Messages

256

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

« on: Jun 30, 2006, 09:32 pm »

I thought I'd try to get some folks chatting here by throwing out a question.

What is the most unusual job that you have had as a stage manager?

Has there ever been a job that you've taken that you've questioned how it related to theatre?  Or have you taken a job that was titled differently, but at the end of the day you pretty much felt like you were stage managing?

I'd be interested in hearing about unusual jobs that folks have taken.

-Centaura

257

College and Graduate Studies / Re: Summer Festivals/Unpaid work

« on: Jun 30, 2006, 09:26 pm »

BUT . . . you may find that work you that you really like to do is in the non-pay or low-pay range, and you may never be able to live off your stage management salary.  That's fine too. 

I spent several years working for a low-paying company because I really had fun with the job.  Eventually I wanted more, and moved on, but I don't regret those years.  Its all about finding your nitch.  I don't know what kind of parent you have, I had one that I had to literally work for almost 10 years in theatre before she gave up and accepted that that is what I want to do with my life.  She now tells me how well-rounded an individual I am, and how knowledgeable and flexible - I had to prove to her that I was on an okay path by doing okay in life.  I hope that your folks give you a bit more credit, but talking about your ambitions with them never hurts.  Tell them that this is resume material, and will hopefully get you on track for working for higher pay later.


-Centaura

258

Employment / Re: What to wear/bring to a SM interview or other tips

« on: Jun 30, 2006, 09:16 pm »

For most of us, our first jobs don't pay very much.  But you need to start somehwere, and once you've shown that you can work professionally, the range of oppurtunities that you qualify for will open up. 

Tell your family that a lot of career paths have un-paid interships as part of what it takes to get into the field.  At least you're getting something for your time.  And, its not a permanent job.  One thing that I had a hard time with my mother over was her concept that you got one job and that was your job forever after.  So for her, getting a low paid job meant that you were finacially screwed forever.

Get through the summer, and see what you can apply for come fall.  This festival should give you some good experience, and maybe a good contact or two.  Good luck with it, and congrats on getting the job,

-Centaura

259

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Friend or "so nice to meet you"?

« on: Jun 30, 2006, 08:46 pm »

The only time I have ever bought gifts for folks on my tours was either for their birthdays, or sometimes I'd get everybody something small on holidays.  Other than that, I never did any other gifts.  But that is also my stationary persona as well - even when going back out with folks that I knew, my daily greeting of them wouldn't really go past 'how was your travel day?' unless there was something specific to talk/ask about.  I think it depends on your personality.  Have you toured before with repeat folks?  Or will this be your first time with repeat crew?

-Centaura

260

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Working with nudity

« on: Jun 27, 2006, 09:41 pm »

I worked on a show with a female actor who had to be bare-chested for a few minutes onstage.  With her, we worked her up to full nudity starting with doing the scene with her stripped to her bra, and then worked in the nudity the week before tech.  We also did first tech with the bra to cover the enevitable frequent stops and the transition from the 'safe' cast who'd been in the rehearsals to the new additions of the crew/designers/etc.  This was for a female actor, not to stereotype, but often men are a little less sensitive about being in the buff.  But the mention of doing rehearsal in a bathing suit brought that to mind.

-Centaura

261

Stage Management: Other / Re: Stage Managing Dance?

« on: Jun 19, 2006, 07:08 am »

I worked on a small scale tour where it was just me and a sound board op (I ran lights), and we both ran our own show independent of each other.  That was because we were sometimes in venues without headset systems, so it was just easier for us to do our own shows instead of panicing when there were no 'cans'.  I would do paperwork somestimes during the slow scenes without anything happening in them.

Then again, if it was just you and no other ops, you could have had sparkling conversations with yourself on headset.  You'd always laugh at your own jokes, right?   

-Centaura

262

Stage Management: Other / Re: Stage Managing Dance?

