Messages

1036

The Green Room / Re: Trivia Tournament II: Electric Boogaloo

« on: Dec 02, 2008, 09:25 pm »

OK, November is finished!  Thanks to the 26 of you who played this month!

Congrats to the top 10 for November:

1. scott (286 points, 5 wins)
2. ruthny (281 points, 4 wins)
3. kiwitechgirl (277 points, 4 wins)
4. blantonrk (273 points, 0 wins)
5. Lizzie (272 points, 7 wins)
6. killerdana (269 points, 0 wins)
7. amy_francis (252 points, 1 wins)
8. rvhead (205 points, 3 wins)
9. ScooterSM (193 points, 0 wins)
10. Thespi620 (171 points, 2 wins)

kiwitechgirl will be getting a PM from me to choose the topics for December.

EDIT:

And she's come through for us!  December topics are as follows:

Monday: Geography 2
Tuesday: Theatre and Performing Arts
Wednesday: Literature 1
Thursday: Movies 2
Friday: World General 1
Saturday: People 1
Sunday: Hobbies

1037

SMNetwork Archives / Re: Just neet to vent...

« on: Nov 20, 2008, 09:55 pm »

Okay folks, I think this thread has run its course.  Marcie, I'm sorry things didn't work out for you for this gig.  I can only hope that this means that you'll be open to take something even better that's right around the corner.

As for how this thread has progressed, I'm not going to name names or single out any individual poster, but let's try to be nicer to each other next time someone comes in and needs to vent.

1038

The Hardline / Re: LORT Solicitation

« on: Nov 11, 2008, 09:23 pm »

You can certainly Dear Abby post them if you like!

1039

The Green Room / Re: Trivia Tournament II: Electric Boogaloo

« on: Nov 03, 2008, 04:56 pm »

Quite alright, it'll all be sorted by tomorrow.  No harm done.

1040

The Green Room / Re: Trivia Tournament II: Electric Boogaloo

« on: Nov 01, 2008, 08:27 pm »

Congrats to the Hall of Famers for October, and thanks to all 23 of you who played this month!

23 players played during the month.

1. ruthny (286 points, 6 wins)
2. killerdana (280 points, 2 wins)
3. Lizzie (272 points, 5 wins)
4. scott (257 points, 8 wins)
5. blantonrk (247 points, 4 wins)
6. kiwitechgirl (219 points, 3 wins)
7. rvhead (210 points, 0 wins)
8. ScooterSM (209 points, 1 wins)
9. amy_francis (170 points, 1 wins)
10. MarcieA (154 points, 0 wins)

As killerdana picked topics for October and Ruth picked for September, we're reaching down to 3rd place and Lizzie for the topics for November - Lizzie hasn't had a go at it since April.  Lizzie, watch for a PM from me!

EDIT:
Lizzie has chosen the following topics:

Theatre & Performing Arts - Saturday
Animals - Sunday
General Knowledge 3 - Monday
History 2 - Tuesday
Religion 1 - Wednesday
Science & Technology 2 - Thursday
World: UK - Friday

1041

College and Graduate Studies / Re: Schools that have a SM degree in Washington?

« on: Oct 28, 2008, 11:49 pm »

Do you mean Washington State or Washington, DC?

1042

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Working with a Russian Director

« on: Oct 24, 2008, 08:55 pm »

I don't have experience introducing the concept of a stage manager to a foreign director, but I do have experience in working with directors who do not speak the language.  In the main case that I'm thinking of the directors were bilingual (Russian/English) and the cast was split evenly between those who spoke English and those who spoke Russian as their first language.

I can recall several scenes where I had to commit the biggest no-no in the book and take down blocking based on what the actors were doing rather than what the director was telling them to do.  I had no understanding of the table work at all.

When a large part of your role consists of facilitating communication and you do not speak the language of one of your major players, it becomes necessary to redefine that role accordingly.  Play it by ear.

Also, depending on how long this director has been working, you'll also want to remember that for many many years in the USSR shows ran in rehearsals and preview for sometimes years on end but never opened in order to skirt censorship laws.  The tradition went on for long enough that there's still a trend of tweaking the show indefinitely - press opening is not really an established concept and certainly not as much of an absolute as it is over here.

1043

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Hell Week...?

« on: Oct 21, 2008, 05:51 am »

I have never heard it referred to as "hell week."  Mattciulla is the only person I've ever actually heard use the term outside of high school sports, although his frequent use of it seems to have spread like a virus throughout the younger members of this site.  We must, each of us, remember that many starstruck younger readers take everything we say on this site as gospel.

Hell week in high school for me (ca. 1994... ouch...) was a term used by the athletes, cheerleaders and pep squad during the week leading up to the final football game of autumn.  The origin of the term for us, I think, was in the countless acts of intimidation and assorted pranks visited on the rival high schools' teams during said week.  It eventually came to also mean that the whole week was hell for the folks involved with those pranks.

Our high school drama club had fake letterman jackets to assuage the teenage psyches that theatre was as important and prestigious as sports were.  (In my town, it wasn't.)   My assumption is that "hell week" has been borrowed from the sports side of things in high schools for the same reason that we wore our jackets.  I don't consider it a terribly mature term and would probably not be interested in working with someone who used the term for the reasons ddsherrer pointed out - setting oneself up to fail is rarely a good idea.  It would also indicate to me that the person in question does not like to work hard.

There's a lot of colloquialisms and slang that start out of a need to simplify terms for community and educational theatre.  Within their own environments they're just fine, but placed in a pro venue they stick out a bit.  I encountered that transferring from school to pro myself with "gel" vs. "color" and "lekos" vs. "ellipsoidals," although some of that may have also been due to my regional transplanting from New England to the Midwest around the same time.

