Messages

1

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Diary Of Anne Frank no shoes

« on: Dec 21, 2017, 03:35 pm »

I agree with bex.  Unless there is a strong reason not to have barefoot actors, then you just make the deck safe for bare feet. 

Other options...  you could do nude colored ballet slippers under the stockings.  They would provide a little bit of protection to the sole of the foot while still providing natural movements in the ankle joint and arch.  Unless the audience is VERY close I doubt they could tell the difference, since feet look weird anyway.

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Stage Management: Other / Re: Paging Calls in Opera

« on: May 24, 2017, 07:18 pm »

For me, its just the performer name and just to the stage, not to the side of the stage (Mr./Ms. Smith to stage please).  For coro/supers, its usually just paging the group to the stage, as choruses in opera tend to follow the same track, or its broken into male/female/childrens coro.  If, for instance, one member (or a small group) of coro or supers appears separately from the rest of the group, I would call them by name.  As an ASM, around the 2 minute to entrance mark, if the performers I need are not present I ask for a re-page, and then as the stage manager, I would probably include the side of the stage in my re-page, and if it were specific coro or supers missing, they would get a page by name if possible.

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Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Informing auditioners they have been cast

« on: Apr 27, 2017, 11:03 am »

I feel like in the age of technology we now live in, you shouldn't have to spend 3 days making phone calls.  I worked for a rather large community theatre for a couple of years, and they always just posted the cast list, in both a physical location and on their website and never had any issues with this process.  The process was also made very clear during auditions though about when callback/cast lists would be posted and where to look for them.  If you're the one doing this for every show or at least a good portion of them, then I would definitely be proactive about finding a more efficient and effective way.

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Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: 'Music director calling tracks vs SM calling tracks' Question

« on: Mar 31, 2017, 12:01 pm »

I don't know if you would be able to cite much as "industry standard" for this because "industry standard" would be for the music to be played live.  That being said, I know there are a lot of "track" shows available from licensing agents, especially for youth theatre, and I've seen those shows cued both ways.  So I think you're best off letting the musical director fire the cues as QLab is his orchestra for this production.  Fighting it is only going to cause tension between the two of you.  If you need to coordinate your cues with the downbeat of a number, then figure out a system to do so, much as you would if he were in the pit or at a piano.

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Introductions / Re: Hello from sunny Miami, Florida :)

« on: Mar 14, 2017, 09:39 am »

I'm in Miami as well.  Not always my favorite place to be, but the lack of winter weather sure is nice!

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Articles from the Old Site / Re: A Midsummer Night's Explosion

« on: Jan 06, 2017, 04:02 pm »

A)  The original post is approaching 10 years old.
B)  I wouldn't expect it to be a high school students job to assess fire hazards.
C)  I wouldn't expect high school ASM's to be well trained.

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Self-Promotion / Re: On Headset: The Stage Management Podcast

« on: Feb 05, 2016, 10:41 pm »

Just downloaded the first episode.  Looking forward to listening!

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Stage Management: Other / Re: Recording of Carmen with sung recits

« on: Oct 04, 2015, 05:09 pm »

Have you thought about one of the Met's on demand video or audio recordings?  I have to assume those would be complete recordings.

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Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: PROMPT SCRIPT: Assistant Stage Manager Paperwork

« on: Sep 18, 2015, 03:53 pm »

When I ASM, I sort of have a hierarchy of what is important for me to have/do.  Entrances/Exits are crucial so I can take care of prop and costume tracking.  Blocking is usually less crucial for me to have in my book.  I do need to know blocking that affects furniture and props so that I can set for the top or middle of a scene, however, if I don't get every cross written down, it's not the end of the world IMO.  The blocking I record as an ASM is more about knowing the area the scene is played in than about being able to recreate every movement.

10

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Student Stage Manager Challenge #20: The wrong show

« on: Sep 15, 2015, 12:19 am »

In the instance of the pianist I would have had a stage hand or someone step out there with the sheet music. The pianist is a professional, and probably would have seen the music before. She could have sight read it a little bit to prevent disaster. It feels as though this may not have been great judgment on the behalf of the deck crew there if there was additional music available.

From an SM's vantage point, it's actually very likely you would have no idea anything was wrong in this situation.  Many concert halls have no video monitors so you may not be able to see the stage (especially the look on her face).  You also really have no communication with the Maestro either.  Then of course if you did realize what was happening, you probably wouldn't have any music to take out to her.  Of course if you could track down the librarian and get a copy of the piano music, then you would still have no where to put it as the desk has been removed from the piano and placing it inside the piano could distort the sound.  If I were in this situation and knew what was happening, I would attempt to get my hands on music and have the piano desk ready, but ultimately would wait for the Maestro to stop the piece and decide that we needed to start over with the music.  Going out on stage and giving the pianist music in the middle of the piece would be considered rude and unprofessional and would be way out of bounds for an orchestral stage manager.  It's a very different kind of work than SMing theatre.

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The Green Room / Re: Short Rant: Why Can't You Number things Consistently in Your Script?!

« on: Mar 08, 2014, 01:56 pm »

I could rant and rave for days about materials you receive from musical theatre companies, but look at it from their perspective.  You want to (legally) do the Wizard of Oz, then you have no choice but to rent the material from tams-witmark music library.  So if there is no competition, why should they spend the time and money cleaning up or redoing the materials they license.  All of the rental companies are bad about this to some extent, but tams is probably the worst.  They however pretty much own the market on classic musicals, so as long as people continue to want to produce these shows, why should they change?

12

The Green Room / Re: Sleeping in your theatre

« on: Mar 12, 2013, 01:51 pm »

In undergrad our office had a pretty comfy couch that I would nap on throughout the day.  The office was small and only had one public computer, so it was mostly used for storage and naps. Now in grad school there are no great places to nap.  I'm told the "diva" dressing rooms have napping potential, but I have yet to explore them.

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Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: ESCRIPTS: Post your requests for electronic scripts here!

« on: Jul 12, 2012, 08:56 am »

Hi There.  I'm looking for any or all of the following:

44 Plays for 44 Presidents by Bayiates, Benjamin, Gallo, Johnston, and Weinberg
Dracula by Liz Lochhead
No Child by Nilaja Sun
Spring Awakening Book by Steven Sater and music by Duncan Sheik from Frank Wedekind
My Fair Lady by Lehrner and Loewe
The Beggars Opera

Any format would be fine.  I don't know what shows I am working on yet, but while I have some free time, I'd like to get a chance to read them in advance.

If you have any of these, please send me a PM so I can give you my email address.

THANKS!

14

The Green Room / Re: SM: WORST THINGS

« on: Apr 18, 2012, 11:48 am »

It is one of the worst things... Even worse though is when people don't punch the holes properly...

I have mild OCD - and holepunching in the center is one of my compulsions... I spent 2 hours at work one day re-punching documents that my boss had filed for me whilst I was on a 2 week training course...

This is one of my pet peeves too.  I let a PA hole punch a script for me once....  never again.

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Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Suggestions on theatrical resumes

« on: Mar 30, 2012, 10:29 am »

Resumes have been discussed a lot on these forums.  Here are a few links to posts about resumes.  I would start there, and then if you have more specific questions, feel free to ask them.

http://smnetwork.org/forum/employment/resume-format/

http://smnetwork.org/forum/students-and-novice-stage-managers/resumes/

http://smnetwork.org/forum/students-and-novice-stage-managers/resumes-resumes-format-on-the-computer/