Messages

166

Tools of the Trade / Re: Make the Clicking of the shoes STOP!

« on: Mar 14, 2007, 01:45 pm »

Ducky -

Try speaking with the Facilities Supervisor/Head Janitor at your school to see if they have extra rugs or carpets. When my high school mounted a tap show in the gym (oh, the noise!!) we made good friends with all the facilities staff and borrowed a dozen 4x8' rugs - the cheap, rubber-with-fiber ridges type. They were fabulous, and we repaid them with free tickets to the show and a special thanks in the program.

Best of luck!

167

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Paying for parking

« on: Feb 10, 2007, 12:52 am »

Hey GradSM - that's great! And you can use this time (with other students in your program? with other members of the production in general?) to build relationships with your colleagues - and that's great, too!

Glad this worked out - have a good show!

Meg

168

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Can someone please explain to me what an industrial is?

« on: Feb 08, 2007, 01:46 am »

Depends on the context - if your Wardrobe Mistress says "we need to buy an industrial..." then yes, chances are she means a sewing machine or other fabric/garment processing piece.

If a carpenter says "how about an industrial...?" it could mean all sorts of things - one of my best friends is a shop carpenter, and when I brought the term up with him, he gave me a loooong list of possibilities.

If you looked at an earlier post regarding interviewing for industrials - in that post, I used the term to mean a large conference/trade show event.

Hope this clears things more than it muddies the waters - I'm in tech, and have been knocking back industrial-strength coffee for breakfast!

Meg

169

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Paying for parking

« on: Jan 26, 2007, 07:24 pm »

Rebbe and scoot - I fully appreciate your comments. I think, however, that GradSM's post may have been written in a tone that the poster does not use when communicating formally or directly with the rest of the team. My reading of the OP is that this issue has caused concern and not inconsiderable discomfort, but has yet to snowball within the production context.

GradSM, I have been in similar situations. Granted, when I worked as a student PA, it was in a city where parking is affectionately referred to as HELL (read: Los Angeles). After I raised my concerns - quietly, gently, off-line - with the Company Manager, he looked into finding me parking. What we came up with was a limited parking pass - I could park on any levels that had "blue zones," meaning stairs-only access. While this did mean that I had to schlep up the stairs each time I left the theater on an errand and again at the end of the day, my car was closer than it would have been had I used the closest free street parking (which was a mile away, across a major boulevard). The limited pass was also, from what I understand, considerably cheaper than the other passes.

Here's a little brainstorming: if you are being reimbursed for mileage... that might be a way to work out a compromise. How about ditching the mileage and getting a fixed stipend for parking? Unless you're commuting 60+ miles in a truck, chances are that this will be a little more than the gasoline, but won't sound quite so much like kvetching about nickels and dimes.

I would strongly discourage you from making any threat-like statements... you are a student, and may be associated with this regional company directly through your school. Throwing around ultimatums will NOT earn you points, and may very well damage your prospects with the company and in the program at large. As a student, you are also probably receiving some form of financial aid or grant/loan monies; if the regional company does not have the protocol or resources to cover your parking, you might check in with the counselors at your school about scholarships for students who are working in the field. You never know when some $500 Rotary thing will show up.

Regarding scoot's comment about contracts - yes, do always read it. Twice, at least. I try to find a hard copy for my files, and, if possible, an e-copy so I can search quickly for terms if necessary. The glitch with this can be that many organizations do not have a cut-and-dried PA contract - it's pretty much whatever they need you to do, and unless there's some special agreement, the only official paperwork you'll get, ultimately, is a W-2. Questions about parking, travel, gasoline, food, housing if applicable, should all (always!!) happen in the interview.

Let us know how this is resolved.

Best,

Meg

170

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: marijuana and theatre (I dont know where to put this)

« on: Jan 14, 2007, 10:05 am »

Oso_te_great - correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you may be talking about high school/youth theatre. Is this the case? If so, then your responsibility as a student would be to speak - privately, calmly, etc. - to the adult in charge about your concerns. If this adult happens to be the person who worries you, go over their head, in the calmest and least tattle-ish way you can, and let the next highest person know what you see.

171

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Unprofessionalism

« on: Jan 08, 2007, 10:15 pm »

Oof.

Is there an established protocol for being a PA at this organization while enrolled as a student? What I'm asking is this: is this PA job viewed as part of your coursework? Is the LORT attached to your university? And - is this the sort of information the SM/PSM could get without your being directly involved? If it is, then my vote would be for you to avoid spilling the beans. If the SM is going to find out from another senior member of the company and/or school, that is a more appropriate channel, in my opinion. If you make it your project to tell the SM what your fellow PA considers (rightly or wrongly, not for me to say) a schedule conflict, that may reflect a bit un-fabulously on you. (I am assuming that you and the other PA are both relatively new to working with this SM - apologies if that is wrong...)

That said, this does tell you a lot about what the other PA can and will do. While it certainly isn't the be-all and end-all of her commitment to the job, I would take it as a lesson outside of the classroom - she opted to go for the dance class, and you opted to tape out and otherwise prep the space. Use this, as objectively as possible, to look at how your particular style of stage managing has already developed.

And - this may give you a golden opportunity to build a working relationship with the SM on this show. I've found that, if you make yourself available, it will pay off.

Best of luck,

Meg

172

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Dressing For The Part?

« on: Jan 06, 2007, 09:37 pm »

Beatr79 -- I'm in a similar situation to the one you were in as a PA.

