Author Topic: Explaining Yourself  (Read 5203 times)

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Smimes

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Explaining Yourself
« on: Apr 22, 2009, 07:43 pm »
I just finished up stage managing my first musical. People keep asking "oh what did you do for it". I tell them as politely as I can that I was the stage manager. They say "Oh okay, well good job".

I was wondering from you guys.
How you let people, who don't have a clue, know what your role as the SM actually is without sounding like a jerk?

damjamkato

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Re: Explaining Yourself
« Reply #1 on: Apr 22, 2009, 07:52 pm »
I usually tell people that I make the show go smoothly, by organizing and sharing information.
I've heard other SM's describe the job as "being in charge of everything".  It's kind of true, but you sound like a real jerk if you put it that way.

zayit shachor

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Re: Explaining Yourself
« Reply #2 on: Apr 22, 2009, 09:13 pm »
I like to tell people that every time they see a light change or hear a sound effect, it's because I told it to go.  That tends to be suitably impressive without having to explain too much.

maximillionx

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Re: Explaining Yourself
« Reply #3 on: Apr 22, 2009, 09:48 pm »
I like to tell people that every time they see a light change or hear a sound effect, it's because I told it to go.  That tends to be suitably impressive without having to explain too much.

About the same, yea.

cprted

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Re: Explaining Yourself
« Reply #4 on: Apr 22, 2009, 11:11 pm »
Maybe it's just me, but if someone I'm talking to doesn't know what an SM does, I don't really concern myself with trying to impress them or describe in detail what I spend my days doing.  Usually a phrase to the effect of, "I make sure things run smoothly" does the trick.

PSMKay

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Re: Explaining Yourself
« Reply #5 on: Apr 23, 2009, 12:27 am »
We've addressed this recently over in the green room.

centaura

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Re: Explaining Yourself
« Reply #6 on: Apr 23, 2009, 11:09 am »
I agree with the posters who say that its not worth it to me to try to explain the gory details of what I do to someone who doesn't know anything about technical theatre.  Folks who really want to know will ask detailed questions, others are just being politely curious and I prefer to keep answers short and sweet (several good ones have already been suggested) so as not to be long-winded on a topic that might not be of interest to my 'audience'.  How much you're bothered by the general public not knowing/understanding what you do is another facet to put into your thoughts about stage managing as a career.

-Centaura