Messages

31

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: How to make a floor more slick

« on: Oct 24, 2015, 04:15 pm »

New info: we have been told that we can't seal the floor, altho we might be able to paint over with a glossier paint, then repaint with their cheap nongloss version when we leave. Argh!

Keep in mind: painting onto a surface that doesn't itself stick, will give you a floor that still may peel up depending on the activity performed on it.  It may require a few coats.....but yes, it should give you a slickier surface.

For curiosity's sake: what's the brand name of this mysterious sticky, matte paint?

32

The Green Room / Re: Production Haikus

« on: Jul 03, 2015, 10:24 am »

make up your mind please.
make up your mind gosh darn it.
make up your mind please.

vacation, so close
i can smell, almost touch it
dear god i need one....

33

The Green Room / Re: live weapons on stage!

« on: Jun 06, 2015, 10:51 pm »

Really?  (Tangent, sorry.)  It seems like if the knife is being used as a functioning tool instead of a weapon it would be safer to have it sharper.  Slicing a carrot with a dull knife can be pretty deadly.  How did you find that balance?

Dulling the tip and first inch of so of the blade to prevent accidental stabbing, actually. Leaving the sharper part of the blade closer to the handle for actual cutting.

Just had to do that in a show ourselves! it's a delicate balance....
Once had a show that required blanks to be fired offstage.  It was handled by our Company Manager's husband, a local police officer.  DEFINITELY preferred a guy with that kind of weapons training handling our guns.

34

Tools of the Trade / Re: Act Like A Hazer?

« on: May 21, 2015, 04:53 pm »

If you do flood the space with fog, double check what type of smoke detectors you have.  Fog does set off particulate detectors.  /capt.obv.

35

Tools of the Trade / Re: Ideas for a small burst bag of sequins

« on: May 20, 2015, 10:42 am »

Or perhaps velcro the packet somewhere on his person?

36

The Green Room / Re: The Great SM Gift List

« on: Dec 05, 2014, 12:40 pm »

http://www.thecentsableshoppin.com/sears-craftsman-12-tool-tote-9-89-great-christmas-basket-2/

Love it.

I have a similar bag.  Very handy.

Hoping for a rolling toolbox this year...my bag has split open from an errant saw blade :/

37

The Green Room / Re: Happy International Stage Manager Day!

« on: Oct 12, 2014, 08:34 pm »

Got a few nice words from current and past casts, but one brought up a good point: why isn't our holiday on a Monday when the theatre is dark?

38

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: REHEARSALS: Fight Notation

« on: Jun 04, 2014, 07:02 pm »

My $0.02....the way I've been taught/have taught:
3 columns is probably the most you want to deal with on one sheet of paper.  Beyond that it gets craaazy.  The idea of having 6 to 8 columns, all overlapping with arrows and color coding makes me geek out, but is impractical.  I would break the fight into sections for each combatant - specific notation for each character. One column is for the actor your focusing on and a column for whomever they're fighting.  You'll probably end up with 8 different charts, but those also could be handed out to each particular actor for their rehearsal purposes.  A 3 column chart would be good for your dragon: column A for left head, column B for right and column C for their prey.
Also, a video camera is your friend!  And since everyone has one on their phone now, it's easier than ever.

39

Tools of the Trade / Re: Prop Money

« on: May 23, 2014, 10:43 am »

Ditto on the resume paper.  We've had a lot of success with that.

40

The Green Room / Re: AUDIENCES: E-Cigarettes

« on: May 20, 2014, 11:02 pm »

I tried to guess based on your past posts, but no dice - are you US based?

Affirmative.

Here's the page that the FDA has posted about it, if anyone is curious: http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/PublicHealthFocus/ucm172906.htm

Also, upon further googling, they make marijuana-fueled e-cigs now, so this brings up an additional aspect to the conversation.

I agree with what's been said so far.  Since there really is no concrete decision by any legitimate organization on what the health effects of e-cigs are, we have to treat it as an etiquette issue.

Also, for all you NYC folks out there, e-cigs are banned under the 2002 "Smoke Free Air Act," which treats them as if they were regular ole cigarettes.

41

The Green Room / AUDIENCES: E-Cigarettes

« on: May 19, 2014, 09:50 pm »

Wondering if anyone else has had any experience with this recently, given the new prevalence of them....

We're in the middle of act 1 and I see a young gentlemen (21ish) putting something to his mouth, as if he's chewing on it. I then notice that there's a dull blue light in the palm of his hand and, to my amazement, he slowly and in a subtle fashion lets out a puff of smoke.  As soon as I was able, which happened to be the start of intermission, I pulled him aside and warned him that he was either to put it away or he would be asked to leave.  I brought this up to the rest of our staff so that we now have an e-cig policy to add to our reg-cig policy.

I have to admit I was a little dumbfounded.  Not only that someone would try it, but also what the new standards on smoking e-cigarettes in a public establishment like a theatre are.  I consulted my lawyer (wife), who hadn't heard any cases recently, but did tell me they're not allowed on airplanes.  One of my co-worker friends who has restaurant-managing experience mentioned he had seen e-cigs smoked in an establishment he worked at and the policy of the owner was they weren't to be bothered unless another patron complained (full disclosure: this was not the correct policy in my friend's opinion, but rather the owner was of so-so competence).

Anyone else have an experience like this?  Anyone have policies put in place for something like this?

42

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: ESCRIPTS: Post your requests for electronic scripts here!

« on: Apr 27, 2014, 03:55 pm »

Anyone have an editable "Becky's New Car" by Steven Dietz?

43

Tools of the Trade / Re: Who builds your Qlab file, and how?

« on: Apr 09, 2014, 12:12 pm »

A designer will generally hand me a zip drive

People still use zip drives?  Nice!

haha When I introduced them to dropbox, their eyes bugged out!

44

Tools of the Trade / Re: Who builds your Qlab file, and how?

« on: Apr 09, 2014, 08:45 am »

I build all the cues myself.  A designer will generally hand me a zip drive, or in the case of lighting give me a cue #, and I'll build the show in Qlab myself.  We have projections, sound and lights running off the same program pretty regularly.  The only other board we might need is a small sound mixing board for any live mics, which I wish you could do in Qlab (by the way if anyone knows how to do this, I would LOVE to know).

I generally find that it's necessary to build your own file live when it comes to sound and projections. Everyone's speakers, projectors and space is different so you'll need to tweak it there.  The ability to string together large complicated sequences is such a great feature.

Qlab has helped me to become almost entirely paperless while calling the show.  I set up my prompt in a program like word or pages on one side of the screen, with qlab on the other.  The cues are labeled to correspond with the script.

45

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: ESCRIPTS: Post your requests for electronic scripts here!

« on: Mar 20, 2014, 03:21 pm »

Hello all,
Does anyone have an editable version of 'Sylvia', by A.R. Gurney, Jr.?
Thanks!