Messages

16

The Green Room / Re: AUDIENCES: E-Cigarettes

« on: Jun 03, 2014, 10:41 pm »

So two things:

1. Any policy that bans cigarettes but not e-cigarettes will be impossible for FoH to enforce without sacrificing customer service. (One can't always tell from a distance whether something's an e-cig or a "real" cig. A blanket ban is very easy to enforce; a ban that hinges upon investigation and interaction with the patron before determining whether or not the practice is allowed is going to be a customer-service nightmare.)

2. Yes, they still smell. And, yes, they still put things into the air to which other patrons may be allergic. My jurisdiction requires a tacit ban for the latter reason alone.

17

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: COMMUNICATION: Posting contact sheets on the call board?

« on: Apr 17, 2014, 01:55 pm »

I had quick question to follow-up on a post I made previously. The consensus seems that stage management does not post contact sheets on the callboard. However, as far as distribution do you include a hard copy of the contact sheet in actor packets? I have worked with a stage manager who never distributes hard copies of the contact sheet and only e-mails it to the people who need it. Thoughts?

The information on the contact sheet is confidential. Thus, two important questions:

- Can be I sure that this person will keep this information confidential during the run?
- Can I be sure that this person will ensure this sheet is destroyed or archived at the end of the run?

With someone like a producer, a director, a box office manager, a company payroll manager, or whatever else, you can be pretty sure of both things.

With an actor? No. Not even if they promise they will.

This is, of course, a spectrum. If there are only 3 actors in the cast, whatever, hand out the contact sheets. But when you've got six pages of phone numbers and other personally-identifying information for your cast of 80, you need to keep that under lock and key.

18

The Green Room / Re: [GAME] The Show Report

« on: Mar 05, 2014, 02:00 pm »

Solution: assuming there are no backend issues related to a half-hour hold (it doesn't throw off a carefully-crafted break schedule, it doesn't push people into overtime, etc.) so long as you announce it at the very beginning, a half-hour hold to "address a serious technical issue" is not the end of the world. (The audience won't like it, but I guarantee they'd prefer it to a cancellation or sitting in the theatre without any news whatsoever for half an hour.) Give FoH 2 minutes before you announce the hold so they can get ready for the outflow, and--if you've got the policy in place--authorize FoH to comp beverages for customers who complain or are visibly having a bad night. Make sure you warn box office, too: they're going to need to stay open, and they're probably going to be screamed at.

If you do have backend issues, winnow it down to an (announced) 10-minute hold. Makeup and costumes can decide for themselves which elements to prioritize and which to half-ass; emphasize that mid-show touch-up work is acceptable.

In the latter case, you should also prepare a special joint briefing for the producer and box office manager. Some patrons may complain about the incomplete costume (meaning they'll want exchanges, refunds, chargebacks, etc.), and this will go smoother if the staff are anticipating it.

Problem: Mid-run, you learn that an actor, who has a number of raunchy nude scenes, provided a fake ID; he's only 17 years old. There's no danger on his end (his parents aren't going to pull him out of the show or anything like that), but you are, at this point, skirting the decency laws.

The next performance is in 20 minutes.

19

The Green Room / Re: [GAME] The Show Report

« on: Mar 05, 2014, 12:05 pm »

An actor calls from a payphone 14 miles from his car saying it broke down.

He's already walked 14 miles to the payphone; he can make it to the theatre in time. 

(Sorry. Couldn't resist.)

20

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Dear Abby: Gay students in the dressing room

« on: Mar 03, 2014, 04:39 pm »

What do you do?

Which reminds me. I know the person who developed the app to help trans people find comfortable public restrooms. But I've been thinking to what point can this system be abused, or to what degree DO people need to be comfortable with all of this. I mean you can really make this point about anything, but most of us, us theatre folk, advocate all kinds of acceptance but when are we "forcing our ideas on someone else" just like we accuse others of.

To turn that around a little, though, I think we're very much creatures of our environment.

One of the things I don't like about our industry (and I know I'm not alone in this!) is that, as individuals, we're disposable.

