Messages

871

Tools of the Trade / Re: DVD player for video projection/disable display of "play" "pause"

« on: Feb 22, 2011, 12:25 am »

My guess is that you will have better luck researching this by looking at different DVD player models, or asking someone who works in an electronics store.

Typically, when video is projected in theatre, it is done through some kind of computer program designed for that purpose, rather than a DVD player. You can trying looking through the manual to the DVD player to see if there is a way to turn that feature off, but other than that I am not sure any of us will be able to help, since we are not familiar with the particular player you are using.

Good luck with your search.

872

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: RUNNING: Director Wants Excess Crew

« on: Feb 12, 2011, 09:55 pm »

Is there anyone else in the decision-making process, like a production manager, whose opinion should be considered? Is this educational theatre, community theatre, professional theatre?

If it were me, I would probably tell her that I would be happy to consider using additional run crew, but so I am being considerate of their time, that I want to be sure we really need that many crew. (it's possible that she has something in mind for those other run crew during the show, but if so, it's important for you to know that.) I would suggest that we set a date for that decision to be determined, and during the rehearsal process, that you carefully note how many people are needed for each task. Then, at the agreed-upon date, you could both re-evaluate.

Based on what you said, I'm assuming that you have been emailing her and she never responds to your crew inquiry. Can you try calling her or asking her in person? It's harder to dodge a question face-to-face.

873

The Green Room / Re: thoughts on sharing

« on: Feb 06, 2011, 11:02 am »

The reason I am here and have been since college is a simple reason: No one taught me how to do this.

Someone did teach me how to do this.

Not just one person, really- most of what I have learned about stage management has come directly from working with or talking to other stage managers. I did an apprenticeship, assisting one SM for the season- most of the way that I stage manage is because of what she taught me. She gave me the benefit of her knowledge and experience without hesitation, and I want to do the same for someone else.

I also agree with what's been said about competition already on this topic- I have to feel confident enough in myself that I have the tools and ability to do this job, and I can't worry about anyone else. There are several other stage managers on this site that work at about the same level that I do, and in the same geographical area, and who (I'm sure) compete with me for jobs. I am betting that when I post on the forum, those are not the people who are using my advice. (If they are, great.) But I'm betting that most of the people are younger and less experienced than I am, and I think the only thing that is going to make us competitors is experience.

I think that a great stage manager is the result of among other things, their ability to work with people, time management, technical ability, and mostly, their experience. Most stage managers at the same level as you are probably good at the first three. The only thing separating you from them is your experience, and how you use that experience to inform your work. (You said something similar to me once, Matthew). If I have experience in opera, is telling someone else about that experience going to be the same as them working on an opera? No- it may help them in that experience, and frankly I'm ok with that. It may raise the industry standard - and I'm ok with that too.


I do understand where your friend is coming from- it's a hard field to make a living in, in the first place. And if they don't want to share what they know, I don't blame them. I also think that to be really active in this forum can take up a lot of time- and not everyone wants to go home at the end of the day and think about stage management some more. Having a "real life" for some people means putting away the job completely when not at work.

874

The Green Room / Re: An interesting read

« on: Feb 05, 2011, 01:27 am »

You're welcome. There were a lot of interesting aspects to it- what a checklist can do and what it can't, what makes such a list useful (ideal length, specificity, ease of use, type of list, etc), and what types of things they can be the most useful for. It also brings up a lot of interesting points about not having redundant, useless checklists that are 8 miles long that people aren't going to use- but making a list that is tailored to the situation.

One of the things that I have been thinking about the most since I finished it was the differences between a more comprehensive, long term checklist used in the planning process (like we might use during prep week), and a shorter, more immediate checklist designed to be used quickly and in the moment (like an emergency procedure sheet). I'd love to start a discussion on this topic- if you read it and have thoughts about the book, let me know.

875

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Food allergies in rehearsal

« on: Feb 04, 2011, 05:13 pm »

Allergies are definitely something to consider- if an actor told me they had a _____ allergy and couldn't be near peanuts/bananas/fill in the blank, it totally makes sense to keep that food out of rehearsal. But there are any number of things that people are allergic to, and without knowing that someone has a specific allergy, I don't think the burden of responsibility is on me to keep that food out of the room.

If I was working with kids (who may not be old enough to know about an allergy like that), I might feel differently. (Although, in my experience, kids at almost any age know if they have been diagnosed with a food allergy).

If there is food in the show, it's my responsibility to ask the actors if they have any allergies.

876

The Green Room / An interesting read

« on: Feb 04, 2011, 01:12 pm »

I'm reading a great book- it's called The Checklist Manifesto: How To Get Things Right by Atul Gawande. He's a surgeon who written a couple of books about the medical profession in this country (all decent non-fiction reads). The Checklist Manifesto delves deeper into something he talks about in his other books- the use of checklists in managing complex situations and maintaining a low level of error in work situations.

