Messages

91

Stage Management: Other / Re: What's the most unusual job you've had?

« on: Aug 04, 2006, 03:13 pm »

When I went to USITT a couple years back in one of the stage manager forum thingys we were talking about how things like weddings and funeral are starting to become bigger productions that could easily use a stage manager.  The one thing i remember was a few of the comments that went around about SMing a wedding compared to a show.  If you SM a show and something gets called wrong or doesnt go as it was rehearsed it get chalked up to the whole "well thats live theatre for you, we'll have it right next time, the audience probably didnt notice anyway." Now say the same thing happens at the calling of a wedding and the cue comes late or not according to rehearsal, you better believe you will probably have one angry mother of the bride screaming at you for messing it up, or in cases of a real screw up an angry bride as you just ruined the supposed best day of her life. But then how marriage is treated these days they'll have another chance to get it right with a different cast.

But ultimately if you look at all the skills it takes to be a stage manager you can easily adapt yourself into any type of manegerial role doing pretty much anything.  Which is why one day we will all band together as one and take over the world.

92

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: TECH - HELP!!!!!

« on: Aug 04, 2006, 02:56 pm »

Really you have to remember that some of the responsibility for this has to fall on the actors.  I did a show that was very prop heavy and all the props existed in an open suitcase that sat upstage center.  There were points where they had to quickly get up there grab a new prop and be right back in the scene.  They knew where the props existed and ultimately they found the way they had to be laid out so everyone could quickly get what htey needed, this inluded stacking some props ontop of others or inside others or what have you. Since it was very difficult for me as the stage manager to determine how they needed them I would scan the area to see that all the props where there at the start but then went to all the actors when giving call times before house opened "ten minutes till house opens everyone check your props."  It doesnt exactly solve the space issue but ultimately the actors need to have a responsibility for themselves to get their prop, they cant expect a stage hand to be standing there to hand them exactly what they need.  If its a quick thing and there is a stagehand available (or even another actor just waiting around) who can have the prop ready right by the door for them it helps a lot. 

So through the tech if someone has a problem getting a prop just ask "ok where could we put it that would help you get it?" then deterimine if it can go there and compromise to a good spot.  Ultimately since you havent started tech you might be freaking out a little prematurily as these are the kind of things that get ironed out during the tech run, plus if everyone else is saying how it was so organized you might just be being to hard on yourself.  Things are never perfect going into tech, tech helps get things as close to perfect as they can be.  But at the same time i can understand wanting to have it set and done so its one less thing to worry about.

93

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Creating a call script

« on: Aug 04, 2006, 02:40 pm »

Been there done that.  I think i said this in another thread somewhere but I'm not sure where.  I like retyping it cause yeah it lets you redo the spacing.  In my scripts I up my right margins to 2.5" to give plenty of room to write in cues, and then set the overall spacing to space and a half so I have room under the text to write blocking notation and such.  To solve the problem of keeping page numbers the same I ultimately put a little more work on myself but i know how the system works so its really no problem.   You type up a page of text from teh original script, when you reach the end of the page in word you can draw in a line to seperate the page then draw in a text box at the end of the line and you can put the page number in the box, so then you know everything under that line up to the next line is from whatever page number is in the box.  If you put the text box with the page number over into the larger right margin you can easily flip through pages and and once you see a number you know which way you have to go to find the page you want.  Granted you cant just look in the top right or bottom right corner of the page to see the number but it works for me.  Kinda looks like:


                                  |
text from page 34          |
                                  |
------------------------|------- 35
                                  |
text from page 35          |

where there is a box around the 35 and the verticle line of these things "|" is the margin.

If you want to see an actual example send me a private message and i can email you an excerpt from my script as if you see it it makes a lot more sense.

94

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Calling sound cues

« on: Aug 03, 2006, 05:34 pm »

I'm gonna just say like anything in theatre there really is no standard.  Its whatever the group of people you are working with at that moment all agree on what works.

For me when I sound designed I was taught to use letters for sound cues cause it helps differencitate between lights (why my operators cant distinguish between me saying lights 1 and sound 1 I dont know.) Anyway, my cue labeling looked like follows.

