Messages

286

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

« on: Mar 20, 2014, 09:49 am »

Without a fire permit, you might be breaking the law.

Bump your concerns casually to the producers and production management.

Who knows, at your first performance, a call could be made to fire marshal . . .

287

Tools of the Trade / Re: MTI's Stage Manager Scripts

« on: Mar 17, 2014, 02:15 pm »

The legality of copying a script is usually offset by purchasing a copy of the script and destroying it . . .

or for rentals, making sure to rent a copy for yourself as stage management.

288

The Green Room / Re: Silly things done when we're not at our best

« on: Mar 15, 2014, 01:44 pm »

I accidentally sent out the show report to the actors' email group, instead of their call report. I didn't notice this until the next day before the show when one of the Actors that had added some pauses into his dialogue mentioned to me he would try to "not get lost" in the scene as I had stated in the report.

Doh!

I've done this a lot . . . but it's a good reminder to make sure what you put in a performance report or rehearsal report doesn't say anything you wouldn't or haven't set to the actor's face . . . since when we send out things to emails - who knows where it will end up . . .

289

Tools of the Trade / Re: MTI's Stage Manager Scripts

« on: Mar 09, 2014, 12:27 pm »

I so rarely do a "found" script, but I think I ultimately would want something digital so I can screw around with page breaks, add excerpts from the score, put in counts, etc . . .

290

The Green Room / Re: Short Rant: Why Can't You Number things Consistently in Your Script?!

« on: Mar 08, 2014, 04:23 pm »

Pride in the material is the only reason

291

The Green Room / Perhaps a moment of silence . . .

« on: Mar 07, 2014, 09:58 am »

http://consumerist.com/2014/03/06/staples-to-close-225-stores-over-next-20-months/

292

Employment / Re: Hiring a rehearsal SM and performance SM

« on: Mar 05, 2014, 12:29 pm »

There can be a lot of very good reasons to do this  . . .

It may have to do with schedule.

It may have to do with skill sets.  Putting a show together versus running a show are very different skill sets.   (I for example love rehearsing and teching shows, but not always interested in setting down for a lengthy run . . . )

Someone can learn a show and take over . . . it's not the uncommon . . . SMs hand over shows all the time.

293

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Dear Abby: Gay students in the dressing room

« on: Mar 04, 2014, 11:13 am »

There may also be legal or policy ramifications of the company you work for segregating people by sexuality . . .

What I find hysterical about this, in an odd sort of way, given these are younger performers, for every one gay person who is out, there is probably another gay person who is closeted . . .

I think perhaps you are starting to open a huge came of worms if you play this out to it's odd conclusion . . .

Dressing Room Assignments
Straight Males
Straight Females
Gay Males
Gay Females
Questioning Males
Questioning Females
Transgender  Males
Transgender Females
Males who are bullies to other males
Females who are bullies to other females
etc
etc
etc
And then we get into race and nationality
And age
Economic Status

Where does one stop . . . I don't feel comfortable with anyone from the west side of the town . . . I don't like dressing next to conservative Christians who drink coffee . . .
 
Eventually the cast needs to learn to get along, and when they start the process, it might be best to tell everyone - we have two dressing areas - Males and Females.  And leave it at that . . . if they actors are smart, they will put two and two together - and if they don' feel comfortable with that for any reason . . . ANY REASON . . . they do not need to participate in the theater.

294

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: NEW WORKS: Script Changes with Colored Paper?

« on: Mar 04, 2014, 10:25 am »

I also think a certain amount of flexibility needs to come from the SM team - I like to ask the the producer, director and writers their preferred system (Some producers refuse to buy color paper, some directors DEMAND the colored system, some cast members hate colored paper).

Find the way that works for you.

A lot of more tech savy actors just ask for the PDF and read it off their Kindle or tablet . . . good for them . . . saves paper.

On my current show, I am not taking blocking.  I just read along with the new script, and we are doing major rewrites daily . . . so, I just work off my laptop reading along with he PDF . . . I am saving a little paper.

295

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Emergency Contact/Medical Info forms for Students

« on: Mar 02, 2014, 08:38 pm »

My new company member info sheet is now two pages

First Page
Contact Information and Emergency Contact Info
Show related allergies including food, laundry, dust.
A section for , if their birthday is during the production, how they would like to celebrate it.

The second page is
Emergency Contact (I know it's a repeat)
Other Allergies EMT might need
Doctor Contact
Insurance Info

This second page is put in a sealed envelope for the EMT.

296

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: NEW WORKS: Script Changes with Colored Paper?

« on: Mar 01, 2014, 11:29 pm »

This is standard in television I know, and a bit in film . . .

But not always the way it is done in theater . . .

If you have the paper stock, it might be easy . . . but dating each page might work as well.

297

Employment / Re: Dear Abby: My PM is quitting. Do I want their job?

« on: Feb 27, 2014, 07:09 pm »

A lot of SM's go to PMing.  I know and few who go the other way . . . once you have regular pay, regular hours, few will give that up for going back into stage management.

Listen, the jobs are very similar, although you will have a lot more to do with budget, hiring/firing, HR, policy, admin, and long term planning.  And you will loose that daily, front line connection with the work.  There are trade offs.

You have to figure out what you want out of life.

I think having some PM experience might help you SM down the line.

I would not be too worried about being shunned - that seems like an odd thing to be shunned for.  I keep applying for teaching jobs to explore that option, but it doesn't keep me from moving my freelance career forward.

298

The Green Room / Re: Silly things done when we're not at our best

« on: Feb 27, 2014, 12:49 pm »

At the end of the day . . . we are human.  During my divorce, I was informed of my wife's decision for the divorce ten minutes before I was supposed to leave for rehearsal - I was late - and not the best time to tell your wife, oh, do you mind if I call you back after I start rehearsal. 

We have life come up . . . it happens.

299

Tools of the Trade / TOOLS: Post It Tape

« on: Feb 26, 2014, 10:56 pm »

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B008DF54OG/cooltoolsbb-20

300

The Green Room / Re: Movies to musicals

« on: Feb 25, 2014, 05:16 pm »

Here we go - often these musicals are put forward to make money - they are commerce, they are there to entertain, to make money, and return on the investment.

That's what commercial theater is  If it's art, then that is frosting on the cake.

One of my favorite games to play is to find a musical not based on a previously written work, history or movie?  It's hard.  Why?  Because if you are going to sink twenty million in a new musical, you want to know the source material is already proven.

Either you like it or your don't - but it employs a hell of a lot of people in this industry.

BUT . . . not all theater is that way, not all theater is directed to the masses.

[I should disclose I have done one of these movie to musicals, and start another this year . . . ]

I like to compare theater to restaurants . . . most popular restaurant in the world?  Subway.  Not he best food, and it doesn't pretend to be anything other then what is.  The fantastic bistro that seats 30 people, and the chef comes around to every table - maybe the best restaurant you have ever been to - but chances are it's not going to make as much money in the world.

Theater is both entertainment and art, commerce and other things all combined . . . I learned a long time ago I have very little to do with the artistic merit of show - those things are out of my control when I am just the SM . . . so I go along for the ride regardless of what the scale and scope of my show is.