Messages

16

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Production Manager, Checklist

« on: Jan 24, 2007, 02:22 pm »

Production Management: Making Shows Happen, A Practical Guide by Peter Dean

Check out this book - I was in the same boat and working with this (though Canadian) is not as obvious as the Kelley book for SMs, it is slowly becoming more apparent to me why it's useful.  At least it can begin to guide you on your way.

Also - check in with the AD and have a meeting to discover what s/he expects from you as a PM.  every theatre is different, jsut as you learned when you were SMing. 

What I notice is:

As a PM

GENERAL - I manage the SMs and make sure that they have all they need and are reporting what the company and team needs to know from the rehearsal room.  I check in with designers regarding rehearsal reports and what's being done.  Keep meetings short and to the point, everyone is busy and will appreciate it.

SPECIFIC [to my theatre] - (Regional/non-union)
1. Meeting #1 - meet and greet, words from director, contracts handed out.
2. Meeting #2 - Into of new people, collect contracts, sketches, design discussion
3. Meeting #3 - Models and final sketches presented
4. 1st Rehearsal/presentations to cast
5. Designer Run of show/meeting to follow
6. Designer Run of show/meeting to follow
7. Tech week/ meetings after rehearsal
8. Previews - Meetings following if needed, generally set/props/costume are the stragglers at this point.

*I don't have checklists until I know what the designers need/are missing/haven't completed.
*I do plan meetings and create agendas based on the discussions I have with designers outside of our meeting.
*I do plan the build with the tech director and the strike as well (we have a tight turn around)
*I created some spreadsheets in Excel that I based off of the book mention and some others based on another PM's work.  It's basic budgeting and knowing how to use formulas.
*I create the production calendar and make sure it is timely and complete. (Don't forget marketing, I somehow forget marketing and they always want photos or interviews...)
*Everyone is going to ask you when somehting is going to be complete, keep a weekly check in with your designers so yuo're on top of everything.  It's like being on top of a rehearsal room (Props, set pieces, bodies, TIME) but in a different scale. (Set/Costume/Prop build, sound/light design, budget, TIME)
*Ask for receipts as soon as you can get them (sometimes costume and props hold these because of so many returns).  And keep your budget spreadsheet up to date.  Set will always go over at the last minute (as will props) because the director changes his mind or suddenly realized how ugly puce is.  I suggest keeping a reserve in your designer budgets for this purpose.  If you have given the, $1200 for building the set, keep $200 out and let them know they have $1000.  Now you have a cushion when the puce needs to be painted black and you don't have any black paint...keeping you kn budget!

That's all I can think of off the top of my head, let me know if there are other questions I can answer...

17

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: help with "real" stage management

« on: Jan 18, 2007, 02:48 pm »

Get the Thomas Kelley book

18

The Hardline / Re: "You're the One that I want" reality show

« on: Jan 12, 2007, 02:45 pm »

I felt the need to watch, to see the mockery or faces I know (I'm in  Chicago).  Apparently Chicago sucked and they cut that segment to 40 or so minutes.

Anyway - all the ones that made it past singing and a minor dance audition are going to Grease Bootcamp.  Where you really work it.  Maybe Debbie Allen will show up and beat the floor with her staff.

So - these auditions are in no way what would be considered normal (besides the cameras and "prize"), your call back is a workshop, not a second chance.

Still - I'm intrigued and disgusted all at the same time.  Then I think, what actor doesn't want to be exploited and seen by millions for a chance at fame or a budding career? 

And is Stage Management being hurt by this?  Yes and No - the stage manager must be for TV, not the stage, right?  We never see one...  Show us the real behind the scenes, not a crybaby who wants the part because his brother never could.

19

SMNetwork Archives / Re: Happy Stage Management Memories?

« on: Nov 28, 2006, 02:27 pm »

My happy memories are when an actor is so on for the night that I am caught up in the story.  And knowing how often we see the same show (albeit different) nightly, that's an amazing accomplishment.

20

SMNetwork Archives / Re: Chicago SMNetwork Meetup?

« on: Nov 08, 2006, 03:06 pm »

Not dead, just left behind, I think.

21

SMNetwork Archives / Re: Who makes the best SM's?

« on: Nov 06, 2006, 02:25 pm »

In my opinion, I have been the best stage manager for a project because I choose the company (based on what they stood for), I chose the play because I liked the message and I could stand behind it, I met with the director and we wanted to work together, I interviewed for an ASM and found the best fit for me and the production; in all, I had a strong desire to do the work and a good team with which to do it based on the information provided and the investigative work I performed.

