Messages

151

The Green Room / News: Canadian Theatre Festivals At A Loss

« on: Oct 24, 2012, 07:28 pm »

The Canadian press are reporting that  the Stratford Shakespeare Festival will finish its 2012 season with a significant deficit. Numbers aren't yet available for the other big festival (the Niagara-on-the-Lake Shaw Festival), but they were in a similar position at the end of 2011.

Neither festival is in immediate financial jeopardy (Stratford in particular is sitting on a $56m endowment), but it worries me that nobody seems to know what they're doing.

This summer, Stratford programmed 14 plays, of which only 4 were Shakespeares. Many of the productions are complimentary (MacHomer, Christopher Plummer's A Word Or Two, etc.), but then you get to You're A Good Man Charlie Brown, and it all comes to a screeching halt.

How exactly do you market a Shakespeare festival that incorporates Charlie Brown? "Come for Cymbeline and Elektra, stay for the kiddy musical?" (The answer: you don't. The rumour mill suggests Charlie Brown sold so poorly that the balcony was closed less than a month into the six-month run. Ouch.)

These festivals increasingly feel like two seasons wrapped into one, with very little crossover. On the one hand, the Shakespeare and the English-language canon; on the other, contemporary musicals, seemingly out of the blue. (Next Season: Othello, Blithe Spirit, Merchant of Venice, and... The Who's Tommy? What, like, seriously?)

152

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Working with a fellow student SM?

« on: Oct 24, 2012, 01:50 am »

I don't know about that. Yes, I think if they can organically come to an agreement it's a great thing, but this is high school we're talking about, not college. I've found most high school theatre to have very little bearing on how the pro environment behaves. While it's great to try and handle things like an adult, if the participants are not adults yet it might be useful to make this a learning experience for everyone involved.

I like this advice so much that I'm quoting it and fully intend to "like" this post, just to drive the point home. PSMKay is exactly right: the only thing you do when you try to force high school theatre to "behave" exactly like professional theatre is you make things inefficient, uneducational, and miserable--especially for those who aren't already "into" everything.

153

Tools of the Trade / Re: stopwatches?

« on: Oct 17, 2012, 06:51 pm »

I've actually taken to using a digital chess clock. (Not that exact model, but it's illustrative.) It's bulkier than a stopwatch (you can't hang it around your neck or stuff it into you pocket: it has to sit on your desk), but it's absolutely idiot-proof and utterly devoid of bells and whistles.

I use the clock on the left to record the "meat" and the one on the right to record the "gristle". (Actual rehearsal vs. notes and interruptions; run of the show vs. intermissions; etc.) Only one of the clocks will run at a time. To switch between them, you smash the button on the top of the clock. And both of the clocks are constant until you reset them: if you stop a clock at 00:05:00 and then start it again, it starts from 00:05:01, rather than going back to zero.

I always had trouble keeping my stopwatches straight (So I want to press the pause button but not for too long and I don't want to press the reset button and...) and I've also found that the chess clock is very easy to hand over to an assistant if I need to leave the room or hand the task off to someone else. ("When they're interrupted, press the button on the top to switch from one clock to the other. Press that same button to start it again. Do not press any other buttons." as opposed to "This button is to pause, this button is to reset, this button is to tare, this button is the lap timer, this button gets lonely sometimes and enjoys a little company...")

154

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

« on: Oct 15, 2012, 04:41 am »

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?

It would not surprise me to learn that this sort of discussion (if uncompensated) would constitute an Equity violation. It may also violate a contract you have with another company. (At the very least, while the clauses aren't common, I've definitely seen contracts which expressly forbade certain employees from working/consulting on/assisting with other shows for the duration of the contract.)

