Messages

16

Employment / Re: So...I want to go on tour

« on: Jul 26, 2006, 10:02 am »

I am a younger Non-Equity Stage Manager. I work for a small company called the California Theatre Center. People have mixed feelings of the company. It is a really hands on job and has its quirks like any company, but I have gotten to tour, see part of the country, make decent money with health insurance, and even teach children 8-18. I don't know if it is going to help me onto a larger tour, but for not I'm able to pay my bills by stage managing and get a taste of what touring is like. We do only children's shows during the schoo year and have a rep season at our home base during the summer. If you ever want to check them out their website is www.ctcinc.org.

Food for thought,
Gina

17

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: prompt books

« on: Jul 26, 2006, 01:10 am »

I have two prompt books from college, one from a musical which I called from the score, and one from a straight play. I've kept them more as a momento than anything else.

I would like to introduce one more facet to this topic. As I am also returning my prompt books to my company (I do about 7 shows a year there), how important is it that I make copies of them? How often do you need a prompt book in an interview? How much does it matter if it is an older example of your work if it is still an accurate depiction of your style? I do have a portfolio of different sorts of paperwork, etc. I'm in the process of updating it. At meat-markety SETC interviews, I brought both and after seeing my portfolio, I was rarely asked for my prompt script. How different is it in the "real world"?


Thanks for any insight,
Gina

18

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Creating a call script

« on: Jul 15, 2006, 04:42 pm »

I use Post It flags. They are amazing. This past year I've started touring and my calling script was taking a beating. We do children's plays that are only about 40 pages, so I just put each page in plastic sheet protectors. My pages never rip out, my flags are saved even if it is 1 degree in yakama, WA or 95 degrees in southern California. I also take notes in my script with dry erease pen for my sound levels for that house or something that may need to work differently due to the venue. It has worked great for me. I don't know anyone else who does this though. I haven't joined the script typing way of doing things yet, but I'd love to if I could get alittle more prep time for an upcomming show.

19

The Green Room / Re: thank you notes

« on: Jul 15, 2006, 04:10 pm »

When I first started out, I would write thank yous to all the staff, cast, and crew for each show, usually for the closing weekend. More and more though, when I do summer stock work and I'm stage managing three shows...thats almost 150 people by the end of the summer. I prefer to do somethign more general. I've done a breakfast spread for a matinee or brought in food for between shows on a two show day. It lets the cast and crew know that I appreciate their work and it puts everyone in a great mood. Now I'm working with a children's theatre company and I've done seven shows in a little under a year. There just isn't any time. I work with the same twelve people all year. I make sure they know I appreciate them and ocasionally I'll send off a case of beer to a party or I'd bring in some snacks for tech to keep in the green room. I kind of feel that it would be silly to write my actors a thank you note every month. They know how I feel about them. We are more familiar than larger cast I've worked with and we just keep the respect going.


That's my opinion on it anyways,
Gina

20

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Scripts on cardstock?

« on: Oct 13, 2005, 11:08 pm »

I usually just use the white circular hole reinforcment stickers that you can get a million of for a buck or so, and they clip right into a 3 ring binder. When I Manage, I use just regular paper- whatever my script/score was copied/printed on. When I Deck Manage, I will often times keep my run sheets and check lists in page protectors on a single ring clip. Using card stock for that would probably be worth while though.....hmmmm, gotta remember that next time I Deck Manage.

21

SMNetwork Archives / stagemanager portfolio

« on: Jul 17, 2005, 04:57 pm »

I usually carry with me a portfolio and a prompt book. What I have found is that if I ask would they like to see my portfolio first, they usually don't ask to see a prompt book, or they flip through it just to check for thouroughness.

At Florida State, my alma mater, the stage managers have started to do a portfolio. These come in many varieties from scrapbookish collections to more streamlined electronic printed versions.

I usually use a mix of adobe acrobat, illustrator and occasionally photoshop. The benefit is that my portfolio can be printed multiple times rather easily, and corrections are also much easier and faster than standard glue mounted portfolios. Also, your whole portfolio can be put on a cd and mailed out rather inexpensively, rather than the cost of shipping a photocopy of my prompt script.

