Messages

166

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Acting Class?

« on: Feb 20, 2009, 03:18 pm »

Yes, take the acting class. You never know when you might be called to go on for a sick actor. Most of us hope that never happens to us, but you never know.

167

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Need Help

« on: Feb 17, 2009, 04:06 pm »

The show doesn't have to go on. If you can't keep the cast and audience safe, recommend to whoever is in charge (principal? drama teacher? director?) that you cancel the performance, or even the entire run.

168

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / PROFESSIONALISM: Plan B for everything?

« on: Feb 16, 2009, 01:21 pm »

I'm stage managing the musical Pippin, for a community theatre, in a rented space. Yesterday I discovered a problem with our overhead projector, which was used in several scenes as a supplement to the action onstage. But for one scene, the photo was mostly relevant to the song, the map in War Is A Science. So without the map overhead, the song and blocking makes a little bit less sense, but it wasn't a show stopper. An orchestra member had brought in a "map" printed on a plotter or some other large format printer. The prop person suggested we have the two actors who carry in the screen for the projections could simply stand on stage and hold that printout. The director decided to pin the paper map to our screen (made of a large white sheet). I wasn't thrilled with that idea, since the map could rip off of the safety pins; the lighting wasn't set for the map to be seen (since it was originally a backlit projection); the screen couldn't be stored in the wings as easily. But the map was pinned up by the director, the scene came off fine, and the audience wasn't any the wiser.

So, should I have a plan B for every prop, costume, etc... in the show? If I should, that's fine, I'll start thinking about options now. But it seems that some things need to be classified as "non-essential" and if something comes up, that thing is dropped. Your thoughts, please?

169

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / SCHEDULING: Later call for children not appearing until 45 minute into the show?

« on: Feb 08, 2009, 11:57 pm »

For a community theater show, we have double cast two young boys for a role. The character's first appearance onstage isn't until 50 minutes into the show. Should they be given a slightly later calltime than the rest of the cast? The cast is called 90 minutes before curtain. I could easily call the kids at 15 or 30 minutes before the curtain, which would give me time to track them down if they are late. Or is it bad form to give an actor a later call time? What about a situation where an actor only appears late in the show? Having the actor sit around for an hour seems like a bad use of time. I definitely would like to hear your thoughts and war stories about this. Thanks, Mike

170

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Sound cues: turning off actor's mic when they exit

« on: Feb 07, 2009, 11:16 pm »

Community theater, doing a musical. The sound guy doesn't even have a script I don't think. He's been to about 15 minutes of one rehearsal. I'm totally not sure how to read him at this point, so not sure what I can/should be doing to get ready for the sound portion of load-in/tech tomorrow. I've met him twice, seems competent, highly recommended. I just don't know what to expect. I've generated a list of actors that need mics.
Posted on: February 07, 2009, 09:11:21 PMAnd the mic is only used while they're singing correct? We don't have enough to mic everyone during the non-song portions of scenes, so there everyone gets to project, correct? I think if you used a mixture of performers with a mic and performers without a mic, it would sound horrible.

171

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / CALLING: Sound cues: turning off actor's mic when they exit

« on: Feb 07, 2009, 10:19 pm »

Here's probably a basic question. Concerning sound cues, when an actor leaves the stage and won't be speaking any lines offstage, should a cue be set up to disable that microphone? I'd think everyone can tell tales of something said from the wings (or heaven forbid the dressing room or restroom) that went out into the house.

Related question: When an actor has to say his lines from offstage, a cue would be to turn on his mic, and then another cue to turn off the mic when the lines have been delivered?

172

Employment / Re: Websites

« on: Feb 07, 2009, 08:49 pm »

Hi Dan,

Welcome to SMNetwork.

Try to get rid of the silly ad strip at the top of your pages. Web site hosting is inexpensive. And on one page, Little Shop of Horrors is misspelled. Why are using graphics for your text on your Education and Portfolio pages? The font in the graphics is hard to read, can't be made larger by the user, web addresses aren't links, and is harder to make updates or corrections to. On page5, you have a few links to page5 itself, instead of to LIPA, etc... On page5, the first paragraph you have uppercase letters as the first character on each line, even though uppercase isn't needed there. Actually, in that paragraph, you have
 (breaks) at the end of each line of text, which actually isn't the end of the paragraph. What are you using to generate your site? Mike

173

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / SCENERY: Spiking Periaktoi

« on: Feb 06, 2009, 08:13 am »

For my upcoming run of Pippin, we are using 6 periaktoi (three sided rotating platform, 8 feet tall, sides are 6 feet long, 6 feet long and 3 feet long, each side has a flat on it, so you can't see through the periaktoi) that we will rotate and be moved on stage by the Players (the ensemble). For rehearsals, I spiked the corners and about 6 inches of each side straight near the mid point of each side. That didn't work too well, the cast is having a hard time seeing where to place the periaktoi. Would spiking the entire length of each side be a "bad" thing to do? I'm afraid of having too much tape on the floor that may confuse them even more than just the corners are. Any suggestions on how to get these periaktoi into the correct position would be greatly appreciated.