In terms of non-Equity shows, this has happened to me 2-3 times so far. (Once with a show I'd left, twice with shows which were being revived without my involvement.) The method I've worked out:
1) You're going to comp me a ticket or let me attend a run-through rehearsal, depending on which stage you're in. I will be taking notes.
2) We will then have a working meal, ideally take-out at someone's place. (So we can get out the books and go over notes and really get into the meat of it.)
3) I will claim the whole exercise as a tax deduction. (Maintaining good contacts and excellent interpersonal relationships, especially with companies for whom I have previously worked, is absolutely essential to my future employability. This dinner-and-a-show [but we won't call it that, now will we!] is a networking opportunity, will keep me in good standing with a previous employer, and might also include mentorship or industry-service opportunities. In short, it counts as work.)

As to whether you should do it, yes: you should. I'm not being entirely dishonest about everything I've said above: this is an opportunity to make some contacts, see how a piece you've worked on has developed and grown, do a little mentorship and industry service, and it will also make you look good to a previous employer. (Who is, of course, the likeliest person to employ you in future.)

As to whether you must do it, no: you don't have to. If you're morally opposed (working for free?! NEVAR!!!!!1!) or genuinely too busy or you left for damn good reasons, you're certainly under no obligation.

155

The Green Room / Re: Toronto's Princess of Wales Theatre is to close

« on: Oct 01, 2012, 06:34 pm »

That's the idea, yes.

Phantom ran for a decade, mostly on busses full of American tourists. Other shows (Crazy For You, Forever Plaid, etc.) had lengthy runs on a similar model. The model was in slow decline in the late 1990s (Phantom had closed, can you imagine?), but then September 11th happened and it suddenly got much more difficult for people to cross borders.

And then SARS hit in 2003, which basically cut off all tourism to Toronto for about a year. Lion King closed as a direct result, and since then, not a single production anywhere in the city has lasted longer than two years.

On the plus side, the Mirvish has had a string of major successes at the Panasonic, which they've developed as an industrial-looking, youth-oriented venue. Almost everything which pulls through the Panasonic seems to get held over. (And did I mention the youthful crowds who pack the place? Makes me just a little hopeful!)

156

The Green Room / Toronto's Princess of Wales Theatre is to close

« on: Oct 01, 2012, 04:28 pm »

The Toronto Star reported last week that the Princess of Wales, a 2000-seat venue, will be demolished.

The theatre, which was built to host Miss Saigon, specialized in long-running shows, most notably a 4-year run of The Lion King. It also hosted the ill-fated 2006 Lord of the Rings musical.

The catch: it opened in 1993. One of the city's largest and most prestigious venues, closing down less than two decades after construction.

The venue was explicitly built to host large-scale commercial theatre, but these shows are less and less viable. The most recent production to close, Billy Elliot, only ran for 37 weeks.

Meanwhile, a few blocks east, the Mirvish organization (which owns the Princess) has announced a "second season" of small-scale and indie theatre at one of their smaller venues, including a production which is being transferred directly from one of the city's fringe festivals.

tl;dr: Toronto's only commercial producer is divesting itself from large-scale musicals and instead throwing resources at smaller, more intimate shows in smaller, more intimate venues. Things are changing!

157

The Green Room / Re: Relief from insomnia

« on: Sep 28, 2012, 02:40 am »

I've had satisfactory results from over-the-counter sleeping pills. Boring, I know, but effective.

The catch is that even just taking a pill once or twice in a week will start to create a dependency upon them. It's helpful to think of the interaction as "borrowing": this pill will help you sleep tonight, but may make it more difficult to sleep tomorrow. (Since your body will be expecting that extra kick from the medication.) If that's a tradeoff you can safely make, go for it.

158

The Green Room / Reviews

« on: Sep 26, 2012, 07:04 pm »

I've noticed a local trend of stage managers or stage management getting mentioned in reviews. It's only happened 2-3 times in the last few weeks, but considering the usual treatment of stage managers (*crickets*), that's quite a change.

Have any of you been mentioned, plugged, hat-tipped, criticized, lionized, vilified or otherwise addressed in a review? (Directly? Indirectly? Someone else getting credit for something that was totally up to you?)