The book uses examples from medical situations in hospitals, flight procedures for pilots, and formulas for structural engineering, but it is easily applied to stage management and reducing mistakes and keeping safety at a premium. Definitely worth a look.

877

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Food allergies in rehearsal

« on: Feb 04, 2011, 12:47 pm »

I have to say, I've never had a a problem with people having peanut allergies triggered by airborne causes. I think it's ok to eat peanut m&ms in public - if one of the actors or designers has a peanut allergy, I'm sure they won't eat them. If they can't be anywhere near peanut butter for fear of airborne allergies, they should inform people themselves.

Just my 2 cents.

878

Tools of the Trade / Re: Digital Prompt Books (Do you use them?)

« on: Jan 29, 2011, 07:15 pm »

This is an old topic- but one I've been thinking about more and more lately. I've done digital calling scripts for my last 2 theatre shows, and have been really happy with the result. It takes a bit of time and effort, but I love how clean and easy to read my script is (not to mention being able to print backups does a lot for my piece of mind).

One of the shows was performed in one venue, and then remounted in another a few months later, and it was easy to print a new copy of the script to tech the second production, and make the necessary cue changes.

I'd never heard of a "call-out" feature in Word (I'm on a Mac) and can't find it in their Help feature either, so explanation of that might be helpful too.

Callouts are essentially text boxes with a "tail" that you can drag to land wherever you need it in the text. You can put arrows or whatever you want on the ends of them- so the text box can point to where the cue should be called. There are a variety of styles to the text boxes- you can have them look like cartoon speech bubbles or other shapes if you like.

I've been a life-long pencil/ruler person, and I do like to keep the blocking in the same script when I tech and run the show, plus I write in a lot of details about what the cues are for and need to find places to do that near each cue, not always in the same place - is that possible in an electronic version?

Yes- most of my cues for my current show look something like this: (within a text box)
LQ111- fade up SL platform (3ct)
SQ213- volume down
PQ223- fade up title in screens 1/2
autofollow PQ223.1- title out

If I need more space for one of the boxes, I manipulate the formatting of the text on the page (get rid of stage directions, or something similar). I use page breaks to keep the numbering the same.

879

The Green Room / Re: First Jobs

« on: Jan 15, 2011, 09:45 pm »

My first paid stage management job was between my junior and senior years of college. I worked at a bookstore for 6 years before that and it was hard not to go back- I liked the work and the people I worked with, I had worked my way up to a good wage, and it was really difficult to turn that job down. I knew that if I wanted to do theatre for a living that I had to start working at it, so I looked for jobs and internships and finally settled on one.

I was an ASM /SM for a small summer opera company- I had very little opera experience and my opera mentor had referred me to the job. A friend/classmate of mine was the stage manager for the first show- I remember when they hired me they asked if I would feel comfortable SMing the second show after ASMing the first. I said yes, while secretly being very very nervous at the prospect. I think it paid 350-400/wk- after taxes, I made just enough to pay rent and buy food.

I learned a TON from the SM- she told me a lot of the little opera tricks and quirks. One of the choristers taught me the basic rules of Italian pronunciation, which I will be forever thankful for. I learned a lot about dealing with different personalities- from the diva who refused to come onstage to start the last act before she was good and ready. The lighting designer was a great mentor and someone I've come to appreciate working with when I have the opportunity.

It was hard- I mopped the dressing rooms out when it rained, the crew was made up of college students who were a challenge at times, the roof leaked onto the stage management console (I had to rig up a tarp), etc. But, I got a lot of out of it and went back for a few more shows after that year.

880

The Hardline / Re: "Equity Business"

« on: Jan 15, 2011, 09:08 pm »

A lot of this info is available on the AEA site- http://www.actorsequity.org/library/library.asp?cat=34

The SM packet and Deputy packet that you receive when starting a show are available on the website- a lot of the info you're asking for is in the packet.

881

The Hardline / Re: Equity? In this economy?

« on: Jan 15, 2011, 08:55 pm »

I'm a freelance stage manager. I do not feel that being Equity has prevented me from getting well-paying work. I had some trouble when the economy hit- a couple shows I was scheduled to SM were no longer being produced, and I was out of a job. But after that, I landed some good gigs, and overall I feel like my opportunities have actually increased as my experience has increased, in the past few years. (I have done some non-stage management work from time to time- not because of a lack of SM work but because I was offered good jobs that I was interested in, like production managing.)

I'm back to stage managing full-time. This season, I didn't have a lot lined up locally, so I took a good season-long position out of town. (Ironically, since then, I have been offered a number of really good shows in town that I have had to turn down). I feel like this puts me in a much better position for next season- I have spent the year getting good experience and expanding my network to a new area (while keeping up connections at home).

In my opinion, the non-eq jobs that I see advertised do not pay that much. I don't think my options have narrowed- but I don't limit myself to theatre. I also do opera and dance, and sometimes when I find that when there aren't a ton of jobs available in one of those areas I will go after the others. I do get my health insurance through AEA, so for me it's important to be Equity.

