Messages

256

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: How to deal with a very unpleasant pit orchestra?

« on: Mar 31, 2012, 10:14 pm »

Hindsight: never post anything negative about your show on social media.

Agreed, and I'll take it one step further. Never complain about your job, any job, online! That can come back to bite you, in ways you might never have considered... 

257

The Hardline / Re: AEA Set Moves

« on: Mar 08, 2012, 07:13 pm »

And my understanding is "no." A phone call to your business rep. is in order here! Let us know what answer you get!

LORT rule 59 (B) is:

(B) An Actor out of character may set or move scenery or props only in scenes in which the Actor enters or exits.

I've always taken this to mean the french scene - i.e., Puck enters with a three-legged stool, puts it on spike, and starts the scene with the First Fairy.  But could it mean the stage scene, i.e., Oberon sets the stool then exits and waits for his entrance a page later?

Thanks,

258

The Hardline / Re: Theatres That Have Closed--Can You Say "Emergency?"

« on: Mar 08, 2012, 07:12 pm »

http://www.denverpost.com/entertainment/ci_20112677/denvers-paragon-theatre-close-permanently-just-weeks-after?source=rss#ixzz1oY6x0xm4

Denver's Paragon Theatre to close permanently, just weeks after moving into new space

By Claire Martin
The Denver Post



 Less than a month after inaugurating its new digs in Denver's RiNo district, the Paragon Theatre ensemble has announced that it will close permanently after the final performance of its current show, "Miss Julie."

"It's a sad, terrible loss," said John Moore, the former drama critic for the Denver Post.

"I spoke at their tenth anniversary last year, and the big question when you celebrate 10 years for a theater company is: How did they survive when so many others come and go? There must be 100 theater companies in Colorado, but the names of those companies change one year to the next. Only a small percentage make it 10 years."

Since its incorporation in 2000, the Paragon Theatre's productions consistently have fared well against more well-heeled theatrical companies, annually winning Ovation and Henry awards, along with warm reviews. Paragon depended entirely on volunteers, with only one paid employee, who was charged with development.

"It was a hard decision to make, but we were fighting too hard with the city and building committees to get everything up to code in the new space," said Paragon's Warren Sherrill.

"Just when we thought we were going to get there, we got thrown a curve ball. Right before 'Miss Julie' opened, we learned we had to add another bathroom. That was too much after already putting in expenses we hadn't foreseen, like adding a handicapped ramp to the back of the building."

As soon as its board of directors voted to close late last week, Sherrill and other Paragon ensemble members began personally calling longtime patrons and donors.

"That's who we feel we're letting down the most," Sherrill said. He devoted most of the past weekend to those phone calls.

"We feel we've done what we set out to do. We have no regrets. If we get the energy and drive to try something crazy like this again, we might. But for now, it's a good break. It's a Seinfeld-type feeling. Or REM; someone mentioned them the other night. We're ending on top."

Moore called the decision to close "not just their loss, but everyone's loss.

"Everyone thought the hard part was behind them. Paragon had a lot of good years left. They were just hitting their stride."

Claire Martin: 303-954-1477 or cmartin@denverpost.com

259

Tools of the Trade / Re: Stage Write - an iPad app for idiots, by idiots

« on: Feb 05, 2012, 10:39 am »

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118049702

Legit theater creatives spawn apps
Market grows for rehearsal, staging tools
By Gordon Cox

StageWrite
There's an app for that, as the saying goes. But an increasing number of entrepreneurial theater folk have noticed that for a lot of day-to-day legit work, there isn't an app for that -- and they've set about remedying the situation.

Take Jeff Whiting, the latest legiter to add the unlikely words "software developer" to his resume. As a director-choreographer who often works as Susan Stroman's associate, he found himself slaving over exhaustive "show bibles" -- detailed accounts of stage arrangements and actor movements, often totaling thousands of pages per show -- so that a production can be reproduced on tour and in other incarnations.

