Messages

136

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

« on: May 23, 2012, 10:20 am »

The rehearsal room floor will be made of a material that takes well to spike tape, withstands abuse by tap shoes, and most importantly, is laid down in 1 foot by 1 foot squares.

why the small squares?

If your floor is a grid, that's way less measuring to spike out the set!

137

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

« on: May 22, 2012, 05:02 am »

The building's heat, cooling, plumbing and electrical systems work perfectly and as designed, requiring only standard repairs.

I assume there's also separate control for the stage, auditorium and dressing rooms?

138

The Green Room / Re: SMASH - the TV series

« on: May 22, 2012, 04:51 am »

I still would love a reality series of a show being put together . . . .

Been there, done that.  It was actually WAY more annoying than it was interesting.

EXQI (a Belgian TV company) made a reality TV show about the making of "The House of Dancing Water" 

They followed us around for our entire training and formation period in Belgium and then came to Macau to document the last few weeks leading up to opening night.

They eventually ran out "interesting things" to film about creating the show.  We had one episode about painting the SM office and they also did sponsored events where they took us to the zoo and the beer factory.  (Admittedly, that bit was fun.)

Several links:
EXQI website blurb (in Flemish) http://www.tv-visie.be/inhoud/belgie/maandag-op-exqi-plus-dragone-flying-tigers-en-film_35771/
The opening sequence http://vimeo.com/12666788
Unfortunately, the trailer link doesn't appear to be working anymore (and I'm in several shots in the trailer)
Lastly, I wrote a blog post about the experience http://jessieisskoopy.wordpress.com/2010/07/18/what-i-do-at-work-6th-edition/

139

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

« on: May 21, 2012, 10:50 pm »

The director always takes breaks on time and ends rehearsals on time.  Without being prompted AND with a smile on his/her face.

140

The Green Room / Travel Advice: I'm going to Tokyo

« on: May 14, 2012, 11:51 pm »

Hey everybody, I have 4 days annual leave that I have to use before July, so I have just booked myself 6 days in Tokyo!



I've been to Japan before but not Tokyo and looking for advice of where to go and what to see while I'm there.



So if you've been to Tokyo, give me some ideas, please!  I'm willing to splurge on one or two "must-do" expensive things, but need to stay reasonably budget-conscious.



Thanks in advance.

141

The Green Room / Re: What do we do?

« on: May 14, 2012, 11:45 pm »

And then, without sighing, or rolling my eyes, I will say, with a certain amount of pride, “I work in theater.”
The next sentence will most likely be, “Oh, you are an actor.”  Don’t believe me, get dressed and go out to a cocktail party right now, and there can’t be theatre people there, have a drink or two, and wait for someone to come and ask what you do, now answer “I work in theater.”  SEE!  I told you.  (I am not sure if this works in opera and dance.  Do they ask if you are a singer?  a dancer?  I don’t think anyone would ever mistake me for a dancer.)

Think of what I get when I say, "I work for the circus." 

Although truthfully I usually say that I stage manage for the circus just to try to stop the references to shoveling elephant poop.  (Which I don't do)

142

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: PEOPLE: Walk-Ons; How do you handle them?

« on: May 14, 2012, 12:07 am »

We just did a walk-on role with a local TV morning new program.

As part of the reporter's ongoing series called "Crash Course" during which he learns various different jobs quickly and then shows it in 6 minute segments.  So we were one of the segments.  We filmed it over 2 days- one day rehearsal/ training (as he had to learn blocking AND a small amount of acrobatics).

Then the next evening, he appeared in the show and it was filmed from the audience.

We started the show with an introduction to the audience to excite the audience and to explain the TV cameras in the house.  He appeared in one scene and the bows.  He was escorted by various artists throughout all his stage time and escorted by an ASM when backstage.

All in all it went very well.  I took a long time to plan given his busy schedule and the filming/training dates were actually reschedule 3 times.

143

The Hardline / Re: Script rewrites

« on: May 10, 2012, 11:50 am »

In most of my experiences, this task fell to an ASM for minor changes and the playwright for extensive rewrites.  In cases both where I was the ASM handling rewrites or the PSM in charge of said ASM, we were able to squeeze the work into the allotted weekly hours.

