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Messages - Plabebob

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Stage Management: Other / Re: Ballet Blocking
« on: Jan 09, 2019, 04:20 am »
Hey thanks for the thorough response, that's super helpful.

I largely work in opera & it sounds like the nuts & bolts of it isn't too different - working with a piano reduction etc.

When I get there I will definitely have a good look at their old books & try to mimic them as much as possible.

Really helpful advice, I feel a bit more confident now!

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Stage Management: Other / Ballet Blocking
« on: Jan 08, 2019, 11:51 am »
Hi Everyone,

I'm looking for some advice on ballet - I'm likely going to be covering rehearsals for a national ballet company in the UK as DSM & I've previously mostly done opera & drama with a tiny bit of modern dance thrown in.

Is there any difference in doing blocking for ballet - will have to learn dance notation or anything? With the modern dance I just made actual notes on the moves, but obviously ballet is far more formal. What's mostly concerning me is that I'm covering rehearsals for 6 weeks, but will then have to hand the book over to the house DSM to call the show from, so I don't want to mess things up for her!

Any advice on blocking, or any other aspect of DSMing ballet would be most welcome!

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Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Stage Manager Duties
« on: Sep 20, 2017, 11:36 am »
Hello, my name is Arturo Fernandez, jr and I am the current PSM of my school's show. I have been told by the director that I am the swing for the three leading roles in the show. I was wondering if this is standard in the professional world? Thanks in advance for your time.

I'm in the UK so it might be a different picture but this would not fly on any job I've worked on. Standing in in rehearsals is one thing, but stage managers are not performers, it's an entirely different job. I world absolutely turn down a job with a company that thought that was acceptable.

The nearest you'd get would be doing a scene change 'as directed' or maybe donning a costume to bring a crucial prop on stage or so something off. Both of these would earn you a bonus per show by UK Equity rules, but I personally would not take a job that required something like that, my job is to run the show, not be in it.

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Quote
We were discouraged from making evaluative statements (eg. "The audience enjoyed the birds joke.")

That statement brings up a point: do you put anything about the audience in your reports? I didn't originally, then served under some SMs who did and adopted the practice. I feel like it gives a good summary of how the show went, especially for directors who leave and are unable to attend shows. I'd be curious to know how many SMs do and don't report on the audience, and why.

I have to fill in form show reports for panto every year & there's a section for 'audience reaction'. It drives me crazy, we have 2 shows a day for 6 weeks. Not only is the show the same every time, it's the same every *year*. It's identical every time, I really did know what they expect me to write!

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Stage Management: Other / Re: Paging Calls in Opera
« on: Sep 20, 2017, 10:38 am »
I work in UK opera & I do calls exactly how I do in theatre, which is how most people do them here. We only do a 5 minute during the show & it goes "You call please Miss A & Mr B, Miss A & Mr B your call, thank you".

For department staff I will tell them what it's for & what side of the stage, but performers are expected to know & the ASMs look out for them.

6
I've always used KY for this. It's completely clear and it doesn't make a noise.

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Self-Promotion / Re: On Headset: The Stage Management Podcast
« on: Feb 23, 2016, 02:08 pm »
Do you have an rss feed so I can add it on PocketCasts?

Edit: Never mind, found it!

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Articles from the Old Site / Re: Casts CAN be appreciative
« on: Feb 23, 2016, 01:55 pm »
At the end of a show I did in November the director bought me some really nice sellotape & a ball of string. Not exactly a party, but was more welcome than the usual bottle of wine seeing as I don't drink. I was really happy!

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Introductions / Re: British DSM checking in!
« on: Feb 23, 2016, 01:36 pm »
Hi, and welcome!

Another Brit here - how's Leeds going?

C

PS - I'm one of those who have the script/score on the right!

Not there till April, but my digs are all booked up...

Script on the right?! Pffft, next you'll be telling me you cue upside down :P

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Stage Management: Other / Re: cold calling an opera
« on: Feb 21, 2016, 12:45 pm »
Wow. This is why you never, NEVER take your book home!

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Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Rehearsal Reports
« on: Feb 21, 2016, 12:43 pm »
How about flipping the question around?  Instead of asking for an ETA, I often will present a specific time line request (ei: Is it possible to have the show-swords in the rehearsal hall by Wed, when we will be holding our next session with the fight choreographer?).

Along with that suggestion (Which yes... how you phrase things can make ALL the difference), in the email I send with the report attached, I'll typically paste any questions in the body of the email itself. Something I learned from my corporate life - don't assume folks will open the attached report and read it. Not because they don't want to, but likely because they're swamped or viewing the email on a device that makes it hard to open attachments - etc. By having the 3 or 4 questions that came up in rehearsal in the body of the email (listed by department), it makes it easy for them to hit reply and provide an answer.

I'm not sure about this one, it feels like that would give them a get out of reading the report. They need to read all their notes, and just having questions in the email may make them even less likely to actually open the document. Either the information in the report is necessary or it's not - if it's not then there's no point in including it, and if it is then they need to see it. If you're going to post half of their notes in to the email you might as well just write the whole report in the email as well!

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Employment / Re: How to ask about pay for a gig
« on: Feb 20, 2016, 02:24 am »
I would say something like "would you mind writing up the details this year in advance so I have something official for my records?"

You will most likely need something for your tax return anyway, hopefully that would help you start a conversation about pay. It shouldn't ruffle any feathers, you just have to be bold & bring it up.

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Stage Management: Other / Re: Opera tips
« on: Feb 18, 2016, 02:47 am »
Hey iamchristuffin I'd love to see a copy if you don't mind pming one. It sounds very similar to want I was taught at uni, but over a few different pieces of paperwork, not all on one sheet.

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The Green Room / Re: Professional Ethics: Hearing about a job
« on: Feb 17, 2016, 04:50 pm »
This situation has come up for me a bunch of times as we all gossip about who's hiring & I often find out about jobs from friends before they're advertised. It's no big deal, just ask them if they mind if you go for it as well. It's not someone's boyfriend, it's a job, that's how the industry works. Maybe don't go & do it secretly, but you can't have dibs on a job application.

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The Green Room / Re: Personal Budgeting
« on: Feb 17, 2016, 04:39 pm »
For any Brits out there I should warn you that Mint is banned by (as far as I know) all banks here. It's in your Ts&Cs that you can't give out log in information to any third parties so you are liable in the event of fraud.

I just use good old excel myself! I tried a whole bunch of apps but in the end it turned out that what I really wanted was the flexibility to set it up exactly how I wanted it.

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