A: plays a sound
Af: adjustment in level (as in fade up or down)
Ax: sound out (as in cut)
Afx: fades out

However when calling things I'm more inclined to say:

Sound A...Go
Sound A fade up...Go
Sound A out... Go
Sound A fade out...Go

In terms of short tracks that play themselves out fully (ie sound effects) I just call "Sound F..Go"  and then my op should know from rehearsal and his cue sheet how the cues operates.  I have also put the responsibility on my sound op to take the cue on his own visual.  In this case say the music needs to start when the actor turns on the record player.  Well since there is no way for me to predict the exact moment before to tell the sound op to go I would just be like:

"Stand by Sound G, take it once the actor starts the record"

as I'm gonna see it the same moment he does its easier to trust the sound op to do it, it also works when like somoene has to close a door and sound has to stop. 

Ultimately i look at it as whatever me and the sound op cooridinate at the start to work.  In some shows I gave my sound op a cue sheet to follow.  I haven't seem to have a problem, just find what works for that show as the next show you might have to do somethign different. Thats the fun of theatre each show is always a different set of problems with their own unique solution.

95

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Giving line notes - a real novice question

« on: Aug 03, 2006, 04:59 pm »

I always make sure the actor gets written line notes at the end of the rehearsal, if you wait they have no time to study what they messed up before the next rehearsal.  At times I have used forms and at others I haven't.  I also suggest asking the director how he perfers the actors to recieve line notes.  I had one director that asked that the only thing I give the actor is the page and the correct line, not telling them what exactly they messed up.  As he saw it this forces them to look at the script and reexamine the line itself, as often you might see you dropped a word scim over it once to see what the line in realize oh i forget to say babbledigook and the actor would move one and continue to mess it up.  Of course the actors knew from the start that all they would get was the line and not what they did wrong.  When I have them available I love giving the task of line notes to my assistant as I am usually focused on other aspects.

As for actors getting mad about recieving them I had one that I'd give notes to and he would always seem angry about it.  Eventually I was just like "hey dont get mad at me you have to realize that this is part of my job, don't get mad at me."  And after talking to him I learned he realized it was all part of my job and thats all i was doing and in reality he was mad at himself for screwing it up, after that he was a lot nicer and would say thanks when i handed him a sheet.  Granted that approach might not work with some actors but sometimes you have to remind actors that it is their job to remember the lines and it is your job as the SM to tell them when they are messing them up, you are only there to help them.

96

Employment / Re: resume questions

« on: Aug 03, 2006, 12:26 am »

What do you mean by "Name of show (+stars)"?

Also if you list a name in the line like that is it understood you are refering to the director or do you need to put in a title heading?

I'm really just looking for what others think simply cause for a resume there is no set right way to do it but there are many many wrong ways, and you have to find what works best for you.

97

Employment / resume questions

« on: Aug 02, 2006, 05:03 pm »

So I was wondering what those of you out there who do hirering look for in the resume?  What I have now is listed as my title, show name - theatre company, location, and date ex:

"Stage Manager, Duality – Riddlemark Theatre, Chicago, IL July 2006"

Now I know some people have the names of directors on there, while others don't.  Is that something worth having on the resume?  Also as far as dates go how specific does it need to get?  I see some people just have a year where as I tend to put month and year. 

Any thoughts and tips would be great. If you would like to give specific constructive criticisms on my resume you can find a copy on my website: www.jasonshivers.net

Thanks for any help and tips.

98

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / JOB DESCRIPTION: SM or PSM?

« on: Aug 02, 2006, 04:56 pm »

Ok so I have a question.  All through college I have never been able to get a definitive answer cause each person told me something different.  What is the difference between the job of a Stage Manager and the job of a Production Stage Manager?

99

Employment / Re: Websites

« on: Aug 02, 2006, 12:00 pm »

I registered my domain name with godaddy.com and use a hosting service shieldhost.com (recommeneded by a friend).  The hosting isn't that expensive and it seems to give lots of space, which i like cause i like to have pictures of shows up. 

Check it out and let me know what you think, I am always looking for constructive criticisms.

www.jasonshivers.net

100

Employment / Re: ? for those who hire

« on: Aug 01, 2006, 01:33 pm »

I would suggest asking those who were your supervisor while you were the PA.  Let me know that you feel the job you did really falls under the title of ASM and you would rather list it on your resume as ASM.  I say talk to them about it because then they know its listed that way.  Its good for them to know incase someone who is looking at your resume sees it and is like "i know so and so who was there at that time" and gives him a call to see what they say about you, then they know you listed it as ASM.

