Messages

166

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: SCENERY: Video

« on: Sep 24, 2010, 11:25 am »

I'm doing a show with video, right now.  It's still in development with the playwright, so we've acutally cut some that was called for within the play, and are just using three sections: One leading into the top of the show, one leading into the top of act two, and some throwaway footage after curtain call.  It acutally seems to be working out pretty well.  We're just projecting across the set walls, so that's not a problem.

We're using Q-lab to send it to the projectors, and there hasn't been a bit of problem with that aspect of it.  Adding fades, layering sound, and linking up light ques to the video has been a dream.  We have had a bit of a problem with projectors.  One of them has a sleep timer on it that we haven't been able to disable, so goes out if one of the acts runs a minute or two long.  The other is hung over the audience and the fan is pretty noisy.  And they're projecting some light, even when they're not projecting, so I've got two tie-line strings coming into my booth to work the manual dowsers (which occasionally get hung up).  But, overall it's been a good experience.

Video tip for Q-lab folks!  If you're using a lot of video make sure your video designer sets it up as all the same format!  I know Q-lab will run multiple formats even at the same time, but it can casuse instability and spontaneous crashing.  Two years ago, I was doing a musical with canned music and lots of projections, MIDI gos for the light cues.  HEAVY Q-lab stuff.  The first two weeks, it kept crashing on me, never in the same place, about every other show.  Finally, we chatted with Q-lab support, and they suggested putting all the video in the same format.  Never crashed again.

167

The Green Room / Re: What did you learn today?

« on: Sep 20, 2010, 01:23 pm »

Last night I learned that even if you do get a decent amount of sleep during tech weekend (first time that's ever happened!), you will STILL be a totally wiped out zombie by Sunday night.

168

The Green Room / Re: BEST ADVICE YOU CAN GIVE

« on: Sep 07, 2010, 12:22 pm »

dallas10086, thanks for posting that one.  I need that reminder now and again, especially when I'm being constantly berated, by control freaks, for doing my job.
Mine is "Learn to function on the edge of chaos; it will keep coming at you so you'd better accept it.  The edge is fine; just don't fall in."

169

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: SHOWS: How many times have you Stage Managed the same play/musical?

« on: Sep 07, 2010, 12:13 pm »

The Santaland Diaries - This year will be my fourth?  Fifth?  I've lost track.  One year as ASM and all the following as SM.

The Magic Flute - Once as a carpenter, once as ASM.

170

The Green Room / Re: Why is it that...

« on: Sep 06, 2010, 01:25 pm »

...the one "break" in which you actually decide to take a break (take a pee, get a soda, discover the outside world still exists, etc.) the director and one of the actors have a vital discussion that is full of information you really need to have and totally changes a whole bunch of stuff?

171

The Green Room / Kids say (and do) the darndest things!

« on: Sep 01, 2010, 02:59 pm »

Some of you love working kids shows, and some hate it, some don't mind, but I'm pretty sure you can't stay in this career long without working with at least one person who has "not yet reached majority."  What is something a kid has done or said on one of your productions that has just left you blinking in shock and astonishment?

I was hired as an ASM by a producer who didn't know the difference between ASM and child wrangler, and that you need both.  I found myself exhausted, trying to fill both shoes.  It was a Christmas show with 16 kids, ager 7-16 in the cast and I had my hands full.  Opening night, I'm in the SR wing, breathing a sigh of relief because all the kids have just made their first entrance on time, in the right costumes, and are standing in the right places.  Then I see it.  One 8 year old little boy is standing there, quite calmly, pulling pennies out of his pocket, putting them in his mouth and swallowing.  Pennies.  As in the smallest denomination of U.S. currency.  Eating them.  Like candy.  About one every 15 seconds.

At this point, I was so fed up with the kids, and exhausted (it was also my senior year of college, and fall semester finals had coincided with tech week) that I would have just let him go on with giving himself copper poisoning, or whatever, except it was distracting the other kids and I could hear the audience start to murmmur.  It was a long scene, about 8 minutes, and I had no idea how many pennies this kid had.  To make a surreal sitation stranger, passing truckers on the highway kept picking up our wireless coms on their CBs and hitting on the SM, so communications were shot.  Hissing at the kid and waving franticaly from off-stage wasn't getting his attention, so I finally grabbed a nearby yard stick, slid it along the stage floor and poked him in the foot with it.  Impromptu sign language (during which he ate another two pennies) finally got across the fact that you don't eat on stage, which I reinforced with a lecture as soon as he exited.  Because it was just too weird for me, I didn't mention the penny thing, just stressed that you don't eat anything on stage unless the stage directions call for it.

172

The Green Room / Re: Why is it that...

