The Ultimate Decision

[Libby]

I was 14 and my mom told me I had to find some afternoon activity to get me out of the house (and probably her hair!). I lived in a suburb of Philadelphia at the time, meaning you basically needed a car to get anywhere, so I had to chose between either an after school sport/club or somewhere I could walk to from home. I had loved theatre since a kid, but the school program was only doing one musical a year, and you couldn't run stage crew til you were in high school.
There was a very small community theatre that was right down the hill from me so I went to one of their monthly meetings, introduced myself, and told them I wanted to help out in anyway I could. Needless to say, I don't think all of them completely took me seriously, but they told me when I could show up to volunteer to help build sets. It went from there. The next summer they made me a board op, but by the end of the summer I was asked to ASM the big musical. After that I stage managed 3-4 shows during season (May-Oct.). It went from there...

[MelanieZastrow]

I'm surprised by how many people had this position fall into their laps - especially when, at least in my opinion, it takes a certain kind of person so SM. I didn't get into Stage Management until my junior year in college. My college always put on these amazing productions with these truly amazing sets....I was enthralled so I went into the TD's office and asked if I could work on a show as something...anything. He offered me the Stage Management position on the show Comedy of Errors. It sort of just went from there....in order to get my work done that I needed to do I would have to show up early and stay late, and I started to figure out techniques that worked for me to make my time less crazy...turns out these things that I had been doing was stepping it up a notch, and no one expected those things of me, but our show went off amazingly, and I was hooked. Since that time, I've SMed for countless shows, free-lanced all over, and worked with some of the most amazing companies in the Twin Cities - and although I did add a minor in theatre to my already full schedule. The extra time is priceless to me. I've made a complete turn around in the last year...I went from a History Major with and English Minor to a History Major with a double minor in English and Theatre with an emphasis is Stage Management...and I plan to happily do the SM for as long as I am able. 

[wheatwheat9]

i was in my first production in 6th grade and i really loved being on stage, however, i really wasn't that great at acting or singing. when i was a freshman, my best friend auditioned for the spring musical and got a leading role. not wanting to be left out, i did crew. i started out on the light board.
the next year, i did lights again, this time designing the lighting myself (the importance of being earnest is a really simple show, tech wise!). then that spring, i noticed that the SM was, basically, unhappy and hated our director. i went to her and said, "if you want to stop stage managing, i want to do it." she said she wasn't going to quit and i was a little upset but i still wanted to stick with it.
my junior year started and way before tech rehearsals began, the SM came to me and told me she was done and she wanted me to take over. so for that show, doctor faustus, i was ASM and head light board operator. between programming the light board, calling shows [the SM i mentioned before magically got sick during tech and dress week] and being the last one out of the theatre at night, i was exhausted and questioned if this was really what i wanted to do. i would freak out everytime the curtain opened each night and just wanted it to stop.
i told myself that if i focused on SM and gave it another try, i would like it. and i was right.
i SMed my first show on my own this year [grease] and it was a success. next year is my senior year and i hope to pursue SMing in college.

[playjunkie]

I got started with a musical in 10th grade.  I knew I was born to be onstage.  Well, I moved after that to a bigger school with a much smaller drama "club".  We had about three crew members and never an official SM.  So, while I was onstage I would help with sets, costumes, make-up, props, everything.  I can honestly say I have done everything for a play besides lighting and sound..although I could do it if push came to shove.

Well, I heard about a play at the local community college, so I emailed the director (I've known her for a while) and asked her if she had anything open, whether it be onstage or off.  She told me the only things she had left were SM and lighting.

You can see which one I chose.   

Now, I'm trying to decide if when I go back to school I want to keep with my original plan of culinary and opening my own restaurant, or becoming a SM.

I'm thinking of sticking with SM...actually LESS stress, believe it or not.

[RParker2]

So many I've met felt drawn to backstage work after realizing they were either too snarky or too sane to be an actor, or more particularly, to participate in actor warm-ups. 

After acting in a few shows in high school, I realized that I was having far more fun doing backstage work.  Then, when I got older I had senority, so I ended up managing.  With a few shows of experience, other shows just come knocking.  I've done maybe 20 shows now and only asked for one of them, the rest just kind of happened.  People referring one another and what have you.  Honestly, I swore I was quitting theatre to focus on other things a handfull of times before, but jobs always just landed in my lap.  Finally, I gave in. 

[Thespi620]

I started as an actor at age 8 in a musical.  I, like most people I know, was immediately hooked on the world of the theater. 

Years later, in middle school, I was given a role with 3 lines-one in the first scene, 2 in the last-and was also props mistress.  Much to my own chagrin, I really liked the props job, and I was good at it.  My director told me that if I liked this stuff, I was good enough that I could become an SM one day--professionally.  Looking back, this was a huge compliment, but I was offended at the time. 

Sophomore year of HS I took a directing class and directed a one-act.  Junior year I then SM'd the next classes' one-act night, and loved it.  A few more shows on deck crew over the summers, and this year I finally got an ASM spot.  I did that last semester, am doing it again now, and had a meeting with the first cast I'm *really* SMing for last night!

[Bwoodbury]

I did crew my freshman year of high school. Traditionally before me, my high school had 2 sms at a time and a high turnover rate, but they both graduated at the end of my freshman year and no one wanted to do it. The director asked me if I would like to, so I said okay. I was offered the chance to take on a second SM, but I wasn't interested, I guess. Moral of the story, I stage managed every single thing that happened on the stage for the next 3 years, but it wasn't until my senior year that it was even suggested to me that I could go pro. I realized that I couldn't really picture myself doing anything else, so our new director suggested I interview at Tisch, which I did. I got waitlisted and decided that, rather then spending a summer stressing out about it, to go to Maryland. I have done at least one show a semester ever since My favorite thing about my story is that my parents LOVE that this is what I do. They had been pushing me to study theatre since I was 16 and they love to see my work. I have so many friends at school with totally unsupportive parents and I think it's awesome that my economist dad and business degree mom are so into my theatre degree.

