Messages

211

Stage Management: Other / Re: What's the most unusual job you've had?

« on: Aug 05, 2006, 12:58 pm »

I can't imagine anyone doing a 24-hour theatre outside of college.

There is a local theatre in town that does them.  I don't think its so important for the stage manager to know the space that intimately as it is for the designers involved (props manager needs to know where on earth a wind up Mr. T head toy is hiding).  The other thing that was nice about doing it in college is that the cast is a mere 1 block walk away from their dorm room and a wealth of costuming options.  One year we did it we decided to have a costumer for each play -- the cast members gave that costumer the keys to their dorm rooms and said "have fun going through my closet!"  The whole event kind of has that same mentality.

If it works, I've attached a picture of directors and designers getting into a fight during their lunch talks.  Yes, this one was staged for the camera but it really captures of the spirit of nerves running high through the whole event.  Notice the cans of mountain dew =)

And yes, I would agree with you about the "young" aspect -- it does take a certain amount of stamina/energy/mentality to pull off those kinds of hours!

212

The Green Room / Re: Tech dinners

« on: Aug 05, 2006, 12:23 pm »

Food is the great equalizer, eh?

Amen.  I always say that a fed cast/crew is a happy cast/crew. =)

213

SMNetwork Archives / Re: Happy Stage Management Memories?

« on: Aug 05, 2006, 12:13 pm »

I'm closing a show tonight that has turned out to be one of the best SM experiences of my career to date.  It was a show I absolutely expected to hate every minute of (Moby Dick! The Musical) and had never worked with any of the cast before, or the director, and I had major qualms about it going in. 

But everything completely surprised me -- the cast turned out to be fantastic, the director was awesome, and my production team was top-notch.   I have made some really good friends with the cast. I have not only enjoyed it in that aspect, but I have felt like I have really done a good job in terms of my work on the show, and at the same time was training an ASM to call three performances (which she did, and did fabulously at). 

I will be said to see it end...it's shows like this that always make me lament the transient nature of our profession!

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Stage Management: Other / Re: What's the most unusual job you've had?

« on: Jul 30, 2006, 02:13 pm »

Its theatrical, but its unusual:

I stage managed an event called 24-Hour Theatre when I was in college.  For those unfamiliar with this, its the entire theatrical process, from pre-page to stage in 24 hours.  Writers gather on Friday evening and receive some sort of prompt (there's a ton of different ways companies do it), and write through the night, then directors meet at 8:00 the next morning to receive their scripts, meet briefly with the playwright, then audition actors, cast and meet with designers over lunch, then rehearsals, load in, prop gathering, costuming, etc. happens from 1-6, dinner and cueing, then a tech/dress (two if time) and then performance at the same time you started the night before.  It's an amazing event and tons of fun - but as the stage manager you generally are up for the entire 24 hours (actually longer, when you factor in all the prep work you have to do the day before and then load out).  Think of the entire process you go through as a stage manager over the course of prep work, rehearsals, and performances, and cram that into 24 hours.  It's crazy. 

My other unusual event was a skating competition -- =about 6 months ago I produced and directed the opening ceremonies for the synchronized skating nationals held in my city.  Along with putting the whole darn thing together -- coordinating practice schedules for 5 different teams located in 5 different cities around the stage of Michigan, securing the Mayor and other local celebrities to speak, costuming, finding and editing the music, putting togeter the program, etc...I couldn't even tell you all the little random things I had to do for it -- plus choreographing the production number, I ended up "stage managing" the actual ceremonies as well -- calling 15, 10, 5, places, light cues, getting the mayor to the ice for his welcome speech, etc. It was a great experience, and I don't think I could have done it without all my training and experience as a stage manager.  I had 100 skaters participating, 4 speakers, the national anthem singer, and only 2 assistants.  Thankfully it was held at the arena -- where I know all the IA crew who was working so they were extremely helpful to me!

215

Stage Management: Other / Re: Stage Managing Dance?

« on: Jul 30, 2006, 02:00 pm »

Now, please don't take offense at my personal distaste for the stopwatch calling.  It is just that I happen to feel in my heart that stage managing (and certainly GOOD stage managing) is an art.  Part of what makes us artists is our ability to flow with the production and serve it in a way that makes sense to the moment...to the energy of that particular performance.  And stage managers that call a cue :20 into track 2 regardless of what is happening on stage are doing the flow of the performance a disservice.