I feel a portfolio has its own benefits in some situations. First, you can show that you do have a creative artistic eye, without going to far out there. As a stage manager I am not a designer, but I need to make sure that Cues are executed with the eye of one.

Another benefit of a portfolio, is that instead of a line on your resume that says you have certain computer skills, you can SHOW that you are computer literate or savy. You can also show different shows- which is difficult to do with a prompt book. I can show a variety of deck trackings for different styles of show- showing that you are not just saying you are flexible, but SHOWing that you actually are.

I'm not big on bells and whistles with my protfolio, I like to keep it clean and simple, but I do like to include production shots to show the level of theatre for the production, to give them a feel for the paticulars of the show.

I would suggest still hauling a book with you. Some people will still want to flip through and read a randomly chosen daily report, ect. As I said earlier though, most people I have interviewed with seem to only take a token look though my prompt book, if that, after I present my portfolio.

I change up my format from time to time, depending on what I've been working on lately but I usually keep tracking sheets, any stellar paperwork, some blocking pages, some cueing pages- pretty normal enoug- but I have found people still want to see (what I feel is) the blander paper work. Meeting notes and Daily Reports which look boring (at least compared to deck tracking) shows alot about you as a stage manager.

In todays increasing technical world, it is easy to put together a digital portfolio, burn it to a disk, coordinate a label, and case cover with your business card and resume to give as a leave behind package. At first it sounded very corporate to me- (having done data entyr/marketing for so long) but it has grown on me. If you have strenghts in these areas, why not use them (just don't flaunt them).

22

SMNetwork Archives / kit

« on: Mar 16, 2005, 10:14 am »

I constaly add and remove items from my kit. Here are some things that I didn't think of originally when first building it though:

Scale rule
Gel Cutter
Gel Swatch Books
Shout Wipes
Coated Elastic Hair Bands
Extra Mag Lite Bulbs and Batteries
Lighter---smokers will love you
Adhesive velcor strips
Spare change
Germex Wipes--like purel but alcohol wipe style
Cuts of blue gel
map of the city
Extra USB cord
Blank CD-Rs (Some people don't have floppy drives any more)

I also have a small pocket sized box I got in the walmart travel bathroom section. It has several little dividers to it. In it I have:
Thin cuts of glow tape
saftey pins
pre threaded sewing needles
brads (For hole punch holes not for a brad nailer)
rubberband and hair tie
pre cut adhesive velcro strips
Shout wipe
Small post it note
mini golf pencil
Mag lite bulb

It is helpful for during tech and run, if I can't get to my kit (usually as an ASM) between the pocket kit and my leatherman I can get most things done.

Speaking of leatherman---I had a wave originally but I have seen the charge---it is amazing. The tools in the handle lock more like a gerber but it still has the accessible blades on the outside like the wave.

23

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Rehearsal/Performance Reports

« on: Mar 16, 2005, 10:00 am »

I've had some sparse reports but never a blank one. The top of my report is attendance date location and rehearsal log information and the lower half is reserved for notes. I usually like to keep general reminders for upcomming meetings or thank someone for going out of the way.  If there was a major blocking shift I would note it to the LD just in case. If I have nothing to say I just leave a standard "Nothing to Report, Thank You."

24

The Green Room / Food

« on: Mar 16, 2005, 09:53 am »

I like to cook a couple meals on my dark day closest to tech (when I have one) and make individual glad ware containers...the I have a variety of homecooked meals to choose from in stead of beef stew for a week straight. Sometimes I'll make a big easily portable meal to bring  in for the Green Room....great morale booster (just make sure is a tired and true recipee, I don't want to make my production staff into guinee pigs--thats what roomates are for.)

Snack Wise- Chips and Salsa are amazing! Carrots and hummus as mentioned before. Look at kid's afteroon snacks...easy, portable, no clean up---that's what I'm looking for.

Also....vending machines are evil, while convienent but you save about 50% by just buying a six pack of soda or water, ect and storing it rather than hitting the machine over and over....and when the machine is out---ahhh.

Well that's my two cents.