Messages

16

The Green Room / Re: Easiest Group of People to Work With?

« on: Nov 10, 2014, 07:09 pm »

I'm currently working with a kids ensemble of 20 in a musical. Other than the noise level raising during breaks, these kids are smart, funny, and professional. No one has made me want to tear my hair out.

The ensemble of 14 adults on the other hand are the handful!

17

The Hardline / Re: Recording rehearsals for designers

« on: Sep 28, 2014, 08:15 pm »

In my experience, theaters often ask AEA to give express written permission either on a show or season basis for this. One regional LOA/COST space I was in did that because their rehearsal process is only nine days before tech. Really expedites the process of paper tech, etc.

18

The Hardline / Re: Play nice with other unions, or don't get involved?

« on: Sep 15, 2014, 11:21 am »

Thanks for your post Colleen - what you said definitely makes a lot of sense and I figured I would clarify:

I never set the crew calls, I was just asked to distribute the full tech schedule (that includes crew calls, work calls, transportation, actor calls, etc) in one long form schedule.

This theater is also unique in that there is no production manager, there is no technical director, there is no actual lighting or sound supervisor. There is the artistic director. He generates the entire tech schedule and calls, has the PSM look over the actors side to make sure it fits in their  AEA LOA/COST agreement and then relies on stage management to distribute to the crews as well as designers and cast.

I am never allowed to change any part of the schedule without his approval - because of things you mentioned such as O/T, meals, etc etc.

I chose to share our long form schedule with the shop steward even after being told he was no longer on the show. The steward does help them fill their electrics calls, and this week when they told him they no longer needed his help, they understaffed the call and we lost 4 hours of staging time with actors because focus wasn't complete on schedule. Expensive lesson.

There are larger issues in this space (obviously) that are beyond my governance to try and fix, and at the moment we are all just trying to ride it out until opening night and then run like the wind. (I am only on contract as PSM until opening night, then a local PSM takes over due to budget constraints)

I appreciate everyone's insight. Sometimes I can find a soap box and think I'm doing a greater good, where here I probably would have less headache if I just kept my nose out of it and practiced some self preservation so I can leave here feeling confident I did my job the best I could.

All things considered, I will not be returning to work at this venue again by my own choice.

19

The Hardline / Re: Play nice with other unions, or don't get involved?

« on: Sep 11, 2014, 04:33 pm »

Thanks everyone for your thoughts - it is a really fine line, and an on-going issue at this particular venue. I'm generally not one to go behind management's wishes...

It turns out several electricians, the TD, as well as our ME/programmer also forwarded him the schedule so at the very least it's not as if our tech calendar and calls were top secret information. The venue has many grievances filed against them for not following their IA contract, and the steward is keeping a very close eye on their hires/calls.

If you were challenged by management as to why you did an end-around and gave the information to the IA Steward, what would you have said?

Likely a similar answer to yours, in the vein of that a IATSE steward needs to be informed of call times the same as any other crew head to properly account for hours and to avoid overtime.

If only this was the sole issue at the venue, but unfortunately it was just the tip of an iceberg of internal problems. Learned a whole lot about how I like to work, and things I will not do in the future. In retrospect I wish I had directly asked management why the steward was supposed to be off the distribution, but hindsight is 20/20...

20

Employment / Re: ASM vs. PA

« on: Sep 08, 2014, 03:07 pm »

Agreed with what was said above, best to get a job description from the person hiring.

In my experience PAs are free reign helpers across all departments. Usually they are stage management based, but can do anything from pickup lunch orders, do errands for other departments (props, costumes, etc), to be in the general management office dealing with tasks.

Often there is that pesky "other duties as assigned" clause that pops up... best to know what you're getting into and make your limitations clear before you're asked to lug a 50lb suitcase to and from a props house...

21

The Hardline / Play nice with other unions, or don't get involved?

« on: Sep 08, 2014, 02:59 pm »

I was once in a sticky situation, and was wondering what everyone's tactic would be if they had this problem.

Worked a small regional theater which happens to have an IATSE crew, I'm an AEA SM. When I published the tech schedule for our production, I was asked by my boss to remove someone from the e-mail distribution because they were "no longer on the show." That person, it turns out, is the IATSE steward for the theater. They were very much still the steward for that space.

So, I reached out to the steward to find out (surprise, surprise) there is a very long and tense history between producers and IA.  I decided to still be in communication with the steward because it best served the crew who I had to work with on a daily basis. I  removed them from the general distro, but sent them schedules so they were still in the loop about crew hours/calls.

In my opinion it is ethically responsible to be forthcoming with other unions, even if my management is not. However, this may sour any future employment with me and this company in the future (which doesn't really bother me).

I know labor disputes are very common, especially with small companies. Do you often just choose to not get involved? I know if this was a SDC or designer dispute I would feel weird about it, but for some reason because it is IATSE crew that I worked with 8 shows a week, I felt the need to keep in communication.

Thoughts? 

22

Tools of the Trade / Re: Ergonomics and the Tech Table

« on: Aug 31, 2014, 01:34 pm »

Those butt-boards they lay across the seats are deadly! I always make sure I can sit in a chair or I stand the entire tech.

