Messages

196

The Hardline / Re: Choosing your team?

« on: Sep 09, 2014, 11:40 pm »

Picking a team is hard.

Look at other considerations as well, cast, director, your needs for this specific job.

What concerns is the comment - they are both friends - throw that out, and pick the team member that do the best for the show, and the best as a member of your team - and heck, sometime that maybe a non-friend.

197

Self-Promotion / Hunchback of Notre Dame

« on: Sep 06, 2014, 03:02 am »

In La Jolla, hard at work, press release hit this week.

Makes it seem all so much more real . . .

(And on the upside, I made the press release).

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/michael-arden-and-patrick-page-will-star-in-hunchback-of-notre-dame-at-la-j

198

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: RUNNING: Calling Half-Hour

« on: Sep 03, 2014, 01:19 am »

The challenge about calling half-hour at 35 minutes is actors in the states are not expected to be in the theater until 30 minutes - so they would miss the call.

199

The Hardline / Re: Changing rehearsal hours?

« on: Aug 24, 2014, 12:04 am »

It sill seems to me . . .

(a) The Actor shall be given notice of the next rehearsal by the end of each workday.
(b) Cancellation or Change. The Actor shall receive notice of a cancellation or change in
the originally scheduled rehearsal call regarding time, place and/or length of the call at
least 12 hours in advance of said call. (Removed part of regarding emergency)

It still says you can CHANGE the rehearsal call with 12 hours advance.

So, it seems to really disqualify the first rule.

Let's say we were rehearsing 10:00a - 4:00p, and as everyone was leaving, I said, hey guys, we are rehearsing 11:00a - 5:00p tomorrow. 

But, at 10:59p, I could change t to 12:00n - 6:00p.

Then why  do I have announce it at the end of the day - it seems like the rule should read - "best effort to announce the rehearsal call for the next day should be given by the end of rehearsal, but official notice must be given 12 hours ahead of time" - it's just a bad rule, right?

Or am I missing something???

200

The Hardline / Re: Changing rehearsal hours?

« on: Aug 22, 2014, 11:48 pm »

For TYA, it doesn't specify.....

(3) Notice.
(a) The Actor shall be given notice of the next rehearsal by the end of each workday.
(b) Cancellation or Change. The Actor shall receive notice of a cancellation or change in
the originally scheduled rehearsal call regarding time, place and/or length of the call at
least 12 hours in advance of said call. In the event of an unforeseen emergency,
however, the place of the rehearsal call may change with less than 12 hours’ notice,
provided the rehearsal takes place in the same city in which it was originally scheduled.

Also, note the caveat in red.

You have to tell by the end of the rehearsal . . . but you can change it with 12 hours notice.

Doesn't make a lot of sense.

I can say at 8:00p, end of rehearsal, "Hey Rehearsal is 12:00n - 8:00p", but then change my mind at 11:00p to 1:00p to 9:00p.

201

The Hardline / Re: Changing rehearsal hours?

« on: Aug 22, 2014, 10:46 pm »

That is interesting about the differences in notice per contract . . . learn something new every day.

It's that just "Span of Day" or the actual rehearsal call?

202

The Hardline / Re: Changing rehearsal hours?

« on: Aug 20, 2014, 06:46 pm »

Customary notice is 12-hours notice for the rehearsal schedule for the next day.

I am unaware of any contract that requires more then 12-hours notice for the rehearsal schedule for the next.

Anyone?

203

Tools of the Trade / Re: Laminators

« on: Aug 20, 2014, 06:44 pm »

I also use them to make music stand numbers for readings.  (2 sets, one actors can see, one me and the director can see)

I also have made luggage tags as opening night gifts for a tour

204

Tools of the Trade / Re: Laminators

« on: Aug 20, 2014, 12:42 pm »

I laminate everything.

Wallet Cards
Signage  (Rehearsal in Progress, Call board Headers, backstage signage . . .)
Checklists

Especially good if doing an outdoor show.

205

Tools of the Trade / Laminators

« on: Aug 19, 2014, 11:02 pm »

These deals came across my email . . .

Neither of these are my current model, but I have a a very similar model.  I think given Stage Managers don't use it on a daily basis . . . having a more light duty model will do.  You can see they quickly go up in price, and can be very expensive.

http://www.amazon.com/Scotch-Thermal-Laminator-Roller-TL901/dp/B0010JEJPC/ref=sr_1_1?s=office-products&ie=UTF8&qid=1408503631&sr=1-1&keywords=laminator+machine

http://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-PL9-US-Thermal-Laminator/dp/B00BUI5QWS/ref=sr_1_2?s=office-products&ie=UTF8&qid=1408503631&sr=1-2&keywords=laminator+machine

206

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Rehearsals: Giving line notes - a real novice question

« on: Aug 14, 2014, 09:27 am »

I think of lot of how you deal with line notes depends on the size of your team.

I tend to work with large teams, so one person is responsible for script and line notes (it makes sense, in my mind to bundle these).  This also allows this person to deal with line notes they way they want to.

I don't care how the notes go out - most of the time.

One of the biggest benefits of typing and email is you have a record of the lines missed, and it can go to multiple people.  (Oddly, I have had playwrights and directors wanting to be cc'ed on line notes being emailed out - partially because they are control freaks, partially to show them "Hey, Stage Management is doing their job, it's the actor who is not learning their lines. ", partially to track how often the actors is messing up the same line.)

If all things being equal and there are no special requests, I let the team member responsible for lines notes to be the one who figures out the best way to give them - I have helpful advice, but why micromanage.  Now, if they are working 2-3 hours later in the day after rehearsal . . . then, well, we have a problem.

207

The Green Room / Re: Tragedies and other space invaders

« on: Aug 11, 2014, 09:18 pm »

I am trying to think of major events . . .

When Princess Diana died, there was some flurry if we should announce it during the show.  (We didn't)

9/11 happened on a day off - but we were were dealing with issues all day (we were just going into tech; one actor lost someone that day).  We carried on - I do remember us all gathering that night at a local bar in San Diego.

I was working on The House of Dancing Water (In Macau, China - a Cirque-Style show) when the very public death in KA happened - it rippled through the cast for a wide variety of reasons - many had worked with them - we held a meeting to address concerns, and also dedicate the performance to the woman who had died.

208

The Hardline / Re: Meetings as rehearsal hours?

« on: Aug 09, 2014, 11:05 am »

"AD says that the cast was made aware of these meetings a long time ago (so, before I was involved in the production), that these are "unofficial" meetings and they have all agreed to do it for the director."

So, was this "hey, we would like to cast you, but there are going to be these meetings before hand . . . "


Let's carry this to an extreme . . .

"Hey, we can cast you in this part, but we need to do two weeks of script work prior to rehearsal beginning - and it won't be paid."

209

The Hardline / Re: Meetings as rehearsal hours?

« on: Aug 08, 2014, 05:59 pm »

This is wrong on so many levels for AEA - but without knowing the contract . . .

Starting work prior to contract date?

"Meetings" outside of rehearsal hours?

210

The Green Room / How to be a good stage manager?

« on: Aug 07, 2014, 11:25 pm »

I am unsure I want my entire career diluted to one web page

http://www.wikihow.com/Become-a-Good-Stage-Manager