Messages

16

The Green Room / Re: Funding Shortage

« on: Jan 21, 2011, 11:37 am »

My Junior year of high school there was a teacher's strike which put an end to ALL extra-curricular programming for the entire year - no sports, no theatre, nothing that required teacher presence outside of school time.

In protest, we organized an afternoon walk out - all of the schools in town - the students all just left after lunch and then marched in protest to the local politicians office with big signs.  We were in support of our teachers, but we wanted our programming back.

17

The Green Room / Re: Tax Season!

« on: Jan 16, 2011, 04:34 am »

I live in an odd world where I am both freelancer & employee, depending on the company. But luckily for me, my father is an accountant and has, thus far, done my taxes for me each year.

While I haven't gone forward with the spreadsheet system yet (it's something I talk about every year), I do keep all of my receipts in a collapsable folder, sorted by "type" of expense - office supplies, clothing, food, theatre tickets, etc.  I sort them every couple of weeks and make sure to write on the receipt why it is being kept. If I'm writing off a meal with someone, who was it and what did we talk about, etc.  I know too many people who have been audited to not make those efforts.

I've looked at the forms for doing it myself, but it's one more headache I don't want to deal with. When my father is no longer willing and/or able to do my taxes for me, I will hire an accountant.  They know what they are doing far better than I do.

18

The Green Room / Re: First Jobs

« on: Jan 16, 2011, 04:29 am »

My first PAID SM gig was between my 3rd & 4th years of university.  It was the "Emerging Artist Production" at a local Semi-professional company.  I think I was the only one actually getting paid - and I was getting paid $400/week and community 1.25 hours each way.  It was crazy, and I'm pretty sure the director had me in tears the day before opening.  He was also the playwright and the AD of the company and was insisting on giving out re-writes the day before opening.  And my protests were certainly not listened to.

Prior to that, I had worked as an ASM (for free) on a handful of professional/semi-professional productions, as well as paid work as a theatre tech - hanging lights, running cable.  It was doing those theatre tech gigs that I learned a lot.  The TDs & PMs that I was working with were always ready to tell a story about something crazy they had lived through, and usually it was helpful.

It's now 6 years since my first paid SM gig and I am an equity member and make my living solely off of theatre.  That's not to say that there aren't still co-op shows on which you make $56 for a 3-month commitment...there are.  But things always seem to balance out over the course of the year, and my rent still gets paid every month.

And as for the story maximillionx shared about actors guessing his age - I've never once had an actor correctly guess my age.  They inevitably guess at least a couple of years older than I actually am.  Which was nice the year that Q2Q fell on my 19th birthday.

19

The Green Room / Re: This one goes to Eleven!

« on: Jan 15, 2011, 11:20 pm »

Happy Happy Birthday!

January 2000 I was a HS Sophmore and was about to begin doing props for my first student directed 1-act.  Little did I know I would also end up doing costumes and SMing the show by the time it opened.

20

The Green Room / Re: Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark

« on: Jan 06, 2011, 02:37 am »

I read a really interesting review of Spiderman: Turn of the Dark today.  You can find it here: http://parabasis.typepad.com/blog/2011/01/spider-man-turn-off-the-dark.html

If we ignore the massive safety issues for a minute, it appears that the story is just as much of a mess.  And I don't care how great your spectacle is if the story doesn't work.

21

The Green Room / Re: Suffering from what I call "theatredox"

« on: Jan 05, 2011, 07:34 pm »

I think I was more productive in the first three days after Seussical closed than I had been during the entire run. I read 3 books, watched 15 episodes of TV shows (I'm working on Alias Season 4 and The West Wing Season 2), had four meal dates with friends I hadn't seen enough of, cooked real food, cleaned my house, cleaned out the fridge, did a giant amount of laundry, and slept whenever I felt like it.  It was a great feeling.

That said, I'm excited today to be leaving town because I find I never really take a break unless I get out of town.  As long as I am at home it is far too tempting to volunteer, to see theatre, and to talk theatre with folks.  When i leave town and visit friends or family, the visits are mostly theatre free and a good chance to rest.