In college I worked event production on campus and my job title was stage manager after i finished I talked to my boss and was like "you know the job I really did is better reflected on my resume saying Production Manager." He completely agreed and said I should list it that way.  It could be bad if I didn't talk to him if someone called him as one of my references saying "I have a resume here for Jason and it says he was your production manager" and then my boss would reply "no he was a stage manager." This looks like i was lying on the resume and is sure to warrant a place in the circular filing cabinet.

So talk to the people who might be contacted to see how you performed at your job as the PA, otherwise the cover letter is a great place to include those extra things that dont have a place on the resume.

101

The Green Room / Re: thank you notes

« on: Aug 01, 2006, 01:04 pm »

My opinion is it depends on the show and my mood towards the others involved.  In college I did several dance shows and I found the dancers to be great to work and i wanted to get something for some of them i considered friends.  Well ultimately i didnt think it would feel right if i got something for like 20% of the cast so since i couldnt afford flowers I made up a little card on my computer that was simply a red rose and inside said:

"I couldn’t afford a real rose for everyone on opening night, but this one will last a lot longer.

It’s been a pleasure working with you.

            Merde,
         
         
            Your Stage Manager"

Then on opening night as a way to relax I sat down turned on some music and just wrote each persons name on each card and signed each one personally. I had space to add in extra notes to certain people but it was a simple way to let them all know i enjoyed working with them. And at the cast party so many were all like "awww that was so sweet of you, thank you." which made me feel special. 

When I ASMed one of my first shows during tech the SM got a little stressed so at some point during rehearsal he was always like I'll go buy a bottle of vodka and have a bloody mary and then relax. The next day I would ask him how the drink was and he always said he never got out to get the vodka.  So opening night came still nothing so i collected a couple buck from everyone on the crew and at the cast party I gave him a really nice bottle of vodka and simply said "since you could never get it yourself we got out one." 

One dance show I gave each of the 4 choreographers a bottle of wine, and the next show with them I had 4-5 bottles of some alcohol given back to me.  I SMed a community theatre show and my thanks to the cast was just something I wrote up myself that just reflected on how the whole process progressed written in a form that kinda parralled our process to events in the show, printed them out and hung a few in the green room for all to read.  As an SM for my last show I came in the first day of tech when they just moved in the space and helped them get a lot done and I got a card that I found hysterical of a guy standing under a falling donkey and inside it was just "Thanks for saving our asses," (plus after the shows people often bought me beers at teh bar.

So really there is no set rule of what to do its really all a personal preference.  I like doing it caue I like to let others know they are appreciated for what they do (very important to do for the crews cause they are often under appreciated and they do the work anyway.)  I also know I appreciate when someone hands me a small gift to say thank you, so I like to be able to let others feel that appreciation, and every show warrants something different.

102

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Friend or "so nice to meet you"?

« on: Aug 01, 2006, 12:23 pm »

See I trying to be friendly and make friends with everyone I work with, cause you know down the line you never know who might be looking for an SM for something that so-and-so is in who remembers you from such-and-such show who will pass along your name.  I really think this question comes down to a personal level in that there are always going to be those people you become friends with who might show up at then venue and you are happy to see again who you hug and chit chat, and then there will be those others who for whatever reason you'll just be like "hey, how was the drive" and that will be the extent of it. 

In college for some of the dance shows I wanted to do something nice for some of the dancers but on a college students budget I couldnt afford real flowers for everyone (50+ people could hurt) and at the same time i didnt want to be selective and give them just to certain people I got along with better.  So ultimately I made up these little cards on my computer that had a picture of a red rose on the front and inside said:

I couldn’t afford a real rose for everyone on opening night, but this one will last a lot longer.

It’s been a pleasure working with you.

            Merde,
         
   
            Your Stage Manager

Afterwards I had gotten many comments how that was really sweet and they really appreciated it.  Sometimes its the little things.  I know other people who stage managed the dance shows never did that, but then it could be one of the reasons the dancers always loved working with me as their SM. 

So do what you feel is right for the time. If you get along really well with your cast and want to do something nice and get them gifts, do it they might appreciate it.  If you feel they all keep things more professional and you dont feel the real friendship building then don't.  It really all depends on the type of person you are, the cast you are working with, and the way you all work together.  But ultimately preople remember the little things, so it doesn't hurt to do something nice every now and then. 

