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SMNetwork Archives / A question of loyalty

« on: Oct 24, 2005, 12:26 am »

I had a similar experience at a summer theatre that I had worked at for 3 years.  In this case, I had an Equity assistant, but there was no Company Manager, no Production Manager, no Props person, no run crew [aside from a staff member's teenage son]...you get the idea.  I went directly to the Artistic Director and explained that I would not let the ball drop on the current productions, but that these staff positions were essential not only to the happiness, health, and sanity of her staff, but to the ultimate success of the show and the company - after all, the time I spent away from SM duties in order to fill all these other roles was time away from doing the job she hired me to do in the first place.   Now she is looking to hire an assistant to the technical director, who would be responsible for props [the theatre is so small there really isn't enough build work to occupy 2 people's time] and a stage management intern to pick up some of the extra load.
I hope Equity reps and producers get the message - I was lucky to work for such a stand-up company, but there are a lot of less accomodating producers out there.