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Topics - KMC

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31
The Hardline / Theatres that are thriving
« on: Sep 28, 2009, 12:39 pm »
Thought I'd start a topic about theatres that are doing well and succeeding through tough times.  

Below is an exerpt from a Wall Street Journal article (it's a lengthy article, Steppenwolf is about three fifths of the way down) highlighting some of the top small workplaces in the country for 2009.

Quote
STEPPENWOLF THEATRE COMPANY
BUSINESS: Nonprofit professional theater
BASED: Chicago
FOUNDED: 1975
EMPLOYEES: 151 full-time equivalents (77 full-time, 340 part-time)
2008 REVENUE: $15.5 million

Professional theaters aren't known as stellar workplaces. People come and go, hours are long, and pay and benefits are meager. Steppenwolf Theatre Company, on the contrary, gives its employee practices a lead role.

The Chicago theater, artistically led by an ensemble of 42 members including co-founder Gary Sinese and John Malkovich, puts unusual emphasis on creating a healthy work environment and satisfying both its full-time and part-time employees. At many theaters, says Executive Director David Hawkanson, the actors and other personnel actively involved in running shows have a louder voice in the workplace, largely because they're represented by outside unions. Nonunion workers can feel shafted.

When Mr. Hawkanson arrived at the theater five years ago, morale was very low and some nonunionized employees were trying to organize. The union vote failed, but Mr. Hawkanson realized changes needed to be made. He works hard to give equal voice to all employees, unionized or not, and provide comparable benefits. One employee from each department of the theater sits on Steppenwolf's 12-member employee-relations committee, which meets quarterly with management to discuss workplace practices and benefits. Notes of the meetings are shared with all employees on the theater's intranet.

Under Mr. Hawkanson's direction, Steppenwolf also greatly stepped up its benefits: In 2005, it began offering a 401(k) plan that matches dollar for dollar full-time and part-time employees' 401(k) contributions up to 4% of pay. Many theaters don't offer a 401(k) match at all—and especially not to part-timers. The company also covers 90% of employees' health-insurance premiums and is soon rolling out a low-cost group health plan for its many part-timers that will cost them about $60 a month.

Master properties artisan Charles Moser , 40, says Steppenwolf's workplace morale and benefits have improved "dramatically" since he started working there in 2001. "It just tells me that they value the people now over clear-cut economics," he says.

Steppenwolf also shines for its professional development of young and aspiring theater administrators and technical production workers. It takes on about 36 interns and apprentices annually and offers highly regarded fellowship programs for aspiring African-American arts administrators. The theater works to give its younger staff and interns exposure to all aspects of theater work. For instance, one theater management apprentice was asked this year to revamp the theater's volunteer program.

32
Tools of the Trade / Google Chrome
« on: Jun 13, 2009, 12:28 pm »
As stage managers we tend to spend a good bit of time on the web, especially if you're using any web-based assets for your show.  I've recently downloaded the Google's somewhat new browser, Chrome.  I needed a browser on my personal laptop (which is aging not so gracefully) that is very light on system resources, and so far this seems to be the ticket.  Anyone else used this browser?  Thoughts?

33
Tools of the Trade / Wireless Headset Technology
« on: Jun 05, 2009, 09:12 am »
A few folks mentioned wireless headsets as a desired gift in another thread, and just after reading that I got an email about Clearcom's CellCom ("FreeSpeak" outside the US).  The system looks amazing - essentially it is local cell phone technology combined with a wireless headset that gives unprecedented flexibility and range.  If I understand correctly, you can program the base station to have any combination of "groups" (what we use as channels now) without the limitations of your standard hard-wired system.  The technology is likely well beyond the needs of most theatres (and with a list price in the $10,000 neighorhood for the base station alone, I'd imagine well beyond the budget as well), but I'm hoping some of you folks out there on the commercial side of things have used these.

Has anyone used these or something similar?  Please share if you have, I'm quite curious.  I'll be at an A/V tradeshow in a couple of weeks and I'll try to get my hands on this and report back.

