Messages

121

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / PRE-PRODUCTION: How much time to prepare before auditions?

« on: Jan 25, 2010, 12:18 am »

I'm just wondering how much time it takes you to prepare with script before an audition? I'd think a lot of the paperwork would be fairly consistent from show to show, but also a huge part of our job is the be very familiar with the script in auditions and early rehearsals. How do you help yourself "learn" a show?

Edited to add label to subject line-Rebbe

122

The Green Room / Re: 10 things actors can do to get off to a good start with a stage manager

« on: Jan 18, 2010, 11:28 pm »

#10. Introduce yourself to the Stage Manager.

#10. Don’t be annoying at auditions. First impressions go a long way.

#10. If the cast is going out after a rehearsal, invite the SM/crew.

123

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

« on: Jan 13, 2010, 05:00 pm »

My next project will be My Fair Lady. An electronic copy of the script would be great. Thanks, Mike

124

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: REHEARSALS: Volunteer crew who don't want to show up regularily!

« on: Jan 13, 2010, 09:58 am »

1 1/2 "months" until the show? 1.5 months I don't see as big a deal. 1.5 weeks huge deal. It does depend on the show and its complexities. But yes, in community theater you do get to deal with a fair amount of scheduling problems with the volunteers. But so far, I've always had it come together pretty well in the last two weeks (last week of rehearsal, then the tech week). I think the community theater volunteers see the performance date as so far away that it doesn't matter as much. But then when the show opens "next Friday!" they get committed to it.

I also try to take pretty good notes on what I need help with backstage, since the backstage volunteers aren't always the same people. One show I needed a minimum of two backstage helpers, and during the run I had anywhere from two to six helpers, and never any one person for more than three performances. I had enough work for six helpers, but the work was much more spread out. So my suggestion is to try to make some lists of exactly what you need help with:
Act 1 scene 1 - open the curtain
Act 1 scene 1 - pull the lever to drop the snowflakes
Act 1 scene 2 - help the King into his costume.
Act 1 scene 3 - close the mid-traveler
Act 1 scene 5 - move the large trashcan to the stage right wings near the tombstone.
Act 1 scene 5 - help actress up onto tombstone

Which of these tasks can be done by the same person? If you have six volunteers, everyone gets one task? If you have two people, you'd be ok as well.

Also, early in tech week, introduce the tech crew to the cast during a pre-run or post-run notes session. It lets the techies get a little bit of recognition, and usually the cast will give them a nice round of applause.

125

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: How to back up the career of choice.

« on: Dec 09, 2009, 11:05 pm »

I was talking with someone backstage somewhere, and they said something along the lines that it must be easy to get paid stage manager positions, since no one wants to do it. I replied "Is it easy for actors to get paid roles?" The said "No." I said "for every show there are only one or two stage managers, but anywhere from 1 to 20 acting roles. The competition for stage managers is huge, it's even more competitive than for acting roles."

126

The Green Room / Re: New web site about stage managers?

« on: Dec 07, 2009, 11:40 am »

I got a long message back too, but I'd rather not quote it without permission.

127

The Green Room / Re: New web site about stage managers?

« on: Dec 06, 2009, 10:09 pm »

Well, looking through my web server logs, they found my site by following a link here at smnetwork. So I'm sure there are others who got this message.

128

The Green Room / New web site about stage managers?

« on: Dec 06, 2009, 09:58 pm »

Hi all, I apologize if this is the wrong place to post this type of thing, but none of the other areas seemed appropriate either. I just got an email from a new web site for stage managers asking if it would be ok to link to my site. Beyond the silliness of asking if it's ok to link (that's the purpose of the web after all) to me, I'm just wondering if anyone else had gotten this.

Hi.

Your web page has been submitted to the webmaster@ -redacted-.com

a new web page for resources for stage management.

if you would like for us to link to your web site

http://my-site-url

on our stage managers page, please confirm by responding yes to this e-mail.

any questions, please e-mail webmaster@-redacted-.com

Thanks!

