CALLING: Onstage as an SM

[cserendipity]

For the next show that I am stage managing, I will actually be onstage.  There's a non-speaking character in the script that acts as a cameraman/technician, so instead of casting an actor, the director has decided to have me do it and actually run lights/sound from the stage.  I don't have an ASM, will have only one or two crew members who will deal with the props.  (There is a lot of food involved and there will be food fights on the stage.)  I was wondering if anyone had ever encountered a similar situation and had any advice/suggestions.  Thanks!

Edit to subject line-Rebbe

[BayAreaSM]

I've done that once - though it was a Community Theater show of Damn Yankees. I was Miss Westin, which is a small role in the Talent Show scene. I did call the rail cues during the scene while onstage, which felt strange. I was also in a few musical numbers, so I had an ASM call any cues during those songs which I was onstage. At that point in my career, I was still a bit more interested in being a performer than SM'ing.

Other than that, I've been the "technician" for a ballet that comes and goes onstage, but I was the ASM at the time. The choreographer originally asked for the PSM to do the part, but he refused. He did not want to be onstage calling cues, he preferred to do that from his console.

Granted, both times I've been onstage, it wasn't for the entire show, and I could still do my regular SM work. However, having an SM onstage calling the show, yet involved in the action (acting) doesn't help you see the overall production. Are you onstage all the time? From where the director has blocked you to be, can you even see everything you need to see to call your cues? If there is trouble backstage, can you facilitate it by talking on headset to the crew? I assume you'll be wearing a headset to call the cues from the stage - is the director aware that you will be talking onstage during the performance? In AEA rules, the SM (and sometimes the 1st ASM) are not allowed to perform or understudy in the production they are SM'ing. Also, the SM must be in communication with backstage at all times - is this something you can rely on your crew for? Is your crew reliable? It could be worthwhile to ask for an ASM. If you are definitely going to be onstage and there's no way around it, then you need a dedicated assistant to be your eyes and ears backstage.

Post Merge: Jun 17, 2011, 11:56 amOr, if you're really uncomfortable being onstage, say so - you were hired to SM, not to be an actor. I'm sure there are a ton of actors in your area that would kill to be onstage, even if it is a non-speaking role.

[BlueRidgeSM]

Ditto on the communication with backstage and having someone back there you can trust to run things.  Does the director realize that even if the role is non-speaking you will need to talk to call cues and also possibly to resolve issues backstage? 

One time I did a show (in college) in a proscenium theatre where we reversed the set - the set was built on the downstage part of the stage, and the audience was seated upstage facing downstage.  My board ops were in the booth and could only see the back of the set and the empty house.  I ended up calling the show from the grid (not a true grid as there were no flies) but had to be very quiet because I was only 20-25 feet over the heads of the audience.  Not really onstage but still a tricky situation!

I will say that the playwright in me (I took a playwrighting class in college and also wrote several episodes for our student television channel) has always found the idea of having a stage manager onstage calling the show intriguing.  Plays like Noises Off always both delight and frustrate me, as there is a character of a stage manager, but for obvious reasons with a show like NO the person onstage is not the REAL stage manager, and that always seemed like a cheat to me.  But how can you call a show that you are in and therefore can't see, unless you also have a monitor onstage with you?  And if so, that limits your mobility unless you always returned to the monitor to call cues?  It's just something I find interesting.  Maybe someday I'll figure out how to work it right and have the SM call the show from onstage... I just think that'd be cool. 

[cserendipity]

I probably should have mentioned before that it's in a smaller non-union house where normally I would run the light and sound boards from the booth at the back of the house and not actually have to "call any cues."  In fact, the current show I'm working on doesn't even have any crew members.  (There are two actors and they are onstage for the entire show.  The next show will feature 3 actors and they are onstage most of the time as well.) 

We haven't started blocking yet, but I'm assuming that I will have a little bit of freedom to not necessarily have to be onstage the entire time.  The stage isn't very big, so hopefully I'll be able to see everything, even if it is from a different perspective.

I don't mind being onstage.  The director did ask my permission before he "cast" me.  Now, I'm just trying to figure out all of the implications for rehearsal/performances, as it will definitely be a new experience.  At least I don't have to remember any lines!

BlueRidgeSM - The idea of having to call cues from the grid sounds like a unique and intriguing experience!  Did you enjoy it?

Thanks for the tips so far!

[Cedes]

I just did this as well for a show.  It was "interesting." Just make sure it is in your contract, and that this isn't going too far "beyond the call of duty" so to speak. 

[kiwitechgirl]

I've done it a couple of times, always in non-speaking roles mercifully!  I always seem to end up in a maid's outfit, for some reason...although when I did Cabaret we had all the Kit Kat Kids out in the house and foyer pre-show, interacting with the audience, so I was wandering around in costume just keeping an eye on things; the Kit Katters dubbed me "Lulu" (she's normally one of the Kit Katters, but we had a small cast so no-one playing that part) and I had a gorgeous black sparkly beaded frock  - which I got to keep at the end of the run!

