Author Topic: Happy Stage Management Memories?  (Read 27952 times)

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shorty

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Re: Happy Stage Management Memories?
« Reply #15 on: Nov 16, 2006, 10:47 pm »
my happiest stage management memory would have to be working on blues for an alabama sky.  there were 8 people every night at rehearsals. (director, the cast of 5, my asm and myself.) we all were rushing in from different parts of campus into rehearsal.  so my director had us all get into a circle to focus and say a prayer for the first five minutes of rehearsal. the majority of us are religous in some way. he continued to do that through the run of the show. then after working on the show, i recieved a phone call from my director asking me to stage manager a project that he's working on next semester. (i am doing the project.)
*o*
Sarah

Jessie_K

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Re: Happy Stage Management Memories?
« Reply #16 on: Nov 17, 2006, 04:02 pm »
Hmm.  Over the years, I have built up quite a number of happy stage management memories.  I couldn't keep doing this job if I didn't have them.

My happiest was probably my birthday 2005.  I was on a long European tour with a dance company and we had our opening night in Amsterdam on my birthday. 

We were in tech all day and I was getting over a nasty cold.  But all through the day little gifts kept appearing on my console.  My dancers wrote sweet cards and left treats, it was so great.

Then after the show at the big reception with board member, etc, I was presented with a cake and EVERYONE sang to me.

Then we went out and celebrated as one can only really do in Amsterdam . . .

ChaCha

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Re: Happy Stage Management Memories?
« Reply #17 on: Nov 18, 2006, 11:36 am »
Oh JessieK your post reminded me of a lovely and similar occasion - I was leaving a show two weeks before the end of its run in Sydney to go OS to a gig in Belgium that I was very excited to have been invited to do. But it was nice cast and a good show and we'd been on tour together for some weeks so it was also a little sad to be leaving early. On my last night the cast all made little presents backstage during the show and afterwards  summoned me to the foyer bar to present me with this grabbag of goodies to take with me as reminders...then two of them (who played guitar in the show) knelt down and serenaded me ! It was very touching and a bit embarrassing as there were still theatregoers hanging around drinking. Next morning I nearly missed my flight because my passport was on the control room floor -but that's another story...
ChaCha

smsam

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Re: Happy Stage Management Memories?
« Reply #18 on: Nov 18, 2006, 09:13 pm »
Ahh I too have many happy stage management memomories - consistently throughout all of them they involve people who i love/ am very close to/ work very closly with.

Some that standout;

*First night of a very small west-end show, new writer, fantastic company of fourteen and a very intensive, hard rehearsal process. THe afternoon before we open me and the Director are released - they were busy on stage doing Lighting bits etc. etc. I had finished the book and everything was great. The Company (very tired!) went to go and sleep in the green room and me and the director (now very close friends) went out and bought everyone in the company & design team good luck/ thank-you cards & pressies. We then went and sat in a lovely small coffee shop, wrote all the cards together, wrapped the pressies and just reflected on the whole process up to that point!! It was lovely. We went back to the theatre. Did the First Night (very busy show, lots of quick but sensitive calling etc.) - clean show - and then had a fantastic party involving much champagne and cocktails! And then the Artistic Director of the company gave me the nicest compliment I've ever received as a DSM (or SM); he said the cueing was so tight and spot on that I was like another member of the ensemble making the whole show magic! I've never felt so proud of a show & comany before.

*6.30 (before a 7.30 show - different show to above). Theres been turential rain all day  and I go into one of the side foyers off the wings as i hear gushing water!! Open the door and water floods out - heading towards the stage. Several rooms are 3 foot underwater, waters gushed in under the doors!! Eventually Me, Production Manager, The Director (!!), All the ASMs, Lighting Designer, Sound Op and the Artistic Director of the company are bailing out water!! It was amazing - eveyone no matter how important or what position was mucking in,up to their kness in water, helping to get the show on. We did it and the show went up slightly delayed. What an amazing feeling.

Sam x

Sam x

NomieRae

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Re: Happy Stage Management Memories?
« Reply #19 on: Nov 25, 2006, 01:08 am »
The last show I worked held the worst and best memories that I've ever had in theatre thus far...

Two Lovely moment's I'd like to share:

** After nearly three months working on the show, five days of tech, faulty projections, and 21 live lav mics, a touring show, doing a musical at a non-musical school, retired union band who would wander, actors passing out backstage from the heat, hundreds of light, sound, projection, actor and spotlight cues, hundreds of hours of work and frustrations.. it was opening night, house of 400 (which is gigantic for our department) and I sat in our makeshift booth (a platform over the last 3 rows) with my book and a cliplight and what was last of my sanity... I called the cleanest show I can ever remember. EVER. The audience ate everything up, and when during curtain call they received their first standing ovation, first from me and then their audience. I cried many happy tears during that curtain call.

