Messages

151

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Stage Management Kit

« on: Feb 28, 2012, 02:44 pm »

My kit is ridiculous, it's a giant toolbox, it rolls (about the size of a medium suitcase)

Link-
http://www.lowes.com/pd_174826-355-018801R_4294801867_4294937087_?productId=3017737&Ns=p_product_prd_lis_ord_nbr|0||p_product_quantity_sold|1&pl=1&currentURL=%2Fpl_Tool%2BBoxes_4294801867_4294937087_%3FNs%3Dp_product_prd_lis_ord_nbr%7C0%7C%7Cp_product_quantity_sold%7C1&facetInfo=

It's crazy and inconvenient and too big, but there is space for EVERTHING!

152

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Peer Gynt - Actor shifts and Tracking

« on: Feb 28, 2012, 02:12 pm »

Hello,

I am currently stage managing an undergraduate production of Peer Gynt. I have a cast of twenty-three. We are performing in a modified thrust theatre (proscenium that extends DS into a playing circle). All of the cast are doubling as the shift crew/costume crew. We are using a lift, orchestra pit and four trapdoors throughout the play.

Because the cast is also the crew, they are responsible for handling their own costume changes, keeping track of their hand props and shifting set pieces that come on and off of the lift. Does anyone know of a good way to compile a large scene  shift/costume change/actor tracking/props tracking sheet (that actors can easily understand)?

On the last show I did we performed in a 3/4 thrust so I kind of understand your pain. I decided to do an experiment with my paperwork on this show because it's educational, and that's why we go to school. I used a Who, What, Where type of run sheet that had all the information the actors needed because although I had ten crew members, all things moved onstage were done by actors, all backstage movements and presets and behind the scenes changes were done by crew.

Just to preface, If I had known how many movements and props and changes there were going to be I would have never done this. It's definitely not the prettiest thing ever but it worked, and had all the information needed on it and really wasn't even that hard to maintain throughout tech.

153

The Green Room / Re: ARTICLE: Another Intern suing . . .

« on: Feb 05, 2012, 06:10 am »

Interesting article, and yeah the line does get toed quite often, especially in our business.

154

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Equal-Opportunity Program?

« on: Feb 03, 2012, 03:02 pm »

That's why I think the interview process is so important, having met with some of the students at UNCSA, and going to a pretty tough program myself, it's really not  all about experience, although that is important, it is about attitude, personality, and commitment.  I had "fake" stage managed once in high school, before applying. Turns out I knew nothing about SMing but ended up liking it nonetheless, so I am happy I made that decision at 17 otherwise I would be three years behind in experience, and nowhere near building a career.

155

Tools of the Trade / Re: Tool Belt

« on: Jan 25, 2012, 03:13 pm »

I used to use this one:

http://www.lowes.com/pd_46184-1492-LTH-804_4294770562_4294937087_?productId=1209095&Ns=p_product_prd_lis_ord_nbr|0||p_product_qty_sales_dollar|1&pl=1&currentURL=%2Fpl_Miscellaneous%2BTool%2BBelts_4294770562_4294937087_%3FNs%3Dp_product_prd_lis_ord_nbr%7C0%7C%7Cp_product_qty_sales_dollar%7C1&facetInfo=

then I upgraded cause I needed more room and gave this to someone

156

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Humor: Stage Managing the World

« on: Jan 25, 2012, 02:21 pm »

My biggest thing is paperwork, sometimes when I'm bored I think about how this piece of paperwork like the forms in the doctor's office or at the dmv could be improved to better highlight the important details and make the differences between pieces of information more obvious. I told my teacher in a science class that I could not understand his syllabus calendar because it made NO sense, he was not amused.

157

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Dear Abby: What classes would you look for in a BFA stage management program?

« on: Jan 25, 2012, 02:10 pm »

I was in a one semester music theory class, I went in knowing how to basically read music from band in middle school, some people had no idea, by the end of the semester we all could read music and recognize intervals aurally, and identify chords.  I don't think you need much more than that, mind you our SM professor studied music so maybe we were lucky she was able to teach it to us from a "music for dummies" perspective.

