Messages

1

SMNetwork Archives / Re: Stage managers do make coffee

« on: Nov 07, 2006, 02:13 am »

WOW!

Hey, anybody know who I ought to contact to get permission to add a link on my website to hers? Because what she's put together is fantastic and ought to be spread far and wide.


Whitewater

2

Employment / Re: When Nobody Wants You

« on: Nov 06, 2006, 11:27 pm »

Heh, thanks. You managed to reply without being patronizing or creating even more awkwardness. For the record, I wasn't asking for advice, but again, for the record, I don't turn down advice I'm given Generally there's always something worth listening to! As in this case.

It helps to know that I'm not the only one who's visited this mental place before.

As for whether or not this is right for me. . . I've already decided that theatre is my calling, my life, my Purpose . . . it's just that for some reason right now it's all getting to me.

Thanks for responding, though I wasn't going for responses necessarily either! 


Whitewater

3

Employment / When Nobody Wants You

« on: Nov 06, 2006, 06:29 pm »

(warning, this is a rant. This is mostly rhetorical and comes out of a purely emotional space. You have been warned)


Some days I really hate the fact that I'm NOT in a place where I can go to work every day -- wait. I think I need to define work.

See, I would be happy and fulfilled and finally where I want to be when I'm the resident Stage Manager working under an Equity contract for a professional, largeish (ie, more than 500 seats) house, where I don't have to worry about paying rent every month, where I don't have to choose, like right now, between food and meds, where I have one or two house ASM's that I can count on and work with, where I don't have to be constantly looking for work.

And while I know this dream of mine is not unique to me, because there are a gazillion SM's out there who have the same dream, nevertheless it is MY dream. Might not make it special and I don't know whether or not it's attainable but you know what? Right now I don't think I'm ever going to get a chance to get anywhere even within spitting distance of my dream. So everybody else who has the same dream I do, don't worry. It's still out there for everybody else.

Because I am still trying to make contacts (howcome it's so much easier for actors?) from people who don't remember me even though we worked intimately with each other, and it's really not working. I feel like I'm drowning in a sea on anonymity. Nobody knows me here. It's been 15 years, and directors have no idea who I am, though I've been doing multiple shows every year for those last 15 years.

And since August I've been trying to actively network and make contacts (nothing quite like closing the barn doors after the horses are gone, but hey, better late than never, or so they tell me) and while the potential job pool has opened up quite a bit, the number of rejections has also gone up.

I've been rejected for an avarage of a show a week for the last six weeks. I don't even get to the interview stage anymore. The nicer folks send a letter or an email back saying that for some reason or other they don't want me. Usually it's because the position has already been filled. So now, I'm totally behind the curve and coming out of the gate a lot later than everybody else.

I'm so discouraged right now. And scared, too. I mean, if I can't get a summer job that pays a gas stipend in community theatre in Minneapolis, what the heck kind of chances do I have of *ever* actually working in New York? And sure, there are stages, and steps, and ladders and things. But if I can't get to rung one, how am I going to get to rung 3? Or 7? Or 14? How am I to take the first step when I can't get the experience I need? I really hate vicious cycles. I need experience. I apply for positions. Nobody hires me. Which means no experience. So I apply again. And the cycle continues. And my parents crow about how they knew that my being in the arts for a career was a bad thing and how they are right and I ought to go into being a teacher or some other 'safe' profession, or perhaps a receptionist wouldn't be such a bad life?

*sigh*


I am sick to death of spending money on getting photos to send out with the copies of my resume, of paying postage and taking the time to compose opening letters, of desperately searching want ads and websites and email lists and forums like this one -- all for absolutely nothing. Or worse than nothing, actually . . .some folks don't even bother replying to me.

And now, I have to start to wonder. Is it me? Do people hate me and not want to have me there because they've heard about me through the grapevine that I can't get into? Is there something about me that's personally repulsive?

Sometimes I hate people.

I just want to do my job. I want to be a stage manager in actuality instead of in potentia. I want to utilize my skills. I want to gain experience.

Forget work. I just want a job. And I can't get one! And I'm depressed and frustrated and worried to death about the fact that I can't get one. I'm trying everything I know to get a show and nothing is coming through, so I'm afraid that I'm doomed to do this for the rest of my life. I'm 32. How much longer can I wait to get my career to take off?