[Cedes]

Mine was pretty simple. I did a lot of tech work in high school, but was always more of an actor.  My freshman year here at WSU, I was an actor, and wasn't that happy doing it. I was always interested in SM, and decided to try it my sophmore year. I just stuck with it since then. I love it.  It really is my niche in theatre, persay. 

[SMrose]

When I was young, I used to gather the kids in my apartment complex and direct them in shows (the budding sm/director in me).  I was asked by my high school drama teacher in my junior year--after not getting a role--if I'd like to SM.  I was in love with the job from then on!!!

[maximillionx]

I have been in theatre and performance since I was little but never started taking it seriously as a career choice until freshman year of high school.  I pursued acting and technical production until freshman year of college, when I started to branch out into other areas of tech and management.  I then started to concentrate on tech and management.  From there it's a been a college career, currently over in a few months, full of tech and management jobs.

I have always wanted to be a jack-of-all-trades and know a little bit about everything.  A tech and management concentrate in college was the best way to do that in my opinion.

The short version as to why I got into SMing?  I caught the bug...it's an addicting field to pursue, let's be honest.  Whether it is the control, the pride, the power...we all love it on some level.

When I grauduate, I get to SM and be a part of sound, lighting, scenic production, and costumes...talk about just what I wanted!

[SM19]

I began acting and singing and doing some (and I mean very little) dancing. I joined my local theatre troupe called Kabaret in 2003 where I acted/sang until 2006. In 2007, I acted and did backstage work because our SM didn't know what the hay he was doing. So I did his job and he took credit. When he was kicked out, I took over in 2008 and have been doing it since then. I just finished our 2009 run which went without a hitch (as usual) and have started on 2010 as of last night. I've also dabbled in lighting and sound but will be going into that more in detail with Kabaret next year with the sound guy (Darcey ... yay ) and the lights guy (Randy ... yay! ) just so I can hook everything up and know what is going on. So it did fall into my lap very suddenly as they called me at the beginning of 2008 with the proposition (as I practically ASM'ed the 2007 show). I'm also currently working on the SEars Drama Festival here in Ontario with a show from my school. Hoping to go to school for SM'ing at one point if I can ever get up the courage to leave my wonderful Kabaret

[sasquatch_223]

I've always loved acting and singing (dancing; not so much.  I'm very uncoordinated.), but I never had a chance to be in a production til auditions started for Into the Woods Jr. at my school.  I really wanted the part of the Baker's Wife, and was on the brink of landing the role after a long and tedious audition process.  Finally, though, my director decided I didn't have enough stage presence, and picked somebody else for the part (my friend.  Thinking back, she's a way better Baker's Wife than I could ever be.).  Then he asked me to do some "production assisting," and that's how it started.  The high school I'll be going to next year stages a musical every year, and I'm going to see what it is before making a decision to volunteer to stage manage.  (I'm thinking that if it involves a lot of dance, I'll definitely apply for a tech position.)

[Wandering Ninja]

I think I just feel into theater. Though, I am not sure how it will fit into my life after I graduate. It started with a quarter long theater class in middle school, then a musical in high school. When I got to college, I had to do a project in Humanities and Arts and deiced that theater would be the most enjoyable. My first class had lab hours, so I spent time on set crew. The next term I was house manager until the ASM turn out to be unsuitable. They asked me to replace the ASM which eventually led to to SM for my HU&A project. After that I just stayed with theater and have had a blast doing it.

[crazylady]

I started acting very young. I continued in that path until college. I auditioned for a show, I was cast, but I was also asked if I wanted to be the ASM. I had a small part that only required me be in the 'in between' scenes. I said sure because I just wanted to be involved. BTW, i was not a theatre major in college. I was definately NOT pursuing it as a career. I wanted to be involved because I had ALWAYS been involved in theatre since I was 5 years old and so it was just normal. Of course, anybody could have looked at that and seen it coming - Soooo. I worked a few crew calls, did a couple more shows onstage, and then my junior year, one of my favorite profs was going to direct a play with only women in it and I REALLY wanted to be in it but I knew what the likely hood of actually being cast was...so I approached him and asked to SM for him because I wanted to work with him. He accepted and that is pretty much how it happened. I fell in love with what it was during that production and realized I was meant to be backstage not on stage. Of course the final culmination was deciding that I wanted to pursue it as a career. Man did that go over well with my parents. But, it has turned out great, so thus far, they still have not been able to tell me "I told you so."

[kcarp_04]

I, like OP, fell into stage management. I've always been into theater but I was never really comfortable onstage. I've always doubted my abilities and only felt semi-comfortable with musical theater because I'm a choir nerd and am confident in my singing. I'm currently a freshman in high school and in the fall, I auditioned for A Midsummer Night's Dream. Under the box asking if I'd be interested in stage managing, I said "Sure; if needed." I had no clue what that meant but I wasn't confident I'd get into the show anyway and I thought I'd be happy doing anything. A week later I was devastated to be the stage manager. It felt like "failure" was printed across my forehead. Yes, I used to believe this job was for rejected actors, but I'd never been in a show with cast and crew. I was especially sad because I knew other people had been interested in the position and I didn't even know what it was. A few months later and I was begging to stage manage the next production. I'm now also being trained to take over lighting and sound during Seldom Scene (the club that builds sets, paints, etc...basically the techies).