NEW WORKS: Working on a "Work-In-Progress" Show

[Mattsspace]

Hello fellow stage managers,

For a few reasons I can not give out many details, but I have been given the opportunity to work as a stage manager on a new musical being written by two well acclaimed Broadway playwrights.

I have been informed that the script is still a work and progress and to expect frequent changes being made to the script; but besides a lot of personal time with the xerox machine , are there any other things to expect when working on a new piece? Is the SMing process at all different when working on a show like this? I have been told that at this point we are only doing a staged reading with the full orchestra, but have been asked to still make shift plots, props plots, ext.

Any advice on working on a "Work-In-Progress" show is greatly appreciated. Thank you so much in advance.

Edited to add topic tag. - Maribeth

[Maribeth]

There are a bunch of great threads here on the topic of new works. If you go to the Plays and Musicals board and sort by subject, look under "New Works" - there are a number of really helpful posts.

I would check out the posts about tracking/distributing script changes- they have been really helpful to me.

[VilleSM]

Having just worked on two work-in-progress world premieres (including one where line changes were still being written less than two hours before the official opening performance), I would say just be prepared for anything.
Some of my team's experiences in the past two shows:
- We had three or four preview performances with a certain sequence of scenes that got cut, so we had to re-tech everything.
- No Intermission at first preview (as we had teched it), Added an Intermission at second preview (had to retech everything), and then took the Intermission back out at third preview (had to retech everything AGAIN).
- Constantly changing (adding/deleting/revising) props, as we had no prior props lists to even base a first rehearsal prop pull from.
- Actor meltdowns about suddenly having significantly less (or more!) lines.
- Playwrights in tech... can become a battle between the director and the playwright about what the production should look like.

It's not all bad, though. I enjoyed working more closely with a dramaturgy team than I ever have before. We also had more support from our workplace for doing the premieres than we have on the other shows this season.

Break legs!

[Mattsspace]

Thank you so much! I sugessted using different colored paper to help with script updates and the director loved the idea!