"I'd been dreaming about ways I could make my life easier," Whiting says. "I kept thinking, 'This should be simple.' It's just there was no existing way to do it."

Looking for a digital tool that could streamline the process, all Whiting could come up with was a jury-rigged combo of Power Point and Excel. What he really needed, he decided, was an iPad app -- and so StageWrite, launching March 1, was born.

Whiting joins a handful of industry denizens in creating rehearsal-tool apps they'd use themselves. Two of the best-known apps for helping actors memorize lines, for instance, come from actors themselves -- David H. Lawrence XVII ("Heroes"), who spearheaded the creation of Rehearsal, and J. Kevin Smith, the man behind Scene Partner.

"The dirty little secret is, if nobody ever bought the app and it was just me using it in my day-to-day life as an actor, I'd still be a happy dude," Lawrence says.

As Whiting discovered, it ain't easy creating and selling an app. He knew what he wanted, but guided by a friend in the tech industry, he had to seek out the Arizona-based team of programmers that he ended up hiring to do the coding.

There's also a not-insignificant amount of money involved. Whiting, who capitalized StageWrite himself, says he had to pony up "hundreds of thousands of dollars" to bring the app to market.

The final product is a tool for creating, duplicating and editing the floorplan charts that, in a show bible, give a moment-to-moment, top-down view of where and when actors and set pieces move during a show. In beta tests during his day job, he's already found it invaluable, talking up the potential, for instance, to email jpegs of the charts to swing performers, or to a regional lighting designer in advance of a touring production's arrival.

But creation of an app isn't the only hurdle; creators have to market it as well.

Different apps go after different demographics: StageWrite, for example, isn't targeted to the masses. With a pricetag of around $200, the app is pitched as a professional tool to be used by those involved with sizable productions.

So far, Whiting has found that the relatively small size of the legit community has proven a plus, tubthumping for his new product among pros he knows. Whiting says he's also gotten early interest from Sea World, Cirque du Soleil and the Olympic Committee.

Meanwhile, Scene Partner, priced at $4.99, is aimed at a different market. Creator Smith, who pairs his community-theater acting experience with a career as a direct marketer of tech products, targets amateur and pro thesps alike, saying he's had a lot of luck hawking the app at young-thespian conferences around the country. The $20 Rehearsal, on the other hand, is optimized for working TV and film actors, as well as for legiters.

Among Scene Partner's several features are a text-to-speech component that allows audio playback of cue lines for actors memorizing a part. With different tools but a similar goal, Rehearsal enables the highlighting of dialogue in digital scripts and the ability to record an actor's own lines or fellow thesps' cues, among other functions.

The rehearsal room's shift into the digital realm jives with a trend that has seen playscript publishing houses also making recent moves into the marketplace. Late last year, Samuel French launched an e-book service, and barely a month later, Dramatists Play Service struck a deal with Scene Partner to make e-scripts available for use with the app (available at around $10 per play).

Both Whiting and Smith have plans for a suite of tools that will help actors, directors and designers do their work. And Smith anticipates further partnerships among legiters brave enough to step into the marketplace. "I think there's going to be a lot of room for a lot of collaboration," he says. "We're all trying to make a viable business out of it."

Contact Gordon Cox at gordon.cox@variety.com

260

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Re: ESCRIPTS: Post your requests for electronic scripts here!

« on: Jan 02, 2012, 06:19 pm »

I'm looking for AROUND THE WORLD IN EIGHTY DAYS, Mark Brown version, either pdf or .doc editable. Thanks in advance. You can contact me through a PM at this site, and I will send you  my email address.

261

The Green Room / Re: Picture Wars!

« on: Dec 30, 2011, 10:18 pm »

Gone!

262

The Green Room / Re: Picture Wars!

« on: Dec 29, 2011, 10:49 am »

Yum. Mongoose!! Yummy!!!

263

The Green Room / Re: Picture Wars!

« on: Dec 28, 2011, 08:14 pm »

So sorry Hulk. No oxygen in space....

264

The Green Room / Re: Picture Wars!