« on: Jun 18, 2006, 07:52 pm »

I've done the stop watch routine.  The show was done to canned music, so there was no score to work from or take notes in.  I also didn't get to go to many rehearsals, only near the end.  When I did go, I sat with a stop watch and the lighting designer and we worked out by the second when and where cues were going to happen.  I typed up a page with pretty much what I was calling in what order, with the stop watch times.  It was a 'quick and dirty' method, one that I would refine if I did more dance, but it was a list that I pretty much sat and read down through.

-Centaura

263

Stage Management: Other / Re: Event management

« on: Jun 18, 2006, 09:30 am »

This might be a bit late, but I didn't see this thread before it was moved to here.  When I worked for an event company, we would hire event managers out at around $25/hr depending on the size of the event.  They were involved in the prep of the event, but under their salary at our company.

-Centaura

264

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Stage Managers & Computers

« on: Jun 15, 2006, 06:50 pm »

The laptop and the sm on tour are one and the same being.  While I didn't call the show from my computer, almost everything else in my life worked off of my computer.  From taking care of my personal finances online, to being able to contact venues (via email) at whatever hour I might be awake and available - verses having to try to call during a normal business day.  I have a mapping program on CD that tells me how long its going to take to get from city to city, plus where to find addresses in a city (without having to go online).  I remember one night when I literally had a line of actors waiting outside my hotel room, all with their room's phone books in their hands, each waiting to punch addresses into my computer to get directions.

I have offline editors on my computer, for making lighting disks for venues with light boards that I didn't have a disk for yet.  I typed in the show to email to venues for sign language interpreters.  Instant delivery, saved on postage.  I could send spreadsheets back to the home theatre with our weekly expenses, so even if the reciepts were slow in the mail getting back, the theatre was on top of our expenditures.  I've even whipped out my computer and run the show CD for a performance once when our mini disk player kicked it and the venue couldn't find its CD player.

Had a company manager with a newer computer than mine be able to burn a new show CD anytime ours was getting worn out/scratched up too much.  I have a database of every venue that I've been to, with notes for when I go back in the future.  We've hooked our laptops up to hotel tvs for impromto movie nights.

I can go on and on.  When I first started touring, I was the only one on the tour with a computer.  Now, they all have computers.  Tours come into my roadhouse, get a DSL line (from the building) and set up their own wireless network backstage.  My boss tells me that tours would come in the past and need 6 or 8 phone lines.  Now they only need one or two, plus the DSL line.  That's partly the advent of cell phones as well as computers, but related.  Anyway, a lot of info for a probable short mention 'they're handy on tour' but I hope it helps.

-Centaura

265

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Resume Formatting -What stands out?

« on: Jun 10, 2006, 05:34 pm »

Let your work on paper speak for itself, and then sell yourself in person when you get the interview.

For my current job, this was my key.  I rushed a resume because I was applying past the deadline (I didn't find the ad until the end of the deadline, and I emailed asking if they were still taking applications).  I discovered after the fact that I had made one typo in my cover letter, and was convinced that I had lost the possibility for the job.  I made it to the short list (to my surprise) and got an interview.  To make a long story short, I got their attention at the interview and made a very positive impression, enough that I got the job.

I am certainly not trying to advocate that a typo was okay in the cover letter, I am trying to illustrate that you can make up for a mediocre resume and cover letter with a good interview.  If for any reason you don't feel fully confident that your resume is the best, put that much more effort into appearing pleasant and confident in your interview.

-Centaura

266

The Hardline / HAVE I EVER READ THE RULE BOOK?

« on: Jun 05, 2006, 11:39 am »

Wait, but I can still have "no pants" day in the booth.

I actually called a show once in just a sports bra and leggings.  Course, the AC in the building had shut down, and we were being fed only hot air in the booth.  I keep clothes at the door of the booth to put on for going out, but me and the board op were both down to the bare minimun of decency.

And I won't even mention where feathers go when you've got a fan running!

-Centaura

267

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Wig Hair is Slowing Me Down!

« on: Jun 05, 2006, 11:13 am »

I recently had to clean long hair out of the wheels of a desk chair, and all I can say is that its a time consuming occupation.  If you can get the end of a hair wrapped around the end of a pair of needle nose pliers, you can sometimes gently pull it out, while wrapping it around the end of the pliers.  Check the wheels, sometimes you can take them apart, depending on how expensive they are, then you can get right at the bearings, get the hair, add a bit of grease, put it back together.  Or, if its a really cheap chair, you can sometimes take the wheels off and get replacement ones at a local hardware store.