** As we all know, Stage managers don't do it for the glory. All that I need to keep going is the knowing that I am doing the best that I can with what I have to work with.. but one evening after a performance we were being adjudicated by our regional ACTF respondents and as we all, cast crew and designers, sat in theatre, the respondent talked to me about my process in the show and afterwards he applauded me, which was picked up by everyone else in the house and for maybe the only time I will ever see, the stage manager got a standing ovation.

Those things, ladies and gents, make it all worthwhile.
--Naomi
"First, I honor life, and with it my life in theatre." -- Jacques Burdick

cuelight

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Re: Happy Stage Management Memories?
« Reply #20 on: Nov 26, 2006, 05:39 am »
The show that I'm doing at the moment is probably going to rank up pretty high on my list of good memories for some time to come.

After a bit of a nightmare get in (resident technicians didn't know we were turning up at 8:30 so we had no working lights in the space until 10:30 when they got in - and they call it the west end...and that was just at the start of the day!) I got a card and thank you from every single producer, cast member, production team member, etc. I had originally started off the job thinking that I was going to be DSM (which is what they hired me to be) and somewhere along the lines I've ended up becoming company stage manager (which I have never done before - and I'm sure it shows quite a bit occasionally!). So far everything's working wonderfully and I've got a fantastic stage management team supporting me and a great theatre manager who'd go to the ends of the earth for my show! The cast are all fantastic professionals and it's a laugh to be backstage.

There's shows that you go into theatre to do and I've been lucky enough to get one of them right now.

stagemonkey

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Re: Happy Stage Management Memories?
« Reply #21 on: Nov 27, 2006, 11:00 pm »
I just get a happy little thought everytime I'm calling a show and i can watch the audience so focussed on the show when they bust into laughter, moved to wet eyes and sniffly noses, or even stunned in silence.  Its those little moments that bring happy feelings, knowing that as the SM im driving this ship (the show) and all these people are all engaged in the ride, and I'm helping make the magic happen.

ORTaurean

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Re: Happy Stage Management Memories?
« Reply #22 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.
Acting is standing up naked and turning around very slowly.
-Rosiland Russell

philimbesi

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Re: Happy Stage Management Memories?
« Reply #23 on: Nov 28, 2006, 04:21 pm »
I have so many fond memories of my time with headsets on I can't pick one.

Saying "Ok, House out..." and listening to the din in the house die down.
When your ASM's start finishing your sentences.
When your ASM's start starting your sentences.
When the tension is so tight in the theater that the silence actually becomes a character in the show.   
That moment when you finally realize that the audience is going to stand up.
That moment during rehearsals when the chaos becomes a show.
That moment a cast becomes a family.
When the cast and crew are clicking so well that you saying go causes a scene and lighting change that brings the audience to clap.
The perfect light focus.
The perfect facial expression.
The sniffles over quiet sad dialog.
The raucous laughter over funny dialog.
When the audience gets up and dances.
Stopping the show... because of the show.
When a show I'm working on is called anything but "cute"
When you can close your prompt book with a smile.
When you get to say "Great Show everyone, call time tomorrow is... "


The moment when life stops... the show starts... and things suddenly makes sense... that my favorite moment. 
« Last Edit: Nov 29, 2006, 07:08 am by philimbesi »

smsam

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Re: Happy Stage Management Memories?
« Reply #24 on: Nov 29, 2006, 06:33 am »
Thanks for that Philimbesi, I think you managed to sum up mine (and probably most others) best moments into one posts! Reading each of those brought a big smile to my face.

Sam x
Sam x

musicalssm

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Re: Happy Stage Management Memories?
« Reply #25 on: Dec 11, 2006, 12:40 pm »
Thank you for this thread.  It is very encouraging.  I am a single mother and started in theater when my daughter was a year and a half old.  My family has been a great support by being willing to take her during rehearsals that she couldn't handle sitting through.  As she has grown it has become easier and I have been blessed with directors who understand the struggle to juggle parenting and theatre.  They have often allowed her to attend rehearsals and hang out in the green room while we worked or sit in a corner reading.  I was very thrilled with her response to the last show I worked on.  We had taken a break from theatre for about a year and a half and returned to it this fall.  She is 7 now so I discussed the schedule with her before applying for the show and she was eager to get back into things.  She assisted with making calls backstage when I was occupied with props or costuming problems and learned all aspects of house management at the community theatre we were at helping with them and running the concession stand by herself several nights at intermission.  During rehearsals a favorite activity was to follow along in the script as they actors rehearsed.  She is still quoting whole scenes from the show to me as the lines apply to life.  It is definitely a highlight of my stage management career.

