Author Topic: BEST ADVICE YOU CAN GIVE  (Read 8984 times)

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loebtmc

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Re: BEST ADVICE YOU CAN GIVE
« Reply #15 on: Sep 28, 2010, 12:26 pm »
the two standards

"it's not brain surgery"

and (to quote Charles Nelson Reilly) "It's only a little show..."

both to remind us that, while what we do is important, most of the time it's not life-and-death, eh?

PSMKay

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Re: BEST ADVICE YOU CAN GIVE
« Reply #16 on: Sep 28, 2010, 02:43 pm »
My current personal favorite:

If your choices do not dignify you, then you must dignify your choices.

babens

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Re: BEST ADVICE YOU CAN GIVE
« Reply #17 on: Sep 28, 2010, 04:09 pm »
A wonderful saying I got from the former director of production at the Lyric Opera of Kansas City:

"It's ok, no babies died!"

Serves as a great reminder to not beat yourself up over minor mistakes.

ScooterSM

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Re: BEST ADVICE YOU CAN GIVE
« Reply #18 on: Sep 28, 2010, 08:33 pm »
Another one I have been finding particularly relevant lately?  "Try not to suck..."
“I've never been paid a lot, but the theatre has kept me, and for that I shall be eternally grateful.” Tony Church

cschott

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Re: BEST ADVICE YOU CAN GIVE
« Reply #19 on: Sep 28, 2010, 09:30 pm »
The one I've been repeating to myself over the past several years of SMing at an opera company which has a total of 3 onstage rehearsals before opening (one 4-hour tech, one 3- to 3.5-hour orchestra rehearsal, one 3-hour final dress):

"The show will open on Saturday."

And at the end of the opening night show, it's usually "Well, that was a great final dress for me."

Not really advice, but as others have said, it's not really life-or-death at most points, so time will march on and we'll make the mistakes we make.

Thespi620

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Re: BEST ADVICE YOU CAN GIVE
« Reply #20 on: Sep 28, 2010, 11:07 pm »
Another one I have been finding particularly relevant lately?  "Try not to suck..."

Oddly enough, the one my director keeps using right now is "dare to suck." 
[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. 
-J. Michael Gillette

lauria

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Re: BEST ADVICE YOU CAN GIVE
« Reply #21 on: Sep 28, 2010, 11:47 pm »
"The single biggest problem with communication is the illusion that is has taken place." - George Bernard Shaw

As stage managers, so much of our jobs is communicating information to others. I've found that so many people do not take time to read the carefully crafted reports the SM team spends time on creating. And that a face-to-face conversation is often the only way of knowing that someone has received information. And that even that fails. Sometimes, you just have to roll with it and keep plugging along.

 

riotous