Messages

16

Tools of the Trade / Re: Excel tips

« on: Jan 20, 2012, 01:14 pm »

This might not be news to anyone, but I jumped up and down with joy when I discovered it: If you need to change the width or height of all your cells to one uniform size, select all of them using the arrow in the upper-left corner and drag the width/height of the first cell to the size you want. All cells will adjust to that size. Or if you want all columns to adjust to fit their widest cells, select all and double-click on the break between the first and second column headers.

If memory serves, "Repeat row/column" was located in File>Page Layout>Sheet on older Excel.

17

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Observational Awareness Training?

« on: Jan 16, 2012, 12:45 pm »

Thanks for all the advice, guys! I think my situation is somewhat unique in the business - I am the only crew member for these shows (actors are staged to move scenery as needed within the show), and we have one 10 of 12 in which to tech the hour-long shows. There really isn't time for me to stop and watch things for my own sake, or else we wouldn't get through the show in the time allotted. My actors aren't much help either, because they get so into "the world" of the play that when I ask them about anomalies post-show, they usually have no idea what I'm talking about.

BUT I've recently changed positions within the theatre, and will now be backstage as a PA for the AEA productions, which will give me a lot of great chances to test myself about differences etc.  So thanks for the advice, I'm looking forward to applying it!

18

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Double Casting Your SM

« on: Jan 08, 2012, 08:44 pm »

I was in a similar situation my senior year of college. I was stage managing a mainstage show, when an actor dropped out. The director had me take over his role. The character was onstage the entire time, but had only 10ish lines in one scene, so I was able to maintain all my stage managerial duties during the rehearsal performance. However, I was not able to call my own show (because I was onstage), which definitely sucked. I went along with everything at the time because I wasn't sure if I would get a chance to act again while in school, but with the hindsight I have now, I would have fought it more. I would have much preferred beging able to call my own show instead of being onstage the whole time.

19

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Observational Awareness Training?

« on: Dec 09, 2011, 02:42 pm »

Hey all,

I need to work on my observational skills when it comes to details - when watching performances, a lot of times something will look weird (a light brighter than usual, a set piece oriented the wrong way, etc.) but I doubt myself because I won't be able to remember for sure what it is supposed to look like. So either I won't include it in Notes because I'm not sure whether I'm correct, or I'll mention it and I'll be told that's how it always has been.

Beyond just paying more attention to the details, do you guys have any recommended exercises or training for cultivating that skill?

20

The Green Room / Re: Thread to vent about / Actors behaving badly / As haiku only

« on: Dec 03, 2011, 10:31 pm »

Read your new line notes.
You think this is for my health?
I had plans last night.

21

The Green Room / Re: Pavlovian Response ?

« on: Dec 03, 2011, 10:29 pm »

I worked on a show that used The Police's "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic." When the song gets to the "Eee-Oh-Oh" refrains towards the end, an actress was staged to enter screaming and crying, cutting the song out on a 0-count. Three and a half years later, when I hear the song get to that refrain and then continue, I get extremely nervous because the actress must have missed her entrance.

In a less intense Pavlovian response, the theatre I currently work at did Xanadu this past winter. There was a specific mystical chime that played immediately before each of Kira's entrance, which was usually followed by a "Sonny Maloooonnnnne" in an Australian accent. This fall we did Cabaret, and what did the musical director choose to use as the mystical chimes that play when Fraulein Schneider opens the bag and sees the pineapple? At every Cabaret performance at least one crew or cast member showed off their best Australian accent when the pineapple was revealed.

22

Uploaded Forms / Quick Change Plot

« on: Oct 07, 2011, 08:35 am »

Attached is the QC Plot I made for a production of Charlotte's Web. Information includes what page the change occurs on (you can also add timestamps), who the actor is, where they exit before the change, where the change takes place, what they are changing out of, what they are changing into, where they enter after the change is complete, and what the change consists of. To make this form, you need a complete Entrance/Exit plot (or the blocking script), and a piece list from the costume designer.

I learned the basic format (modified since) working as an Intern at the Children's Theater Company in Minneapolis; this plot is not from a show done at that theatre.

23

The Green Room / Re: What one item do you think describes our profession?

