Messages

16

Employment / Re: Touring as a Married Couple

« on: Feb 09, 2014, 07:24 am »

As far as touring goes, you have a hard road ahead of you.

I would certainly mention the fact that you would like to tour together in your cover letters.  It's hard to find a touring job in general, especially when you don't have any touring experience, and adding on wanting to be hired as a couple makes it even harder to find a job.  Not to say that there aren't some benefits for a company to hire a couple - saving on rooming costs, employee happiness, etc.  Being a bit flexible would probably be your best bet.

Being willing to do several different jobs on a tour would certainly work in your favor - IE if you're ok working as a PSM or an ASM or as props or as a carpenter, etc. 

If you get hired but your husband does not, is he willing to travel along with you as your 'road husband' or vice versa?  It could help you break into the touring industry, and if a spot happened to open up on your tour that he could fill, he would certainly have an in if the company liked you!

17

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: PROFESSIONALISM: Wedding Proposal on Stage

« on: Jan 17, 2014, 09:06 am »

We currently allow for proposals at our shows which we have a set-up for in a very specific way that kicks off the show before the 'show' actually starts.  But the company has been evaluating how often they happen (for our show just every few months) and if we want to continue to allow them.

The audience goes wild for them.  People always come up to the couple afterwards and excitedly congratulate them.

I know of a few Broadway tours who have allowed curtain call proposals.  One was for two company members.  But always at/after curtain calls in a way that makes sense for the show...

Another thing to consider if you allow the proposal to happen, will the proposee say yes?  There was a time in another show within my company of someone who said no once, which obviously was a horrible thing to happen during a show.  Now every time we entertain the idea of a proposal in our show, we make sure to vet the people as much as possible.

18

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: SCHEDULING: How much information do you give actors?

« on: Sep 28, 2013, 01:24 pm »

I would say don't give out the detailed schedule with more than 24 hours notice - they should assume that they will be called for all the rehearsals.  It would be better to have an unexpected amount of time off then to make plans and have to cancel them because you got called in when you weren't expecting to.

19

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: SCENERY: Sand Onstage

« on: Feb 26, 2013, 01:25 pm »

We used a rake to clean up the pile of sand in the middle of our set and make it look pretty.

20

Self-Promotion / Re: Off to China

« on: Feb 23, 2013, 12:51 am »

Congrats Matthew!

21

Tools of the Trade / Re: The Curse of Drop Box

« on: Feb 21, 2013, 10:35 am »

Another option - PDFing your files.  If you want, you can PDF them so no one can even copy and paste and you can PDF so you can't print them either.

22

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: PEOPLE: Working with an IA crew

« on: Feb 20, 2013, 10:17 am »

I've always done my own spikes when working with an IATSE crew, but it seems like that is NOT the norm.  I would love to hear from others about who spikes!

When in doubt, ask.  I've toured through a ton of union houses, and they are all quite a bit different as to who deals with setting up our pit seating, who is and isn't allowed to load weight, etc, and how strict they are.  Some of my road head carpenters have left it to our ASMs oversee the crew, and some really want to do it themselves.  Talking with your TD is a great first step.

23

Stage Management: Other / Lyric Opera - Firebreathing accident in dress rehearsals

« on: Feb 05, 2013, 02:26 pm »

http://my.chicagotribune.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-74290934/

Thankfully he's going to be ok!

24

Tools of the Trade / Re: Backstage Emergency Kit

« on: Jan 15, 2013, 03:32 pm »

We do exactly what Matthew does - we carry Tylenol, aspirin and Ibuprofen.  Everyone in the company knows where in our office they are stashed, and if someone needs us to bring it to them, we bring all 3 options to them (never giving them the pills ourselves - only the bottles).

25

Stage Management: Other / Re: Special Skill: Basic Rigging and Automation

« on: Jan 01, 2013, 02:35 pm »

This is a good topic!  I've been looking for a way to indicate my experience/knowledge about automation as a SM without implying that I myself can run/program automation (actually, in an emergency, I could run the automation board on this particular show - just out of interest I've had our auto guy show me how, but that's aside the point). 

At this point, I haven't put anything about automation onto my resume because I don't want to make people assume the wrong thing, but I feel like a lot of the resumes we see with automation on them mean SMing a show with automation rather than technical knowledge.

26

The Green Room / Re: What about my dog?

« on: Nov 12, 2012, 12:14 pm »

Dogs are generally not allowed on tour.  BUT, I've seen it done and it was a big hassle for the actor who had one.  The actor who had one was not allowed to bring it on the tour bus (he would fly when we bussed), but brought it on our company flights (and was responsible for paying for separate fees and checking with all the airlines ahead of time).  Also, the actor had to call all the hotels ahead of time and arrange for the dog, and pay any fees that he incurred because of it.

27

Tools of the Trade / Re: Portable Measuring Tape for stage spacing

« on: Nov 12, 2012, 12:09 pm »

Our head carpenter made one for us.  He took two cloth measuring tapes (any kind will do, but here's a link to one), cut each of the rolls in half (so if they were both originally 300', they would now be 150') and taped them together at 0.  Then rolled the new tape back up in one of the rollers.  It's super useful for spiking and such. 

I've never found one it stores...



Moderator note: modified hyperlink for cleaner look. -kmc307

28

Tools of the Trade / Re: Help with a sweaty actor

« on: Nov 02, 2012, 02:23 pm »

Instead of t-shirts under the costume, could you try under-armor, and put the pack on top of it?  It's pricy, but pretty good at absorbing sweat. They have a variety of colors and thicknesses....

29

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: NOTING A PERFORMANCE: How do you maintain a show?

« on: Nov 02, 2012, 02:07 pm »

Related question: If you were "stage manager zero" on a show that went on to a long run, how would you feel about a new SM on the gig calling you a few years down the road for pointers? Would you be willing to talk about it? Would you expect to be paid for the consultation? How about if you left the show under less-than-favorable circumstances, would you feel the same way?

Of course!!  Countless times I've relied on previous members of the crew on my current show for troubleshooting.  And I would fully do the same without expecting to be paid.  Like Matthew said, it's a professional courtesy, and it'll come back around.

30

Employment / Re: Touring Job posting

« on: Oct 30, 2012, 12:44 pm »

I know they do.  However, they recently posted on playbill and backstagejobs, which they don't often do....so I figured I would post it