Messages

241

Tools of the Trade / Re: Clear-Com Headsets

« on: Mar 27, 2012, 11:43 am »

I agree with KMC. End User Mods to fit Clear Com tend not to work in my experience. And in my experience with selling the products....if they say it's only for one belt pack, it's really only meant for that belt pack. Now that being said, they do sell adaptors to some of their mini jacks to fit regular XLR connections. So maybe that's what your audio guy was talking about. But if they are talking about ripping connectors off.....I'd stay away from that.

CC-25 isn't one of the more popular choices I've seen come across my desk. Even if you're working on a straight drama it will be difficult to hear backstage. If you're doing a musical or dance show even some of the Clear Com Single Muff sets can't cancel out enough noise to make them useable backstage.

I got to play around with one during a Clear Com demo at one point. The ear piece is comfortable to me (but each person's ears are obviously different) and I felt the mic was flexible enough that I never felt like it was too far back or too far forward on my face. But I didn't use it in a show setting. Just in the show room.

242

The Green Room / Re: A Sticky Wicket

« on: Mar 23, 2012, 10:50 pm »

I've been attempting to find a way to respond to this without sounding like a jerk.... I've failed. So here's my response:

I think it's completely insane to say that when you walk in to someone else's house you have the right to do what you want. It's not your house. They have opened their doors to you. They don't have to, and without the kindness of locals opening their doors to artists, there are a lot of theaters that would not exist. Without theaters, there's less jobs. With less jobs, there's more competition etc etc. Not to mention, it reflects poorly not only on you as the rude individual, but it reflects poorly on the institution that hired you and in small towns...that's not something that stays quiet for too long.

Every theater that I worked for that had this system in place was very up front about it. I knew well before I arrived that I'd be living in someone's home and they may have rules for me. So if you aren't comfortable, Turn down the job. If you aren't willing to live in a situation where you might have to follow some rules, don't put yourself in the situation. In these instances, these people are not your roommates. They are your host. There is a very obvious difference between the two. And again....this is really simple. If this situation doesn't work for you, this isn't the job for you.

For those who don't mind working in a small theater in a community that supports them enough to let the artists stay in their home: Follow the rules your host lays out. Because without them that theater has to spend an exorbitant amount of money housing you. Last place I worked that housed people in local homes, hosts received $35 a week in stipends vs. $75 a night the theater would have to pay for a hotel. With a 25 person staff and a three week Summer Stock run that's a total cost of $2,600 vs. $39,000.

Here's a slippery slope argument: Imagine you are the host of a theater artist, and they bring someone home and are having sex with them on the couch and your 6 year old child walks in. You argue that this is perfectly acceptable because the artist should be able to have free reign of the home, correct? Extreme circumstance or not, this is how you just phrased it.

243

The Green Room / Re: A Sticky Wicket

« on: Mar 23, 2012, 04:14 pm »

One's housing should include the opportunity to entertain, with no notice, advance or otherwise, required to anybody, unless it is a roommate situation.

(Though most adult "townies" should usually have their own place.)

Sure...if you're in housing by yourself.

If you're living in someone else's home (and by the way they are probably getting next to nothing in terms of compensation for opening their dwelling to you at least in my experience) follow their rules and common sense manners. It's like being invited to someone's house for dinner and inviting your own friend that they don't know unannounced. You just don't do that.

244

Employment / Re: Health insurance

« on: Mar 23, 2012, 08:53 am »

I'm not going to vote since I've removed myself from the grind.

However when I was in the thick of it, I got it through AEA when I was eligible and when that ran out, I was covered under my wife's plan for free. Now that I have a "real" job (as my parents and in-laws call it) I get it through my own job and it covers my family.

245

Employment / Re: Is there such a thing as picking the wrong show?

« on: Mar 17, 2012, 02:17 pm »

First: a welcome to NYC!

Second: I think if any of us had the foresight to know which gig will benefit us most none of us would sit in turmoil in an effort to make it to broadway. It's just one of those things everyone in the business goes through. There's no way to know which gig will benefit you the most.

For example: I stayed with a showcase as PSM because they were paying me actually very well, and turned down another showcase because it was a low paying ASM job. Two months later the showcase I stayed with was long forgotten and the Low paying ASM gig transferred to Broadway. Thus became a nice high paying gig.

Is that upsetting? Absolutely. But without that happening I would never get the national touring gig, met some life long friends, and had a million experiences I cherish. So it may have been for the best.

I made it my own rule that from the business point of view I'd rather be paid for my services than donate my time to someone who will want full effort for free. You get what you pay for. And if you weren't paying me, you got what you paid for. It may be detrimental to say that, but I'm pretty much out of stage managing now and I know from conversations ive had that there are others out there who feel that way but won't want to say it (understandably so). When I was transitioning out, I was just getting to the point of picking and choosing my gigs. I could pick what interested me vs what was paying me.

But again I suppose the long and short of it is there is no right answer and there is no wrong answer. You could get hired onto a job that was written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and think its a guarantee that you're going to broadway but it ends up getting scrapped. Meanwhile some little west end indie show about peeing kills at the Fringe and boom! Broadway.

