mask or a shawl.
3. In opera, you never know when someone will whisper, "here, hold this a second." If you take it, do not look back to see what it is. It could be anything from a retainer to a bear.
Yes, a bear. This is opera.