Messages

136

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Tech or Church?

« on: Oct 27, 2007, 12:51 pm »

I know this thread was originally started about a designer missing a tech, but seems to have evolved since that... 

That is the unfurtunate consequence of using an emotional touch-off word or concept.  I found myself reacting with an emotional response to the off-topic comments, which is always a bad situation to be in.  This thread would have been totally different if the nature of the SD's conflict had been different.  The focus would hopefully have been centered on the timing in which the warning was given, and the SD's implied (since there was no contract) commitment.

-Centaura

137

Employment / Re: University/drama school Vs. real world experience

« on: Oct 26, 2007, 03:20 pm »

I would reccommend a university verses a drama school, as the first is a more widely accepted form of higher education, and there might be a day some point in your future, 20 years from now, when you're burned out of theatre, or want to settle down with a 9to5 so that you can have a life and family - a university degree is going to look much better than a drama school.  I also feel that you get a fuller education - drama schools are good for drama - but there's more to the world than just theatre, and things about the rest of the world can be applied to theatre.


-Centaura

138

Employment / Re: spin-off on the name dropping...

« on: Oct 26, 2007, 03:11 pm »

I've never really looked favorably on name-dropping.  I find that it doesn't really mean anything, or says something negative about the person dropping the name. Saying that you know someone does not indicate how that person feels about you, whether they reccommend you, or even liked you.  Answering truthfully, when asked if you know someone is fine, but trying to gain influence off of someone else's name I don't think gets you very far.  But, if they do have names, even if they are just regional, they might be good resources to ask about their contacts.  Do they know any good internships or oppurtunities that you might be able to apply for?   Are they working on a project that you could apply for a position on?  Do they have any advice for you getting started?  If they've worked on enough shows with you they should have a feel for your strengths, and can hopefully give you some tips to get you on a good start.

-Centaura

139

Employment / Re: full time or part time?

« on: Oct 26, 2007, 12:37 pm »

Its possible to have SMing be your full-time day job.  One thing that you might need to do, if you have experience working for not much money, is to switch where you're looking for job ads.  Low-paying jobs are more likely to be on free websites, while higher paying jobs are listed in places like ArtSEARCH, which is a paid subscription service.  ArtSEARCH isn't cheap - but it can be worth it.

-Centaura

140

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Tech or Church?

« on: Oct 23, 2007, 04:41 pm »

Tech should not be allowed to be on Sunday mornings to begin with.

To take my moderator hat off for a moment so I can be inflamatory, why should one religion get special treatment over every other religion?  I know that its PC to declare that Christianity's holy time should be honored above all others, but not even every christian sect meets on Sunday mornings.

Okay, I'll end before I enter into a rant.

Back to being a reasonable human being, I think the resolution to this boils down to what the contract said the time obligations were, and whether any unions and their regulations were involved.  If the theatre doesn't have something in their contract that covers time changes, then they're stuck with people's out of job commitments, no matter what they are.  The PM's personal feelings about the commitment have nothing to do with the SD's contractural olbigations.  That is what this thread should be about - was the SD in conflict with his contract? - instead of opening up the pandora's box of religion and its highly emotion responses.

-Centaura

141

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Spiking on crazy floor treatment.

« on: Oct 17, 2007, 11:29 am »

If the burlap is still accessable under all the three-d additions, you might be able to weave or tack some pieces of fabric into it for your spike marks.  Or tie colored yarn at the strategic points.  Similar to how someone can put a piece of fabric into a fly rail line to mark a spike.

-Centaura

142

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Tech or Church?

« on: Oct 17, 2007, 11:25 am »

It sounds like the issue is more with how the sound designer approached saying he couldn't come in, and the shortness of the notice, verses what he was doing.  I agree that if someone has a commitment, no matter what it is, that he's been given too short a notice on to cover himself, then he should be excused that first hour.  Without having to explain what his commitment is.  But he needs to approach it from that point of veiw - saying "I am committed to do something that I can't get a replacement for".  If he wants to say what it is, then he opens himself up to having the PM's personal feelings on the subject brought into the picture. 

Has anyone else ever dealt with this?

The closest I ever came was the rare actor on tour who was really religious, and wanted to make as many church services as they could.  Most of them were very understanding that they had to work their religious desires around the constaints of the job, and if they couldn't get the tour vehicle on Sunday morning, or we had a show, they dealt with it.