« on: Sep 01, 2010, 10:47 am »

...playwrights seem to ALWAYS include characters in their shows whose names start with L, R, and C, and at least two characters with the same first initial.  Just to make blocking notation that much more difficult.

(I've got two L's, two R's, two G's and a C)

173

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Script in process: how much paperwork do you re-do?

« on: Aug 25, 2010, 10:32 pm »

Thanks to both of you.  I won't re-visit the tech analysis, again, hbelden has helped me see it has served it's purpose.

Unfortunately, page numbers and up to the latest version French Scenes are a must.  It's a show with only 6 scenes in two acts, and there's a LOT of coming and going and mini-scenes within the official Scenes.  The script is still so in flux that locking pagination isn't an option.  Whole new sections are still being added and others are being moved from scene to scene. 

I will lighten up on myself on keeping EVERYTHING up to the moment up to date and just focus on keeping things clean around major transition points until the script get a little more locked down.

(Part of it was I just needed to do a bit of venting!)

174

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / NEW WORK: Script in process: how much paperwork do you re-do?

« on: Aug 25, 2010, 02:23 pm »

I've done a few shows where the playwright was a distant part of the process, and the script changes amounted to nothing much spectacular.  A few words, here and there, some lines dropped or added; nothing drastic.

Now, I'm on a world premier, and I've received three wildly differing scripts, so far, and we're only on the second day of rehersal.  In addition, the playwright is VERY much part of the process.  We received script changes from her between the first read-through and the end of rehearsal, last night.

Those of you who have been in these situations before: how much of the supporting paperwork do you re-do from script version to script version? 

Obviously, anything that affects the run, props tracking and whatnot, but do you re-do the tech analysis?  Re-work the French scenes listing?

I'm going to be a good little SM and re-do it all, but I guess just very frustrated.  I was told that the first version of the script I was given was "close enough" to start paperwork on, and this is the third time, in less than a week, that I'm going to have to ENTIRELY re-do a good bit of pretty meticulous paperwork.  Editing paperwork is one thing; of course I'm used to doing that daily.  But re-doing is making my head ache way too early in this process.

-Edit to tag subject line-Rebbe

175

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

« on: Aug 25, 2010, 11:25 am »

Should not feel nervous
Sending out new paperwork
Manager hates me.

176

The Green Room / Re: Funny definitions

« on: Aug 25, 2010, 11:22 am »

RE: Reverse TARDIS Effect:  I love you, Kay!

Table of Babel: The effect of not understanding what is being said during table work, even though you're pretty sure everyone is speaking English, because it's ephemeral, artistic, conecptual work, and the SM's brain is still engaged in "getting things done" mode.

177

The Green Room / Re: Funny definitions

« on: Aug 24, 2010, 01:52 pm »

First Rehearsal - The equivalent of opening Night for a stage manager.  Except they're in every scene, have only had the script for a week, haven't met most of their cast-mates, and everyone watching them expects the SM to be absolutely perfect, every moment, from then until closing night.

(Can you tell I've got first rehearsal jitters, today?)

178

Tools of the Trade / Re: Useful iPhone apps?

« on: Aug 24, 2010, 01:49 pm »

I've got one called DoBot To-Dos.  It doesn't have all the functionality that you mentioned in the other app, but it's sufficient for my needs and hasn't ever crashed on me.  You can set due dates, priority, check completed, make notes, and sort/hide a few different ways.  I think it was free, but I've been using it so long, it's been more than worth the purchase price, if I paid one.

179

The Green Room / Your ideal kit bag/box/portable hole

« on: Aug 23, 2010, 02:48 pm »

There's been a lot of discussion on the boards about SM kits; what goes in them, what it contains that can do double duty, bag vs. box, etc.  I like my tackle-box kit reasonably well, though it's frakin' huge and heavy, and hence not as portable as I'd like.

Because I occasionally forget I have skills, I have just realized that as a stitcher/carpenter/leatherworker/general crafter, I could build my own kit box/bag, and get exactly what I want!

Now, I just have to figure out what that is.  And I'd love to hear everyone else's ideas.  In your ideal kit, would it be rigid or soft, pockets or individual containers of supplies?  Sections that could lift out?  Nevermind what's actually out there; imagine the perfect container for you.

Who knows, if the one I end up making for myself works out well, I could start making them for other people!

180

The Green Room / Re: Funny definitions

« on: Aug 23, 2010, 01:26 pm »

Inspired by late_stranger's "Standby Syndrome" and my (notoriously running late) husband.

Homelife Backlash - The absolute, and occasionally angry, refusal to perform any SM-like duties while not at work, such as reminding everyone that they need to be out the door in 30/15/5 minutes, making to-do lists, finding misplaced props keys/wallets/etc., or in general, organizing anyone's life but their own.