Messages

256

Self-Promotion / Re: Theatres That Have Opened - Easing the Emergency

« on: Jun 07, 2014, 07:30 pm »

More!

Appalachian Women's Theatre Troupe, Boone NC, First production 2013
Bit of a Stretch, Houston TX. First Production 2014
Burbank Community Theater, Burbank CA, First Production 2013
The Cake Shop Theater Company, NYC, First Production 2014, AEA
Finger Lakes Opera, Geneseo NY, First Production 2014
Ghost Light Theatre Company, Minneapolis MN, First Production 2013
Goshakes Theatre, Goshen IN, First Production 2013
Happy Few Theatre Co, NYC, First Production 2014
North Haven Repertory Theater, North Haven CT, First production 2014

Also note, I've added "companies who've started paying their staff" to the list of groups that can/should be mentioned here.

257

Self-Promotion / Theatres That Have Opened - Easing the Emergency

« on: Jun 06, 2014, 03:57 pm »

Our thread about closed theatres has been a constant fixture over in The Hardline since 2009. It's struck me that by focusing on failing companies, we're ignoring the chance to celebrate the folks who are doing the hard work of starting new theatre companies. So here's your chance to help us be a little more uplifting here on SMNetwork. Have you worked on, heard about or attended a fledgling company's inaugural production? How about companies that have recently started offering AEA contracts? Companies that have finally started paying their staff after years of volunteer work? Let us know about them here so we can support these community members who are helping to keep the industry alive!

To start, I did a quick search of companies in my city that have mounted their first productions over the past 24 months. This is not an exhaustive list, but it's a start.

Adapt Theatre, Chicago IL. First production 2013.
Cole Theatre, Chicago IL. First production coming in 2014. AEA!
Definition Theatre Company, Chicago IL. First production 2012.
First Floor Theater, Chicago IL. First production 2012.
Haven Theatre, Chicago IL. First production 2013.
Innate Theatre Company, Chicago IL. first Production 2013.
Second Thought Theatre Company, Chicago IL. First production 2014.
TangleKnot Theatre, Chicago IL. First production 2013.
Wayward Productions, Chicago IL. First production 2013.

258

The Green Room / Re: IFTTT

« on: May 28, 2014, 01:47 am »

For those who have never heard of it before, here's the link: https://ifttt.com

259

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Learning how to read music

« on: May 20, 2014, 06:43 am »

Church hymnals are also a great place to start. They're readily available and usually feature four-part harmony. Find the Xmas carols to start, they'll be recognizable. Figure out where the melody is - usually the uppermost set of notes - and then use that as context to start piecing together the harmonies.

260

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: SM Team Hierarchy

« on: May 16, 2014, 08:15 pm »

It's also quite rare outside of the very top levels of production to see all of those roles in use.  The largest SM teams I ever worked with had 3 including myself. In one case it was SM/ASM/Intern, and the other it was SM/Intern/Intern.

Handy diagram attached. UK terms included. Sort of. I'm sure I've made a hash of them.

261

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: PROPS: Non-Dairy Stage Dip?

« on: May 12, 2014, 01:23 am »

Maybe shaving foam for the 3rd, non-edible, costume-dumped dip. It's basically soap.

262

Tools of the Trade / The Naughty List of Advertisers Wot Have Annoyed the SMNetwork Staff

« on: May 09, 2014, 08:23 pm »

Here at SMNetwork we try our best to make our advertising policies obvious and easy to follow.

Unfortunately some advertisers (especially developers of Ipad & Iphone apps) have been missing the point over the past few years. In each case, a developer or other vested party has joined the site and posted a false "endorsement" of the application. Usually they post to several threads simultaneously.

Our excellent moderation staff usually whisks these nasty little posts out of your sight before they can do much damage, and I do my part by banning the offenders shortly afterwards. However, it's been said that our restrictive advertising policies and very efficient policing strategy don't allow for any promotion of new technology.

Therefore, in the interest of not letting these "hardworking" developers have their applications go unnoticed, here's the list of products advertised by developers who were too stupid to read the rules or too rude to abide by them.

SMNetwork encourages all stage managers to avoid these applications/products and ensure that their developers do not see a profit from them. Shady marketing tactics should not be rewarded!

Let's hope this list stays nice and short.


1. StageWrite - ipad application - fake endorsement by hired shill, advertising without permission, links in first post
2. StageCue - ipad application - false endorsement by developer posing as stage manager, spamming multiple threads, advertising without permission, links in first THREE posts
3. Run The Show - ipad application - advertising without permission, links in first post

263

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

« on: May 01, 2014, 05:15 pm »

She's got the same account name here. LaurenDPennington.

264

The Green Room / Re: "Indeed" says 50k...

« on: Apr 30, 2014, 04:03 pm »

Yeah, I get this when tracking SMNetwork's performance too. They're including anything that mentions the words "intern," "stage" or "management" in the description, so it isn't entirely accurate. Suggest wrapping the whole phrase in quotes to avoid the false positives, at the risk of losing a few hits.

265

Introductions / MOVED: Noises Off

« on: Apr 09, 2014, 04:39 pm »

This topic has been moved to Stage Management: Plays & Musicals.

http://smnetwork.org/forum/index.php?topic=8153.0

266

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Dear Abby: Sound Board Op vs Stage Manager

« on: Mar 25, 2014, 06:39 pm »

Sometimes our members want to ask sensitive questions while remaining anonymous. We allow members to send these questions to our staff, who will post the anonymized message on their behalf. We call these 'Dear Abby' posts. Here's another one that arrived today:

Dear Abby:
 
 I am currently SMing a production where the sound operator is an intern.  Instead of the sound operator coming to me if they are upset about what I put in the rehearsal report they go to the producer.  The producer has completely taken the sound operator's side and has told me to tone my performance reports when it comes to sound issues. They said that the operator has more experience than I do and I am insulting them.  I am not able to have personal communication with the sound operator without them getting offended or speaking ill about me in the green room.  How do I handle this?
 
