Messages

1

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Tech Questions

« on: May 02, 2008, 06:43 pm »

Let me clarify.  I don't have a problem with her giving notes and continuing to work during the tech process, particularly if - like you've said - we're working on something else, like lighting, at the time.  My question is do you let the director call holds at their discretion, or do you have all holds go through you as the SM?  For instance, if she wants to work a piece of blocking but I'm in the middle of running a complicated sequence of cues, I could make the decision to finish the sequence before calling a hold and letting her address the blocking.  This is the way I've always done it in the past, but a recent director I worked with really had a problem with it, so I was wondering if there was some standard operating procedure about holds during a tech that I don't know about.    

2

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / TECH: Tech Questions

« on: May 02, 2008, 02:53 pm »

I'm looking for advice about where to run a technical rehearsal from.  I've always run my techs from the house or some equivalent location where I could easily confer with the director and designers, but at my new theatre their SMs usually run techs from the booth.  I'm worried I'll feel very cut-off being essentially in a different room from the rest of the production team, but I know a lot of stage managers prefer to run techs from the location they'll be calling in.  Why do you prefer one location to another, and does anyone have any advice for making a tech rehearsal from the booth run as smoothly as possible?

Also, I was always taught that, unless there was some imminent danger, only the stage manager should be calling holds to reduce confusion and maximize limited tech time.  I have a control-freak director who I'm worried will seriously derail the single afternoon (!!) that we have to tech our show with minor notes about acting, blocking, etc.  Am I within my rights to ask that all non-emergency holds go through me, or was I taught wrongly about that?  

Thanks!