I always try to grow my career, no matter what I'm in the process of doing.  I'm always building relationships with people at the next level and building my reputation within my geographical area.  It's been a slow process but it has paid off well for me.

Agreed. I think the decision is a personal one and that no generalization about the market right now is going to be true for everyone. It's good to know where you are now and where you want your career to be- I found that making a five-year plan really clarified what I wanted my career to be like. It doesn't dictate what I do, but the act of making it really made me think about what I wanted (and subsequently informed the choices that I make.)

882

Employment / Re: Juggling Acts

« on: Jan 09, 2011, 10:06 am »

I agree- I wouldn't usually tell someone considering hiring me about other potential offers unless I thought it might hurry things along.

If two companies said they definitely wanted to hire me, but we had not yet worked out what show in their season I would do, I might bring up the other company and potential dates of employment, so that we could work it out that they didn't overlap. (Since I work in regional theatre, this is often the case- they will be hiring a season's worth of SMs at one time and the possibility of "shuffling" who does which show is sometimes an option).

If I made the decision that I wanted the job in front of me, I would either wait for the others to call me, and tell them I had taken another offer-  if I was far enough along in the process I might call and let the others know.

There might be a point in the interview process, if the interviewer asked about my availability, that I might say that I was talking with other companies, but hadn't committed to anything. I don't think I would bring it up if I wasn't asked.

883

Stage Management: Other / Re: Opera tips

« on: Oct 11, 2010, 07:55 pm »

I have been looking back at this topic, and I love how much great information is on here!

Recently, my SM suggested that the SM team spiral-bind our scores (instead of keeping them in a larger binder), and I think it's really useful. The score is a lot more portable that way, and I can walk a part in a cover staging rehearsal without lugging my whole binder with me (helpful when running the show as well). I still keep a show binder with all of the other paperwork, but having the score bound separately makes it a lot easier to tote around.

Concerning the orchestra

Find out whether actual curtain time is the same as published curtain time.  I have encountered several companies that contract the orchestra to start 5 minutes after the time printed on the tickets, as they are well aware that a production in a theatre seating anywhere up to 5000 people is not going to start on time.  So rather than paying the orchestra for that almost inevitable house hold, they just assume that the house will need to be held at least five minutes.  This can mean the difference between squeaking in right under three hours or going into overtime for those biggies like Carmen.

This also can affect the chorus call time on an AGMA contract.

884

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Recording blocking

« on: Aug 19, 2010, 10:39 pm »

I think blocking is a necessary part of the rehearsal process. Your blocking notes can be used as a reference for any number of things- understudy rehearsals, archiving the show, for that moment when the director asks you "how did we do that yesterday?", etc.

There are a number of threads on SMNetwork regarding blocking methods-

http://smnetwork.org/forum/index.php/topic,3348.msg20505.html#msg20505
http://smnetwork.org/forum/index.php/topic,4038.msg24550.html#msg24550
http://smnetwork.org/forum/index.php/topic,438.0.html
http://smnetwork.org/forum/index.php/topic,1884.0.html

(along with, I'm sure, tons of others)

One thing that can help free up some page space is to write the blocking on either the back of the next page, or on a page inserted between pages of text. If you insert a "blocking page" between your text pages, you can put a diagram of the stage on it, which can be useful for noting where people and props are onstage. Using a separate page also allows you to easily replace a page, if it gets too cluttered or if, say, the director decides to completely re-block a scene.

If you have your blocking on a separate page, then you can write your cues on the same page as the text. If you need more room to write, printing the script with a wider margin can give you more space.

Everyone has their own method- some people use colors or shapes to make their cues stand out, some make a clean copy of the script just for cues. Find a method that works for you.

885

The Green Room / Re: Being friends with other stage managers

« on: Aug 11, 2010, 02:18 pm »

but, I was wondering for those who have been able to maintain friendships with other stage managers, how do you deal with?  with the competition, the jealousy, the career envy, etc.

I wouldn't say that I have a lot of stage manager friends- I have some, and a couple more that I really enjoy working with but that I would consider "colleagues" more than friends, and a number of former SMs as friends. (Interestingly, I feel like a huge number of my friends are former stage managers....)

I think it's really easy to be envious of someone else's career- but if they are someone that I like, I'm more likely to ask them what worked for them, and have a conversation about the business, in general. There are days when I feel competitive/jealous regarding the SMs that work at the same places I do and are "in competition" with me for jobs. But, I try not to think about that- I think it's more productive to concentrate on my own career and try not to worry about what "might have been".

I'm also a big believer in career karma, that if you help someone get a job by putting their name on the table or forwarding a post, it will come back around to help you in the future.  I feel like it's worked out that way for me a number of times.   I'm more likely to have a touch of career envy for SMs I don't know personally, or I know them but don't think they are good stage managers.  Then it sucks to find out they got a job I wanted and seemed equally qualified for.

I second that- I hooked a friend up with a job recently, and got offered a show within a week. I think it was the good karma.