Messages

181

Employment / Listing readings on a resume

« on: Jun 08, 2008, 10:46 pm »

How and where do you do this? I'm still fairly new to NY and as such feel that it's important to list all of the companies, directors, etc that I've worked with since I've been here. Currently my resume is set up under the following headings, but I'm not sure where readings fall into this or if I just not it with the show.

Headings:

NY Stage Management

Regional Stage Management

Related Technical Experience

I was thinking of adding a NY Readings/Workshops categories, but that seems like a bit much.

Thoughts would be much appreciated!

182

Employment / Re: First Aid/Fire Guard

« on: Jun 08, 2008, 10:22 pm »

I believe Fireguard is a NYC thing. I was asked if I had my card. Of course I felt stupid as I had no idea what they were talking about. But, the theatre company gave me a form and a check and I had to go take a test. It wasn't too bad, but I was glad I looked at the study guide as there were things I never even thought of, like parts of a commerical sprinkler system. I certainly would not be concerned about the Fireguard unless you have to go take the test and even then if you have some common sense you will have no problem with it.

Where did you end up going for this, and where do you get the study guide? I've worked in NY for a year and haven't needed it, but I do for an upcoming show, and I and the producer don't know where to go. When I google it, the answers are very confusing and I don't know what I'm looking at.

183

Uploaded Forms / Re: Emergency Contact Information

« on: Jun 05, 2008, 03:26 pm »

Mine too.

184

The Hardline / Housing Notices on AEA Website?

« on: May 31, 2008, 01:28 pm »

An actor that I was working with today told me that he once stumbles across an online version of the housing board that you find at the AEA offices.

Does anyone know how to get to this if it's true?

185

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: "Blood" cleaning techniques

« on: May 28, 2008, 09:54 am »

You can also use a blue detergent to help with the color and it cuts down on the amount of dye (food coloring) used.

186

The Green Room / Re: Cooking for Stage Management

« on: May 06, 2008, 02:09 pm »

I make smoothies at home for breakfast before tech; I use a stick blender to blend chunks of frozen bananas, strawberries and pineapple (or whatever fruit looked good at the store) and I mix that with organic vanilla soy milk and whole milk French vanilla yogurt. A great boost of power and it keeps me going and not feeling overly full.

If I feel gnoshy after I get home from a 10/12, I will often have a few slices of baguette with cheese and hard salami, if I've got it in the house.  I think the French are on to something there...

What proportions are the soy milk/yogurt to get a a single sized smoothie or do you eyeball it?

Amen to cheese and hard salami! Have you tried sharp provolone with Genoa salami? My favorite! I rarely eat huge servings of meat, but there's something about this combination!

187

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Tech Questions

« on: May 05, 2008, 05:00 pm »

I've always been told (at the school I attend) that Tech is for tech and the acting should be pretty well set. Especially since they dont always stick to the 6 week of rehearsal route. 


 But venting sorry - the point I was making is that the SMs at my school are told one thing and thats the tech is for tech. 

I think the thing to keep in mind (from my perspective on the situation anyway) is that college is oftentimes a very idealized situation compared to what can and often times does happen in the 'real world'. Sometimes you only have an actor for 3 or 4 rehearsals before tech hits and like it or not some of the work that would take place in rehearsal (tweaking blocking, movement, etc) needs to happen while cues are being written, or before cues can be written for that matter.

Sometimes you have an idiot LD who writes not a single basic run of the mill lights up on stage cue before tech and what else would you have the actors do while he's writing the show?

Sometimes you only have 2 weeks of rehearsal for a musical with a cast of 40.

I think like everyone else says, the key to tech is to keep all parties running smoothly. While I always like to hope that tech is just for the tech-ing of a show, that isn't always the reality. I think the better idea to keep in mind is the ultimate purpose of tech is to have all elements of the show put together to create a finished product (and while lights, sound, etc are only added during tech, isn't the ultimate end that the show is finished, {hopefully}) and while that may mean holding a cue-to-cue for an extra two minutes to solidify blocking in a particular scene, if it serves to benefit all parties at the end of those two minutes, then perhaps pausing for a moment is the better choice to make.