I'd rather not give the site any kind of free publicity. Did anyone get this message? There's no kind of personally identifiable info about the site, and with its numerous typos and lack of content, I'm kind of glad they didn't link to me yet. Mike

129

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Performance Reports Excerpted or Made Public

« on: Nov 28, 2009, 11:25 am »

How do you guys feel about actors releasing information, though not taken from a performance report, that would be in there?  For example, the actress playing Mother in the current Ragtime revival made a Twitter post about the baby doll breaking on stage.

I don't have a problem with things like that. Stuff happens, the audience saw that happen, so it's not like it's a secret.

130

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Proactive Drug Policy questions

« on: Nov 18, 2009, 04:44 pm »

Wow. Some thoughts:

It could come down to a safety issue. If people are impaired at any point, you have to keep everyone (other actors, tech crew, audience) safe. Is there flame being used? That's another major safety issue.

You should check their "props" before rehearsal or a production.

If you haven't started yet, include in your introductory speech info about your job is to keep everyone safe, reiterate company policy (that you also signed). You may need to talk with the director and/or the company's Board about flexibility in dealing with legal and/or safety issues.

If the Board/producer/director/people in charge don't want to deal with it, you may need to go into what-if mode? Where are the fire extinguishers? What happens if someone is unable to perform? Do you let them go on impaired? How will it reflect on you once the show opens and people are impaired?

Good luck. It sounds like a sticky, delicate situation.

131

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Reprimanding Actors

« on: Nov 12, 2009, 10:42 pm »

One thing to do is to present your expectations very early in the rehearsal process. If the call is 7pm, I let actors know that I'll start calling no-shows at 7:01. So if they are running late for whatever reason, they should let me know as soon as they think there will be a problem. And it's worked fairly well, 99% of the time late arrivals have let me know they will be a few minutes late.

132

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Producer told me I had to me be nicer in rehearsal!

« on: Nov 05, 2009, 07:55 am »

I keep a web calendar listing the dates of everyone's conflicts. And everyone knows to contact me if something comes up, or if a conflict disappears. I ask for conflicts even for days we're not planning to do anything, just in case something comes up and we need to schedule something.

133

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / SAFETY: Fight the flu?

« on: Oct 23, 2009, 10:41 am »

So, the flu has started its sweep through our cast for Arcadia at a community theater. What can I do to help keep everyone involved healthy? Wipe down the props and set pieces nightly? With what? Alcohol? Pledge? Paper towel and water? Can the flu bug live on paper? We're about to enter tech week and there are tons of paper props. I've already set out a hand sanitizer dispenser and water bottles. Any other tips would be appreciated.

134

Employment / Re: Show Crew Network

« on: Oct 22, 2009, 04:26 pm »

I signed up. I can see maybe it's potential, but they are definitely in the shakedown period. I reported a handful of minor bugs.

The "terms of service" is insane. 24 pages, 10,050 words long.

135

Tools of the Trade / Re: Google Websites

« on: Oct 22, 2009, 12:16 am »

And back on topic...

Basically, I was hoping other people could post questions if they are using google websites, positives or negatives about their own experiences, and other suggestions about the powers of the internet. So far the only limitation I've found with google is that there is a size limit to the site. It's fairly large, but I don't like the cap. Eventually I'd like to learn more about a real website making program, but there are so many out there it gets confusing (and expensive). Anyone have input?

I really dislike turning control of my web-based materials to a third party. Plus the advertising in Gmail annoys me. So I rolled my own web-based system, which has worked pretty well one the last three shows I stage managed. I am using the self-hosted version of WordPress http://wordpress.org ; Mailman http://www.list.org and Web Calendar http://www.k5n.us/webcalendar.php . On my to-do list is to write up the instructions for the settings I use to get these systems to work together nicely.