Some shows I prefer to call standing and in that event the anti-fatigue mats are life savers. Otherwise in rehearsal where I have to bring all my stuff with me everyday to rehearsal I don't want to bring another table/mat with me so I make sure to mentally check in on my posture all day.

Oddly enough since I wear dresses to rehearsal almost exclusively, I've taken to wearing a belt/sash around my empire waist as a fashion choice. It also makes me very conscious of my posture as if I slouch it digs into my back/stomach.

Also 8 years of rigorous flute training has instilled sitting on the edge of my chair with proper posture.

What is most fatiguing for me is the low light conditions in tech/booth - I've actually developed light sensitivity in my eyes (according to my optometrist) over the last decade of my career. I have to wear sunglasses outside 100% of the time and be really careful of how much screen time I spend in front of my phone/computer. It's interesting how a career choice where you don't think of it having physical impact can create a real change over time.

23

The Green Room / Re: The Turos Test

« on: Aug 10, 2014, 07:51 pm »

I can back this rule up with my last show...

Cast of 41, 12 roles were understudied. We spent four rehearsals at 4 hours each putting in each and every actor (except for one, who had continual conflicts)  into each and every track they understudied. Ran things in light, with shoes, onstage, covered music, transitions, costuming questions, etc.

How many times did anyone actually go on in 8.5 weeks? Once. Guess who? Luckily it went fine.

24

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: PEOPLE: Handling outrageous requests OR "Not My Division!"

« on: Jul 05, 2014, 02:50 pm »

What I do is listen to them rave and then calmly repeat, "I understand your concern, but this is what we have to use and this is the policy that relates to it." Lather, rinse, repeat a couple of times and eventually they get the message because I cannot just magic another bathroom or a never-used-before mic element out of thin air.

Yep. Lots of this. Also what Matthew said about passing things up the ladder, even though they won't fix it either, it shows that you value their concerns.

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The Green Room / Re: Mini Rant---SM T-shirts and products

« on: Jul 05, 2014, 02:47 pm »

Had this made for my birthday a few years back, comes with me to every tech

26

Tools of the Trade / Re: MTI's Stage Manager Scripts

« on: Mar 23, 2014, 08:09 pm »

Currently on my first MTI show in a long time, and I just did it the old fashioned way of copying, cutting and pasting by hand. In the end it gets destroyed, not to mention the company I'm with would likely not fork over extra $ for a SM copy.

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Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: SMing an Equity Actor for the First Time-Report Tips

« on: Jan 30, 2014, 11:03 pm »

I'd check the paperwork archives, many people put in a breaks schedule in their daily rehearsal report. I got into the habit very early on of logging each break on the report with a table and haven't broken myself of it yet, force of habit!

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Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Can you earn a living? (2013 Research Data)

« on: Nov 14, 2013, 04:59 pm »

(On a side note, when Equity changed its insurance week requirements, the qualification number hovers just above the average number of weeks worked..)

This brings up an interesting tangent of "earning a living." Some people are able to work as an independent contractor throughout the year and make a good living, but then shell out an exorbitant amount of money for health insurance.

On the flip side, I very often see (and have done it myself) AEA stage managers take contracts that are far lower than what they can live on ($200-300 take home pay per week) just for the health weeks, because they know if they can't make those requirements in the look back period then overall the costs go up when they lose their affordable CIGNA plan.

It is a very delicate balancing act

29

The Green Room / Re: Stage Managers have legs?!

« on: Nov 06, 2013, 03:03 pm »

I've learned to do most (if not all) of my SM duties in a dress or skirt. I much prefer to wear dresses than pants and very rarely find a situation where I can't do my job for fear of being exposed. For me it's a level of poise and professionalism that I keep up through rehearsals and calling a show, I just feel better when I'm a little more dressed up.

I've definitely had designers and crew with raised eyebrows that I manage to wear a dress to call a show 8 shows a week, but they get over it.

To each their own

30

Tools of the Trade / Re: Bullet Journal

« on: Aug 21, 2013, 02:43 pm »

I kind of already do a system similar to this, honing it to fit my needs over a long few years transitioning from a paper planner.

All calendar related events that have been scheduled go directly into my google cal, which I peruse every morning over coffee and emails. Show, networking, and personal tasks or notes are all in one notebook (my favorite being the spiral bound recycled material ones from staples.) with different pages for Work/Show, networking, and personal. Once a day I go through and highlight completed tasks, circle or create check boxes for things that haven't been done that need to, or cross it out if it's no longer relevant. Sometimes I use stars or exclamation points to really catch my attention on a specific task.

About once a week the lists become more highlighted and checks than anything else, before the top of the next week I transfer over unfinished tasks to clean sheets and trash the old.

Ongoing lists like books to read, movies to watch, TV shows to binge on, I keep a few pages in the back for that info. I also have taken to carrying around the measurements for my apartment so when I'm out and about I can know if dimensions of something are going to work in my place.

Some people thing it's funny I keep such a long form note book, but it is one analog setup I don't think I'd ever be able to get rid of.