« on: Dec 27, 2011, 07:18 pm »

In 1997, IBM's Deep Blue defeated Kasparov in a six-game match -- the first time a reigning world champion lost a match to a computer opponent in tournament play.

265

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: PRESS RELEASES

« on: Nov 06, 2011, 12:19 am »

I have often noticed that the press release that goes out, is sometimes not published in its entirety.  Are you sure the releases are going out without your name, or could it be that they are being edited at the other end?

So, this is really just my vanity at play here.

As I continue to work on more high profile projects, I always cringe when a press release goes out with the full cast, the entire production staff, but leaves me out.  (So basically all the AEA actors are listed, just not me . . . or the entire artistic staff is mentioned, but not me . . . )

Part of me knows that I need to discuss this at contract negotiations, or be resolved it after the contract is issued . . .

Is this something I just need to get over?  Does anyone have any good ideas on how to press this point?

Post Merge: Nov 06, 2011, 12:22 amI don't know offhand of any AEA rulebook requiring the AEA SM to be included in press releases. Therefore, one certainly could make a stink if one wanted to rock that particular boat, but I don't see how one has the "right" to do so...

I know we are working on different levels of production, but one thing I've noticed since joining Equity, which might have a correlation to your question.

I have found that producers/higher-ups/etc have some strange disconnect between the words "Equity" and "Stage Manager." They don't take into consideration the fact that an AEA SM isn't just there to make sure the rules are obeyed for the actors -- we have rights, too, and they are outlined in the same document. So when they send out press releases without your name, you have the right to make a bit of a stink about it. If you have the right to have your name on the title page in the program, you have the right to be in the press release.

266

The Green Room / Re: Nudity and Sensitive (Sexual) Material

« on: Nov 04, 2011, 03:48 pm »

Not up to me. I am forwarding all the email addresses that are PMd to me!

How many participants do they need? I did The Blue Room

267

The Green Room / Re: Tax Season!

« on: Nov 04, 2011, 08:57 am »

Like Matthew, my tax adviser has always warned against this.  I wouldn't go there...

Here's a question:

Have any of you US-based SM's ever deducted a gym membership or other exercise/fitness equipment?

Here's my reasoning: As an ASM, I need to be able to move scenery and furniture but frankly, I am a tiny un-athletic girl and I frequently have trouble doing that. I would like to remedy that situation, but gym memberships are expensive even for people who aren't living on an intern salary.

I'm actually going to have a real accountant do my taxes this year, but I want to make sure I'm keeping up with any potential deductions now.

So- gym memberships? Workout DVDs? Home exercise equipment? Anybody ever successfully deducted something in that vein?

Feel free to tack on any other deductions a newly (mostly) financially independent SM should be aware of, oh wise SMs of the internet!

268

The Green Room / Re: Nudity and Sensitive (Sexual) Material

« on: Nov 04, 2011, 08:45 am »

Thanks all, for your willingness to help out. Would those of you whose actual email addresses I do not have, please message them to me, so that I can forward them on?

To those of you who are friends and colleagues in a "real," not "virtual" sense, and to those of you who have already PM'd me with your email addresses, I have forwarded your email addresses on! If there's anyone else who wants to participate, just let me know!

Thanks,
Ruth

269

The Green Room / Nudity and Sensitive (Sexual) Material

« on: Nov 03, 2011, 03:58 pm »

Any Stage Manager (union, non-union, or university student) who has experience in dealing with nudity and sensitive sexual material in rehearsal and/or performance of a play/musical, who might be willing to be interviewed for a Master's Thesis Project, please send me a PM. (I am acting as a middle man for someone else, who is having trouble finding SMs who have experience with this. This is not my project)
Thanks!

270

The Green Room / University of Iowa 2011 Stage Management Survey

« on: Nov 02, 2011, 03:31 pm »

The University of Iowa 2011 Stage Management Survey is open for business.  SMs at all levels of the business are welcome to participate.

http://www.smsurvey.info/