And in the meantime I need to do something else to keep a roof over my head and food in my mouth. Which begs the eternal question. How do you manage to do a show as a SM with daytime rehearsals if you have a day job? And right now for me the only jobs open are box officing during the evening, or ushering, or working at our local theatre supplier in their retail store during the day. So how do you do rehearsal at all if you're an usher? Or working at the box office? Or selling makeup? I hate to seem whiny, but dang, how all circumstances do inform against me. How do I break out of this cycle?

If theatre was easy, everybody would do it. But does it really have to be THIS tough?


Whitewater, the frustrated

4

Employment / Re: summer jobs.

« on: Nov 06, 2006, 05:49 pm »

Does your school subscribe to Art Search? That's generally a really good resource for summer stock/rep work.

If not, I suggest looking for regional theatre/summer stock/ summer rep work on your own, via Google. I got a number of good leads when I looked for summer work. Just type in theatre internship summer or a similar search phrase and be prepared to spend a lot of time online

Try the coasts first. Most of the theatres I found that were hiring for summer were hiring either in CA or NY and the surrounding eastern states (Mass, Penn, Maine, Virginia, etc)

You might also want to try backstagejobs.com -- sometimes they have great stuff. Last year I applied for a job in Chicago and they wrote me a letter back saying that if I'd been local they would have *snapped* me up, but because I'm here in Minnesota, well, they didn't want me. So you never know.


Hope that helps!


Whitewater

5

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Red and Yellow and Blue and Green

« on: Nov 06, 2006, 05:23 am »

I worked with a director once (mercifully, I forget the show) who insisted on different colors for each piece of set that moved. There were a lot of set pieces that moved. We wound up using red/yellow/green/blue/brown/pink/orange/purple/white/glow and neon of all of the above. Yikes!


Now I generally go with one color per set change and make a rough sketch/map to refer to if necessary.


Whitewater

6

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Out On Tour

« on: Oct 23, 2006, 01:21 am »

Heh, actually,  I live in Minnesota, about two hours SE of Fargo. So I know about winter here. And I know what happened to me getting caught out in a blizzard and having to spend the night in a church sleeping on the floor in their pre-school classroom under donated blankets that were supposed to go to Russian orphans . . . because I (along with my friends) were stranded miles and miles from home. Call me paranoid, but there it is. I'd rather not become another statistic.

And anyhow --

Even *more* research, most of which I'm not interested in sharing in public, strongly suggests that this position is not for me.  The theatre has a website and the website is pretty candid -- more candid than the ad.

Basically, it's a rural community theatre going out to schools to bring theatre to even more far-flung rural schools. This is their first year of this brand new program. Naturally, they're all excited about it. Me, I know this isn't the position for me. Particularly after reading the above post! I am not *that* organized And I'm sure I'd forget something vital, or something.

Nah, I'll stick to one show at a time that doesn't move around, for now Thanks for all the info!


Whitewater

7

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Out On Tour

« on: Oct 22, 2006, 02:27 am »

Nope, sorry, my name is Whitewater, as in, white water rapids.

Oz?


Whitewater

8

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Out On Tour

« on: Oct 21, 2006, 03:52 pm »

Thanks for all the info Ruth, you're right, since it's non-union it might be better. On the other had, further research on my own doesn't paint a picture that I'm particularly interested in. This, you see, is a school tour, in winter, around the Dakotas and Minnesota. I think if I'm going to go on tour for the first time, I want to do it when the possibility of death by winter is a lot less. You may think I'm exaggerating, but winter in the Dakotas is nothing to laugh at. I don't want to deal with alternate routes, sheltering under an overpass during a blizzard, getting lost in a snowstorm, etc etc.

Not to mention having to drive in it . . . . I think, this time, it's going to be thanks, but no thanks. Particularly what I know about sound teching can fit in a teaspoon.

Whitewater

9

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Out On Tour

« on: Oct 21, 2006, 12:15 am »

Thanks for all the information . . .

I know I'm not ready to join Equity yet, but now that answer re the TYA contract brings up a HUGE question.