159

The Green Room / Re: Hell in a Handbag (A Game for Stage Managers)

« on: Sep 06, 2012, 12:30 pm »

If our insurance will cover it, I foresee no problems. Dress them in street clothes: all designers have closets full of plain blacks, they can count any wardrobe damage as a write-off, and it's not like we're paying for their health coverage!


New Note: The set designer has decided to "radically deconstruct patriarchal norms of theatrical performance vis-a-vis the dominance of subject over object" by seating the audience on the stage, with the show to be performed in the house.

160

The Green Room / Re: Things You'll Never Hear a Stage Manager Say

« on: Aug 27, 2012, 01:52 am »

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll get it perfect on the night."

"Guess what, everyone? Everything's finished, so we're going home an hour early! See you all bright and early for opening tomorrow!"

161

Tools of the Trade / Re: Radio mics - are performers too reliant on them?

« on: Aug 26, 2012, 03:23 pm »

I am not saying there are a generation of actors who may not have this talent, but there are also a generation of directors who want to be able to have an audience here an actor's wide range of their vocal spectrum – to an almost cinematic effect.

So this is an artifact of the cinematization of theatre? An interesting perspective. (But probably true!)

To be frank, radio mics irritate me. That little bump creeping out from under your wig? It always looks dreadful--to me at least. I actually prefer seeing featherweight headset microphones, even if they're inappropriate for the period: the wig mic is just as obvious, but the half-assed attempt to be discreet (like we're not going to see a white bulge in the middle of the performer's forehead?) bothers me for some reason.

I understand their utility, and I will admit that I'm beginning to associate acoustic performances with community theatre, but it's disappointing that you can have a musical with a company of 40 and everyone still needs to be mic'd up because none of them have learned to project and the back row would never hear it without assistance.

162

Tools of the Trade / This stuff looks so promising

« on: Aug 24, 2012, 01:08 am »

Adhesive-free tape. Instead of sticky stucky stuff, one side is covered in microscopic suction cups which bind to the surface.

In other words, all the cool stuff you can do with gaff, except now it's reuseable.

Is that cool or what?

163

The Green Room / Re: Show me your mugs! (Or water bottles)

« on: Aug 23, 2012, 11:52 pm »

Do you find it inconvenient to have to clean the "to go teapot" all the time while in rehearsals and such? Or do you just use it once and let the used leaves sit in the pot the rest of the day? I love the idea, but I feel like depending on location if I didn't have access to a sink where I could clean it fairly soon after use it would get kind of gross.

EDIT: Fixed formatting. -PSMK

I primarily drink herbal teas, and my go-to is peppermint, so I actually go 3-4 brews before I need to rinse it out or change the leaves. (It's not like a black tea where it gets all yucky and bitter if you let it sit too long. The taste gets weaker as you use them more often, but you just let it brew longer to make up for it.)

If you're into blacks or greens or whites, you may have more trouble with it.

164

The Green Room / Re: I like my theatre like I like my men...

« on: Aug 21, 2012, 04:35 am »

...with enough of a splash zone that ushers distribute ponchos to the entire front row.

165

The Green Room / Re: Show me your mugs! (Or water bottles)

« on: Aug 21, 2012, 04:30 am »

For cold drinks:



The top actually has three openings:
1) A twist-off cap, for when you want to take a nice big gulp.
2) A fold-out straw for sipping.
3) A one-way valve to let air into the bottle as you drink.

The one-way valve completely prevents the glug-glug-glug noise you get with similar bottles. An excellent innovation.


And for hot drinks:


It's a teapot with a twist: the bottom contains a filter and a valve. When your tea has brewed to your satisfaction, you plonk it on top of a mug. The weight of the pot sitting around the rim of the mug opens the valve, and the tea is strained into the mug, leaving the leaves in the pot.

I tend to go in for fruity herbal teas, and this has the added advantage of letting me see the teas as they brew: sometimes they're very pretty!

Of course, if you usually stick to teabags, a plain old mug is probably best.