1044

SMNetwork Archives / Restrictions by Post count

« on: Oct 19, 2008, 04:18 pm »

SMNetwork has a bit of a learning curve.  We do require that members follow the Community Standards for every post.  It's a good idea for all new members to read through the rules before joining, but we realize that not everyone finds them for the first few months as a member.  In the interest of not embarrassing new members, we have restricted some of the features until you have established yourself more firmly on the site and figure out how we run.

If you have registered but never posted, you will gain reading and posting access to all of the hidden boards.  You will be able to receive Personal Messages (PMs) but not send them.  You will not be able to post polls.

Once you make your first public post you will be able to send PMs.  You will be added to the "Just Joined" posting group and gain one star under your name.

Once you make your 16th public post you will be able to add polls to your own posts.  You will be added to the "New Member" posting group and gain an additional star.

Beyond that there are 3 other post count based groups but for the time being they're only for prestige.

Changes will be made to this post as restrictions are added and removed.

1045

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / PROPS: Prop Recipe Exchange

« on: Oct 14, 2008, 07:12 pm »

It seems to be a common trait among these online communities that people like to exchange recipes.  Now, I know y'all like food, but considering our mutual schedules it might be somewhat unlikely that we'll jump all over a nice recipe for lemon chiffon cake.  We've got small threads about various prop problems scattered all over the place, but I do so like to keep things tidy.

What recipes have you use for creating prop substances onstage?  Blood, wine, alcoholic beverages, fire, and for what reasons?

I'll start with one from "Beauty Queen of Leenane."  For those of you familiar with the script, you'll know that it calls for lots and lots of fake urine, poured out of chamber pots and at one point thrown onto an elderly actress.  In order to safely cover for the latter issue while still making it look like the real thing, we used aloe juice (in the US I've seen this at Walgreen's in the vitamin section) diluted 1:3 with water.  It is potable, light enough to not stain if you wash it out quickly, and not full of sugar. Bear in mind that aloe juice needs to be refrigerated once opened.

1046

Employment / Re: When is enough enough

« on: Oct 12, 2008, 11:40 pm »

There are so many people out there who really really WANT to be stage managers.  So many people who love it, find their passion in it, and have such a hard time breaking in when there are so many more experienced (and frequently jaded) members of the profession in there ahead of them.

I got to a point where yes, I still enjoyed parts of it and yes, I was good at it but I was becoming jaded about it and I didn't want it with that same intensity that others were showing even within my own company.  It was just another job, and IMHO theatre should not be just another job.  It's an art that requires a large amount of passion, otherwise why bother with all of the scant pay and weird scheduling and unsettled lifestyle?

When it came down to it, I did not feel that I deserved to be living someone else's dream when it was no longer my own.

1047

The Green Room / Trivia Tournament II: Electric Boogaloo

« on: Oct 03, 2008, 12:49 am »

The last trivia thread was getting rather long and unwieldy.  Time for a fresh one, I think.

If you're new to SMNet, here's the instructions for playing trivia:

To play, Click here.

You'll need to register over there so we can track you in the standings.  Please use the same username there as you use here.  (If you're playing in other funtrivia tournaments and would rather use your funtrivia username, just send me a PM to let me know.) 

To register, you will need the tournament password.   Use the same password as you use for the SMNetwork resume browser.  The one that starts with the letter f.  The password is visible on the main page of smnetwork in the descriptive text of a forum that is visible only to registered, logged in members.  Please do not PM the password or post the password publicly.  The hints that have been given so far in this post should be more than sufficient for figuring it out.  The trivia tournament is TOUGH and figuring out the password is meant as a warm-up for you.

There's a different set of questions every day of the week.  Topics are chosen by either the 1st, 2nd or 3rd place winner each month depending on who is the most recent newcomer to the top 3.


In addition to the SMNetwork private tournament listed above, we've also got a team on the global funtrivia site to pit our trivia skills against the general public.  It's team #13380.  To join the global stage management team, you'll need an account at the global funtrivia.com site.  (Your account for the private tournament won't work for this part.)  Once you've registered, head to http://www.funtrivia.com/friends.cfm?action=join and join up!

1048

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Question about entrance and exit flow charts....

« on: Aug 14, 2008, 02:37 am »

You do not have to make every single piece of paperwork ever created for every show.  In the case of entrances and exits, if you're doing a piece where there are very few French scenes then it's probably never been necessary.  Just because you've never done a wild and crazy show with 2 billion costume changes does not make you unprofessional.

If you've got lots of doubling or multiple costume changes or actors doubling as crew, then you might need a flow chart.  Or, if your deck chiefs are more visual learners and can pick things up more quickly using diagrams over lists, then it might be good.

Sometimes a list is all that's needed.  Paperwork is a tool to aid in the job, not the sole purpose of the job.

1049

College and Graduate Studies / Re: Best schools for SM.

« on: Jul 30, 2008, 12:25 pm »

Matthew, that was VERY well-written and I'm sure it will be helpful to the many student SMs who come through here looking for the same information.  Stickied for all to see.  Thank you.

1050

SMNetwork Archives / Admin Leave of Absence, September 2008

« on: Jul 26, 2008, 10:56 pm »

OK, dear members, I have been patrolling the site and making tiny tweaks every day with very little pause since mid 2005.  I will be taking a long overdue break from SMNet during the month of September.  I will set the new trivia tournament for the month and then be absent from the site (but not from the web) for a month. 

Your trusty staff of moderators will be able to handle nearly everything that I normally handle during my absence, with a few exceptions:

1. Deleting accounts/banning people.
2. Adding new features to the site.
3. Altering the news ticker at the top of the site.

Moderators will have access to me by phone in case of emergency.