-Centaura

143

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: The Most Qs Ever

« on: Sep 29, 2007, 12:11 pm »

The one show that I DSMed in my apprenticeship in London had several hundred cues -  a production of Jane Eyre - I can't remember any more the exact number, but I had three total pages in the 2 hours show that did not have cues on them.  I would actually cue the blank pages in the script for the other ops so that they'd know they could ask me a question in that time, because it was non-stop cueing the rest of the show.  It was the toughest one that I had done, as combined with the cues I was calling from offstage instead of a booth, which was what I was used to.  Keeping it all going while having to constantly monitor my own volume was tough.

-Centaura

144

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: High School Musical

« on: Sep 28, 2007, 08:33 pm »

My venue almost got the tour this Nov., as they've lost one of the cities on their itinerary.  But it didn't work out, so its now on our next year's season.  I'll get to see what the hubbub is about then.

-Centaura

145

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: High School Musical Touring Show

« on: Sep 27, 2007, 07:48 pm »

I think its a union tour right now.  It might be coming to my venue next season; if it does I'll be able to tell you a lot more about it.

-Centaura

146

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: I feel I have been cheated....am I really over my head...

« on: Sep 27, 2007, 07:46 pm »

The jargon used in theatre is wide and varied, and some times regional to boot.  The best way to pick it up is to be around it.  Reading threads here is a great, safe way to start - you can either ask in a thread about a term you're not familiar with, or start a new thread in the Novice board asking.  And just exposure to it will broaden your vocabulary.  I worked in theatre for 15 years before I got this job, and have learned new slang here that I was unfamiliar with.  Some of it is in reference to some venue-specific rigging practices, some to things I had just never been around.  Some of it is non-theatre related - I sometimes assist the facility engineer in the off season.  Just keep in mind the principles that you were taught in college, and use them as a base to expand from.  Just knowing what the term stage manager means puts you high above the average Joe on the street as far as theatrical knowledge goes.

-Centaura

147

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Word Use

« on: Sep 14, 2007, 08:52 am »

If opening is tomorrow night, it almost sounds like tempers are flaring in the last minute stress.  Something that has stressed out the producer caused her to snap over an inconsequential, and your patience with her after your history with her is low.  I would say its all going to be better after the show opens.

-Centaura

148

Employment / Re: Touring Shows question

« on: Sep 01, 2007, 09:20 am »

Are you an AEA member?  I thinki NETWORKS was AEA at some point, Troika I'm sure is AEA, they're fairly big-time tours.  My mind is blanking on the major touring companies right now.  I think Chamber gave equity points, but I might have that mistaken.

-Centaura

149

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Effective communication as it relates to today's technology

« on: Aug 25, 2007, 10:13 am »

Its a hard line to distinguish, as the technology is racing forward, and is leaving some folks behind.  I personally love email, and do most of my business that way.  It was a brilliant way to communicate while on tour, since I was often my working hours were outside everyone else's daily business hours.  I could send an email at 2am, ask my question, and not have to worry over the fact that no one would be at their desk when I called.  I'd get a reply when I was had time to sit at my computer and deal with it.

I have taken that habit of communicating via email to my new job, and it really annoys my boss.  He thinks communication should be handled via phone calls, and often tells me to call a person if I say I haven't heard back from them via email.  Its a complicated balancing act - what works best for you personally, as well as what works best in your overall environment.

-Centaura

150

Employment / Re: First Aid/Fire Guard

« on: Aug 23, 2007, 12:31 pm »

To certify with the Red Cross it's a yearly renewal and the Heart Association is a 2-year certification. No idea why.

They change their procedures if they come up with something that they think will work better.  I had gotten CPR/First Aid training in college, and I just did a recert for the first time since then.  They had totally changed almost all the CPR stuff, and added AED.  I'm glad that I did recert to get up to date with the new policies, and to learn AED since we have a couple around the building.

As for it helping get jobs - its been on my resume since day one, but I've never been personally asked in an interview.  I've used the First Aid skills in almost every production I've ever done, as well as in my personal life, so I consider the one of the best classes I ever took in college.  Is there any other options for cheaper classes that you might be able to take?  Maybe in a community center outside of NYC that you could get to by train?

-Centaura