I agree with you -- but at the same time, with dance more so than with theatre, the choreography and the music will always be the same.  This is one beautiful thing I learned on my first big ballet.  You don't have to worry about an actor dropping a line or a paragraph or a whole scene or taking a "cheeseburger pause" (what I call pauses long enough for me to run  down the street, grab a cheeseburger, eat it, and then come back to the performance).  If the dance is to a track, the numbers are always going to be the same in the music.  If you have live music, it may be slower or faster but the music itself won't change (unless there's improv involved...which could be another topic entirely).  When I know I do not have scored music for a piece and will have to be calling it from time/watching, I go to every rehearsal -- I learn the ballet as well as I possibly can because I know I won't have a conductor/score to rely on when I'm calling.

I use the stopwatch as more of a guideline than an exact telling of where to call, primarily because it won't be exactly the same as the CD player reading (unless I'm sitting by the CD player - and then I can just go off that).  It's a combination of the time in the music and what the dancer is doing on stage.  But again, unless you're doing an improvisational piece, the dancer is generally going to be consistent.  They have to be, because most of the time other dancers or their partners are relying on them, and they can't make changes on the spot (not to mention what the choreographer does when a dancer decides to do that!  I've seen it happen...not pretty).

I don't think its necessarily fair to say that SMs are doing a disservice when they call from a stopwatch - sometimes there is no other way.  Not every stage manager is able to know the choreography exactly -- especially if the company only hires them in a couple of weeks before tech.  It is important to have that backup in case something happens where you have to deal with another problem and can't focus completely on the stage.  When you come back to make a call you need to have a general idea of where you are in the piece, and can't always do this based on the choreography.

Yes, stage management is an art and it is very important to stay connected to the piece and to the dancers.  It is equally as important to have a system for calling the show according to the choregoraphers and designers decisions and needs.  If the choreography is very complicated or tricky or you're not well versed in the terminology the choreographer uses (some make up their own!) then there is no other way than a stopwatch, short of finding/hiring someone to transcribe the music (not an easy task).

216

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Calling sound cues

« on: Jul 21, 2006, 10:31 am »

I usually call them by letters.

Sound Q A GO

Standby to fade out A

A fade out GO

for the show I'm currently calling, the engineer is just running the Qs off a light, since there are so few of them and it is a musical so he can't really be on headset.  Light goes on for the standby and off for the go.  For the Qs that fade out, I turn the light back on as soon as I turn it off for the original go, then turn it off again when he has to fade the Q out.

217

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

« on: Jul 05, 2006, 04:51 pm »

I take line notes on post its --

put the actors' character name or even an abbreviation of said name, the page # and at least the first few words of the line dropped or messed up.  if i have time I try to jot a quick note as to what happened ("dropped" or circle the word missed).  as we go through the run I make a stack for each actor and hand them out at the end of rehearsal.

This usally tends to work great -- an actor who has gotten a thick stack after a few nights starts to get embarrassed and shapes up and learns his lines!

I have been told I'm too anal retentive -- but that was only one isolated occasion and at the end of the run said actor actually thanked me for being so on the ball.  =)

218

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: prompt books

« on: Jul 04, 2006, 12:35 pm »

Since community theatres don't give a hoot what you do with your book, I keep all of mine from those shows, and I've kept all of mine from the shows I did in college.  I've got three big blue rubbermaid bins full of them stored in my basement (to be fair, they're not all prompt books.  Some of them are dramaturgy projects and other binders of school work).

At the ballet, they belong to the company, and stay in the binder. (except for med forms and anything with a social security # on it; those get shredded).  All documents stay on the computer and a backup CD is made of all the paperwork.  This way when we remount a ballet (as we're doing several of next season) it is easy for me (or whoever might be the PSM or SM) to just pull out the binder and everything we need.

In the event of a lawsuit -- it could be important that you have all that documentation.  We had a group of lawyers last season who wanted copies of the entire prompt book (from a ballet we did 5 years ago!).   

219

The Green Room / Re: thank you notes

« on: Jul 03, 2006, 01:04 pm »

For shows I work on (not so much at the ballet since its the same company and crew every time, for the most part) I always do thank you notes for all cast, designers, director, my ASMs and crew.  On opening night I take the day off work to just do it.