Jessie_K

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Re: Happy Stage Management Memories?
« Reply #26 on: Dec 11, 2006, 12:47 pm »
MusicalSM,

It is great that you can bring your daughter to work.  It is a great way for her to learn how to interact on an adult level and experience an ensemble.

Way to go!  It is great to hear about any parent who can juggle kids and theatre work, let alone a single parent.

j-la

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Re: Happy Stage Management Memories?
« Reply #27 on: Dec 15, 2006, 02:56 pm »
I have been bringing my 3 daughters to the theatre with me since they were very young- my oldest (now 26 yrs old) has done set building and running , the middle daughter just earned her BFA in performance (and dabbles in SM- she's very good at it) and the youngest simply enjoys theatre. When she was in kindergarten, I was working on a production of McBeth. Her father was cast as a soldier & the McDuff child's murderer. For 'show & share' one day- she stood up and very proudly announced to the class that "her Father was a soldier & a murderer". Oh- did I mention that we live about 20 miles from the Pentagon? Needless to say- I got a phone call from the teacher.
Sharing your work & your passion for theatre with your child is wonderful- I wish you all the best.

Canuck

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Re: Happy Stage Management Memories?
« Reply #28 on: Dec 15, 2006, 05:38 pm »
These are all great stories!  While this isn't directly related to a specific show I've worked on, it is one of my happiest theatre memories.

My mom is an elementary school teacher.  A few years back the school she was at was taking a school wide field trip to see a production put on by a local performing arts high school.  She had mentioned how some of the other teachers were worried about how their students would (or more like it, wouldn't) behave during the performance.  Seeing as she has a BFA SM graduated daughter, she offered up my services (and of course, asked me after if I could do it  ;))

I put together a mini performance/education session for the class.  It involved me coming in, describing who I was and what I kinda did (try explaining SMing to kinders - they basically decided I was like the principle!) Then I would then dramatically don a costume (a colourful jacket and top hat) and then explain that I was now in costume and was the performer and they were the audience and from there we interactivly went over all the things a good audience member did.  Reinforcing the idea of active listening (watching, listening, thinking, responding) all while having a ball!  The kids got to ask questions about theatre and what they could expect to see, about me (I was very intriguing being a teacher's kid! kinda like an exotic animal!) and about theatre in general. 

That day I spent time in every classroom, had my picture taken with students and staff, got to have lunch with my mom (which is rare considering our schedules) and had a great time myself sharing my love of theatre with young minds.  They went to the show the next day and the staff came back with glowing praise for how well their students behaved in the show.  Even the school who put on the show sent word back that the students from my mom's school were great.  The teachers noted for weeks and even months after, the students appeared to be listening better and paying more attention in class even!

Every year since then, no matter what school my mom has taught at, the demand is there that I come in and give my theatre presentation!  And every year, I happily make room in my schedule to do it.

kiwitechgirl

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Re: Happy Stage Management Memories?
« Reply #29 on: Jan 08, 2007, 08:55 pm »
My old school produced the school's version of Les Mis, and being a sucker for punishment, I offered to go in and help out (we're lucky enough to be able to get amateur rights for Les Mis here, and I'd done a run of it a few years earlier, so I had a pretty good idea of what it entailed and the challenges they'd face).  I trained up a full SM crew - SM, DSM, and two ASMs, and helped them train up the running crew, and also spent three days making two gauzes fly properly (hemp house with very little drift, I had autotrip lines coming out my ears!).  I have never seen anything like the way those kids (technicians, stage management and actors) rose to the challenge; the whole city was talking about the show.  I worked as running crew on the show, with the idea that I'd be there if the SM or ASMs needed help with anything, but they were about as far away from needing help as it was possible to be.  The show was flawless; the DSM, who had never called a show before in her life, was outstanding, and the SM, ASMs and running crew couldn't have been more organised. 

On final night, we had an auto-trip line chew through its pulley, meaning the gauze would fly out properly but wouldn't come all the way in.  The SM was able to think through his options without panicking (after racing to the grid to inspect the damage to the pulley, I did make an executive decision that the gauze was not to be flown again, purely for safety reasons) and make a decision as to how the scenes which used that gauze were to be restaged, inform the cast of what was going on, and inform the DSM and lighting operators that they'd have to be ready to busk a few scenes to cover the changes.  Unless you'd seen the show before, the only thing that you might have noticed was wrong was that during I Dreamed a Dream the gauze behind Fantine was about six feet off the deck on the OP side, it ran that smoothly.  I was amazed at the presence of mind that the crew of 16 and 17 year olds displayed - real initiative, despite never really having done any large-scale theatre before.  I was so proud of my crew, and I'd go back and do it again at the drop of a hat!

 

riotous