246

The Green Room / Re: Article: Actor slits his own throat as knife switch turns fiction into reality

« on: Mar 16, 2012, 11:20 am »

This is a major fail on so many levels. Props (for leaving the price tag on if nothing else......ok well also for not dulling the blade...), the Actor, the Stage Managers.....but at least this wasn't nearly as bad as it was made out/could have been. This was posted 4 days after the original article you quoted: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/15/austria-theatre

247

The Green Room / Re: Meals!

« on: Mar 13, 2012, 05:26 pm »

I can't help but notice my normal staples of stage managing life (pizza, wings, beer, cigarettes and beef jerky) are no where to be found on these lists....

248

The Hardline / Re: AEA Set Moves

« on: Mar 12, 2012, 03:38 pm »

oooo controversy! I causes it!

Yes I should have qualified that my understanding of "yes" was in the context of dem Shakeyspearey typey shows.

I've also had cast members who entered in scenes later do scene changes in modern/new works. I suppose that should have been a call to the rep on my part or the deputy, but it's obviously too late now as those shows are long since dead and buried.

249

The Green Room / Re: Hell in a Handbag (A Game for Stage Managers)

« on: Mar 10, 2012, 10:20 pm »

What does the meal on the plate consist of? Is it war time rations? Home cooked meal? Should the audience be able to identify it? Should it be fresh so we can have the audience smell the food? Will anyone be eating the food once it's been on the floor? Do we want the plate to break? If yes, how are we going to be able to clean the shards of plate up? If no, is it really period to have a piece of dinnerware that won't break if dropped? How are we going to time the drop of the plate with the gunshot? Will we signal the actress holding the plate? Or will she just go on her own?

New Note: We will need to hid a journal under the floorboards of the set.

250

The Hardline / Re: AEA Set Moves

« on: Mar 08, 2012, 07:03 pm »

My understanding is yes.

251

The Green Room / Re: Favorite Playwright

« on: Mar 07, 2012, 06:19 am »

I agree with missliz. Lanford Wilson really was an amazing man. I got to meet him back in 2000 during the NYSSSA theater school. We went to his house in Sag Harbor  and he gave us a private reading of one of his new short plays. Very funny, down to earth guy. One of the most amazing experiences of my life.

252

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Dealing with rude emails

« on: Mar 03, 2012, 05:33 pm »

In addition to Kay's solution (which is fantastic) I'd also suggest you CC yourself to every single solitary email you send out to the staff and cast. If you don't get it, neither did they.

There is no easy way as a student to "fight the power" of a faculty member who has decided to make an example out of someone. That's why their cc went to everyone including the Department Head. They're making a power play because they wasted time they didn't have to.

As for people CCing everyone on the production team to every email..that's somewhat standard. It opens lines of communication within a production. Obviously I'm not privy to what is being said so it may be entirely unproductive, but if the team is complaining about the way something is coming together then its best to get others involved so everyone is in the loop. Is this usually done during production meetings? Yes. But this is still a valid way to keep communication lines open.

But long and short of it: You've got to fall on this grenade. Not to sound crass but it is your fault that the circle of communication fell apart (even though it's not your fault your email server failed and its certainly not your fault your Costume Designer threw a teenage worthy temper tantrum), but if you follow Kay's advice about how to counter this particular form of snark you should be able to come out as far ahead as you can.

253

The Green Room / Re: Trivia Tournament IV: Trivia's Revenge!!

« on: Mar 02, 2012, 11:47 pm »

I have a very large complaint about today's quiz: My score sucked and I demand it changed to what I think I actually deserved vs. what I actually scored......

.....damn theater category....

254

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: NEW WORKS: Making a prompt book when there is no script at all

« on: Mar 01, 2012, 01:18 am »

I worked as the SM for an Improv troupe, and the way we settled upon calling cues in the midst of games would be simple: One of three people would be the one who could call "Scene." I was one, the Director was another and the Assistant Director was the third. When we felt a scene had accomplished all it could, and we were ending on a high note: Black out called by me to punch the end of the scene or the D/AD would yell "Scene" and then the blackout. So in this instance, it's easier than an experimental piece. I had to have understanding of improv games, situations, and timing in order to end a scene with the right momentum and I had to be quick on my feet to make the other calls. There is nothing worse than calling a blackout when an improver is still moving forward with the scene and you make a bad call to end the game early. It leaves everyone feeling unsatisfied.

I preached this in a thread elsewhere on this forum saying you need to memorize as much as you can leading into a tech. I'd say the same kind of principle would apply here. If the piece is generally supposed to cover the same information, but isn't tied to a script then memorize the general patterns the cast might take. Maybe there's one actor who does the same thing at the same moment in the progression of the show: Take a cue off that. There may not be a script, but there may very well be patterns you can cue off of.

Same goes for a script being created by an exploration process. If there's a lot of chaos on stage, find the one thing you want to cue off of: Key word, phrase, movement etc.

And I have completely lost my train of thought so I'm going to try to stop rooting around in my brain trying to figure out what else I mean to say.

255

The Green Room / Re: What a Stage Manager Does

« on: Feb 21, 2012, 09:10 am »

Quite honestly....I think that Upper left panel should apply nearly across the board