Messages

331

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: PROFESSIONALISM: Your Show Sucked.

« on: Sep 05, 2010, 04:10 am »

Something I actually struggled with in this situation was the extent to which I'd just be telling them things they already knew.

The set piece, for example: the entire audience knew it was malfunctioning, it was plainly obvious, and if it hasn't made it into show reports, then no amount of casual conversation between friends is likely to improve the show. (Same for the cast member who didn't sing, same for the missed marks and entrances, etc.) They're professionals, after all--and as far as this show is concerned, I'm just some schmuck with a ticket.

That's what led me to my "Oh, I really enjoyed the music!" answer. No point in my driving home their errors as if they're completely incompetent.

332

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / PROFESSIONALISM: Your Show Sucked.

« on: Sep 04, 2010, 12:53 am »

I recently saw a remarkably bad show by a professional company.

The cast and material and designs were fine, but there were a number of sloppy errors: a major set piece was visibly broken and malfunctioning, there was inconsistent pronunciation within the company, I counted at least one (maybe two) blown entrance(s), I caught a moment in which a cast member simply forgot to sing, we could see cast members being indiscreet in the wings from the audience, a lavalier microphone was positioned so the actress bumps it against things (while it's live!), a few cues were jumped by various elements... as I said, sloppy errors. This is several weeks after opening, so it's not just growing pains, and if quality is sliding this much, it really falls on Stage Management to crack that whip.

I saw it because I went to school with a member of the stage management team, who buttonholed me immediately after the show. HOW DID YOU LIKE IT, HUH HUH HUH? WASN'T THAT COOL?! And I did my best to "ice the cake": the cast was strong, the music was excellent, the set design was impressive, some members of the company really stood out, and so on.

This has me wondering, though: what would you have done? Is it fair to give a true diagnosis under these circumstances? If you do give advice, would you expect a consulting fee? ()

I'm especially interested in anecdotes you might have of situations in which you've been asked to give similar critiques!

333

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: DEAR ABBY: Save me from my micromanaging PM!

« on: Sep 01, 2010, 03:45 pm »

"You obviously want these e-mails sent in a very specific way and format, so here: I'll send you a daily summary of all the messages I need to send, and you can write the messages yourself. I already spend more time on correspondence with you than I do with the entire cast, so this will save both of us an awful lot of time, and you'll be able to ensure that written exchanges with the cast meet your standards and expectations, which to me sounds like a win/win outcome."

It's harsh, but it sounds like you have the evidence to back it up. If she calls your bluff and thinks this is a fantastic idea, it's likely still less of an inconvenience than getting feedback on every "Hey, can you come in 5 minutes early, we need to discuss something" note you send to a cast member.

334

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Job Titles: USA Vs UK

« on: Aug 30, 2010, 06:50 pm »

Different companies have different structures, but the basic format is that PSMs supervise SMs who supervise ASMs. (In a smaller company, either PSMs or SMs may be omitted.) The structure does not necessarily dictate who will prepare the promptbook or who will call the show, just who has administrative responsibility to supervise and coordinate the remainder of the staff: on an extremely large production, the PSM might have no major production duties at all and exist entirely to take care of scheduling, staff and resource coordination, reconciling notes and information from their subordinates, and so on.

335

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Talk Backs

« on: Aug 30, 2010, 12:59 am »

She is starting to realize that people don't have the time to digest what Act I is all about during the intermission talk back...hence why she does a post show talk back as well.

That's hilarious. And next she'll want a pre-show talkback, and then she'll want you to bring in a follow-spot so she can give brief lectures between scenes, then maybe she'll start wandering the audience whispering nuggets of information into people's ears... eventually you won't need any actors or technicians at all, the show will just be her explaining everything the audience needs to know, then sending them home to study for the exam. 