 Thank You!

267

Introductions / MOVED: General T. Conrpone

« on: Mar 25, 2014, 06:17 pm »

This topic has been moved to Students and Novice Stage Managers.

http://smnetwork.org/forum/index.php?topic=8123.0

268

The Hardline / Re: To be Honest or to MRE

« on: Mar 21, 2014, 01:42 am »

It's somewhat known around here that I currently make a living helping folks to buy, sell and rent housing. In my city, as in many, there are far more dog owners than there are dog-friendly apartments. There are also many large families who need 3+ bedroom apartments, while the housing stock breakdown favors units with 2 beds or fewer.

This seemingly random story will make sense in a moment.

If I'm trying to find housing for a couple with no pets, I will not put them in a dog-friendly unit, and I will not put them in an apartment with more than 2 bedrooms. I don't care if they need to work from home, I don't care if they have a lot of guests come to visit. Because I know if I waste that dog-friendly 4 bedroom apartment on the pet-free couple my next clients will be a family with five kids and a puppy. Some housing resources are simply too scarce to waste on people who "want" them for part time use over people who actually need them in order to keep everyone in the real house instead of the doghouse. (Pun utterly intentional.)

Theatre jobs are also scarce, MRE-eligible ones moreso. Your friend is much like my example couple above - the job isn't a perfect fit and I guarantee there is someone out there who really needs those 10 weeks. It would be a disservice to the community to take the job. I know self-preservation comes into it here and a good freelancer should watch out for their own career above all, but still, there are always several folks in the "right person for the gig" club and schedule conflicts mean you can't join.

In addition, there's the "dead grandma" factor here. There was a kid in my high school class who tended to skip a LOT. His excuses of illness got pretty worn out so he shifted to saying that assorted family members had died. He was on his sixth dead grandmother before the school figured it out. I'm of the mind that MRE, like funerals, should be used only in case of emergency when they actually occur so one doesn't get the reputation for skipping out on gigs.

So yeah, either tell the truth and see if you're the sine qua non of the director's mise en scene, or take a pass on the gig altogether. Perhaps with a light scolding to the company for waiting too long to book a hot commodity.

269

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Dear Abby: My employer is playing with fire

« on: Mar 21, 2014, 01:06 am »

There was a recent event in the film community where a camera operator working on a train track was killed by an unanticipated oncoming train. The shoot supervisors had not cleared their presence with the train company. Major lawsuits are in the works.

One of the major discussion points to arise from this event is the responsibility of those in charge to take all steps possible to ensure safety of those they supervise.

I'm not sure of the SOP of your current scene and how it agrees/conflicts with your training. I have a history of living in "dirty" towns. (It is a running joke with my family that my presence in a state has always coincided with that state's governor going to prison.) (Sorry kids, I have no desire to move right now.) I know I was taught fire safety in college courses but we did not practice it in our college theatre productions. No fire retardants were used, we never brought in the fire curtain except as a scenic choice, and at the time open flame was still permitted on stage. I suspect an abundance of palms were greased to make this the case.

This type of practice carried over to the professional environment where I did most of my career work. Unlicensed welders, uncharged fire extinguishers and unmarked fire exits were all part and parcel of my daily life. No questions were asked, either - it was just how things were done in the community where I worked. I did do some work in AEA houses where scenery was constructed by pro shops. In these cases maybe precautions were taken without my awareness.

Quietly ask around your local scene to see if fireproofing is a common thing and if the fire marshal is an effective presence. If they are, great, talk to them about your concerns. If they are not, it's a more rocky decision if you want to be the first to rock the boat. You need to bear in mind that anonymity in this case is not guaranteed, especially if you're the only one making a fuss over the matter and the fire marshal has not been seen to intrude for quite a while.

Regardless, the options suggested by the others as to how to do all you can on your own are excellent. Also, bearing in mind that there is this current of heightened liability in the performing arts, it might behoove you to reach out to the fire marshal anyhow to see if you can serve in some sort of liaison role within the theatre community. Stage managers with such a dedicated focus on fire safety are rare, and the industry could benefit from someone like yourself stepping up to help educate and cultivate greater awareness of risks.

270

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Dear Abby: My employer is playing with fire

« on: Mar 20, 2014, 04:47 am »

Occasionally our members will want to ask a question of the community while remaining anonymous. In these cases they may send their questions to a member of the staff, who will then post the anonymized question on their behalf. We call these "Dear Abby" posts. This is one.

NB: links were added by me, as I'd never heard of either product.

Dear Abby,

I'm currently SMing a show at a small theatre. It's mostly amateur actors, though some of the leads are well paid pros. I consider myself a professional SM, and they're paying me to be one.

They insist on using live flame on stage. At several times, Gam Torches are used. I've tried to steer them away, but the artistic team is insistent. This is the same theatre that asked me to fly actors on line sets multiple times.

I don't feel comfortable with the live flame effects. We don't have a permit, and the fire marshal will not be informed. My big concern is that the torches are used by non-professional actors, who sometimes don't know upstage from down. I'm concerned that no matter how much I train and drill into them, they will not act responsibly in the event of a fire.

I'm also concerned at the lack of flamexing-which is not being done at all. In fact, they are not willing to purchase flamex.

What should I do? I'm not financially able to walk away from the contract, so what steps besides basic fire safety and evacuation plans can I take?

Thanks.