Messages

1186

SMNetwork Archives / New Profile Field - "Current Gig"

« on: Sep 21, 2007, 09:24 am »

I've added yet another custom profile field for folks for listing your current gig.

Please only fill in this field if you're working on something - name of the gig and location would be the ideal format.

For now it will only appear if someone checks your profile, but in the future... who knows?

To use this field, go to your profile.  Under "Modify Profile" choose "Forum Profile Information."  The entry line is down towards the bottom of the screen.

1187

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Prompt Book

« on: Sep 12, 2007, 03:12 am »

Have you checked through the Uploaded Forms section of the forums?  There's a lot of examples there to help get you started.

Of course, bear in mind that many of the items there are for very advanced productions and professional work, but there's a lot there that applies for even the most rudimentary shows.

1188

SMNetwork Archives / Re: Changing Get Togethers to Regional Advice (POLL)

« on: Sep 10, 2007, 11:27 pm »

OK, the new board has (finally) been created, so I'm locking this and destickifying it.  Go check out Regional Advice, y'all!

1189

Employment / Re: First Aid/Fire Guard

« on: Jul 06, 2007, 12:27 am »

First Aid/CPR yes, with AED training.  Don't know so much about fire guard.  The other cert that I used to think about obtaining was a firearms license.

1190

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Executing both light and sound cues?

« on: Jul 06, 2007, 12:16 am »

Sure, lights on 2-sc preset plus sound on dual deck plus multiple CDs... with no script.  Fortunately the sound rig was relatively simple and the LX plot consisted of about 15 instruments total.

We do improv here in Chicago.  Quite a bit of it.  It moves so fast that you don't have time to call it to anyone but yourself.

I'd suggest going to live with the soundboard for a bit after hours and run the sound cues with the light cues in a pitch black room.  What's going to count is the muscle memory and with only a week to go you won't have time to acquire it without practicing.  Set up the boards in a manner so that one hand works the sound deck and the other works the LX board, with your script in the middle directly below your view to the stage.  Move around in the dark room or with a blindfold on until you can turn and hit any button in any order.  Spend some extra time on fading with both hands at different paces if such at thing is required.  Once you've gotten that down, spike your chair, including the height if it's adjustable.

1191

SMNetwork Archives / Re: Changing Get Togethers to Regional Advice (POLL)

« on: Jun 30, 2007, 10:11 am »

RE: Philly, Alaska, Hawaii - vote "other" and mention your location here in the thread, just as has already been done above.

1192

SMNetwork Archives / Re: Changing Get Togethers to Regional Advice (POLL)

« on: Jun 29, 2007, 09:21 pm »

Ack! Can't believe I missed Australia/NZ!  Bad me.  It was in the original list but some how got truncated.  I will bear in mind that at least two "other" votes were supposed to go into Oceania.  The option is now there.  (Thanks for the proper term, Mac.)

1193

Self-Promotion / Add your Industry Night info here!

« on: Jun 28, 2007, 01:23 am »

If your show is having an industry night, please add it to this thread so that other SMs can come check it out.  Please include any special requirements or instructions for how to go about obtaining industry comps or discount tickets.  Make sure to be specific about your location -- remember, we have members from all over the world!

1194

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Sublet in NYC?

« on: Jun 28, 2007, 01:13 am »

A hostel is a variant on a hotel that functions more like a summer camp cabin.  For generally very cheap rates you sleep in a common room, generally filled with bunk beds, and have access to shared kitchen/common area facilities.  There are hostels scattered all over the country.  Some hostels have private rooms for families at higher rates.

Check out http://www.hiusa.org/ for info on Youth Hostels in the USA.

Based on what it says for the NY hostels, at $29 a day you're probably better off subletting, but I'm not sure what going rates are for subleases in that area right now.

1195

Stage Management: Other / Re: Welcome packet

« on: Jun 28, 2007, 01:08 am »

You might want to include a little bit about basic street smarts/city attitude.  There's lots of folks who will take them for all they're worth.  Things like dealing with cabbies and street vendors, areas to avoid, make sure your bags are always closed and kept with you, etc.  I realize Beijing is a similar metropolitan area, but New York has its own subculture of crud that thrives on picking out/picking on foreigners.