336

Tools of the Trade / Re: Excel tips

« on: Aug 29, 2010, 06:09 pm »

Concatenation is very useful. What it does is join the contents of several cells together, and you can add strings of text as well. So if column A contains a list of your actors, and column B contains a list of roles, =CONCATENATE(A2; " will be playing the role of "; B2) would generate your cast list. ("Robert Webber will be playing the role of Juror 11")

The real beauty of it comes from using it for grander things, such as mass-mailouts:

=CONCATENATE("Hello, "; B2; ". On behalf of the director, I am pleased to inform you that you are being called back to interview and audition for the role of "; C2;" in our production of Marat/Sade. If it is convenient, we would like to see you on "; D2; " at "; E2; " in room 213 of the Swan Theatre at 441 Main St. We would like you to prepare two monologues and a song suitable for "; F2 ;", none of which should be from Marat/Sade, and we will also ask you to do some cold reading. The interview and audition should take no longer than 30-45 minutes. If you are interested, please respond to this e-mail or telephone the production office at 723-441-0404, extension 10500. Thank you for your time, and best of luck in future!")

Would generate:

Hello, Margaret. On behalf of the director, I am pleased to inform you that you are being called back to interview and audition for the role of Charlotte Corday in our production of Marat/Sade. If it is convenient, we would like to see you on July 12th at 11:30 AM in room 213 of the Swan Theatre at 441 Main St. We would like you to prepare two monologues and a song suitable for an upper-class woman of 25 years old, none of which should be from Marat/Sade, and we will also ask you to do some cold reading. The interview and audition should take no longer than 30-45 minutes. If you are interested, please respond to this e-mail or telephone the production office at 723-441-0404, extension 10500. Thank you for your time, and best of luck in future!

If you're someone like me who finds Excel easy to work in in terms of records management, this saves a lot of time and effort.

337

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: REHEARSAL: Duties during acting exercises, movement, vocal work, etc.

« on: Aug 29, 2010, 03:18 pm »

I usually ask the director what they'd prefer. Most of the time they have no preference either way, but I've heard everything from "What, are you CRAZY? You're part of the company, so you're joining in on all the exercises!" to "I like to present the stage manager as being the organized-proper-civilized-quiet bad cop to my messy-gregarious-muddling-doddering good cop, so I'd actually like you to make a point of sitting in the back doing paperwork while we do exercises."

In all cases, my immediate duties (attendance, calling those who aren't present, finding equipment and props which have wandered off between rehearsals, etc.) trump any paperwork or exercises.

338

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Talk Backs

« on: Aug 29, 2010, 03:09 pm »

As a stage manager, I would try very hard to talk my director out of doing a cast-inclusive talkback at intermission or preshow. There are a few circumstances under which I'd make an exception (if you had a large school group in and they had to get on a bus to zoom to the airport immediately after the show, for example), but it's just such a bad idea all-around. (Doing it preshow means that you need to vacate the theatre earlier, you need FoH and technical staff for an extra 30-45 minutes, actors might miss out on prep time or preshow rituals which matter to them, and anyone who arrives on time will miss the talkback. Doing it at intermission completely undermines the point of intermission [get out of your seat, go pee, get a drink, answer your cellphone, have a smoke, and otherwise do those things which the mean nasty ushers won't let you do during the performance], robs the cast and crew of their breaks, makes life difficult if the show has substantial inter-act costume or set changes and seems like the weakest time to do it: preshow would be better for dramaturgical information of the "keep an eye out for this" variety, while post-show works best in terms of answering questions and dealing with audience reactions and perspectives.)

If it must be done at intermission, I would try very hard to convince the director to bring in a company outsider (the company librarian, the artistic director him- or herself, the designers [if they're on staff], a Professor or Theatre or Literature [or History, if appropriate], etc.) rather than forcing the cast to do it.

339

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: HOUSE MANAGEMENT: Do you spill the beans about your famous audience members?

« on: Aug 20, 2010, 02:39 pm »

I'm of two minds.

On one hand, every performance should be run under similar conditions. The cast shouldn't be unduly stressed out, nor should we encourage a system where they put in good performances when there are "important people" in the audience but are allowed to relax and take it easy when it's "only" a "normal" audience. To this end, I'm in the habit of not revealing any VIPs until post-show.

However, if it's someone's spouse or parent or significant other or whatever, not only am I going to tell them about it, if they're the sort of person who will roll with it, I'm totally teasing them about it in my pre-show calls.    (And, of course, if they're the sort of person who wouldn't want the attention drawn to them, I won't.)

340

The Green Room / Re: Funny definitions

« on: Aug 18, 2010, 03:13 pm »

Impromptu pinata: an overfull three-hole punch.

