Author Topic: Humor: Stage Managing the World  (Read 26817 times)

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lejenna

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Humor: Stage Managing the World
« on: Aug 18, 2006, 12:21 pm »
Does anyone else find themselves, in the quiet off hours between shows, doing little things like calling light cues at traffic lights?
« Last Edit: Feb 11, 2008, 12:48 pm by PSMKay »

LCook

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Re: Stage Managing the World
« Reply #1 on: Aug 18, 2006, 12:28 pm »
I once called a kiss before....it was kind of funny...and the girl thought it was cute lol granted she's in theatre/ a SM as well so it made sense to her :D 

I also had a discussion with my roommate about how much sense it would make if the best stage manager in a certain generation got to be god when they died. But thats a whole other story.  ::)
« Last Edit: Aug 18, 2006, 07:13 pm by LCook »

Debo123

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Re: Stage Managing the World
« Reply #2 on: Aug 18, 2006, 01:22 pm »
So um, I'm 22 and learning how to drive (don't ask).
The mnemonic my dad and my sister used to teach me how to merge smoothly was SMOG (lights, mirror, over-the-shoulder, go)... that and my dad remarking, "it's all a series of picking up cues" (without realizing the significance of that phrase) sort of got me thinking through my driving as just a complicated sequence of calling to yourself and then executing cues... I still haven't managed to pass my driver's test yet though... :(

but I'm working on it. :-)

stagemonkey

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Re: Stage Managing the World
« Reply #3 on: Aug 18, 2006, 02:20 pm »
Does anyone else find themselves, in the quiet off hours between shows, doing little things like calling light cues at traffic lights?

I think I have to admit I have actually done that, but I think its more often as I'm waiting for someone to make a left turn infront of me I'll see traffic open up and be like "...and.....go."


megf

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Re: Stage Managing the World
« Reply #4 on: Aug 18, 2006, 06:28 pm »
Yes - often - at traffic lights, since they are so much a part of living almost anywhere in California, and also at a lot of stores. Lately I've had the time to do a little relaxed people-watching at Starbucks and Borders, and watching salespeople approach customers, or customers select a drink, one can usually sense the moment of "and... GO."

My favorite instance of this would have to be the new customer service rep at my local Borders bookstore... it's a ten-second "and," which is just endlessly endearing.


KC_SM_0807

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Re: Stage Managing the World
« Reply #5 on: Aug 20, 2006, 07:04 pm »
I don't find myself calling cues so much at traffic lights, but I do find myself doing other things.  For example, I keep time on everything.I find myself saying "5 minutes" or "10 minutes" before a movie starts, or if I'm waiting for something.  I am always calling time and 'taking attendance' and doing other little SM things.  It's actually quite funny to sit back and think about how much Stage Managing I do just in everyday life!
« Last Edit: Aug 24, 2006, 10:52 pm by KC_SM_0807 »
"Perhaps, therefore, Stage Managers not only need to be calm and meticulous professionals who know their craft, but masochists who feel pride in rising above impossible odds."

BeckyGG

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Re: Stage Managing the World
« Reply #6 on: Aug 21, 2006, 12:26 am »
I have found myself when taking the train and being told that we will be at a desitnation in five mintues replying "thank you five".  And while I don't call cues regularly in life I do tend to refer to everything and anything as being stage left, stage right, upstage, or downstage. 
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BalletPSM

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Re: Stage Managing the World
« Reply #7 on: Aug 23, 2006, 09:34 am »
This is starting to get into the realm of general odd stage manager behavior outside of the theatre....some time ago there was a topic on this as well. 

http://smnetwork.org/forum/index.php?topic=819.0

That said...

a few days ago I went to visit my friend who works in a local department store.  He told me his department was the back right corner of the store...well I naturally walked in to the store and turned to my left, thinking he meant (because what else would he mean?) the stage right corner of the store.   I was wondering how on earth he could work in electronics in the middle of the milk aisle...until I realized where the confusion was. =)
Stage managing is getting to do everything your mom told you not to do - read in the dark, sit too close to the TV, and play with the light switches!

thehayworth

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Re: Stage Managing the World
« Reply #8 on: Aug 23, 2006, 11:59 am »
When I am with a group of people going out to a restaurant, I do a head count of those going, then tell everyone, "OK, whoever gets there first, tell them we have a party of 12," or whatever the amount is.

Likewise, when the waiter comes for the food or drink order or wants to know if we need refills, invariably not everyone is paying attention.  I call out, "Refill call.  who needs more?"  and so on.  "Hands up if you need more time to order."

Why?  The sooner we all order, the sooner we get our food or drinks!
"This time for sure."

DAE

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Re: Stage Managing the World
« Reply #9 on: Aug 23, 2006, 02:00 pm »
Hi Everyone,

I have been reading this topic (and the similar one) for some time now and am starting to worry that I am in the minority of stage managers. What I mean is...