-Centaura

268

Employment / Fired from an SM Job

« on: May 25, 2006, 07:16 pm »

I've never been asked to leave a production, but have both quit from one place and been sent out on tour as a replacement stage manager.

The time that I quit was the hardest choice I ever made, I was overseas at an apprenticeship and they had lied to me about what it was about.  But I gave them over a month's notice, finished the show I was on, and didn't leave them in the lurch, so I felt okay about it once I made up my mind.  Turned out to be a great desicion, as the director of the last show I was working on found out that I was quitting (I told her, I didn't want her to hear from others or think I wouldn't give her my best effort), and then promptly hired me for a 16week professional tour.

The times that I've gone out to replace someone on tour, once was due to the SM being asked to leave.  Both of them were very interesting experiences, as I had to train the actors into my style of working and break them of some of the bad habits that the previous SMs had let them get into.  On the tour that the SM was fired, I was a relief to the cast and they would have done anything I asked after a week of dealing with me (verses the person I replaced).  She was doing everything from stealing money from the company, to possibly putting one of the actors into a situation where they were sexually molested.

I've also been in the situation of firing an actor from a tour, and that was ugly!  We knew she was going to be problematic, so we had to plan it very carefully.  I literally woke her up one morning, told her she had two hours to pack and that her flight was at such-a-such time.  Still nerve racking.

-Centaura

269

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Hospitality backstage

« on: May 25, 2006, 06:56 pm »

Singers are the ones who have to be especially careful about what they eat/drink right before a show. It's not just a diva thing. Smile What you consume can really effect your performance. Though it is going to vary some from person to person.

Yeah, and its amazing what some professional singers will do to their cords before performances.  I work at a road house that hosts large tours and big name concerts.  I think my favorite rider hospitality quote was a recent one this spring where, in reference to the bottle of wine that must be in the dressing room before the show, quote "If you're spending less than $50, you're not trying hard enough" [to find a good local brand].

We just had a tour in recently that had so much insence going, both in their dressing room and onstage, that I 1 - was smoked out of my own office, and 2 - am now worried how I'm going to get the smell out of the sofa from that dressing room.  How on earth could they even breathe, let alone sing, with 30 sticks of insense burning on the drum riser, I still don't know.  I was allergic to the stuff and spent most of the show hiding in the box office.

Its been really interesting seeing the hospitality riders that come with the big name bands.  And to see what they'll eat right before going onstage.  Often there's good things asked for in the rider, like throat-coat tea, but then after the show you find it unopened in the dressing room.  Then other times the onstage beverage station will be all alcohol.

On most shows, there's a deal with the in house catering company, I make the coffee on the dock [for the union] and they make the coffee in the catering kitchen [for everyone else].  There's one promoter who's too cheap to pay for the union to have coffee, so cheap in fact that the one time he brought donuts for them, they were day-old stale things leftover from somewhere.  But their only choice is caffenated, and while there is hot water for tea, they have to bring their own tea in.

The broadway tours either have their own stuff that the prop department sets up, or they order the in house catering.  Its all been very eye-opening though.

-Centaura

270

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / end of show

« on: Apr 13, 2006, 12:38 pm »

When I would get done with a tour, I would always try to save at least two days before I started my summer/interim job.  Day one I would just sleep and do nothing, really.  Day two I would spend going through the months of mail that I had accumulated.  I found that that would get me re-oriented to life at home after the end of tour.  I was able to get into that 'zen' grove that Matthew spole of - I  kept the thought of the next show/project that I was going to be working on in my mind, with the positve feelings that it would be nice to have a little bit of a change.  But I also have the shelves of 'stuff' and my giant map.  I have a map on my wall where I have pins of every city that I've been to on tour.  I'll look at the pins and try to remember which show I was there with and with what tour.  Sometimes just looking at a town name will bring back stories in my head.

-Centaura