There is always some reason the have a cake one day (birthdays, anniversaries, hitting a certain show number, thursday afternoons, etc.), its sure to boost peoples spirits.

103

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Dealing with stress

« on: Aug 01, 2006, 12:02 pm »

ok first a quick little story to help make my point.

One of my best teachers in college what that of my drafting teacher.  We met once a week on fridays from 1-4.  During this class I was swamped stage managing the large scale musical at school so it was hard to find time during the week to devote hours to drafting (to those of you who have done hand drafting you know it can be time consuming especially for someone just learning) So when assignments were due on Fridays it happened very often that I didn't have them done, luckily my teacher understood I was working on the big show and as the shop manager/ATD of the school he saw and appreciated the work I did as a stage manager checking in with the shop from time to time just to be like whats up.  But anyway even though the assignments were always due friday it always turned out i had them in on monday and was never marked down for them being late.  The reason for this was as my teacher told the class "one of the most important things you learn in college is not from the class rooms or any books, the most important thing you should learn is time management.  All students have a lot to do so in college you need to learn how to budget your time." so basically he said he wouldnt take off any points from late assignments provided that we dont wait till the start of class to be like "yeah i didnt finish it can i turn it in later," if we could see ahead enough to see we wouldn't get it done and told him a day or 2 ahead of time it was fine.

So best way to relieve stress is to learn how to manage you time better.  I can say this now cause in college i over booked myself once or twice, which was good cause it showed me my breaking point and now im more cautious about doing so much.  I feel now as a college graduate that in college overbooking yourself is just one of those things you have to do once to learn your limits, at least there  you have the safety net. 

When i over booked myself i was SMing for a community theatre to bring in some money at the same time I was the Master Electrician for a show at collge.  Since the shows conflicted a bit I slacked a little on my duties as ME as the SM was somethign i was more interested in and they paid me.  In the end the after the shows were all done the schools ME (my advisor for the practicum) and the lighting director told me I did very good work when i was there during tech and such but during the early stages i slacked and others had to pick up the work (i mean it wasnt so bad the schools ME was the lighting designer for the show so he knew everything). Ultimately they were like if this was the real world you would have been fired; however since i did do great work during the techs and such they didnt want to fail me. So to make up for it I volunteered to be the ALD for a smaller show which I knew the LD was complaining they didnt give me an assistant (ultimatelly i just helped update his paper work and help teach the labor at the hang). SO in the end i was able to learn to better schedule the things i do which can mean giving up something you want to do for something else you want to do.

And one last comment off of what someone else said.  Learn to delegate tasks to others.  When I started stage managing in college I wanted to do it myself so I would know for sure it was done (i wasnt very trusting of some asm's). Ultimately I began delegating somethings and my life suddenly got so much easier being able to trust others to do the job (ok sometimes i didnt fully trust them but i gave them the task anyway so they can learn to do things.) often in college you see everyone wants to do everthing themselves cause then I think it gives them more of a sense of ownership to be like "yes this was my lighting design" or "i did all the work sming this show." but remember theatre is a collabortive art form.  Use your assistants, delegate tasks to others to help you, and don't be afraid to ask for other peoples advice or help as they might have a way of doing something that can make your job so much easier. You can lower your stress just by knowing everyone around has the same goal of putting on a great show, don't do it all yourself.

104

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Creating a call script

« on: Aug 01, 2006, 03:58 am »