The ad says, non-union. How can the position be non-union if they also say that it's a TYA contract? I don't understand. Here's the text of the ad. in question . . .

Whitewater

Job location: Tour
City, State, Country: Fargo, ND   USA

Producer: Northern Prairie Performing Arts
Name of production: 3 productions in Rep on tour
Type of production: Play/ Musical 

Position(s) available:  SM/Road Manager

Union membership required: Not applicable
Contract in use: TYA

Remuneration: Salary
Salary: $1500 per Month

Other perquisites:
  Housing provided
  Per diem: 25
 
Dates-
  Job starts: January 03, 2007
  Rehearsals start: January 03, 2007
  Performance starts: February 20, 2007
  Performance ends: May 31, 2007

Please send: Cover letter, Resume, References

Production details: The Northern Prairie Performing Arts Touring Company, based in Fargo North Dakota, announces the call for a Stage Manger/Road Manager for the 2006-2007 Touring Season. This season will consist of three productions, the musical Schoolhouse Rock Live!, and dramas; Goodbye Marianne and The Orphan Train. 4 actors will be cast in this year’s tour.

Job requirements: The Stage Manager/Road Manager will be responsible for the Touring Company as the Stage Manager during all performances and rehearsals. They will run the show both as the stage manager and as the Sound Technician during each performance. They will be in charge of all load-in load-outs while on tour. The Stage Manager will also serve as the Road Manager during the tour. These duties include scheduling departure times each morning and evening while out on tour, paying for and being responsible for all hotel rooms and per diem on the company credit card. Planning and executing all stops and travel logistics once out on tour.

Job responsibilities: If you are hired as the Stage Manager/ Road Manage for the company, you will report to work at the Fargo-Moorhead Community Theatre in Fargo ND, on January 3rd and will be contracted through the 31st of May. The pay for the touring company is $1,500 a month totaling $7,500 for the 5 month tour. Housing will be covered while on the road, however a temporary residence in the FM area will not be covered. We also do provide a $10 per meal per-diem while on the road, if gone for three meals in a day the total is $25 per day. Please your Resume and Cover Letter along with three References to (names deleted)

10

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / TOURS: Out On Tour

« on: Oct 20, 2006, 02:36 pm »

Sooooo . . .

Anybody here ever gone out on tour as a SM/Road Manager? Reason I'm asking is because there's an opp. to do just that near where I live and I was considering it. . . until I realized that I've never *been* on tour and don't want to just jump right in without learning as much as I can -- I don't want to drown!

What's it like? What's it *really* like? Tell stories! Share the good, the bad, the ugly :> I want to know all the lurid details about what can happen on tour. How much previous experience does one need to tour successfully? What was it like your first time? Is it easier or harder if the tour is more than one show? What about size of the cast? Does that make a difference?

And . . . what about the nitty gritty stuff? How to pack? What to pack? What to bring? What *not* to bring? Do you need a passport? Will you be driving? Or does the company provide transportation, generally? What about housing? And of course, the big question -- what changes between Equity and Non-Equity tours? What are the questions to ask in the interview?

Heh, as you can see, I *am* brand new. Have a lot of q's. Hopefully somebody (maybe lots of somebodys) here will take pity and answer

edited to add: Oh, and what's a 'TYA' tour? Job description says, TYA contract. Never heard of it. Help?

Thanks!

Whitewater

11

Employment / Re: Websites

« on: Oct 10, 2006, 12:08 am »

Website is up and running! The usual caveat(s) apply about a good webpage always being under construction.

Feedback is always appreciated.


www.mybackstagelife.net


Whitewater

12

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Noises Off

« on: Sep 25, 2006, 11:34 pm »

Box! Box!

Bag, bag!

Totally not relevant to hints and tips for SMing Noises Off, but I have to say, that for *years* I worked as ASM for my best friend (who was the SM) until she went back to school for her MA, and now, her PhD. And every time we got into props trouble, out would come the Noises Off routine. Ah, those were the days.

And I have it on DVD and watch it a lot after a bad rehearsal -- it's comforting to know that no matter how bad my day might have been, there's somebody out there who's got it worse! The cast of Nothing On .. .