If every single Stage Manager was to quit tomorrow and decide to become cosmeticians instead, the theatrical world would grind to a halt.

But any given individual SM? Okay, some of us become Ents ("I've been with this company for 26 years. I'm the only one who knows where the lightswitches are. Go ahead: fire me. Go on. You just try it."), and some of us get Equity cards which give us access to periods of stable employment, but a lot of us are employed very, very precariously. You piss off the wrong person, effective midnight tonight you'll never work in this town again--and they mean it.

And yet there's a rose in this thicket, because it means that we heavily prioritize people who get along and tolerate one another and adjust their behaviour to work around other people.

You won't work on the Sabbath? There are literally thousands of wannabe SMs who will.

You refuse to work with a lesbian? Too bad. She's the producer. Get over it or get out of the building.

You can't resist the urge to crack obnoxious, sexist jokes? If the wrong person overhears you, you'll be cracking them all you like--from the comfort of your data-entry cubicle.

While this phenomenon isn't entirely honorable--again, it's down in large part to insecurity in labour--it also means that we, as a profession, recognize that it takes all kinds to make theatre. We can work with anyone, we will work with anyone, and we will respect and treat them as we would anyone else.

And I think, in turn, that this makes theatre a richer art form. We can go places and include people who aren't necessarily incorporated into other communities. There's a reason theatre is a "gay thing" and a "jewish thing": not that long ago, we had opportunities for members of these communities that they'd never get anywhere else. (You wanted to be an openly-gay accountant in the 1940s? No dice. You wanted to be an openly-gay chorus boy? Well, if you aren't too overt about it...)

None of this is to say that we ever deserve a gold start for inclusion. (Actors of colour, and especially female actors of colour, will cheerfully tell you how lousy their job market is. And they're right.) But I think we do better than most, and I think it's less to do with "forcing our ideas" of tolerance onto others and more to do with circumstance.

You're going to work with this actor whether you like it or not. Get over it.

We're doing this script whether you like it or not. Deal.

Your producer is a transdude. If you don't like it, find a new job. Good luck with that.

21

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Emergency Contact/Medical Info forms for Students

« on: Mar 02, 2014, 11:23 am »

I would add one caveat to what DSM says.

You can't force people to contribute a form, but it's nevertheless useful for you, as the SM, to have a record of their refusal. (Consider the utility of "My records show that Stephanie didn't give me back a form", as opposed to "#$%#^ me I can't find Stephanie's $%^$#ing form and the $%^#$ing ambulance is right outside...")

With that in mind, in your situation, I would complete the Name line on the form and provide people with an envelope. They must return a sealed envelope to you, but they may complete as much or as little of the form as they wish. Explicitly mention that they can choose to leave the rest of it blank. ("Just put the form straight back into the envelope, sign over the seal, and bring it back.")

This way providing the information remains voluntary, and the SM never comes into contact with any medical information (or even with the fact that a company member has refused to provide information!) until and unless that information becomes necessary.

22

The Green Room / Re: Silly things done when we're not at our best

« on: Feb 26, 2014, 11:39 am »

I've never done a stupid thing in my life, and don't let my previous employers, subordinates, coworkers, colleagues, or anyone in a position to know such things tell you otherwise.

Definitely not. Never. Not ever. Not even once.

Now, buy me a drink, and mayyyyyyybe I'll tell you a story about a friend of mine, Hon_Eadset...

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Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Dear Abby: Gay students in the dressing room

« on: Feb 25, 2014, 03:07 pm »

There's actually a fascinating tangent to this question which I'm surprised we haven't already hit upon: what do to when you have transfolk involved in the show.

I'm sure we've all seen hysteria concerning transfolk and bathrooms/locker rooms/shower rooms/etc.: there's a critical mass of people in this world who are clearly deeply, deeply, write-an-angry-letter-to-the-editor uncomfortable at the mere notion that they might be disrobed or otherwise "vulnerable" in the presence of a person whose sex and gender identities  (http://www.who.int/gender/whatisgender/en/) don't necessarily align, or at least don't align to the observer's satisfaction.

