Messages

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

« on: Dec 04, 2011, 01:04 pm »

looking for Guys and Dolls. Preferably something with both the vocal score for songs and spoken lines

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Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: When to take the blame

« on: May 03, 2010, 08:51 pm »

thanks for the help, everyone

quick update:

i've worked things out with the director, apologized for the disagreement, and it looks like everything is all patched up. He told me that he's excited to work with me again, so it looks like everything turned out ok.

I really appreciate the help, thanks! I'm glad to know how to handle this situation now. After looking at these responses, I  realize that getting defensive is never going to solve anything. I still think it wasn't my fault, but that doesn't really matter 2 months later, does it?

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Tools of the Trade / Re: iPad: What do you think?

« on: Apr 04, 2010, 11:22 am »

I got my hands on one for the first time yesterday at my local apple store. I was pretty much immediately convinced that an iPad could seriously help any stage manager.

pros:

size: small enough to carry pretty much anywhere, perfect size for checklists, taking notes, checking email on the go

applications: email, pages, notes, you name it. All perfect for writing down a quick note when you're away from the tech table. It's really easy to type on this thing, especially for those with iphone/ ipod touch experience

All of your information in one place. It's about as close to having hand written notes and typed information all together as you can get. I can't see a need for a pad of paper if you have one of these

this things just feels awesome. There's no way to describe the feel unless you've held it in your hands, but anyone who has knows what I mean

cons:

no multitasking. this means you can't type up a rehearsal report while streaming Pandora, and that to check email you have to quit your currently running application.

Price: the cheaper one (relatively speaking) doesn't do as much as I would like. The higher memory and 3G capable one is really expensive. Luckily, if you are willing to sacrifice a little memory or 3G it's probably a reasonable purchase considering how close it is to a laptop

As soon as I won't hate myself for spending all my money on this thing, I'm getting one. Part of that is just my obsession with new Apple products, but I feel that besides the price, the iPad is an amazing tool (and toy)

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Students and Novice Stage Managers / When to take the blame

« on: Feb 21, 2010, 07:51 pm »

The show is The Pirates of Penzance. We're surprisingly ahead of schedule in terms of the performers, but the tech is behind.

We have these two large bones that form a skull and crossbones shape during the overture, and them get placed on the downstage corners of the apron and live there for the rest of the show. As the carpenters have fallen a little behind, the brackets to prevent the bones from falling have not been built yet, and the bones just stand up by themselves.

Today we were finishing the Act I finale. Before calling the curtain standby, I asked my ASM who can see directly across the proscenium if the curtain would be clear of one of the bones, and whether it would be alright to close the curtain at the end of the act. She told me "yes", and I called the curtain close cue. Almost immediately, the bone fell and broke, narrowly missing a few actors.

The director was understandably angry. As I expected, that anger was mostly directed at me. I spoke to him afterward to tell him exactly what happened, but that didn't seem to make him any less angry with me. I understand that making sure that never happens, as well as ensuring the safety of the cast and crew, is my responsibility. However, in order for this mistake to have been made, the stage hands who placed the unit would have to have seriously missed their spike. The ASM also either lied to me directly or didn't know what I was talking about. Either way, simply saying "yes" was wrong

Although i told him I accept that the responsibility is ultimately mine, and told him it wouldn't happen again. Then I let him know about the other mistakes that contributed to this, and he still said it was up to me not to call that cue, and the blame was on me.

My question is, when should I have just accepted the blame, regardless of how much was actually my fault? There is a point when we should just say "ok, my bad, let's move on", and I know that's what the director expected, but that's not what I did, which only seemed to make matters worse.  I'm also curious in general how often people just say "my bad" when it's actually not.

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Tools of the Trade / Re: An iphone app specifically for SMs!

« on: Jan 30, 2010, 03:11 pm »

I just downloaded it on my iphone. It seems like a good tool, but that it would be hard for anyone to start using the app as opposed their laptop or simple paper and pencil. It looks like it takes too long to input simple information.

For example, it has a section to track spike marks. It would be useful, but to use it you have to enter Act, scene,  spike color and notes every time. I find it easier just to have a piece of paper specifically for spike marks, and I then type it up later. I would hate to have to hold rehearsal or catch up later just because I couldn't enter the information quickly enough on my iphone.

You also can't send information from your computer to this app, so you would still need your computer and binder to access rehearsal reports, notes, etc. Same problem applies to the props list section, as it would have to be separately typed into the app. However, information can be sent from the app to someone's regular email. I guess that means this could be a useful tool during rehearsal assuming the information can be easily sent to one's computer after each rehearsal or performance.

The checklist section seems useful. I would love to eventually leave my clipboard behind and just use my phone to do a pre-show checklist. One would still have to type all of it up directly to their phone as there is no syncing function.

I like the show timer function. It looks like the regular timer that comes standard with the iphone and ipod touch, but it stores the information directly below the timer. You can label the times with Act, scene, or whatever you need to time. This would make performance reports easier, but not so much that most people would want to change their routines.

I need to use it more to decide if I like it or not. There is definitely some room for improvement. It costs $4.99 on the App Store, so it's a little expensive, but I recommend buying it just to see if it would make anything easier for your specific routine. I'm interested in seeing how people use this app.

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Students and Novice Stage Managers / Blocking using a score

« on: Jan 04, 2010, 10:34 pm »

What's the best way to do blocking notes using a musical score?  I have a vocal score, and it's Gilbert and Sullivan so it's definitely a good idea to use a score for the show. I know everyone has a different style but since I've never SM'd a show using a score before so any suggestions are appreciated. thanks

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Tools of the Trade / Re: Cue lights and monitors- very small budget

« on: Nov 27, 2009, 09:55 pm »

loebtmc- no real reason for IR. I'm just looking at everything to see what makes sense

Does anyone know how to rig one of these systems? I'm sure we could figure it out but our crew consists of 4 students and one technical director with no free time so any help would be appreciated. 

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Tools of the Trade / Cue lights and monitors- very small budget

« on: Nov 27, 2009, 07:48 pm »

My high school's theater is a little over a year old. It's an amazing space in terms of technology, but it was built out of the old gym, so some things are lacking (no fly space, very little offstage space, etc). Two things we need (and things I've been dying for as an SM)  are cue lights and a stage video monitor.

I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions on what to do.

The monitor system: we could probably do only one (maybe a second for overstage)
      - what are the best cheap cameras/ monitors?
       - color is preferable
       - I've seen that some cameras are day/night (switches to infared automatically). Do these work?
      - what kind of cable is necessary for these?

Cue lights:
      - this system would be very basic, so no advanced system is really necessary
     - is it possible to make a system (if so, how?) , or would it be better to buy something?


Thanks

AB
     

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Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: ESCRIPTS Archive June 09-Dec. 10

« on: Nov 11, 2009, 07:15 am »

Does anyone have a copy of Annie Get Your Gun?

my email is Abennett@brunswickschool.org

Thanks

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Tools of the Trade / Re: Useful iPhone apps?

« on: Oct 14, 2009, 09:00 pm »

I used the voice recorder that comes with all new iphones (or a relatively recent update)  today to help an actor working on a difficult accent. It helped him to be able to hear what he was saying. 

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Students and Novice Stage Managers / First week off book

« on: Oct 11, 2009, 11:47 pm »

I am the PSM on my high school production of "Arsenic and Old Lace". The actors all seen very good, but have had trouble keeping up with their lines and blocking with their scripts in hand. This week is our first week off book. Is there anything I should do or be ready for this week? Should I note every line they miss?