144

Stage Management: Other / Re: Chinese Opera

« on: May 09, 2012, 02:02 am »

Some hints about Chinese Opera:


1- You will need a translator.
2- However, learn greetings, numbers and important theatrical terms in Chinese (probably Mandarin, but double check your show)  Do not expect the singers or musicians to speak English.  You will have to give calls to places and the time countdown in Chinese.
3- Have the translator make signs in chinese leading to stage, dressing rooms etc- mainland Chinese will read simplified characters, Taiwanese and Hong Kong people will read traditional characters
4- Just as in western opera, you don't call people by their given names, you can them with their family names plus title.  Example: DENG Mu Wei is a man's name.  DENG is his family name, Mu Wei is his given name.  In writing, write Deng Mu Wei or DENG Mu Wei and/or the Chinese characters.  When speaking call him Deng Laoshur.  Laoshur means "teacher."  All singers and musicians take that title, men and women.
5- When giving calls over tannoy or in person, use an authoritative tone.  Do not be light or cute or funny.  They will think you are joking and not listen to you.  (Honest)
6- Allow a really long time for hair and make-up.  The women's hair is not a one-piece wig.  It is made of many individual hair sections that are glued into place.  It takes forever.
7- Martial arts swords only last 1 or 2 shows.  If they get torn, they are trash.  Keep a very close eye on them and replace them often.
8- The orchestra does not use a western-style music score.  Their scores are made up of chinese characters and series of numbers.  You will not be able to read it or call cues from it.
9- Even more than western opera, the songs take a LONG time to say just a small sentence and the words are hard to understand.  Therefore even if you have a pinying/transleterated version of the lyrics, you will not really be able to call your cues very well from it.
10- You can memorize bit of the music to call cues from and bits of the lyrics to call cues from, but you are best calling it like a dance show.  Write out actions, words etc and draw pictures.
11- Learn the names of the instruments and what each one basically sounds like.  This will help.  For example, my first time, the director said "Call the cue half way through the pipa solo."  I had no idea what the pipa was or what it sounded like- my bad.

Feel free to PM me if you have more questions.

145

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: TOURS: Tips for Packing?

« on: May 02, 2012, 10:15 pm »

I use a light weight duffle bag now instead of a suitcase for all my clothes & toiletries. They are lighter and tend to be easier to manage.

As far as tips - Bring your own power board and pack more socks than you could possibly need. South Korea use a US style plug so you should not need an adaptor.

Sorry, Mac, I think you're wrong about this.  South Korea uses a type C or E/F plug.  It's the kind with 2 round pins.  You can usually use the plugs with the skinny pins (most common european type) but most outlets actually were the slightly fatter pins (less common european type). The small pins fit in loosely but still make the connection.  The small pins are what comes with most "world adapters" I had to buy a separate adapter for the larger pins.   Voltage is 220 to 240 so bring a convertor (not just adapter) if you have appliances that can't receive that voltage.  (You just need to read the writing on the plug itself to check the input range)

For South Korea, it is a good idea to get a bilingual dictionary and/or a Korean language iphone app.  Many people don't speak English there.

It is fairly easy to find familiar food and products in South Korea, so don't worry too much if you forget to pack anything, you can probably buy it there.  (Except bras if you happen to be well endowed.)

146

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Short Form ans Symbols

« on: Apr 10, 2012, 11:59 pm »

I use EN for enter and EX for exit.

When in opera, I use NT and XT but that never really stuck with me.

147

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Facebook Comments (How to deal with a very unpleasant pit orchestra?)

« on: Apr 07, 2012, 01:28 pm »

The last few years I've worked in corporate theatre and it is written very clearly both in my contract and in the company Code of Conduct that writing anything online that could be perceived as derogatory to the company is strictly forbidden.

Even if it isn't in your current contract, I recommend that your pretend it is.  Don't write anything on facebook that you wouldn't want your current boss or any future bosses to read.

148

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Short Form ans Symbols

« on: Apr 07, 2012, 11:33 am »

I use the Greek letter delta (looks like a triangle) for change.  I learned that in math class.

149

The Green Room / Re: The Greatest Show Never Made

« on: Apr 07, 2012, 11:27 am »

The latest version of Blue Man Group features giant iPad like devices called GiPads.  Almost iPad the musical.

150

The Green Room / What a Stage Manager Does

« on: Feb 19, 2012, 11:11 pm »