So - wherever I work, the best stage manager happens to be a gay male - now, why that matters over the work I'm performing, I don't know.

22

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Stage Management vs. Production Management

« on: Oct 18, 2006, 03:01 pm »

I currently switch between both jobs at the theatre I'm working for now.  SM / PM/ SM/ PM - end of season.  It's killing me, I'm hoping to change their style next yeaar and be the PM all year and get one more really good SM.

Here's the VERY BASIC difference between my jobs (in Chicago):

SM
Schedule rehearsal
Rehearsal report
Production mtg notes
Communication Hub between rehearsal hall and company, designers, heads of depts.
Heavy actor contact
Run tech

PM (heavily influenced by SM skills)
Heavy designer contact (weekly & daily)
Run production meetings
work with SM to coordinate designer runs and tech
Attend tech, previews and opening

23

College and Graduate Studies / Re: Little help please...

« on: Oct 17, 2006, 03:05 pm »

Find the University YOU want and emerse yourself into the theatr program, not just technical.  Especially if you want to be an SM.

In my experience, Management is a trait people are born with, later you learn to lead appropriately through trial and error and example.

Theatre experience, however, is whatever you can get your hands on.  As an SM I deal with every department and knowing how to sew has not only served me during a show, but during tech, knowing how to hang a light and change a bulb has served me during intermission when it went out, knowing how to read a ground pland and build parts of the set has helped me know where the build is and watch out for safety concerns for my actors, as well as minor repair during a run, understanding sound equipment has helped me work a board with more sliders than I could imagine. 

There are SO many examples, but please, make sure you're comfortable in the program and before you spend all the $$, know it's the program you want.  Then learn as much as you can.

SMing is an amalgamation of skill and tact...get the skill, learn the tact and let your management work on it's own...

And remember there is always a beginning a middle and an end.

24

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Email Nightly SM Reports

« on: Oct 02, 2006, 03:14 pm »

The company I work with likes everything pasted into the body of the email for speedy reading.  I have a MAC - btw.  I personally fill out the report in a very user friendly form I created in Word - then I hit CTL + A (Select All) then CTL +C (Copy), then CTL +P (Print). I use the print feature which allows me to send an email with a PDF attachment of the document I'm working with.    It auto creates the PDF file and then attaches it to an email, I hit CTL + V tp paste the report info into the body, then I put the group address in and send it.  Takes two seconds.

Everybody's notes are always in the same spotm they know where to look.  My performance report is similar enough to my rehearsal report that department notes are always in the same spot for both.

25

Employment / Re: Listing upcoming gigs on resume

« on: Sep 21, 2006, 02:30 pm »

I also add upcoming shows based on a signed contract.  I had an oral agreement to complete a season with a company and the final show became inpossible for me, however, since I had not signed a contract for that particular show, it never made it to my resume.
I definately add a "(Upcoming)" next to the show's title though...As mentioned before, leaving it without the note implies that the project is done.  I don't want to give a false impression that I've had an experience when I have yet to experience it.

26

SMNetwork Archives / Re: Chicago SMNetwork Meetup?

« on: Aug 03, 2006, 02:29 pm »

I'd love for that to happen, WHEN!!!  When I'm not SMing I'm PMing and I have a day job...

27

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Giving line notes - a real novice question

« on: Jul 06, 2006, 02:06 pm »

I use a form, or if the ASM I'm using has one, I look it over and approve it.  (Mainly because I let my ASM do line notes and I want them to  be comfortable)

It has a section to check off what was wrong, ie - dropped line, missed cue, jumped, (even) check blocking,  etc.  A space for filling in the actor's name at the top and a space for the line to be written (shorthand) so the actor knows what they're looking at, and a place for the pg #.

28

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: The Ultimate Decision

« on: Jul 05, 2006, 02:42 pm »

I've been on a long journey and it's still going...

When I was in HS my drama coach (I was definately an actor) asked me to stage manage a show, I think I was a freshman, 14yrs.  I did it and it consisted of watching for lines and making sure everyone was there...  I acted for the rest of the 4yrs in HS.