We'll be running a periaktoi positioning session at our tech rehearsal Monday, so hopefully that will help significantly. Of course, that'll also be the first rehearsal where each side will have the flat attached.

174

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Shakespeare Tips

« on: Feb 02, 2009, 08:35 am »

Hi Bridget,

My current show (Pippin in Manassas, VA) has several sequences of actors changing costumes as they change characters. Other than me ensuring that their new costumes are in place for them to make the change, and if I have the personnel, a dresser is available to help out, a lot of the effort is on the actor to know where they need to be and why. I'm taking photos today of props and costumes so I'll be able to have the items placed correctly backstage. Information wise, I'm developing a spreadsheet for each actor detailing when they have set changes, costume changes, or prop work they need to do.

I've seen a few of Wildwood's shows. Consistently good work, especially considering they only do one show per year. Mike

175

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Daily rehearsal report notes

« on: Feb 02, 2009, 08:20 am »

Planet Mike, I'm interested to know what sort of venue you're in. How do you traditionally distributed info to the shops if not in the report?

This is a community theater, the staffing (crew and cast) and the rehearsal and production venues change with every production. This is my first time working with the group. The director is also making her debut. We've now worked it out. Rehearsal reports are going to the director, company president (who is also set builder now), producer, costumer, props person, and the music director. Now that I've seen how the group works, I understand better about what they're looking for in the reports. The director also knows now that I'm not trying to usurp her authority by talking with the costumer and prop person about potential issues.

176

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: SO MUCH PAPERWORK

« on: Jan 28, 2009, 11:47 pm »

When sending emails, I prefer one email per task. As opposed to some of the emails I have received, where there are ten tasks in the message, several of which weren't for me, but were to someone else that was merely a CC:.

I like the clear clipboard idea. And the idea of getting rid of/not carrying with me all of the old/completed paperwork.

177

Employment / Re: Websites

« on: Jan 12, 2009, 04:02 pm »

I'm still setting up my site, and my current director suggested getting some testimonials from people I've worked with in the past. Is posting testimonials a good idea or not?

My stage manager site is http://www.michaelclark.net Feedback is appreciated. Thanks, Mike

178

SMNetwork Archives / Re: SM: the musical

« on: Dec 19, 2008, 12:15 pm »

But is this a comedy or a drama!?

Yes.

179

SMNetwork Archives / Re: SM: the musical

« on: Dec 19, 2008, 12:32 am »

I wrote the first song: "Stage Manager is Coming Backstage" to the tune of "Santa Claus is Coming To Town." Published earlier at http://www.showbizradio.net/2008/12/18/stage-manager-is-coming-backstage/

You better learn your lines,
And all of your cues,
He’s in charge of fines,
And collecting your dues:

Stage Manager is coming backstage!

He’s making a list,
He’s checking it twice,
He’s gonna find out
who’s naughty or nice.

Stage Manager is coming backstage!

He sees you when you’re rehearsing,
He knows if you are late.
He knows all of your props and cues,
You want him to be your mate!

So, You better learn your lines,
And all of your cues,
He’s in charge of fines,
and collecting your dues:

Stage Manager is coming backstage.

Check your own props,
Gotta be on time.
Improvise not,
Or the walls he’ll climb.

Stage Manager is coming backstage.

Get your costume on,
You ought not to smoke,
Be quiet please,
As you wait with folk.

Stage Manager is coming backstage.

The folks out in the audience
wanna see a great show.
They’re gonna pay for their seats
out of their very own dough.

Oh….You better watch out,
You better not lie.
You should be ready,
I’m telling you why.

Stage Manager is comin’
Stage Manager is comin’
Stage Manager is comin’
Backstage!

180

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Costuming the Crew

« on: Dec 17, 2008, 10:16 am »

Speaking as an audience member, I agree that seeing the crew on stage in black sometimes distracts from the enjoyment of the show. Speaking as a crew person, I can see how sometimes there may be safety concerns with costumes getting caught up in set pieces or otherwise becoming a hindrance to scene changes. For my current show of Pippin, we're having the Players be the crew for changing/moving set pieces. But for a show like Pippin, that works just fine.