Messages

286

The Green Room / Re: I can't believe I just had to do that...

« on: Oct 18, 2010, 11:02 am »

In a slightly different vein....The Changing Room takes place in a locker room during a men's rugby game. All-male, naked-half-the-time cast.

Sometimes they go to the "showers," which were offstage. Guess who had to quickly hose down naked and near-naked men in the handicapped bathroom?

287

The Green Room / Re: What did you learn today?

« on: Oct 18, 2010, 10:57 am »

Today I learned that stage managing 3 shows in the a very narrow time frame is a terrible idea.

Agreed! Never again.


Today I learned foofle.com will automatically redirect you to google.com. (It's like they know I was typing quickly in the dark!)

288

The Green Room / Re: SM Hobbies

« on: Oct 13, 2010, 09:56 am »

I cook, bake, and box.

Cooking/baking are very relaxing...plus, extra baked goods always end up at rehearsal!

Boxing is a good stress reliever, and a workout.

289

The Green Room / Re: Exercise!

« on: Oct 11, 2010, 11:56 am »

I recently took up boxing! Because the only thing scarier than a stage manager.....is a stage manager who can throw a left hook.

But really, it's a lot of fun, a great stress reliever, and a good workout. I also own a Wii Fit, which has been great for doing a little workout whenever I can find the time. I also get off the subway a stop earlier than the theater and walk each way. I try to walk most anywhere I can.

If you have Netflix, you can stream exercise videos on your computer (or Wii/Playstation, if you have all of that hooked up). The 20-minute power workouts are great!

290

The Green Room / Re: Convolution Creep

« on: Oct 11, 2010, 11:32 am »

One theater I worked in had, in renovations, rotated the whole stage/audience/booth 90 degrees. So the house lights, which had been right next to the booth (upstairs, in a room above the shop) was now upstage right, in a room, up a ladder, on the wall. If they didn't get wired into the sound board, and for one show they didn't, it was a pretty treacherous scurry in the dark!

291

The Green Room / Re: Favorite brown bag lunch?

« on: Oct 09, 2010, 11:57 pm »

Found this earlier in the week and thought it might be of interest here:

Skip the Microwave: filling lunches that can be made ahead of time and don't need reheating

http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/skip-the-microwave-lunches-that-dont-need-reheating-114185

292

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Student show: Student director wants financial contribution.

« on: Oct 08, 2010, 03:11 pm »

Another idea might be to ask the cast/crew/director to split costs of the show AFTER it has opened. Find what you can for free, pay for what you have to, and then split the bill up evenly. I think it would keep costs down considerably.

(But on a personal level, I agree with loebtmc that it sounds like people are paying for the privilege of being in the show!)

293

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: They don't cover this in school

« on: Oct 05, 2010, 02:03 pm »

Have to agree with Matthew....I think sometimes in these life-around-the-show situations, the stage manager is naturally looked to as the person to pull it together. With that, I think everything you did was correct. Besides putting it in the performance report, I would make sure the theater's daytime staff/office/security knew what had happened in case the person came back.

294

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: PROPS: The hardest thing you've had to do in the dark.

« on: Oct 03, 2010, 09:52 am »

Similar to on_headset, mine was a piano. However, it was a giant lightbox with no handles that two dancers danced on. (BIG, clearly.) Besides that it was large and unwieldy, due to limited backstage space it had to basically be parallel parked between two couches, taken out, then returned to the same space, all in the dark and quietly. I failed parallel parking in a car in the daytime....in the dark was not any better!

295

The Green Room / Re: Thread to vent about / Actors behaving badly / As haiku only

« on: Oct 03, 2010, 09:48 am »

Unless you'd like me
to be a one-woman show,
actors- LEARN YOUR LINES.

296

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: SCENERY: Video

« on: Sep 22, 2010, 05:33 pm »

I've done two shows that used projections in very different ways. In the first, they were used to sort of heighten the drama and were very clearly theatrical (animations of birds flying overhead, projected on the actresses). In the second, they were clearly slides accompanying two major lectures/monologues (maps, photos, etc). In both cases, we hired a video designer, separate from the set designer. I think this was incredibly helpful because things could be tweaked to our individual needs, and the video designer was involved in the rehearsal process and understood the style of the show. It was definitely a better decision than trying to put something together from royalty-free images.

297

Tools of the Trade / PROPS: "Bombinos" (Balm in Gilead)

« on: Sep 20, 2010, 10:17 am »

I'm hoping someone else who has done this production or is really up on their 60s drug references can help.

The lead guy is starting to deal drugs and at one point pulls out a "bombino." We know it's a way of packaging/selling heroin, but I can't find any photos or sense of what it looks like beyond what's said in the script. Here's the info I've got:

DARLENE: What is that, an hourglass?
-----
DARLENE: How's it work?
JOE: There's a jolt in each side. And you break it open, see, and take a tube, a needle, and a--
DARLENE: A needle? Oh God, I thought that's what-- (JOE makes a motion injecting it into his arm.) That's terrible! That just makes my knees weak!

Anybody got any ideas?

298

The Green Room / Re: Best one-liner from a performance report

« on: Sep 09, 2010, 10:39 pm »

From tonight's rehearsal report:

COSTUMES: You're probably already aware, but the lima-bean soup is going to get all over the lesbians.

299

The Green Room / For those who have ever felt like their job was like herding cats...

« on: Sep 09, 2010, 04:48 pm »

(which is how I've commonly described my job):

A video of people herding 100 cats through Ikea.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCB7RqGS684

300

The Green Room / Re: BEST ADVICE YOU CAN GIVE

« on: Sep 07, 2010, 05:59 pm »

It's live theater- you get to redo it again tomorrow.