I have been stage managing for awhile, I like to think I'm pretty good at it, I'm AEA and haven't been out of work since I left college. I have done theatre, opera, dance, and corporates. But I am a stage manager from the time I enter the the theatre to the time I leave (that isn't to say I don't work at home, like we all have to, it's a metaphorical statement). I have never had trouble with directions, lingo, or procedure in the real world vs. the theatre, and I make it a point not to "stage manage" anything I don't need to.

Stage Management gives you many valuable skills, I just never really use them outside the theatre. In a theatre, I can bulid and repair scenery, at home I can barely put my new DVD shelf together. At Work I can hem pants in an emergency, at home I've discolored more then one t-shirt in the laundry. I can work with and track complicated budgets really well, I'm not even sure where my home check book is. And I'm really ok with all this.

We have a hard, sometimes frustrating and nerve-racking job. Though it can be amazingly rewarding, I don't need constant reminders of it, the 3-4 resumes a week I send out usually are enough to do that. The SMNetwork and the trade magazines is about as work related on my off time as I get.

But that's just me, anybody else?

stagemonkey

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Re: Stage Managing the World
« Reply #10 on: Aug 23, 2006, 02:53 pm »
DAE I can relate to an extent.  Never had a problem with directions or being able to distinguish work and off time.  I will admit some habits cross over a little and sometimes I'll look at a situation and be like "man if only they had a stage manager doing things this wouldnt be such a cluster****" and times I've thought how if i was stage managing something how it would be working better, but at times you need to step away from the "office" as it were.  

I also have to say that I have recieved many compliments at work on the job of how organized I am after looking at my binder or just knowing where things are onstage (even to the extent of remembering where an actor placed an invisible prop and then how that invisible prop gets moved the next few times).  With that said if you looked at my apartment very little is organized.  My desk at home is a mound of scattered papers, laundry isnt always put away in the dresses often its the clean basket of clothes and the dirty pile on the floor, and often times I can't even remember where the tv remote was left.  

So you're not alone.  

EDIT: Removed profanity. -PSMK
« Last Edit: Nov 08, 2009, 12:47 am by PSMKay »

Mac Calder

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Re: Stage Managing the World
« Reply #11 on: Aug 23, 2006, 04:46 pm »
Can't say I have ever "go'ed" at a stoplight, however I do use Prompt and Opposite Prompt in my day to day life. My friends are used to me saying "It's over Prompt" or "Move a bit more OP". I just find I can do the mental 'flip' better using those terms.

centaura

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Re: Stage Managing the World
« Reply #12 on: Aug 24, 2006, 07:31 am »
Quote
I can work with and track complicated budgets really well, I'm not even sure where my home check book is. And I'm really ok with all this.
.....
But that's just me, anybody else?

I fall in between.  I do find myself getting real-right and stage-right confused sometimes, but generally only when something is facing me.  If I'm just pointing at another part of a room or something, I'm fine, but if I'm, say, looking at an inatimate object that's facing me, I'll sometimes have to stop myself from saying the direction from its point of view.

As for budgets and other home-organization, I'm a mess.  I have an extremely organized prompt book, and other paperwork, and yet at home I haven't filed a bill in months.  They're all in a pile by my desk.  And budgets, if I didn't have my checkbook in my computer, it'd be a hopeless mess.

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LCSM

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Re: Humor: Stage Managing the World
« Reply #13 on: Nov 07, 2009, 09:58 pm »
The mnemonic my dad and my sister used to teach me how to merge smoothly was SMOG (lights, mirror, over-the-shoulder, go)... that and my dad remarking, "it's all a series of picking up cues" (without realizing the significance of that phrase) sort of got me thinking through my driving as just a complicated sequence of calling to yourself and then executing cues...

I've been learning to drive as well and the part that always stressed me out was several quick turns in a row (blinker on, blinker off, new blinker on, all of this while staying in your lane) untill I began calling it in my head, putting my lights on at standby and turning on go. I've never had a problem since.

Thespi620

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Re: Humor: Stage Managing the World
« Reply #14 on: Nov 07, 2009, 10:45 pm »
I recently had a run-in with this-I was leaving my 10/12, put my keys in the car and started muttering to myself "..key turned....lights on..." and as I was pushing the power button to my radio I said "sound...go".  I'm so glad nobody else was in the car with me.

It hasn't happened too much otherwise, but I do find that after long rehearsals or mid-tech week I'll call cues to the ether. I'm also a freak about keeping time-my watch rarely leaves my wrist, and I always know what time it is as well as how long it is until I have to do something--anything. 

DAE, I'm actually a bit jealous of you.  One of the things I'm working on is being able to compartmentalize what goes on in the theater from my "real life" more efficiently.  I find that when I'm calling cues in my car I'm more likely to obsess over details of my show when I'm cooking, cleaning, etc, and it can get in the way of relaxing outside of rehearsals. 
[The SM is] a very gifted, slightly eccentric master mechanic [keeping] a cantankerous, highly complex machine running at top efficiency by talking to it, soothing it, & lovingly fixing whatever is broken. 
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