After I stopped doing shows at my college (where sweatshirts and jeans with ratty tennis shoes were, generally, encouraged. Rehearsal rooms were sometimes rather dirty) I started looking for the handful of things I could wear that would look professional, but would also make it easy to do my work. So far, I've found that good shoes (for me, always leather -- boots, flats, heels at opening night) go over much better than sneakers. I wear slacks almost every day -- they are washable, tend to be a bit sleeker than jeans, and look more business-like. If I'm going to be hauling stuff around, taping floors out or running errands (esp. on foot), I wear a tank top and bring a light jacket or sweater to put on when I need to interact with cast, creatives, etc. Much as I love the kneeless jeans and frayed sweatshirts, they only come out on days off or after I feel the company has a strong sense of who I am and what I can do.

I have to confess -- I am not above wearing feminine clothing to work. No skirts, but girlie blouses (occasionally) feel right on special nights -- first preview, opening and closing will usually see me in prettier stuff. I have a stash of dressy sweaters that seem to work just fine for this.

Re-reading your post, maerzysm, it sounds like this advice was not delivered in the gentlest manner... I had some trouble with advice/commentary/mentorship from people at my college, and would be happy to PM with you about how certain situations played out.

Best,

Meg

173

SMNetwork Archives / Re: word usage?

« on: Jan 06, 2007, 05:30 pm »

Even if the words alone can be interpreted as cutting, offensive, aggressive, snippy -- saying things gently, clearly and with a smile will do a lot of the work for you. A smiling, encouraging "Have you accounted for X, Y and Z in tomorrow's schedule?" will be received more readily than the exact same phrase, delivered abruptly.

And "please" and "thank you" will get you anywhere

Meg

174

SMNetwork Archives / Re: Hi i'm jess from australia

« on: Dec 11, 2006, 10:18 am »

Welcome, Jess! You've come to a good place for pointers on getting started in SM courses. The Students and Novices forum has some great threads going right now - and you can also search the site for specific terms to see if there are older threads where specific issues/terms have been brought up.

Best of luck, and I'll see you around,

Meg

175

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

« on: Dec 07, 2006, 12:59 am »

No, I don't have any Advil, band-aids or tissues.

No, we don't need to run the preshow sequence. It'll be fine.

Oops, forgot the no-sandals rule.

Why do we need coffee?

176

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: In Need of *YOUR* Opinion!

« on: Nov 15, 2006, 10:38 am »

Having been in similar shoes not that long ago...

While my college does have a "Student Stage Management Guide," it is essentially a Word document that has all of the text and most of the diagrams you can find in one of the published books on SM - because the Head of Production wrote it. Very helpful (and hey, it's not a cheap book, so the free copy is welcome!!) but 180 pages isn't too welcoming, especially when you've just finished rehearsal, and need to know NOW how to handle a given issue.

Looking back at my first year, I would say that a department cheat sheet would be a great first step - a simple breakdown of who deals with what. A table listing each shop/department head, their email and phone, office/room, and a brief description of what areas they handle. Under department heads, list any assistants. For instance: the costume shop is going to handle building or renting garments; who is the cutter/draper? Who is the stock manager? Who will be on the dresser crew for the show? Is there a person in the shop who deal with anything exclusively - dyeing, renting, etc?

This list would take some time, and probably a good long talk with a production manager or director, to put together, but I imagine it might help.

You could also keep a show journal - document what you've done at the end of each day or week, and include brief notes on whether it was timely, last-minute, etc. I tend to dedicate the last page of my current notepad to "next time I'll do it like this" notes - everything from the layout of the sign-in sheet to snacks for tech to how to call breaks.

Hope this helps - it's wonderful that you are helping to lay a foundation for your classmates and future students. Best of luck.

Meg

177

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Red and Yellow and Blue and Green

« on: Oct 30, 2006, 01:22 pm »

Depends on what the show needs - the last musical I did had a number of locations with large pieces, but virtually nothing moved during scenes. We assigned a single spike color to each location. When I did a show with a multilevel unit set at my college, we spiked all ground-level pieces in green (like earth... or grass...), all flying pieces in yellow (sun...) and any moving pieces in red or blue, depending on whether the cast or crew were responsible for moving things. Stairs were in white and gray, depending on on/offstage position.

178

Stage Management: Other / Re: Interviewing for Industrial

« on: Oct 18, 2006, 09:16 pm »

The interview went well! I should know by the weekend...

FYI, it's a production assistant gig - I'm just getting my feet wet.

Thanks -

Meg

179

Stage Management: Other / Interviewing for Industrial

« on: Oct 17, 2006, 07:29 pm »

Hi all,

I'm about to start testing the waters in industrials. I'd love any pointers the SMNetwork has on good interview questions or conventions (what to bring, what to negotiate), etc.

Will keep you all posted on how this goes... I'm excited about looking at another side of stage management!

Thanks,

Meg

180

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Offering jobs, casting, sharing info

« on: Oct 07, 2006, 01:46 am »

Thank you, hbelden, for your response. Makes me feel worlds better.

An update - grab your pencils, folks, this is a good one: today, another company member called me, at TWELVE MINUTES TO FIVE - and it's Friday! - to "remind" me that I was responsible for calling the Equity rep in charge of the reading code to request copies of company-specific paperwork.

I will always be grateful to the lovely folks at Equity who not only helped me find the best person to talk to, but made a point of calling me back after their work day had officially ended to make sure I had the info I needed. Don't know what I would do without the calm and clear-headed people I spoke with this afternoon...

Many thanks to the SMN -
Meg