When I started college I went as an actor and after not being cast in the 1st show, I was asked to SM.  We were doing Dracula, I would SM my 1st show with a crew of 15, more special effects than I can count, two board ops and props up the ying/yang.  I'm 18 and the entire cast is older than I am, some by many years.  I made it out alive, solved issues I never knew I could solve in front of an audience (I always dropped lines and could never improvise, but when SMing, I could do it all) and managed a crew that consisted of 2 theatre people, the other 13 were from somewhere in the school - they just wanted to be involved.
Still an actor, I came back for more punishment my second year in college - I worked a 1 act festival, 15min before each nervous high school director's show went up they gave me a script and told me where the cues were and then I called the show with their ops.  I'd never seen the shows...talk about a rush: it was a competition, I didn't want them to look bad because of me...and no one ever did.

**********5 year hiatus from school and thearte*********working at Hollywood Video*********

Back in school, still an actor and I graduate as one, pulling off some great theatre.  I decide to go to a summer intensive in Colorado and then on to grad school.

Grad 1yr - great experience being actory-things like seaweed and swamp monsters.  And some real classes.

Grad 2yr - what the $@&! am I doing here?  Stick it out, you're paying and more than 1/2 way there

Grad 3yr - I have a masters degree in acting and now I want to stage manage

Post grad 1yr - acting in Chicago, couple cool gigs including Chicago Shakespeare, they keep calling me.   Got two paying SM gigs.  Day before tech of the 2nd SM gig I get a call to come in and replace an actor at Chicago Shakes, I'm called by one of the local casting directors who also has the power to get me on TV: and she likes me...and thinks I'm good.  I tell her that I'm sorry, I have tech tomorrow and that I'm SMing, I couldn't possibly leave.  She asks me to have someone cover and come in to see the director.  I turn her down.  I feel like my life is changing and I'm starting to tkae control.  Yet, it feels so out of my hands at the same time.

Post grad (almost) 2yr - call comes from a local theatre company that has made good, they're growing and their regular SM has a medical emergency, I had sent in a resume over a year ago and it's crappy, but they call me anyway.  WE FIT.  I've been SMing and PMing for them ever since.  Having finished a season and a quarter, moving into my second season with them (pay raises each season) I'm hoping it turns into a full time thing.  They're not equity yet, but it's so close I can taste it...I'm starting to save $$ for dues.

29

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / PEOPLE: When a company comes together

« on: Jun 19, 2006, 02:50 pm »

This past weekend, the company I'm working with just closed their first musical.  I feel the tiredness setting in...

Here's the kicker: throughout the rehearsal process, everything was fine (other than quickly losing my ASM and find a replacement).  Throughout the run (and on their own time away from the theatre), I had an actor diagnosed with a bone spur on his heel and torn tendons, he was reblocked and eventually repalced; then an actor dropped a glass on her foot and had stitches, she was reblocked and stayed with the show; then an actor sprained her wrist and another hurt his knee, then one of the principals came to me and mentioned that she'd been having seizures and had no history of them, she did the show that evening without incident and left with a very high temerature, refusing to go to the doctor, (she has no understudy and it's the final week of performance) on Saturday morning I get a call from the artistic director who had received a call from the director that the actor was in the hospital with a kidney infection.  We have two shows, at 4 and 8.  The AD had called one of the actors and asked her to go on for the principal.  I covered her roll with another actor, called two other company members to come in early for some scenework, my ASM called everyone else in for a rehearsal at 2p.  I got to the theatre at 10 and went through blocking with the actor, she had about 10-15 min with the music director, 10min for fitting and then we did a show.

I worked with the most inspiring company to pull this off.  Not only did everyone come together, the "understudy" was the most professional actor, her head was raarely in her script, she sang on key songs she had never sung before and pulled off the role.  She received a standing ovation and cheers from the crown for three performances.  Well deserved.  Luckily, there were no major dance #'s to rework, only one # and we didn't have to change the choreography.

May you all work with such a company and be witness to true artistry and live theatre as I have experienced (hopefully under better circumstances).

30

SMNetwork Archives / No, really they said this..

« on: May 22, 2006, 02:50 pm »

I have an experience, rather than a quote...

Last night an audience member walked into the house (general seating) and publically berated her husband from down center, directly in front of the entire audience about making them late and that there were no good seats left.  She was loud.  Reminded me of Hyacinth Bucket from KEEPPING UP APPEARANCES.  The poor husband was sulking behind her, shoulders slumped and brow beaten.  She wouldn't stop for the entire preshow.