« on: Sep 30, 2011, 11:34 am »

The complete prompt script book (that holds the calling script, blocking script, plot/costume tracking sheets, etc.)

24

Tools of the Trade / Re: Flashlights?

« on: Aug 30, 2011, 07:34 pm »

I have a Ray-o-Vac mini flashlight with clip-on gels, which I really enjoy.

As for the second part of your question, you can check out flashlights like theatres check out scripts to their actors. Each flashlight gets a number (silver sharpie, or if they have a metal case you can etch the numbers in), and the SM keeps a list of which crew member has what number flashlight. When the crew members are given the flashlights, they're told the value of the flashlights and that they are responsible for returning the flashlights to the SM at the end of the run, in good working order, or else they will owe the department the cost of the flashlight.

25

Tools of the Trade / Re: Arc Customizable Notebooks

« on: Jun 30, 2011, 04:03 pm »

The Circa system is also available through Levenger:
http://www.levenger.com/pagetemplates/navigation/products.asp?params=category=326|level=2

26

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: PROMPT SCRIPT: Books of the unconventional variety

« on: Feb 07, 2011, 11:54 am »

At my theatre, at the start of tech everyone on run crew gets a master run list (created by the PA) that covers who does what when; whether the cue is given over headset, via cue light, visual, autofollow, etc.; the shift number of each move; and any notes. The run list covers moves made by actors of furniture during the action of play, behind the scenes shifts, prop hand-offs, everything. As tech progresses, it is each crew member's responsibility to take notes of what they do that changes, and turn their notes into the PA at the end of each night. The PA then updates the run sheet, redistributes, and the process starts again.

There are some shows where the run sheet has ended up being 20 pages long, which is a large amount of paper to have shoved in your back pocket during a show. I usually type up a personal run sheet in Excel that lists just the shifts that I am involved in, and add personal notes ("remember to X US to [actor] to prevent traffic jam", "You need to haul a** back on deck after this shift to make the next one...").

The PA has a master copy of the script backstage, but I've never seen it referenced during the course of the show; we only use run sheets.

27

The Green Room / Re: Thread to vent about / Actors behaving badly / As haiku only

« on: Jan 29, 2011, 09:14 am »

To break the trumpet
You must pull from both ends, please.
Not whack against leg.

(actor having trouble following directions for the rigged-to-snap-in-half trumpet in Xanadu)

28

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: REPORTS: Referring to Stage Manager IN the report

« on: Jan 16, 2011, 10:52 am »

The style of performance report already established at the theatre I work at before I arrived was bullet points and fragment sentences. I'm low enough on the ladder that rocking the boat would be looked down upon, so I follow that example, which oftentimes omits proper nouns if they're not needed for clarity's sake. Examples:
"LX 37 late - operator error"
"LX 37 late - calling error"
"SL portion of deck was not fully swept before 1/2 hour; [Actor Name] had traction issues at top of show and almost fell"

In the props or sets section when something needs a touch-up/more consumables, I almost always refer to stage management as we (even though it's a one-person team), "The papers on [Character Name]'s clipboard are getting wrinkled, may we please have some back-ups?"

29

The Green Room / Re: Snowed in in the South

« on: Jan 13, 2011, 10:21 am »

We had to postpone the first read-through of our season opener a day and a half because at least two of our cast members were having a sleepover in the Atlanta airport and couldn't get a new flight to Northeast TN. Back in December, we had a whole mess of snow dump on us resulting in seven canceled shows. Six of those were school matinees where every single one of the schools slated to attend were closed, but one show was canceled because a tree fell into a powerline directly behind the theatre, knocking out power to half the town. Hard to do a show that relies heavily on an electric motor to rotate the stage when there's no juice in the entire building (plus no lights). But the crew was able to hang out in the greenroom all afternoon and watch the tree smoke, burn, and arc. We ordered a pizza and watched the firemen and power company fix things.

30

The Green Room / Re: Best one-liner from a performance report

« on: Jan 05, 2011, 11:28 pm »

"When [actor] pulls down boxers to reveal the pimples on his butt, the balcony can see the under-dressed red leather thong beneath."

From a production of The Full Monty.

(Edited for mild profanity.  ~T_G)