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Messages - SMJon

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The Hardline / Re: Copyright laws
« on: Aug 20, 2006, 10:48 am »
I don't know what MTI says but I do know that most Broadway shows are archived for Lincoln Center and can be shown to scholars and those doing research as long as you can prove that you have a significant academic reason to view the material.  Some regional theatres do the same and I know DC has the Washington Video Archives or some title like that which houses many archival tapings of shows in the region and can be accessed for scholarly reasons. 

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Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Extra Info In Script
« on: Jul 26, 2006, 10:34 am »
It depends on the directorial decision.  If the director is doing everything in the script including all blocking noted, then it is wise to keep it all.  I am with Mac on this one.  I keep my blocking script exactly as the actor's scripts are so pages are easy and I know where they are at all times and am seeing what they are seeing.  But the call script is different and cleaner getting rid of extraneous material. 

Right now I am working on Waiting for Godot and the Beckett Estate is very keen on making sure people do exactly what is in the script.  You can be sued for changing the stage directions of Beckett and it has happened.  So with this one we are doing every word that is in the  authorized edition.  I won't need to retype or remove anything so my call and blocking script will look the same. 

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Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: The Ultimate Decision
« on: Jul 07, 2006, 03:24 pm »
It started when the theatre department at college needed a Stage Manager for a production.  Nobody else wanted to do it so I volunteered.  I actually didn't want to be SM because of all of the stories I had heard and seen from years of acting about the workload of the Stage Manager.  So I became ASM and one of my friends took the SM position.  Well, she ended up being a very bad stage manager and to keep the peace and the show going, I actually ended up doing much of the SM work that she forgot or just passed off.  I bought every single book about stage managing and read all sorts of guides.  By the end of it, I had become one of the department's most knowledgable stage managers and was offered to SM more productions in the next year.  And well, now here I am seeking a career in the field.  So a singer/actor turned Stage Manager is my bottom line story.  Although I do enjoy acting/singing and still do it (sometimes on the professional level), I will always be a Stage Manager at heart.  I even started to organize my life as if it was a play or musical.  And I find that it actually made my life easier to handle.  So I guess stage management is a life skill. 

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Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Left or Right
« on: Jun 29, 2006, 06:49 pm »
I write all blocking and cues on the Right hand side of the script.  It just catches my eyes better when it is away from the rings of the binder.  I use a different script with only cues for the actual shows.  I do use the line method where I circle the exact moment the designer/director wants the cue and draw a straight line to the margin on the right where the cue number and label are written. 

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MC, like I said I do mostly work within my school setting (although I do small professional shows here and there, non-union of course).  But my problem is that it is not required to be a technical or even theatre major to work on a show.  The open to everyone policy of 90% of our theatre shows.  So basically I get people who want to do something and the only thing they can really understand about the theatre is to plug in a strobe light when I say strobe Go.  They really don't know how to read a run sheet or follow scripts.  And they get totally confused if I start using unspecific cues.  I pretty much in some cases need to call their name for them to understand what I mean.  I had a person once who didn't really understand theatre at all but wanted to do something.  I don't blame him for not knowing theatre and I applaud him for coming out and trying (maybe we can interest him in taking up theatre).  But his job was to open and close the Grand Drape (Grand Curtain, Act Curtain whatever you want to call it).  Well I had to give him a call like this "NAME, Stand-by to close  the Grand Drape"  And then I would HAVE to get a response because I didn't know what was happening backstage or if he was even listening.  Then he would reply and then I would give him "Close/Open Grand Dape GO"  Of course he would forget to wait for the GO but the curtain takes a little time to close so it all worked out. 

I usually do call the OUT cues as well.  Most of my technical staff knows to wait for the G-O word.  They are briefed on it numerous times.  And I do pause between the verb/call and the GO almost always unless it is a very fast sequence so they are used to not acting until the GO is called.  kjdiehl, I also write what I am going to say in my prompt book so I remember exactly what my operator needs to hear. 

As for rail cues, we do not send anything in by rails or traps or anything like that.  Our automated fly system is the only way we get things on and off.  We also have about 5-6 feet of wing space so things usually do not come from the sides.  Things come from above and behind.  Unit sets are out friends.  But we can and do fly screens, drops, and even thin 3-D set pieces in from the flys.  So to avoid confusion (and because most people wouldn't know what rail ment) I say Fly. 

If I had a crew that would be self sufficient, then using simpler and shorter cues and departments would be great.  It would save me a lot of breath and my voice.  But I feel like an air traffic controller guiding a jumbo jet into the airport with heavy heavy fog and 0 visibility.  Basically I am the only real SM here that knows what I am doing.  Hence, I SM most of the shows.  And I need to guide everyone by taking baby steps.  But we have a totally different crew for each show so it is a blank slate every time.  If I had crew who were used to doing their one job all the time, it would be much quicker to explain and execute things.  I have never had a true light board operator who has done it a hundred times or a deck crew head who has been a deck crew head before.  It is just the luck of who needs tech work to graduate and who wants to do something but can't be onstage.  And don't get me started with actors who are doing tech because they didn't get cast but need involvement.