[nick_tochelli]

While fulfilling the role of ASM I also happened to get my "off broadway debut" as an actor at the same time. I was onstage in full Revolutionary War garb (with musket) and I even had lines to speak. I also had a song in the original version of the script, but that ended up being cut and I was removed from that scene. I still haz a sad for that....

But I was the ASM and the backstage ballet was a very simple one for that show and I had a props mistress who was more than up to the task of handling the crew and tracking while I was onstage (or offstage and unavailable because I was doing things). I found ways for me as an "actor" to do things I needed to do as an ASM. Like "Oh, I have to cross over to SR now....I suppose I could carry these three props to their home."

Seems like a good thing for your particular situation that you're playing a camera person. You should easily be able to wear a headset and be able to talk to your board ops.

[missliz]

I've also made my off-Broadway acting debut! I also did a show where I was onstage the entire time, on headset. The show was set a lot like a rock concert, so the director had no problem and actually encouraged my going on to check mics, coil cable, hand off props, etc. HOWEVER, I don't know if you are Equity or not, but when the Equity rep came to see our show, they determined I had actual "acting moments" and the producers owed me a fee for each acting moment (I believe they determined I had 3?) per show...I ended up getting a check for nearly $400.

[BlueRidgeSM]

BlueRidgeSM - The idea of having to call cues from the grid sounds like a unique and intriguing experience!  Did you enjoy it?

Yes!  Although it was literally probably the 2nd time I had ever stage managed, I had never been an ASM or had any formal training, so I really had no clue what I was doing.  But it was an original work of a fellow student and was obviously experimental since we sat the audience onstage.  The actors entered from the actual house (which was more like backstage in this case) or they entered from the backstage entrances behind the audience (this particular theatre had all the dressing rooms etc downstairs, so aside from the wings it was just a load-in door upstage center and then a door USR going down a stairwell to the dressing rooms on the lower level).

I just sort of had to find a spot on the catwalk on the upstage wall where I could see most everything (though I could not see actors entering from the dressing rooms as they were entering  pretty much directly below me).  We ran a clearcom cable from the SR ASM post up to the grid so I could communicate with the booth.  I think the hardest part about that show was the fact that my board ops could see absolutely nothing, just the back of the set and the empty house.  We had a terrible time setting levels for music (and this was a play about a music venue, so there was A LOT of music) because from the sound board the volume would be great but onstage it wasn't so good because the set blocked a lot of the music that was playing into the house.  At this point I also had no formal sound training and was pretty much just guessing about what all those knobs did... ah, college.   

[BeccaTheSM]

I've been a costumed ASM/crew member before -- a lot of maid outfits. My favorite was a pair of scrubs -- I was a nurse, and helped roll out a hospital bed during a production of Falsettos. They were super comfy to wear backstage and I got to keep them.

[maximillionx]

I've been onstage as an SM a couple of times before at my current gig. Although here, it's a bit more tricky...I have no board ops.  We have an old Palm Pilot that my predecessor configured to fire a cue in Qlab on our computer via bluetooth.  The program is called 'sailing clicker' and is very useful.  Although it can be very nerve-racking trying to click a button while executing blocking and hoping for the best.  Not the best system, but it's interesting to work with and everyone seems to be intrigued by it.

My advice would be to know all your blocking and lines to the best of your ability.  It's a very distracting responsibility and you definitely don't want it to take away from your SMing duties or the show.

[nick_tochelli]

I've also made my off-Broadway acting debut! I also did a show where I was onstage the entire time, on headset. The show was set a lot like a rock concert, so the director had no problem and actually encouraged my going on to check mics, coil cable, hand off props, etc. HOWEVER, I don't know if you are Equity or not, but when the Equity rep came to see our show, they determined I had actual "acting moments" and the producers owed me a fee for each acting moment (I believe they determined I had 3?) per show...I ended up getting a check for nearly $400.

I am Equity and was for that show. Though the producers (more specifically the general manager) said they worked out a deal with Equity where I didn't get paid for performances and that it was covered by my ASM contract.

After that particular gm was released from his duties a new gm came in, saw how wrong that situation was and I ended up with a check for nearly 2k for performances about three months after the tour had ended. I wish that show had been more popular and been sold to more venues. They also figured out after the tour I was supposed to be paid for being fight captain too. That was an additional 15 bucks per performance as well. ;-)

[Kelasaurus]

As an ASM, I have been onstage a pile of times.  Come to think of it, I think I have worn a costume and been onstage with lights up on more shows than I haven't. 

I've been a peasant, a soldier, another peasant, a maid, I wore a poodle skirt once.  I have also gone out onstage as myself for a non-speaking comedy bit.

I don't particularly mind it.