In regards to holds- I know some actors who will only take a hold from and SM, and while that is a lovely and respectful thing from an actor it isn't always the most effective. I've never forbidden a designer or director from calling holds. Though I hope that they will try to  tell me first though. For example: The show that I'm currently running now has a cast of 20. In one scene 2 people were on stage and 17 were preparing to enter and we did not have good monitor communication or a g-d mike (Aren't showcases just wonderful  ). The LD said that we needed to hold before the giant sword-fighting transition, I got on headset to have the ASM stop the actors from attacking the stage and the LD called the hold. I then stepped in with a "We're going to go back and work the lights in that last moment and then take our break. Thank you backstage." I think that worked smoothly and without any question of who was in charge, but that's just me. I like collaboration like that and think there's no issue with doing it that way.

That LD is not the same as the one mentioned earlier who told me that "I was permitted to call a hold if and when he or the director thought it was acceptable," but that's a whole different post...

188

Tools of the Trade / Re: Headset Side

« on: Apr 07, 2008, 01:34 pm »

I prefer my right side, but if i can't wear it there it's ok. I ran a show in December where my sound op was on my right with no headset so i wore it on my left with no problem.

I am also a left sided person, so i tend to reach for things with my left hand which makes wearing it on the right easier.

I never thought about it until right now though!

189

Uploaded Forms / Re: Weekly

« on: Mar 17, 2008, 11:04 pm »

I agree with the formatting suggestions, but I also think that your schedules need to be as long as they need to be. I try to keep my schedules to one page, but sometimes that's not an option for whatever reason: too large a cast, too much material covered, etc.

Never heard them called weeklies before. 

Maybe it's the format that needs to change, not the information you're including?

I've attached one of my 'weeklies' below, just a working copy and not the final distributed version, but not much is different. This was for 8 10-minute musicals featuring 10 actors, so a huge scheduling mess. I used to do this in Word, but recently started using Google Docs as well as emailing and printing, and Excel uploads much better, so I'm trying to make the switch.

190

The Hardline / Re: HELP! MY CAST IS NUDE!!

« on: Mar 17, 2008, 05:09 pm »

It's in the LORT agreement. Search the word 'nudity' and you will find it.

191

The Hardline / Re: HELP! MY CAST IS NUDE!!

« on: Mar 17, 2008, 03:29 pm »

What type of contract is it under?

192

The Hardline / Re: KC Mehl Scholarship 2008

« on: Mar 16, 2008, 12:15 am »

The third annual award of a one-year Associate Membership in the SMA was granted to Claire Diedrich (Bloomington, Indiana) an undergrad at Indiana University and a veteran of internships ranging from Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival to Opera Australia;

I've worked with Claire, she's wonderful! Just thought I'd share 

193

Tools of the Trade / Re: Box Office Software

« on: Mar 13, 2008, 05:52 pm »

I still have nightmares of when I used WinTix at a previous theatre...
[/quote]

WinTix. Shudder shudder shudder.

194

Tools of the Trade / Re: Scheduling and Calendar Applications

« on: Mar 12, 2008, 03:27 pm »

Would someone who uses Google Cal mind terribly sharing with me how you've set it up?

I'm looking specifically at tracking actor conflicts, but if you use it for all scheduling, I would really appreciate a look at it.

PM me for my gmail.

Thank yo!

195

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Directorial relations crisis

« on: Mar 04, 2008, 02:53 pm »

Real world alert!  Although a director might very well have a plan in mind for each rehearsal week or, indeed, the entire rehearsal process, it IS common practice for the next days schedule to be generated once the current day of rehearsal has ended. (OK, sometimes, no-rarely, I have gotten the schedule for the next day during the lunch break.)  This is reality!

snip...
I once worked with a director who liked to plan rehearsal schedules one week at a time. (Okay, he wanted to do it at the end of each rehearsal for the next one, but I got the producer involved because that was definitely not going to happen.)

Especially here in the land of Showcases (NYC)! When you have to allow actors to leave/come late/miss rehearsals for auditions and voiceover work, your schedule can change at midnight for the next evening's rehearsals.

Most of the director's that I've worked with in the last 6 months have tried to put together a rough schedule for the week, but we've rarely been able to stick to it. One director that I worked with wouldn't even think about the next day until we were finished with the current one.

An actor friend said this to me once, and I think it's a wonderful attitude for an actor to approach rehearsals with: "If I am cast in a show, regardless of the part, every minute of rehearsal that is on that schedule is a minute that I should expect to be there. If I'm not called until late in the day, or I'm not called on a random Wednesday, then that's just some bonus time off for me."