Foreign Language should be a university requirement and you should just choose one (a practical one) cause it really depends on what you do for which language will be most useful, or maybe what you do might be influenced by which language you've learned...who knows?

 

As far as directing, I don't think you should directing as a stage manager . . . I want a stage manager to learn how to be a director . . . take control of a room, feel comfortable talking to an actor as creative force, shape a scene, pay attention to tempo, stage picture, etc, etc.

I agree with that about directing, what I don't agree with is an actor teaching actors about directing and leaving me behind, "I'm sorry if I'm not exactly sure of the definition of a "beat",  or if I don't understand the difference between incidents and functions, don't know what a superobjective is, or do my groundplans how a scenic  designer would and you don't understand them, or instead of doing a production analysis in color pencil in the script I use a chart (like a stage manager)  but isn't that why I am in this class?"

158

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Dear Abby: What classes would you look for in a BFA stage management program?

« on: Jan 22, 2012, 04:06 pm »

You can't fill up a "stage management" class with just the practical skills. we probably spent the first month or two learning to do the job and the rest of the year was, Project management, communication skills, dealing with unions, multitasking, interpersonal relationships, communication, copyright, and the seminar. I don't think each of those needs to be a separate course .

I took a scenic design course with hand drafting, but learned reading a ground plan in stage management class first. Honestly the skills I learned in SM are the ones I still use, the others are nice to know but not as practical.

I was excited for my directing class, but it ended up being terrible because it was taught by an acting grad student, and the whole class was acting oriented and SMs are the only "tech" student required to take it, so we could not really relate it to stage management, still got a lot out of it, but make sure the class is equally balanced and that the person teaching has some knowledge of our perspective beyond "I stage managed a bunch of times (because I couldn't get an acting gig)"

Acting class was very good and a requirement, having stage presence, voice, all of these things are excellent for SMs and just knowing a bit about how actors work, and the stress of their jobs too.

My college offered a "Theater Outro" course in our second semester senior year....basically an "I have a degree in theater, now what?" class on marketing yourself, putting together a resume, where to look for jobs, AEA, etc. While it was more geared towards actors (we didn't have many tech/prod students) what I did pick up was amazingly helpful.

Seconding classes in acting, directing, and lighting!

I think that's a little late to offer this course only because you want to have a wide range of experience by the time you leave school and the only way you're going to be able to apply to places and have that experience (like summer stock) is if you are a strong candidate from freshmen year on, then when you leave you will have a nice resume and already have tons of actual interviewing experience.

159

Employment / Re: ARTICLE: What can you "do" with a degree in theatre?...

« on: Jan 21, 2012, 03:33 pm »

The other article about the most "useless" degrees was whack! They didn't add any technical positions into their counts probably cause that would throw off their preconceived notions. Not every theatre person is an actor/director/producer.

160

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Dear Abby: What classes would you look for in a BFA stage management program?

« on: Jan 21, 2012, 03:32 pm »

As far as SM classes, I have found all of them useful! The two classes I found surprisingly useful were:

Business of Stage Management: Which is all about how to represent yourself, apply for jobs, and interview. how to make resumes and websites and use social media to your advantage. We did many mock interviews, phone interviews, it was an excellent trainging tool..

Music Theory: If you want it to be well rounded, training in Music theory is great because it helps you when learning to call operas and musicals, cause some people have no understanding of music so calling from a score can be difficult without this background.

Also there should be some time in classes, or a separate time (like an SM breakfast or lunch)  for discussion, most of the time as a beginning stage manager I just need an ear or fourm to discuss how things are going or ask questions, it's very helpful. 

Then of course classes in all the other technical areas cause you have to understand them to work with them. Costuming, Makeup and Hair, Scene design, Lighting.

The classes I found least useful were drawing and painting, while I see how these classes could be very useful for other design majors for me it has never come in handy, I learned a lot and it's a good skill, but as a requirement in the degree I found it arbitrary I could have taken any class.

