Messages

16

Tools of the Trade / Re: Do you prefer Word or Excel?

« on: Feb 18, 2010, 08:38 am »

I have to agree with others on this, I love/hate both equally.  I find that combining them, using mail merge, is also helpful and allows the actors to think that I have personalized things for them, when I haven't.  I have also recently started using Publisher, which allows me to more completely manipulate what I put on a page that I need to print out.

17

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: COSTUMES: How involved do you get with costumes and wardrobe?

« on: Feb 16, 2010, 08:29 am »

I guess that my perspective is a little skewed, in all of the time that we have been working on our productions we haven't had a stage manager per se.  I very often am the person backstage keeping us together, as well as the one trying to get us organize before hand (that would be how I found this forum).  And I have to be a little pedantic about the last post - as stage manager, aren't you the source of forms and organization and the motivation for communication? Leave the sewing and construction to those of us who know about such things, but you could help us out by giving us tools to help us do our jobs.

18

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / COSTUMES: How involved do you get with costumes and wardrobe?

« on: Feb 15, 2010, 10:36 am »

Among otherthings, I am the robe mistress, and know from experience that any feedback from the director/ stagemanager/ choreographer is helpful.  Costuming can be so crucicial to a production that it makes or breaks a production - take Annie, w/o the red dress it's just the story of a perky orphan who gets adopted by a rich guy.  I've only ever seen a dress get applause once- and that is when Annie walks on stage in her iconic dress and wig. Sorry for venting, pet peeve. 

19

Uploaded Forms / Re: Costumes and Wardrobe

« on: Feb 15, 2010, 08:17 am »

In the school that I work at the students supply a lot of the costumes, I'm sure that it is the same with alot of amature productions.  Mail merge is such a useful tool.  I take my costume plot (created in Excel) and merge it into a Word or Publisher document and create sheets to let the actors know what they need to supply.  I've attached a sample (as a PDF) of the Publisher file that I'm using for this year's production of Annie Jr.  If you want the publisher file, I can email it (its too big to fit here as an attachment).

20

Uploaded Forms / Re: Costumes and Wardrobe

« on: Feb 07, 2010, 08:50 am »

My director is less than articulate about his vision for costumes for our productions, so this is the form that I created to force him to describe what he thought the characters should look like.  It's worked pretty well.