6
I use "Lights" as well.  Most of the crew has a running sheet with their job assigned and where it is in the script so that they can be ready for their job.  Usually (we have pretty well staffed productions) each person has a single job.  One guy does all fog effects, one person runs the drops, one person shoots off the gun effects if we need to use live firearm sounds, one person runs mics, one runs the sound effects, one runs the lights and each spot operator has his own one spot.  That avoids anybody having to listen for multiple department cues.  In essence, the flyman does not have to worry about Fog or pyro effects at all.  This way I call what it is.  In one show I called, we had a strobe light that was not hooked up to the light board.  Someone stood by a backstage electrical outlet and plugged it in to turn it on.  So I didn't worry that it was a light or a special effect, I just said "Strobe GO" and thus went the strobe.  And to turn it off I said "Strobe Out..Go" and it went away.  This way the light board operator didn't have to worry about anything to do with that effect.  In that same show, we had a special effect patched into Submaster One of the lightboard but it was not a programmed cue.  On my call the lightboard operator would just tap the flash button on the submaster making the instrument flash.  So there were no cues around it I called Submaster One...Go" and the light board op knew what she had to do.  Basically I do what it easiest for everyone to understand and so that nobody is lost on what to do.

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Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Noises Off
« on: Jun 26, 2006, 10:21 am »
I served as an ASM on a production of "Noises Off."  Of course I had to oversee the costume and props people backstage.  I agree with whoever said to start on your props plots and lists yesterday.  By the end of the show you won't know whether sardines are coming or going.  Act II is a beautiful wordless backstage ballet.  It is a nightmare to choreograph so that the actors are safe but it looks awesome when done right.  Again, the props will drive you nuts.  They have to be exactly placed so that people can grab then in a second and run out on stage.  It is a challenge to put together but it is great once it is finished and you just sit and watch the actors go. 

8
SMNetwork Archives / Re: Calendar Programs?
« on: Jun 17, 2006, 01:00 am »
I organize my life on Outlook and it does sync well with my Palm device but I prefer to hand out paper copies and have several paper copies rather than all electronic.  I post the calendars on my Virtual Callboard which is a yahoo group that allow cast, crew, and staff to be members in.  But I make sure every single person has a paper copy and I have enough to give them another copy.  Internet sometimes goes down, power goes out, people's computers can't access the internet and other problems happen frequently.  And the I get calls saying "My internet is down and I don't know when rehearsal is."  Paper copies are a great way to make sure everyone has a schedule in their hands at first rehearsal so that the responsibility for a missed rehearsal or call falls soley on the actor.  No excuses for down internet because you had a paper copy given to you first thing.  At least that is what I find works best.  Like I said, I do provide an online source for my calendar regardless of what format it is in, so that those computer savy actors can access, download and sync with their calendar programs easier.  I mean I use my Palm Pilot to take notes, write forms, and manage my life at rehearsals so if others want to I will certainly provide them with electronic versions.  But I always have one or two people who don't know anything besides on and off with a computer so paper it is. 

9
I always put one page per 8 1/2 x 11 seet of paper.  Some books (Dramatist Play Service and Samuel French) pages can fit two landscape oriented across one letter page.  But then the prompt script is all cockeyed and such.  I keep it portrait oriented and cut and recopy with a slight enlargement so that the text fills the page except for margins.  It is much easier to read if it is enlarged.  DPS and SF scripts tend to be very very small text for calling.  In the blue light with contact lenses I tend to blow everything up.  It is amazing that I am 20 and need to blow things up already but these contacts always focus funny in the blue backstage light with small text.  To be safe I always to it that way.  And copies are free at the theatre so I figure it takes less of my own money to copy rather than scan and use my printer.

10
One of the problems I find with tabs/arrows/post it things is that they tend to fall off if you use your book heavily.  Over a long run (like 6 weeks) you tend to lose one or more tabs.  Those sticky things do not stick forever.  Plus with the script being used and pages being turned they may rip or get pulled off.  I use the good ole pencil and ruler method because then I know that my cue will be there next time and it didn't fall off.  Also you can circle/highlight a specific word or even syllable (yes, some people get so anal that they want you to call LQ 45 on the final "t" of the word or something like that).  
 
If the show is locked in (the cues are set and the designers have gone home for rest of the production run) sometimes (depending on the length of the script) I will put pages in protectors so that pencil doesn't smear or smudge.  I am a stickler for clean crisp pages and writing.  Too many times I see SM books with marks and writing and little notes that are completely pointless and just extra stuff to distract.  I once had a show with 5 lighting cues.  That's right only 5 and my call script had ...5 things in it.  That is it.

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Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Creating a call script
« on: May 28, 2006, 07:32 pm »
I find that paper and pencil are very useful.  Not all scripts are available in electronic format and page numbers are always different if you type a script into the computer.  So for adaptability I usually use pencil and paper.  Plus, I cannot afford to waste paper to print a new script every time the lighting designer decides to change a light cue.

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