Messages

166

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: How Many times have you stage managed?

« on: May 27, 2010, 11:36 pm »

In 15 years I have SM'd about 160 shows (plays/musicals, opera, and dance) and probably 20-25 one-off event type things.  Somewhere I have a list of everything I have ever done just for reference, which really makes me feel really old when I look at it!! 

167

The Green Room / Re: Trivia Tournament II: Electric Boogaloo

« on: May 05, 2010, 08:54 pm »

Here are the stats for this month...

1. ScooterSM (221 points, 1 wins)
2. blantonrk (220 points, 5 wins)
3. Lizzie (212 points, 9 wins)
4. rvhead (207 points, 4 wins)
5. scott (203 points, 6 wins)
6. killerdana (197 points, 2 wins)
7. ruthny (188 points, 1 wins)
8. loebtmc (182 points, 1 wins)
9. stagebear (141 points, 1 wins)
10. vsm (88 points, 0 wins)

Congrats to BlantonRK, who will pick categories for May.  I will send a PM with the categories to choose from.


Post Merge: May 07, 2010, 08:20 pmAnd the categories for May are:

Hobbies
Science and Technology 2
Celebrities 1
General Knowledge 8
Geography 2
History 3
People 2

Enjoy!!

168

The Green Room / Re: Asolo Stage Manager Retires...

« on: Apr 19, 2010, 09:38 pm »

Thank you for sharing this!  What a wonderful inspiration!

169

The Green Room / Re: SMs in media?

« on: Apr 17, 2010, 11:04 pm »

Sing Faster is also available from Netflix...

170

The Green Room / Talent tells it like it should be...

« on: Apr 05, 2010, 07:21 pm »

Henry Rollins' post backstage at his concert...

http://bit.ly/cdesvH

It is wonderful to see someone who is a well known performer openly appreciate the work of the crew, and encourage others to do the same!

(Just FYI, the language is PG-13)

171

Stage Management: Other / Re: How To call a Dance Show when your Unsure

« on: Apr 04, 2010, 11:13 pm »

I would absolutely second everything BayAreaSM said!  The couple of small things I would add would be:

1) Don't be afraid to draw your self pictures (stick figures are your friends!) and use abbreviations (man/woman symbols, etc).

2) Your stopwatch is your friend, especially when you don't have a long time to learn the piece.  You can't ever call only from time (even with recorded music, it is never exactly the same twice), but it will give you guideposts of where approximately something starts happening.  It will make a big difference if you know you have 10 seconds before your next cue or 10 mins.  That way you know approximately when to start looking for a particular movement or listening for a music change.  It will really help with the anxiety of when the next cue will come.  When I don't have a lot of time to learn a piece, the first time I see a complete run through, I take copious notes marking the time of any major movement (man enters UL, big music tempo change, all jete' together, etc), so when we tech I have an idea where something comes or what it is before or after.  The notes don't necessarily mean anything to anyone else but they are a huge help for me.

3) Trust yourself.  Don't be afraid to take more notes than you need, and don't think that someone will say the way you are writing you cues is wrong.  You will make mistakes, but that is ok.

4) Breath!!!!!!

172

The Green Room / Re: Thread to vent about / Actors behaving badly / As haiku only

« on: Apr 02, 2010, 05:14 pm »

As is probably the woe of many of us New Englanders...

theatre is flooded
you left your shoes on the floor
they floated away

it flooded again
are shoes still left on the floor?
guess you'll go barefoot!

173

The Green Room / Re: Trivia Tournament II: Electric Boogaloo

« on: Apr 01, 2010, 11:15 pm »

The winners for March are:

1. ScooterSM (250 points, 6 wins)
2. killerdana (248 points, 4 wins)
3. scott (243 points, 5 wins)
4. rvhead (235 points, 3 wins)
5. ruthny (234 points, 3 wins)
6. loebtmc (231 points, 3 wins)
7. Lizzie (230 points, 4 wins)
8. stagebear (199 points, 1 wins)
9. blantonrk (197 points, 1 wins)
10. abennett (97 points, 1 wins)


killerdana will get to pick categories for April.  Check for a PM with options.  Also, since there were no major objections, we will go to the setting where we all get the exact same questions each day.

Thanks!!
Post Merge: Apr 02, 2010, 10:07 amHere are the categories for April.  Thanks killerdana for freeing us from the Theatre category!!

Animals
Movies 2
Literature 2
Celebrities2
History 2
Geography 2
General Knowledge 4

174

College and Graduate Studies / Re: SUNY Purchase vs. Emerson: Outside Perspectives?

« on: Apr 01, 2010, 10:22 pm »

On a positive note about Emerson, I have hired several ASM's from there (both grads and students), and they have almost all been amazing (one person decided the position wasn't for her and quit after a week, but other than that...)
They have been prepared, quick thinkers, good at paperwork, and responsible stage managers.  Could it be that they were just SM type people who happened to go to Emerson? Maybe, but it seems like it also has to do with the training and disciple that they received at school.

175

The Green Room / Re: Trivia Tournament II: Electric Boogaloo

« on: Mar 25, 2010, 11:39 pm »

There is an option so we will all get exactly the same questions (now each person gets a slightly different set of questions).  Are there any objections to switching it so everyone has the same questions everyday?  If there aren't any objections by the end of the month, I will switch it at the end of the month.

Thanks!!

176

The Green Room / Re: Favorite brown bag lunch?

« on: Mar 16, 2010, 03:56 pm »

There's always the good-ole peanut butter (& fluff in my case) and leftover pasta.

Does the peanut butter and fluff go in the pasta???

177

The Green Room / Re: Trivia Tournament II: Electric Boogaloo

« on: Mar 06, 2010, 12:45 am »

Here are the topics for March:

Theatre
Mixed Bag
Movies 2
General knowledge 5
People 2
Science 1
World: General

I will change it in the morning (10am EST ish) so I don't delete everyone's score for today!

178

The Green Room / Re: Trivia Tournament II: Electric Boogaloo

« on: Mar 01, 2010, 12:10 pm »

How is it March already??!

Here are the winners for February:

1. rvhead (219 points, 6 wins)
2. killerdana (218 points, 3 wins)
3. ruthny (213 points, 6 wins)
4. stagebear (208 points, 1 wins)
5. ScooterSM (205 points, 3 wins)
6. blantonrk (196 points, 1 wins)
7. Lizzie (184 points, 7 wins)
8. scott (180 points, 1 wins)
9. stagegal1 (105 points, 0 wins)
10. vsm (94 points, 0 wins)


Congrats to rvhead, who will get to pick categories for March.  I will send you a PM with a list to pick from.

Thanks!!

179

Tools of the Trade / Re: Taping a ground plan

« on: Feb 23, 2010, 10:02 pm »

You can also mark the center point, and then 8-12 points (think of a clock, mark 12,2,4, etc) and then connect the dots.  The bigger your circle, the more points you will need to mark. 

180

Tools of the Trade / Re: Converting PDF Files Back To Word or Excel

« on: Feb 23, 2010, 10:00 pm »

Very useful!  Thank you!!