34
Tools of the Trade / Google Wave
« on: May 30, 2009, 05:30 pm »
So, just in case you weren't all sick of my talking up Google's products I thought I'd throw another one out there for SMNet to chew on.  For the record - I have no affiliation to Google and I gain nothing personally from talking about their products.  They just seem to be amazed by how people communicate information, which is one of my favorite topics when discussing Stage Management.

This new tool seems to be pretty cool, though it is early in the process.  I think this would be excellent for collaborating with a production team.  From the website:

Quote
What is a wave?

A wave is equal parts conversation and document. People can communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more.

A wave is shared. Any participant can reply anywhere in the message, edit the content and add participants at any point in the process. Then playback lets anyone rewind the wave to see who said what and when.

A wave is live. With live transmission as you type, participants on a wave can have faster conversations, see edits and interact with extensions in real-time.

Have a look, what are your thoughts?  Do you see any use for this in a production?  How about tours?  Rep shows?  Opera?

35
Tools of the Trade / Language Learning Software
« on: Mar 29, 2009, 02:53 pm »
So I have decided to learn a second language and was curious if anyone had recommendations as far as language learning software.  Have you used anything like this before?  Right now I am looking at Rosetta Stone but would like to see if anyone else has used something like this in the past.  Thoughts?

36
Tools of the Trade / Oops! I didn't mean to send that.
« on: Mar 27, 2009, 09:57 am »
Surely we've all done it at some point - click "send" on an email that wasn't ready, or was addressed to the wrong people, or maybe you accidentally hit "reply all".  Hopefully if this has happened to you it hasn't been anything embarrassing or harmful.

So what steps do you take to prevent this?

If you have done it, what kind of damage control can you do to mitigate the consequences?


37
Tools of the Trade / Conquering Spam Filters
« on: Feb 26, 2009, 10:47 pm »
This is a topic that came up in another thread.  Since email is a tool we use every day I thought this would be a good place for it.

The issue that came up in the Employment forum on the thread "When Hiring Other SMs".  The problem some folks seem to be having is important email getting caught in spam filters.  Has anyone else experienced this?  If so, which email providers did you experience this with and how did you resolve the situation?

38
Tools of the Trade / Useful applications for Blackberry
« on: Feb 15, 2009, 10:24 am »
We've got a good thread on smartphone debate, and a great thread on applications for the iPhone.  What we don't have, though, is a Blackberry application thread. 

So let's hear it, what are your favorite Blackberry applications that make your Stage Managing life easier?

For me:
-Google maps.  I have a Curve 8130 with GPS, so I can get fairly accurate positioning as to where I am, and with google maps I can see what traffic is like around major cities.  Really handy if you drive a lot, or if you know where your actors are coming from if you have folks driving to the theatre.  The best part about google maps is it's free (unlike the map application that comes preloaded on blackberry)
-Facebook.  Just for fun  :)

39
Seems these are getting more frequent.  From WFTS in Tampa, FL:

Quote
Bradenton police say Bill Bordy had borrowed a .32-caliber Smith and Wesson from a cast member to use in a scene of "Of Mice and Men."  Bordy was following the play's script when he pointed the gun at the back of the head of another actor.

He pulled the trigger and a bullet flew out of the gun, grazing actor, Fred Kellerman in the left ear.

Kellerman was taken to Manatee Memorial Hospital and was in stable condition Monday night.

Bradenton Police Lt., Darrell Akeman says the accident could have been deadly.  Akeman says no one checked the borrowed gun before the rehearsal to see if it was loaded.

Full article text here

Scary, scary stuff.  


Edit:  Made part of the news quote bold because it's seriously unbelievable that nobody said: "Hey, just for kicks, let's make sure that gun is empty"

40
Tools of the Trade / Protecting your tools
« on: Jan 03, 2009, 02:03 pm »
Reading the Holiday SM Gifts topic I saw that Jessie_K got a new Leatherman to replace her stolen one.  I also had a Gerber stolen from me a few years back and thought this would be a good idea for a topic. 

