Friend as a Stage Manager Advice

[Smudge]

Hi SMNetwork,

I stage manage at a community theatre, and am sorta seen as "the resident stage manager" of sorts (basically because no one else wants to do it). I decided that I did not want to stage manage our summer musical because I had been stage managing (on top of going to school) nonstop since November. My friend (who has stage managed at this theatre once, and worked there for a while but has been away at college) approached the director and asked to be the SM, she then asked me to be her ASM.

I was out of town at the beginning of the rehearsal process and when I came back I noticed some issues (a lot of unprofessionalism, not doing basic things like setting up the stage for rehearsal, a lack of knowledge of what's happening in rehearsal with no desire to find out the plan.) I've tried gently suggesting things to my friend as we're working, but she doesn't seem to take the hint.

I was wondering what you would suggest I do. I do not want to overstep my boundaries as an ASM, but these issues are impeding upon the rehearsal process, and some of the cast is getting frustrated.

Any advice?

[planetmike]

Two thoughts: (1) take the SM/friend out to lunch/dinner and talk about what you're seeing (or not seeing). Ask the SM what duties you should be covering, how the load should be split up.

(2) Talk with the producer. Or some other member of the group's board. Most community theater groups' board members are very involved in the shows, so they'd want to know what is going on. The politics can get lovely, as I'm sure you know, since you have a lot of experience with that group. Some groups around here have fairly formal training for all non-acting positions, so that newcomers to positions will know what is expected of them.

What does the director see? If the director has low expectations, they may not know there is a potential problem building up. Good luck.

[bethanyb5]

oh wow that is hard. I don't envy you. I have worked in situations where when I came in I could see I knew more then everyone else and a lot of stuff needed to change. I would suggest to take it slow don't come at her with a whole list of things because she could get really defensive. You can get a little sneaky about it and say "hey I noticed that such and such isn't getting done did you expect me to do it?" that way you kind of put it back on you and it doesn't look like you are saying she isn't doing her job. take this opportunity to train her because those are things she needs to learn and some day she might thank you.

[Celeste_SM]

It really depends on how far the situation has gone, and whether there are any hard feelings developing. I've been in the exact spot that you're in, but I had the fortune of an advance understanding between me, the SM, the director and the producer that I was on board as ASM to help train the SM. Furthermore the SM was very open and genuinely interested in doing the best possible job.

It's never fun to hear that you're not doing something right, or not doing enough, so it was still rocky and I had to tread carefully. We established "off-line" time to go over things, when we weren't in earshot of the cast or director, so that I could advise on how to handle things, and also point out some things that could have been done better.  Sometimes I felt like a puppet master, signaling her to do something that we'd discussed earlier.  We also cleared up that she was fine with me "taking charge" if I saw the need, as long as we maintained a consistent chain of command for the cast and director. So if the director came to me for something, it was on me to say, "sure we can do that, let's just go let Sarah know as well."  Or if I noticed that something wasn't being tracked, I'd say, "Sarah, do you want me to track the movement of that prop?"  As long as the two of you are open and respectful of one another, and you both have the best interests of the show in mind, you can improve the situation. And your friend will learn a lot too!