Suppose that two members of a 10-person acting company are complaining about discomfort over having to share a dressing room with a third person who is, as they put it, "a man who thinks he's a woman".

How do you react?

Consider the following four competing priorities:

1) You should not ask transfolk to use the "wrong" dressing room, because that's just straight-up insulting. ("Hi Jade, I know you're a woman, but the women are really uncomfortable changing around you, so can we just pretend you're a man?")

2) You should not set up a private, "transfolk only" dressing room, because that has the effect of segregating them (bad for morale, bad for cast cohesion, and it carries a very negative connotation) and forcing them out of the closet to the entire cast, two things you must avoid doing at all costs.

3) You should not tell someone who complains to "just get over" their discomfort, because while this may be the morally-robust and upstanding response, it might also lead to people quitting the show.

4) THIS IS THE REALLY IMPORTANT ONE: you should not make a big deal out of it, because drawing unnecessary attention to the issue is going to make life even harder than it needs to be for the transfolk in the cast. The more you talk about it, the more you waffle, the more people you involve, the more documentation you make, the more meetings you have, the worse your solution is.

What do you do?

24

The Green Room / Re: Movies to musicals

« on: Feb 24, 2014, 02:34 am »

but why would you ever insult paying customers with such a broad stroke?

Because I think productions like this are insulting to paying customers. These shows don't just blur the lines between art and marketing, they erase them altogether. If we, as an industry, are only capable of generating new content which has been designed from the very beginning to appeal to succulent demographics, to be as unchallenging as possible, to resist anything in any respect political or "difficult", and to otherwise avoid anything which might upset the Red Hat Ladies, then we might as well drop this pretension to be creating "art" in the first place and admit that we're really just a sub-unit of the advertising and publicity industries. (Yes, yes, I know that theatre has never been "pure" and that commercial concerns have always been prominent, but if we now inhabit a world where these concerns routinely trump everything else--where shows are not drafted by playwrights and composers and subsequently commercialized, but rather drafted by committees of publicists and market researchers and, subsequently, playwrights are permitted to fill in the few blanks remaining--surely this is something weird if we want to keep thinking of ourselves as a fundamentally artistic endeavour?)

It's not even that this type of theatre is bland, it's that it literally amounts to sucking up to its own audience. Far from challenging them to explore new ideas or engage in theatrical traditions, we're tucking them into bed with a warm glass of ovaltine, a kiss on the forehead, and a reminder of how special they are.

I certainly don't expect a commercial producer to pack a mainstage season full of Ibsen and mystery plays, but if all you have to say to your audience is "Hooray for you! For (s)he's a jolly good fellow, for (s)he's a jolly food fellow...", then yes: I think that speaks to a degree of cynicism about the intellectual capabilities of your audience, as if they couldn't even handle something really really hardball like "Salad Days" or "The Boyfriend". (Nope, gotta give them a toothless jukebox instead. It's all they can possibly handle...)

Never mind that these shows have the effect of hollowing out audiences. (Sure, you're getting tour buses full of baby boomers now, but if half the performances in your season don't sell a ticket to anyone below the age of 35, what are you going to do in ten years? [And let's not even pretend you'll exist in twenty...])

25

The Green Room / Re: To cue or not to cue... (Old-school SMing?)

« on: Feb 23, 2014, 01:35 pm »

But is trusting a Light OP to GO when a line is said or when a person enters done anywhere? Was this ever actually common in the 50s, or am I being deceived by this book?

Well, theatre used to have a rather neat cleave down the middle.

On the one side, you had "legitimate" theatre: shows which were rehearsed and scripted, with permanent casts, sets, costumes, sequences, and so on. This is an environment we recognize and work in today.

On the other, you had vaudeville and music hall: shows which changed every week (sometimes every night!), performers who travelled with their own sets and costumes, and a good deal of improvisation and the unexpected in the mix. And in that environment, an operator who needs a cue to do something will be completely out to sea. (Sure, you'd have cues for the flymen and the curtain and the orchestra and all the other stuff you do between acts, but the lighting operator [and especially the follow-spots] are, for all intents and purposes, improvising.)