Whitewater

13

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: What do you want to tell Actors???

« on: Sep 25, 2006, 11:20 pm »

"If you break a prop, that's cool. Things happen. But if you break a prop, TELL ME ABOUT IT ASAP. See, I can't fix it if I don't know it's broken. Feel guilty all you want, but assuage that guilty conscience by helping to solve the problem."

This after a vital prop was discovered shoved down behind the prop cabinet, and it had obviously been broken before being hidden. The actors who had to use it -- and who had nothing to do with breaking it-- had to go on with a hastily rigged substitute. Not pretty.

Oh, and to others using the space when we aren't there . . .. 

DO NOT TOUCH OUR STUFF. I DON'T CARE HOW WIERD IT LOOKS OR HOW PERFECT IT WOULD BE FOR YOUR OWN THING. OUR STUFF IS NOT YOUR STUFF. LEAVE IT ALONE!!!!!!!

I've had more costume accessories stolen out of rented spaces -- *sigh* I know it looks pretty, but it's *ours*. Go get some Victorian hats of your own, if you really must. *grrrrrr* Or worse, I'd spent two weeks getting the (explitive deleted) director to approve the fabric for a 'death shroud' (see, this thing was a prop because it couldn't be see-through or that would ruin the plot, but the actors had to be able to see through it, and it had to be a prescribed size. . .. the costumer took one look at what was required and went 'That's a prop!!!') and when I'd *finally* gotten the death shroud approved at $18/yard of fabric, the  . .. . ..  church ladies went and -took- it on preview night for their own arcane and mysterious purposes. We never found it and had to cobble up a substitute that really didn't work for anything and looked like what it was, a shoddy piece of black something-or-other.

Respect the props!


Whitewater

14

Employment / Re: Websites

« on: Sep 25, 2006, 10:51 pm »

I have a website as a totally passive way to get my presence out there. I put it on my business cards and my resume and frankly, it's there (as a poster above stated) to attempt to impress those who might hire me. I figure it's also a way of cheap advertising. The website itself does little for me otherwise -- although that could be because its prior incarnation *sucked* and was really difficult to find AND was jumbled in with pictures of pets and fanfiction and various other things. Yeah. Professional? NOT!!!  I was totally shooting myself in the foot even if somebody *did* come along to look

Nobody's ever called me and said 'Hey, I saw your website online! I want to hire you!' but every once in a great while somebody will say, 'Oh, you have a website? Cool, what is it?'.

However, this time around I hope to be more organized and to have a separate page for separate stuff instead of lumping it all together. I'd like to have a separate page for each show that I have photos/reviews etc for, but I haven't got enough of that stuff So I think I might group by catagory rather than by production.

I use 2mhost.com -- cheap ($2/month and $8/year for my domain name) --, with excellent uptime. I have another site with them for my paranormal hobby and it's NEVER gone down. I always get my email (they provide free email forwarding  . . . if you wanted an email address to appear on your website like, admin@I'mAStageManager.com you could set it up to forward to your home address, pookiebear@hotmail.com, or whatever, for free. That keeps your personal email address off the Net and keeps spam down, not to mention retaining your professionalism.), they have decent tech support, and they have all kinds of emails. It's up to you to learn HTML code, but honestly, that's not hard. There's plenty of tutorials online --and if you don't want to code yourself, 2mhost provides a thing so it will do it for you.

At the moment my new stage manager website isn't up yet because I just paid 2mhost today ($31 for a whole year . . . a decent investment, I figure) and sometimes it can take a while for them to set up stuff on their end -- two to six hours, they say on their website, but I've found it's more like 12 to 24 hours -- so that I can upload to their server and such, but in theory it should be up and with enough stuff to keep folks' interest by Halloween. I hope to have the basic skeleton of the site up in two weeks. Since I do all the HTML myself, and am a college student, and work my local RenFest now, there's not a lot of time to futz with a website.

I put most of my energies into doing the best job that I can for the company that hires me, networking for new leads on new shows, and actively looking for work, when I'm not in school or on a date with my special somebody. The website is important, but a tiny percentage of the overall self-advertisement thing.

Whitewater (Is this my first post? I think so!)