I'm a pencil and paper person.  Although reading some of these posts I can see the benifit of putting it all into a computerized script once the show opens (good to have a backup and for archival.)  As it is I tend to put a little work into my scripts before rehearsals even start.  I try to get a copy of the script that is being used as soon as I know I have the job.  Then I put in a lot of time typing the script into Word myself.  Yes this is time consuming but I find it gives me some benifits in the long run.  First off it allows me to increase the right margin so I have more room to write in my cues (this was my initial reason for doing it.) Secondly i can set everything to 1.5 spacing which gives me room under each line to insert blocking notations connecting it with the text (so when someone says "How dare you accuse me of such a thing" and he stands up when he says "accuse" i can fit my little symbol for standing up right under the word, which makes for a much cleaner blocking script.)  Thirdly (and i just came up with this one for the show I begin rehearsing tomorrow on) as I type it in word I have 2 other documents open, my production analysis and my entrance and exit tracking sheet, so in typing it i am also able to analyze it at the same time so after i type page 52 saying "CHARLIE: (exiting with a pumpkin) Fine but I'm keeping the pumpkin." I can pull the production analysis up on the screen and make a note for props that a pumpkin is needed on page 52, then pull up the entrance and exit tracking and mark that Charlie exits on p52.  Then in rehearsal that helps so when the director says tomororw we will work on page 53-65 i can see that Charlie left on 53 and since he doesnt come back till page 70 he doesnt need to be called.  And to solve the issue of making pages line up i just type out of the script to the end of the page use Word to draw in a line with the text box on the far right and inside the box put the page number that corresponds to the script everyone else has.  So on one of my printed pages i may have a page and a half of the actual script but I'm able to refer to the same page numbers everyone else if familiar with.

Ultimately it works for me helps me learn the script easier, but yes it takes a lot of time.  But after reading this thread I know when opening night comes up I have the script ready all I have to do is draw in some text boxes in my already widened right margin and place them in the right cue spots, then simply email it to the people at the theatre so there is an extra copy available to be printed at a moments notice if needed. 

And now I just have to add how it always amazes me that you do so many shows and then all of a sudden you learn something new to try.  I know once this show reaches opening night I'll try my hand and making an electronic version of my calling script.  Thanks for the idea.

105

Employment / Re: stage management college degrees

« on: Aug 01, 2006, 03:23 am »

Its all a personal choice.  There is no right answer.  For me I went to college and got a BFA in Theatre Tech/Design (we weren't able to emphasize in anything and the BA in Comprehensive theatre studies required acting and a foreign language which just wasnt my cup of tea.)  So to clarify i went to college as an undecided major thinking computer science but the intro to theatre class won me over (i did theatre in high school and intro to theatre filled a gen ed.) so then i talked to the theatre department and was put in the scenery and lighting tech class and well i found a place i wanted to be.  So like I said my school didnt allow us to emphasize but i kind of unofficially empahsized in stage management.  I asmed a studio show then a mainstage show and after that i kept sming mainstage shows.  As the asm I had no knowledge of what a real stage manager did but after being the ALD for a dance show i saw what the sm was doing and thought "i can do that, and i think i can do it better" so i tried.  So as an ASM i surprised my stage managers when id come into rehearsal with a typed up prop list of where things come on and go off and they had to turn to the director and be like "look what our ASM did and no one even asked him."  The mainstage show i asmed my friend who was the stage manager still says to this day he doesnt look at it that i was his assistant for that show but rather just a co-sm.  So point being my training was more on the job stuff.  There was only one stage management class offered in the school and I wound up taking it my senior year just cause i needed an hour in a 300 level class to graduate and it was an easy A. Everyone laughed when i said i was taking it remarking "you should be teaching it, it made me laugh. 

Anyway I'm rambling here and I apologize.  I do want to add that while at college I thought of transfering elsewhere to a program where I could focus on SMing but ultimately didn't mainly cause as I saw it if i transfered I would have to start over at the bottom and depending how many other SM students there were I might not get to SM many show; however where i was in college i showed i was a very competant stage manager and was really given my pick of shows.  And since it was college i saw it as a safe environment so I always looked at which show was going to tbe the most complex and challenging.  Senior year they did 2 shows in rep with the same casts, same set, same designers, but different directors.  I went to the TD and was like "how are you planning on sming those, one SM per show or one SM for both," he replied "how do you want me to do it" so of course i did both so i could have that rep experience.  I would never have jumped straight into that in the real world, but college provides that safty net that you are there to learn so if you fall or stumble there is someone there to advise you and help you learn the way through it. 

A formal education gives you that safety net, but like everyone else has been saying you can't learn stage management from a book.  As I see it you are either going to be a good stage manager or you aren't, you have whatever it is to make a good stage manager or you don't.  Books and on the job training can give you great ideas on how to do the job, but ultimately you can't say this is how you stage manage, cause every show is gonna require something different, every person is going to do things a different way, and you know those ways can work for one production but not for the next.  Ultimately what you need to learn most is just how to be able to adapt anything to accomplish everything.