1196

SMNetwork Archives / Changing Get Togethers to Regional Advice (POLL)

« on: Jun 28, 2007, 12:59 am »

I'm thinking that the Get Togethers forum could be put to better use.  I was thinking of repurposing it to "Regional" with subforums for the areas of the globe with the highest representation.  The Regional forums would be only readable/postable by registered members with at least one public post.  (This would allow folks to do some naming of names.)

I have my guesses as to what areas people are coming from, but I know we've lots of readers that don't post a lot.  My site stats don't really reveal geographic info.  If you're in an area that doesn't appear above, feel free to suggest another region.  I'll probably wind up doing subforums for the top five or six areas and let the rest float in the general pool for the time being.

Comments? suggestions? hate the idea? let me know!

1197

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Problem Actor...

« on: Jun 18, 2007, 05:54 pm »

Yay! problem solved.  Locking the thread.

1198

The Green Room / Please observe our Community Standards.

« on: Jun 04, 2007, 04:43 am »

Have you taken a read through the Community Standards lately?

It's a good idea to glance at them now and then.  We've seen a lot of new members join up lately (yay!), so I wanted to be sure that everyone has seen them.

--Thanks from me and the mod squad!

1199

Introductions / Please observe our Community Standards.

« on: Jun 04, 2007, 04:35 am »

Welcome to SMNetwork.  I'm PSMKay, your host and admin.  Thanks for joining us and for helping to build the stage management community around the world!  It's your contributions that keep this site going strong.

This site brings in visitors from all levels of experience and many locations.  With that in mind, we've drawn up a set of Community Standards to help keep the forums a safe space for all participants.

As you get settled in to your new accounts, please take a moment to read through them here.

Thanks/Merci/Gracias/Xie Xie/Arigatou/Mahalo/Danke!

1200

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Injured during tech?

« on: Mar 25, 2007, 09:25 pm »

Terrible ankles passed down from my mother have led to not one but three techs/perfs on multilevel sets with sprained ankles.

Way back in high school (1992) I was attending a theatre festival and had to do an outside run from dressing rooms to performance.  We were timed for setup and strike and only had something like 20 minutes to get out of costume and clear our gear.  I slipped on a patch of sand on the asphalt and went down, smooshed my tailbone.  Then had to sit on it for the next two days watching the rest of the performances.  Painful.  Fortunately my work was already done at that point, but I was in chiropractic for months afterwards.

The second one was actually my first tech at Steppenwolf back in '98.  I was the stage management intern at the time -- back then they only had one per year.  During the shows I was running deck.  We were working on a raised deck and I was loading in a prepped prop table.  Caught my foot on an orange extension cable sticking out from under the plat and went down with the table on top of me.  That was a three story set and running the deck had me all over the theatre for handoffs.  (From balcony to box office to backstage to gallery to rope bridge crossing the house!)

Running about on the sprained ankle for the next six weeks damaged the left ankle irreparably but I didn't have much choice.  On doctor's orders I'm no longer permitted to dance, run, or climb ladders.

The last one was a full installation set on rough hewn lumber with ladders all over the place -- four levels of platforms, one being 4x4 with only kneeling clearance between the plat and the grid.  The booth had a spiral staircase.  On my way down to call 15 for final dress I missed the three bottom steps of the spiral and faceplanted on the tile at the bottom.  The lighting designer found me right afterwards.  He helped me up off the ground, I took three steps, said "fifteen, everyone!" and never heard the "thank you fifteen" as I'd passed out from the pain and put my head through the prop table.  They carried me up to the booth and I spent most of the run on two sprains.  Really bulked up my arms that run doing preset on all those ladders and having to pull myself up while carrying props!

What gets me about this cavalcade of injuries is that even when I knew I was damaged beyond recovery I kept going.  For some reason running shows went past any pain or knowledge of damage.  (Probably a contributing factor to my burning out a few years ago.)  In retrospect, I probably should have canned it after the first major sprain.