Messages

1

The Green Room / Re: ARTICLE: National Theatre SM report archives

« on: Dec 14, 2013, 07:05 pm »

Reminds me. I happened across this gem in a co-worke'rs report, earlier this week: "A kid threw up in the back row after the ballad. Like really threw up; it sounded like Jabba the Hut exploding

I love it! Anyone else got a quote they'd care to share?

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The Green Room / ARTICLE: National Theatre SM report archives

« on: Dec 14, 2013, 12:03 pm »

Turns out reddit has some decently active theatre subsections! Found this article posted over there, and thought it might be of interest here as well.

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/features/not-all-right-on-the-night-8998788.html

And the book:
http://www.amazon.com/National-Theatre-Story-Daniel-Rosenthal/dp/1840027681

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Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Taping glass props - advice needed

« on: Oct 21, 2013, 03:32 pm »

I've taped glass with packing tape; it was ugly up close, even when done really carefully. I'd trying to find another option if you are in a small venue.

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Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: PRE-PRODUCTION: Alternative to Taping Floors

« on: Sep 14, 2013, 09:27 pm »

Painting lines in tempura (water-soluble) paint might be a good option. Most school art departments have them around, and they can be mopped right up. This is what we used to do in my high school; worked like a dream!

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Homework Help / Re: Deadline August 19th, 2013: SM research study

« on: Aug 18, 2013, 02:38 pm »

Hi all! I'm still looking for a few more participants and am going to be continuing interviews through the rest of August and beginning of September. Skype has been working well, and interviews have been taking about an hour.

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College and Graduate Studies / Re: To Major or Minor? That is the question..

« on: Aug 18, 2013, 02:33 pm »

I'm another double-major (sociology and theatre arts), and while it totally depends on the school, for me double majoring was the right choice for several reasons. It stopped me from 'pigeon hole-ing' myself into theatre too soon, and gives me a good outside perspective on my theatre work. I would urge caution on being too set on a specific trajectory within theatre, even if it seems like the perfect fit right now; I went into college with my theatre major as stage management, and discovered a year and a half in that while I love and always will love the work of stage managing, the lifestyle is not for me. I let myself suffer through longer than I should because I saw as 'sacrifice' what I should have seen as 'not right for me.' I'm now happily exploring playwriting, dramaturgy and other literary ventures and have a budding interest in directing in addition to my sociology studies. I'd recommend doing what you can to keep your options and education broad while seeking out a strong theatre eduction. That said, I wouldn't have had access to many of my favorite courses and professors if I weren't majoring in theatre, and my school does segregate the theatre department from the other theatre-groups on campus.

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Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Double casting

« on: Jul 12, 2013, 08:22 am »

Surprisingly, my high-school followed the same logic! When we did a large, all school musical (the school is k-12), the high-schoolers were single cast, but the little ones were double cast (it varied for the middle schoolers). Everyone came to rehearsals, even run throughs, until the final week of rehearsal. The little ones parents provided their base costumes, and special pieces were assigned to pairs across the casts with similar measurements.

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Homework Help / Deadline August 19th, 2013: SM research study

« on: Jul 04, 2013, 10:50 pm »

Attending school at: Boston University
Instructor: Emily Barman (research mentor)
Training level: Undergrad
Project due date: August 19th, 2013

Questions:
This summer I am conducting research for a project on managers within theatrical organizations.

I want to explore the types of interactions between varying types of managers and the remainder of their production staff. As far as I know, this will be the first sociological study focusing on stage managers, company managers and production managers. I hope the results will be useful for both professionals and academics.

As part of this process I am seeking stage managers for in-person (Boston area) or phone/Skype research interviews. Interviews could last anywhere from 30-90 minutes depending on the information that you bring to the table. If you are interested in participating or would like more information, please contact me at sarah.lowe.sociology@gmail.com.

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The Green Room / Re: ARTICLE: Low Pay/No Pay (UK article, interesting read)

« on: Jun 12, 2013, 06:01 pm »

If it's any comfort at all, the rules which apply to actors don't apply to stage managers, technicians, designers or arts administrators. We're allowed to screw up: in fact, when we do screw up, it's usually the actors who have to wear the damage.

I'd be curious where people think directors fall on the 'second chances scale.'

As a student, I have to say I wish these issues of how to succeed are crucial, and the prevalence of low pay/no pay internships creates a tight spot for those who need to make money over the summers. Last summer I was lucky enough to be able to take an (unpaid) internship with a great local company, which gave me my first professional credit because my grandmother offered to pay for my housing since I was taking some classes as well. A large number of my classmates were not able to find internships, or even try to look, as the cost was prohibitive. I agree that internships for class credit can be a great compromise as it creates another source of 'pay' for the experience.

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Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Working with Dogs

« on: Jun 11, 2013, 03:51 am »

I've only worked with dogs in a simpler setting (Wizard of Oz, one dog, in highschool). But what the owner/trainer emphasized and proved to be key for us was to be sure to have the dog bond to the actors who interacted with it. Having the dog get to know them (in our case Dorothy and the Travelling Salesman, as Toto was played by a human actor in Oz), and spend a good amount of time with them made the dog want to go to Dorothy when released. The owner was also sure to have the dog practice taking commands from its 'scene partners' extensively, again so it would look toward them for direction. Basically, we had the dog in rehearsal several times a week to get to know the company and bond with Dorothy. Of course, our dog belongs to a woman whose two passions in life were breeding Cairn terriers and training them to play Toto, and had the time to attend rehearsals.
On the treats note, be sure to ask the owners how the dogs will react to the treat of choice; something meaty is always a favorite but it makes some dogs gassy. Our Toto got really gassy every night after the hotdog stealing scene.

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Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Escripts=Do you HAVE to have them?

« on: Jun 06, 2013, 07:11 pm »

In my program, the 'culture' seems to be that one always uses a print script for rehearsal, but may use an Escript to format cues, but not call from (the document gets printed). If there is a PA assigned to a show, it is one of their duties. Most SM students here seem to have a  retyped, clean copy of the script before tech, both to work from and distribute to the designers for cue placement.

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Introductions / Re: Newbie in Chicago

« on: May 31, 2013, 08:16 pm »

Hi! One of my majors is in Sociology (I'm a dual degree student also studying theatre)! Glad to have another sociologist/stage manager around.

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The Green Room / Re: Introducing the Unicorn Rainbow Sparkly Theatre Company!

« on: May 28, 2013, 05:02 pm »

Any and all outdoor events will have perfect weather from load-in through load-out, and experience no untoward interventions from animals.

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The Green Room / Re: PATRON SMASH!

« on: May 16, 2013, 08:28 pm »

He took her phone out of her hand and threw it across the room?

I'm sorry, I cannot be on his side in this.  Obviously she was WAY out of line, but he took her phone out of her hand and threw it across the room.  As much as I might WANT to do that, I would never ACTUALLY do that. He has some serious anger management issues.

I have to agree with Bex on this; as much as we all might be enraged by this kind of behavior, to me this response crosses the line. Plus, if he did this in protest of a disruption, I find his actions counter-productive; wouldn't the disruption of throwing a phone (much less the aftermath) be worse than a single cell phone light?

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Introductions / Re: Hi!

« on: May 15, 2013, 09:01 am »

Thanks, Kay! I'll message you after I get the IRB approval since it is possible I might be asked to shift questions.