26

The Green Room / Re: Movies to musicals

« on: Feb 23, 2014, 01:31 pm »

Honestly, I'm prepared to tolerate these movie-musicals, if only because I despise jukeboxes. (Some jukeboxes aren't bad--American Idiot comes to mind--but for every good one there are easily 5-6 dreadful, insulting cash grabs.)

That being said, my city's major commercial producer just announced their next season, and it includes... drumroll please... a production framed entirely around the achievements and accomplishments of the Baby Boomer generation. A multimedia extravaganza celebrating the best people, songs, incidents of this amazing, super, mint-scented demographic.

And, at that point, I'm left to wonder why they don't just dispense with the show altogether and have the ushers give the audience handjobs instead.

27

The Green Room / Re: Poll: Main Factor for Making it In This Business

« on: Nov 20, 2013, 12:41 pm »

One factor that I don't think we're considering is risk-taking.

Of those who graduated in my BFA class, the most successful by far is the student who took a massive gamble and got in the ground floor of a newly-established company. After a year or two of awful pay and dying fabrics in her parents' bathtub, the project has grown and grown, and now it looks very much like she has a job for life. (A job she happens to love, and which pays considerably more than a living wage.)

She was never going to get that job (certainly not at her age!) if she'd gone through the ordinary channels. Her success is down in large part to her willingness to take a considerable risk early in her career in the hope that it would pay off down the line.

But this story doesn't always end well, right? For every company formed by young and emergent artists which manages to really knock it out of the park and become a major game-changing phenomenon, there are literally dozens who put on a single show and fold immediately. (If they put on a show at all!)

And we should also consider that risk-taking doesn't exist in a vacuum. This woman had supportive parents who took care of her while she spent hear year-or-two in the wilderness. Those of us who have to immediately start paying back six figures of student debt literally cannot afford to take these sorts of chances.

Do we call this entire phenomenon luck? I'm not sure.

It does often seem that the difference between a wise risk and an unsavvy gamble is little more than good or bad luck. (Especially for emergent artists who haven't yet acquired the chops needed to tell the difference between a promising project with potential for considerable long-term success, and a complete and utter turkey.)

But her willingness to work hard, her contacts (Setting aside her friends in the industry, how do you even meet the sort of ambitious early-career artist who has this kind of vision--and how do you persuade them to make you a part of that vision--without having contacts and knowing how to work them?) and her perseverance are also pretty key.

28

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Figuring out a concentration

« on: Oct 17, 2013, 02:56 am »

Kay's got it. I'd hire someone with 5 years of experience over someone with 5 years of coursework in a heartbeat.

The dirty little secret of education is that, from the very second you've got your diploma in your hand, nobody cares about your grades. Don't take the path of least resistance: take whatever you need to take in order to acquire the skills necessary to build a post-graduation career.

In fact, the conventional wisdom ("Do whatever you're good at") doesn't really apply to professional programs like theatre: if you're getting an easy A+ in a course, you may not be learning a whole lot from the experience; if you're working your butt off and only clearing a C+, you're clearly exploring new territory and are being challenged in new and unexpected ways. In many respects, the latter course will be more helpful to your professional development, if not to your academic average.

29

The Green Room / Nice work if you can get it!

« on: Oct 05, 2013, 03:00 pm »

Today I learned that the head stagehands at Carnegie Hall earn upwards of 400k a year: http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2013/10/04/why-should-stage-hands-at-carnegie-hall-make-400000/

And, I mean, I get it. They've earned that revenue. That's how labour negotiations work.

But... wowzers, scoob.

30

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: SCHEDULING: How much information do you give actors?

« on: Sep 29, 2013, 03:53 am »

I'm working on a show that has the entire rehearsal process scheduled; down to the hour.

Down to the hour?

I suggest printing your schedule off onto 52 individual pieces of cardboard, then using them to construct elaborate, house-like structures.