Messages

136

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: First and Last Names

« on: Jan 24, 2007, 03:00 pm »

On Basic Casting we do last name

Sign in sheets Last then First names

Running Sheets/ Spot Q Sheet's or anything used by crew character name or costume color

Reports first name last name

Biographies are in the program and on the website as First Name Last Name...

For a Ballet Company in the deep south.... We never refer to anyone as Miss Last name, or Mr. Last name...

Sometimes our academy teachers are Miss first name (which REALLY bugs me....) 

137

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Response to "calling a show by feel" from "things you would never hear..."

« on: Jan 17, 2007, 10:51 am »

I always call by feel... it's my only artistic ability and therefore contribution!

I think this is especially ture in dance, yes? 

138

Employment / Re: To tattoo or not to tattoo

« on: Jan 15, 2007, 12:09 pm »

Have done an informal survey-

None of the Admin or Production Staff have any tatoos- visible or otherwise...

More than half of the performers do...

Shouldn't that be the other way around? 

139

Tools of the Trade / Re: Bingo Dabbers or Daubers...

« on: Jan 15, 2007, 12:00 pm »

Sounds interesting- but I know how often I change cues, so it wouldn't work for me...

I do post-it flags; the neon colors which pop under blue light-   

140

Employment / Re: Pros and Cons of Equity/unions

« on: Jan 10, 2007, 10:30 am »

Well.... personally ALL my union affiliations  are lapsed.

AGMA was the first union I joined as a dancer, and I was so young I had no idea what a union was or what help it could be to me! i just saw a percentage of my check going to AGMA every week.

I SM dance in a non-AGMA company. Therefore, I thought it was silly for me to retain membership in unions which I don't work in anymore (AEA, AFTRA.....)

As far as the company I work in now; I don't believe we'll ever go AGMA, we simply do not have the money. If we had to follow AGMA regulations $$$$-wise we'd have to close down! We do a pretty darn good job of following the rules as far as breaks, not endangering dancers etc...

You can go to the AGMA website and actually read the contract's AGMA has with ALL the Opera, Dance etc. companies in the US. It's really very interesting; percentage-wise very very few professional dance companies are unionized.
 

141

SMNetwork Archives / Re: Digging Out in Denver

« on: Jan 10, 2007, 10:09 am »

Crazy! It's 39 in Birmingham, today! 

142

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Who runs your production meetings?

« on: Jan 09, 2007, 10:30 am »

I was inspired by your question and had a very funny chat with my PM about this topic. We decided that
nobody run's our meeting's... either that or everyone does! 

We're a very small staff (only 6, sometimes 7 people in the meetings) and so we start to the top of the agenda and work our way down. Usually pretty smoothly... I create the adgenda.

Of course the choreographer chirps up whenever he has an idea... or a thought... or really anything....

143

SMNetwork Archives / Re: Happy Stage Management Memories?

« on: Jan 09, 2007, 10:24 am »

Swan Lake, Alabama Ballet 2003

We had guest's in to assist in the staging and they were so easy and lovely and the production went soooo smoothly in great part I believe because everyone was so easy and confidant in what the ywere doing because they had been so well prepared by the Guest's:

Names: John Gardner & Amanada McKerrow-----

all you dance folks probably know of them, but if you ever get the chance to work with them- JUMP! The yare really great, and now retired from dancing, and so are staging and coaching exclusively!

144

SMNetwork Archives / Re: Digging Out in Denver

« on: Jan 09, 2007, 10:18 am »

Random Denver story from BAMA...

My ASM was in Denver during the avalanche just after the New Year! She had never even seen snow before, and had a blast!    It's beyond me, but I remember being in Ohio in January wading through hip-deep snow to get to college!

145

SMNetwork Archives / Re: Legal Pads

« on: Jan 09, 2007, 10:14 am »

You know.... In college I used composition notebooks- the bound notebooks that you can't rip pages out of. I wanted to keep all of my notes in one place in no danger of being lost and in no danger of being tossed at any stage. (My college was highly competitive and many of us felt that we were in constant need of defense from certain faculty members... As I'm sure many of my fellow grads will atest to!) So, never tossing out hand written notes even after they'd been transfered to minutes or reports served us as "proof" in many cases. Now I just use regular legal pads....

HOWEVER, when doing many shows in rep I use a different pad for each show- and sometimes a different coloured pad for each show!

146

Tools of the Trade / Re: Stage Manager workstation/Desk

« on: Jan 09, 2007, 10:07 am »

My boys built me a road box that's AWESOME.  They built is specifically for me --

That is SSSSOOOOOO awesome! I'm totally jealous! 

147

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Dressing For The Part?

« on: Jan 08, 2007, 10:37 am »

This is a good chatting point... I wear jeans and a button down shirt nearly every day. I do wear ridiculously nice shoes-

Now.... I am the Company Manager and Stage Manager for our company, which is a dance company. In dance we generally don't have to set out funrniture ro make changeovers in the rehearsal room. I've never had to move anything in a studio rehearsal that i couldn't move in 4 1/2 inch heels and a min-shirt. Not that I'd wear either of those things- but the point is I guess it all depends on what's expected of you in whatever rehearsal....

I did recently have a nassistant who wore ridiculously low-cut jeans and whenever she moved things about on stage her thong hung out.... very embarrassing for me although I don't think she minded.

148

SMNetwork Archives / Re: Digging Out in Denver

« on: Dec 31, 2006, 07:50 pm »

1. EJ- Did you make it to Ohio?! I hope so!

2. WOW- I've been in and out of Israel A BUNCH (family) and have never been through anything like that & I have terrible Hebrew!

3. I got bumped from 3 flights in my holiday travels- and I didn't leave the country or travel through Denver... sigh.

Happy end-of-the Holidays!

149

SMNetwork Archives / Re: Nutcracker

« on: Dec 19, 2006, 02:56 pm »

1 1/2 hours ish company class on performance days we end class about 10 minutes before the House Opens. Just enough time to brush up whatever needs rehearsed and sweep downstage of the curtain.

Company Class is 1hr 45min when not in performance.

We cut it pretty close, but we just do a sweep- no mop. One mop per performance week- and that happens before class. The TD of the space does it so as to inconveinience me the least. He's the grooviest!

I once worked for a comapny that had studios in the same bldg as the perf. venue- no class onstage ever! It was so nice...

150

Tools of the Trade / Re: Binder Spines - I need your feedback!

« on: Dec 17, 2006, 12:14 pm »

Dymo label maker....