I don't think thank you notes from the SM are ever really expected.  It's a nice gesture and if you have the time and funds and wherewithal to do it, more power to you. 

But if you just plain don't feel like it, then don't.  If somone is going to hire based on whether or not you wrote thank you notes...well...maybe you don't want to work for them again?  If you did your job and the show is running like it should, then that in itself could be considered thank you enough to the company and the show.

220

Employment / Re: stage management college degrees

« on: Jul 03, 2006, 12:52 pm »

The nice thing about educational theatre is that shows are typically set up as learning experiences -- so a rehearsal period might be 6 or 7 weeks instead of only 4; a build period might be 4-5 weeks instead of only 2-3, etc.  You have more time to figure things out and learn things.  Shows are designed to be learning processes, not just a final product.  In this way going to school for theatre is helpful.  You really get a chance to go through the process slowly and understand why you're doing what you're doing. 

On the other hand, many colleges do things very differently than in the "real world."  For example, my school insisted I sit in the booth to call a show -- after I had already worked as an ASM for the ballet company several times and sat with the SM backstage.  After patiently explaining that I would prefer to sit backstage, that we had the FOH cam already set up and that this is the way I would be doing it in a professional setting I was told, "No.  The SM's place is in the booth."  Hmm.

In any kind of theatrical degree (except for something like theatre history) it is important that the bulk of your learning has been experiential learning -- if everything you've done involved is sitting in a classroom with no practical work, your degree won't be as useful as if you'd spent the four years actually working in the theatre instead of going to school.  I don't think it so much a matter of "I have a piece of paper," its more a matter of what you did during the years you spent earning that piece of paper - sitting in a classroom, or sitting backstage (or in the booth...wherever your school puts you).

221

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Left or Right

« on: Jul 03, 2006, 12:37 pm »

Didn't we just do this thread?

there is a thread called "Lights? Electrics? What do you say" that sort of ventured into the realm of where in the bible you put your Qs and text, etc.

222

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Outdoor Theatre - Basic Information

« on: Jun 29, 2006, 11:52 pm »

Please note I found an older topic discussing some "how-tos" of outdoor theatre and have merged these two topics together.

223

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Left or Right

« on: Jun 29, 2006, 11:47 pm »

I am right-handed, but do my text on the right and my blocking on the left (or the backside of the previous page).  I put a number by the text and then the corresponding # gives the blocking.  As things are added, I do the same thing as with Qs -- 1.5, 1.7, etc. 

I use the same script/score through the whole thing -- so my Qs go on the right side of the right pages.  If there's a specific word or place the Q goes, I'll write that in on my standby post-it. 

When the show goes into  tech, I know it so well I'm not really necessarily following the text itself -- it's like I have the page itself memorized, so I know where things are on the page as the actor is speaking/singing (does that make sense?)  So with my Qs in the right all in the same column, I can scan down a page easily to see what's coming up.

Except when I'm at the ballet -- and then all I've got is a score and the Qs just get sprinkled throughout the music where they're supposed to happen. 

Even though they're bigger and huger in every aspect, a ballet is easier for me to call because I know it will always be the same.  the music is not suddenly going to change from night to night, whereas actors are subject to drop a line, a paragraph, or even a whole page!

224

SMNetwork Archives / Re: Just got a new book.

« on: Jun 20, 2006, 01:36 am »

Congrats Kay! And cheers to SMNetwork!

225

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Lights? Electrics? Elex? What do you say?

« on: Jun 20, 2006, 01:27 am »

I say "Lights."  Hate the mouthful of "electrics."  Special FX are called by what they are (fog go, haze go, smoke go).  Projection is the same (standy projection slides 1-4,  slide 1 go, slide 2 go, etc.).

Sound Qs have always been letters for me.  Although at the ballet I don't usually have sound Qs, so during rehearsals when we don't have the symphony I will just say "track go" or "pause track." 

Rail Qs go off Q lights.  Even if I call them, they usually can't hear me over the b**** box anyway. 

Deck Qs I will have their shifts detailed out on a Q sheet, and I will usually just say "standby on Deck for the table on" or whatever the change happens to be, then they just get "Deck Go" 

As others have said, a lot of it is SM and designer preference and what is going to be the least confusing and most clear to the crew and board ops.