What do you do to protect your tools?  This could be something as simple as a pencil, moving up the price ladder to a mag-lite or multi tool, all the way up to a laptop. 

41
Tools of the Trade / Holiday SM Gifts
« on: Dec 30, 2008, 08:41 am »
Alright, now that the dust has mostly settled from the Holiday season let's have a little fun.

What is your favorite SM-related gift you received this year?

What's a good SM-related gift you gave to someone this year?

Let's hear it!

42
Tools of the Trade / Going Green
« on: Nov 10, 2008, 10:14 am »
Many businesses are adjusting their practices and adopting a more environmentally friendly approach.  The benefits of this are numerous.  In addition to the obvious benefit of helping the environment this can be quite friendly to the bottom line economically as well. 

How can we, as Stage Managers, adjust our tools and practices to take a more environmentally friendly approach?  This could be anything big or small, i.e. printing double sided pages instead of one sided or changing our flashlights and backstage worklights to LED over incandescent. 

We find some incredibly creative solutions to problems and if you ask me we're some of the most creative people in this business.  So let's hear your thoughts and ideas!

43
Tools of the Trade / Stage Management Software
« on: Oct 07, 2008, 09:16 am »
Over the past month or two there have been numerous posts about fee-based stage management software services.  As technology ties in to stage management more and more I suspect we will see more of these services offered. 

I am curious what each of you think about these offerings.  The major obstacle for most theatres when considering a service like this is going to be cost.  For the sake of discussion let's throw cost out the window.  What are some of the benefits of these services?  What are the drawbacks (aside from cost)?  Let's hear your thoughts on the subject.  I've placed links to the software services mentioned so far in this forum.  I'll add my thoughts as we get further into the discussion!


  • Virtual Stage Management
    This was most recently mentioned by SM.Robert.  I believe this piece of software has been mentioned in the past as well.
  • Virtual Callboard
    This was mentioned in a previous post by johnB.
  • Previous thread on 'The Internet'
    This is a previous thread discussing how we use the internet as a tool to communicate.  I think it is a worthwhile backdrop for this discussion.

44
Tools of the Trade / [FAQ] - Computer Software & Phone Apps
« on: Jun 09, 2008, 03:56 pm »
Thought I'd make a new FAQ topic for the several computer software topics that have popped up recently.  I've included only the broader discussions of software, and have left the more specific posts out as they tend to be very situation-specific posts.  If you see anything that should be added please PM myself or Mac Calder.

General software threads:

Smartphone/tablet app-related threads:

45
Tools of the Trade / The Internet
« on: Apr 20, 2008, 02:28 pm »
Technology has always changed the way that humans communicate with each other.  Seemingly, the demand through the past several thousand years has been to achieve the fastest method of communication possible.

In ancient Greece the runners of Marathon acted as Messengers between cities.  The Pony Express delivered messages in the American West as quickly as possible.  The Pony Express was replaced by the telegraph, which was replaced by the telephone.  The telephone evolved into the cell phone, and widespread usage of the internet followed shortly thereafter.  The trend seems irreversible and undoubtedly these have all changed the way we communicate.

Email, instant messaging, and social networking sites like facebook and myspace are changing the way we communicate today, and more people are online than ever.  With that in mind - I'd like to pose several questions to you all! 

Of course - feel free to answer all, or some of these questions, and share any personal experiences that help illustrate yours or someone else's point.  We have a very broad range of experience levels and age on this site which should provide for a very well-rounded discussion from many sides of the industry.  So without further ado...

  • In your experience how has the internet changed the way people communicate?
  • To what degree do you use the internet during production?  What do you use it for?
  • In your experience, what are the benefits of incorporating the internet into stage management?  Also, what are the pitfalls?
  • In your opinion, what role should the internet play in stage management?




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