Gridwatching: A condition which results in being unable to properly enjoy a performance as you are too busy watching the rigging, even though it's someone else's show. Can ruin the impact of perfectly good effects, particularly in non-pros houses.

Reach-to-Talk: When, out of force of habit, you reach for a non-existent PTT switch before talking. (While talking on the phone, when in a rehearsal hall, etc.)

Kit Cling: That thing you keep in your kit because you needed it once in high school and haven't used since but keep it around just in case.

The Crawl: What inexperienced SMs do for a week straight after they accidentally run a show with headsets broadcasting into the dressing rooms. (Experienced SMs never do this. NEVER.)

Convolution Creep: The gradual stacking-up of idiosyncrasies in your rehearsal or performance space. ("...and the lightswitch only works if you press it from the top left, and the booth doesn't have a floor, so we'll need you to wear a harness and be flown into position, and the alarm only works on alternating Tuesdays, and the coms will suddenly drop out if you end a sentence with a preposition...")

341

The Green Room / Re: Why is it that...

« on: Aug 17, 2010, 07:33 am »

Why is it that nobody has problems with actors demanding Appropriate compensation for their work or any time they put in is seen as reasonable, but any SM or technician is out of line asking to be paid fairly...

Because the SM probably isn't sleeping with the producer, silly. 

342

The Green Room / Re: SMNetwork's Resident expert in...

« on: Aug 12, 2010, 01:41 pm »

I'm not a political person: I certainly have my opinions, and I occasionally donate to political parties, but that's as far as I go. But ask me anything about politics in Canada, the States or the UK from the 1960s onwards, and I'll be able to answer it.

Who won the 1979 election and why? Got you covered.
What are the President's policy options on Don't Ask Don't Tell? I'm happy to analyze them for you.
Who really has a chance of winning the Republican nomination for 2014? Easy as pie.

Phrased differently, never ask me about politics because I'll never shut up.

343

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: DEAR ABBY: Long runs, short vacations & understudies, oh my!

« on: Aug 07, 2010, 10:03 pm »

I'd be extremely wary of watered-down shenanigans: if you're hoping to "play along" with a sick call in order to avoid liability, you will find that it doesn't actually work that way: if you knew they were doing it fraudulently, you're still responsible for allowing and encouraging them to skip off work. Likewise, if you give a brief speech at a company meeting ("Look, I know you're doing this, and I need to report it if I know about it, so please don't do it in front of me."), this similarly doesn't actually protect you from responsibility (in the ethical and legal senses) for what follows.

What I would do is speak to the producer. "There have been a number of requests, and I think allowing actors to take days off would be good for company morale. It would also help to keep the understudies fresh. Of course, we need to make sure this is handled responsibly, but people have been grumbling and talking about calling in sick in order to do other gigs, and I think we need to nip it in the bud."

In terms of scheduling, you do what you always do: schedule as best you can considering all the information available to you. If you don't think someone will be present, don't schedule anything which requires their attendance. If you have ambiguous information, call them and give a straight question: "Should I schedule you to be present on Monday, or will you be occupied with other things that day?" If they lie to you or mislead you or refuse to commit, then it's their own fault if the schedule results in their missing a call or being sent home for lack of need.

344

Tools of the Trade / Re: Non-binders for actors for a reading

« on: Aug 07, 2010, 09:52 pm »

iPads for everyone! 

Sorry, couldn't help myself. Rebbe and BLee much more practical.

Well, the Kindle 3 actually isn't at a terrible price point for this kind of thing...

Most companies would find the cost prohibitive, but if you do a lot of workshops and readings, or you collaborate with playwrights during lengthy rehearsal processes (so scripts are constantly changing), a device in the $100 - 130 range would probably pay for itself over a few years of use.

Of course, while you can take notes, it's still much clunkier than just pencilling them into the margins.

345

The Green Room / Re: "Seasoned" - yikes

« on: Aug 06, 2010, 01:17 am »

Many of the best things in life are seasoned and/or aged...

Good cheese, wine, whiskey, beef, and apparently stage managers! :-)

I've heard it said that stage managers tend to come of age like an old port.

You know, like Baltimore.