22

The Green Room / Re: set design extending into the house -

« on: Jan 03, 2011, 04:05 pm »

And its not just set design extending into the house.  I don't know if any of you have experienced this before, but I've done a couple of shows now where they have included  a "scent" design.  For example, one show had me mopping with a pine tree aromatic oil in the mop water to give the theatre a hint of forrest smell.  Another had real red wine in places that it could be smelt to stimulate the sense memory within the audience.  I think that this is becoming more and more common as theatre's try to design the entire audience experience.

23

The Green Room / Re: Happy New Years!! My Resolution is....

« on: Jan 01, 2011, 01:00 pm »

...see LESS theatre (I saw 80 shows this year on top of working 45/52 weeks this year as a SM).  I need to spend more time with friends, and enjoying other hobbies and activities.

...learn to relax.

...get the dental work done that I need but can't afford.

24

Employment / Re: Transitioning from non-union to CAEA

« on: Dec 15, 2010, 10:18 am »

@SMrose - No - they don't.  They do offer a list of SM's currently not working to engagers looking for someone though.

25

Employment / Transitioning from non-union to CAEA

« on: Dec 08, 2010, 09:12 pm »

Background:

I have been working professionally as a non-union stage manager for 4 years and found myself consistently turning down job offers.  This fall I joined CAEA in order to accept a position I had been offered.  At the same time as all of this I have transitioned out of a resident SM position and more fully into the freelance market. 

I sent out a large batch of resumes back in April looking for Apprenticeships and don't want to spam companies with another batch of resumes, but I do want to let them know that I am now an equity member and am available for work.  Anyone have any advice on how to let folks know of the transition?  I had thought of sending Christmas cards, but with notes informing them of the change, but I now fear that those would get lost in the mess of Christmas stuff.

As it stands, my current job ends Jan 1st and I have nothing lined up for after that.

26

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: VENUES: Shakespeare Outdoors

« on: Dec 08, 2010, 08:12 pm »

One of the biggest problems that we ran into the summer that I did Hamlet outside was high winds.  These would blow down branches from the nearby trees, and one night even threatened to blown over the fences around our site (these fences were to help keep the homeless from moving in to the set). The weather app on my iPhone became my best friend, as I compulsively was checking for wind warnings.

27

The Green Room / Re: audience callbacks- the ones you want, the ones you don't

« on: Dec 06, 2010, 02:48 am »

At the opening for Seussical (TYA) one 6 year old boy turned to his friend and said, "See! I TOLD you it was magical!" Can he come to every show please?

28

The Green Room / Re: Best mentions of a stage manager in the press

« on: Nov 29, 2010, 05:43 pm »

I used to be contracted by a local film acting school to stage managing their final semester projects twice a year.  Basically I'd show up at load in, get them set up, tech the show, run the show and oversee strike.  All in all it would be less than a week's work, but they had money.

On a particularly bad production, a local reviewer wrote "This was a fine production. The set was well-designed, the light and sound cues were well-timed, and all in all, from the evening performance full houses, according to Willes, this production was well-received. Congratulations to the cast and production staff for a job well done, and I look forward to seeing their future projects."  The review basically ignored the entire production, but was sure to mentioned that the light and sound cues were well timed.  HA!

http://www.reviewvancouver.org/th_memory09.htm

29

The Green Room / Funnest Tech Run Ever

« on: Nov 28, 2010, 04:32 pm »

Yesterday following an extremely tight Q2Q we had time to do a tech run of Seussical (TYA).  All through rehearsal we had joked that the tech run would be a time for people to goof around a bit.  And luckily a few of them did.  Our Monkey's entered with Bananas at one point and Mr. & Mrs. Mayor took every opportunity to make out.  In addition, we lost our JoJo before the run through (due to child labour laws) so another cast member who played joJo in a previous incarnation of the show climbed into the miniature bed and sang JoJo's songs.  It was very very fun.

So I guess my question for you all is, what's the funnest little joke that has made you smile during tech (not something that was totally inappropriate).

30

The Green Room / Re: What was the last nice thing someone did for you?

« on: Nov 24, 2010, 10:22 am »

It's the little things -

Yesterday when I sent out line notes after our run of act 1 one of the actors, who has been feeling a bit overwhelmed the past few days, emailed me back to say "Thanks Lois! Amazed at your detail!" and that meant a lot.