161

The Green Room / Re: Things Stage Managers Say

« on: Jan 21, 2012, 03:12 pm »

"Hey, where are you?"

"You're late!"

"Totally did that already"   

"I need to pee!"

"I need to eat!"

"LOOK at this email she just sent to me!"

"Have I slept?"

"I haven't slept all week!"

"In tech last night..."

"No!"

"Yes!"

"Stop it!"

"shhhh!"
"Quiet please!"
 "QUIET please!"
 "QUIET PLEASE!"
 "Alright you guys we have a lot of work to do and it's difficult if everyone is talking, if you have something very important to discuss with someone please leave the room, but make sure you are back quickly and do not miss a cue."

"COMPUTER WHY ARE YOU NOT WORKING!"

"Check over this email before I send"

"Look in my SM kit!"

"Go to your fittings!!!"

"That was really good."

"Are you okay?"

"The audience didn't notice"

"Yes cause I have nothing better to do then, keep track of their schedule....I know!"

"Did you check the callboard?"

"Check the hotline"

"Check the website"

"Check your email"

"Check your texts"

"Check your voicemail"

"Check the other calboard"

"Check the calendar"

"Check the weekly schedule"

"Check the daily call"

"The director wants..."

"What happened?"

"What did you do?"

"Why are you late?"

"I'll see what I can do."

"I'll have to ask higher ups."

"We have a meeting"

"It's already _o'clock!"

"You went to Staples!"

"Staples Coupons!"

"His paperwork rocks!"

"They actually called to tell me, they're awesome!"

"Worst cast ever..."

"Best cast ever!"

"They were nice, just not the best fit for the job"

"They were great at their job, but sometimes you know different personalities sometimes don't work well together."

"Am I allowed to fire them?"

"Oh...yeah, they're...well I've...umm, I've worked with them before."

"I like run of show."

"I like the rehearsal process"

"I like pre-pro."

"I slept on my day off."

" I don't need to go back and run it again."

"Standby"

"Go!"
 
"Hold please!"

"shit, shit, shit."

"Is everyone ok?!"

"Stupid headset!"

"Stupid stapler."

"Stupid computer."

"Stupid pen."

"Where's my clipboard?"

"Where'd you get that pen?"

"Where'd you get that notepad?"

"You did this in excel right?"

"I LOVE BORDERS!"

"I update my resume weekly."

"Yes!"

"My stage manager sense kicked in."

"I saw the show, but all I could think about was how they were calling it."

"Can I quit?"

"Can I be fired please?"

"Why do i like doing this...oh yeah I forgot."

"Good job everyone."

"My whole closet is blacks!"

" Have a goodnight, see you bright and early."

"Woo first rehearsal"

"I feel like we've been in rehearsal forever.

"QUIET!"

162

The Green Room / Re: Nudity and Sensitive (Sexual) Material

« on: Nov 04, 2011, 10:36 am »

I'll certainly participate!

163

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

« on: Nov 04, 2011, 10:34 am »

Whenever my parents come I always put their reaction and since my mother always cries no matter what show, it' always a delight.

"...but they were still able to give a great show. (my mother cried)"

164

Tools of the Trade / Re: Flashlights?

« on: Oct 07, 2011, 10:05 am »

So the director wanted to rehearse a scene with flashlights, we needed one more so I let her borrow my baby (seen below) for some reason she gave that to an actor, and 10 minutes later he came over and grabbed another flashlight. I asked him where the other one was he said "umm not sure" I explained it was a $40 flashlight and he found it in 2 seconds.

165

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Designer Cue Lists

« on: Oct 07, 2011, 10:01 am »

Whatever way the designers send it, I just adapt to it (list, paper tech, on the fly). I find it much easier for me to adapt than to ask a designer to change anything (unless you want them to have a nervous breakdown). Either way I'm going to have to adapt them for my book. I would print out this digital script and write notes next to cues that I know what they do, then make a list if necessary.