Messages

346

Tools of the Trade / Ergonomics and the Tech Table

« on: Nov 22, 2013, 08:57 pm »

One of our members has recently been discussing the ergonomics of tech tables/rehearsal room setups for stage managers on Facebook. I thought it might be a good topic to bring up to the community as a whole. While we need to remain mentally alert, our job can be quite sedentary - we stay seated a lot of the time. This kind of work is not necessarily good for you, nor is working in darkened, windowless areas in theatre seats that aren't really designed as office chairs.

What are some steps you've taken or can take to improve your posture and health in the rehearsal room?

347

Employment / Dear Abby: FOH is rude and racist, how can I help?

« on: Nov 20, 2013, 05:29 pm »

The following post was received from a member who wishes to remain anonymous.

Dear Abby,
 
 Where does an SM's job end and someone else's begin? I have rarely reported any issues perceived with box office, ushers, etc. If I'm not their supervisor and I do not professionally interact with them, they are not my responsibility.
 
 I'm now concerned with the way one of our FOH people is interacting with patrons and I don't know if I should speak up. I find this person disrespectful, racist, and generally quick to judge and make these judgments known. She has even dragged me into it by commenting on people to me, while they were around and definitely within eyesight and earshot. I do not want to create a hostile work environment, definitely do not want to make enemies, and simply don't want people in an entirely different department from mine to either look at me as a supervisor or think I'm overstepping.
 
 I work for a small theatre company. If I were to talk to somebody above me about this it would be either my PM (who acts as the hiring manager) or the owners. That's also what's holding me back - I would perhaps speak to a manager, but don't want to get a coworker metaphorically sent to the principal's office. Should I let the FOH staff sort themselves out, or is it my job to speak to someone? To whom?

- Aghast in Akron

348

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: MORAL:Thank You Notes and Gifts

« on: Nov 19, 2013, 01:52 am »

We've covered this topic quite a bit. Feel free to join in on any of the existing threads about thank you notes & gifts:

http://smnetwork.org/forum/stage-management-plays-musicals/another-thank-you-notes-question-when-are-they-'too-much'
http://smnetwork.org/forum/stage-management-plays-musicals/delivery-of-thank-you-notes
http://smnetwork.org/forum/stage-management-plays-musicals/dealing-with-thank-you-notes
http://smnetwork.org/forum/stage-management-plays-musicals/professionalism-thank-you-notes/
http://smnetwork.org/forum/employment/thank-you-cards-for-interviews
http://smnetwork.org/forum/tools-of-the-trade/gifts-and-thankyou-cards

(BTW, I found these by typing "thank you notes" in the search box and selecting "Entire Forum.")

Locking this to prevent further topic splintering.

349

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: ESCRIPTS: Post your requests for electronic scripts here!

« on: Nov 17, 2013, 04:43 pm »

If it has, I cannot know about it and it can't be discussed openly in this thread. See the rules post on the first page of the thread to confirm.

350

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Creating a Website

« on: Nov 17, 2013, 01:29 am »

Please see our thread dedicated to websites. Bear in mind when it comes to hosting you get what you pay for.

351

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Student Stage Manager Challenge #20: The wrong show

« on: Nov 13, 2013, 11:29 pm »

I agree, loebtmc - it happens a lot. New scripts with last minute cuts/additions, summer stock casts who are rehearsing one show and performing another, shows in rotating rep, remounts with changes to choreography or blocking. It's definitely a contingency worth planning for.

352

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Student Stage Manager Challenge #20: The wrong show

« on: Nov 12, 2013, 09:40 pm »

Student challenges are for our novice stage managers. Pros, please give the new guys a chance to answer before you jump in.

It's a common stage management nightmare to show up to work and realize that your cast is doing a different show than the one you have in your book. While this has a very slim chance of happening, something similar did recently occur during a classical music performance.

Much to the surprise of the star pianist, the orchestra started playing a different concerto from the one she had prepared. A video shows how she responded.

While the chances of your cast performing an entirely different show are slim, it's certainly possible for an actor to get off track in the middle of a show. Perhaps they switch from a Hamlet monologue to a Tempest monologue midway through. Perhaps they start performing sections of a song that had been cut in your version of the show. Regardless of the cause, how would you respond if your cast jumped the track during a performance?

EDIT: While the article is recent, the video/incident apparently occurred in the 90's.

353

Self-Promotion / Re: The True Meaning of a Theatre Family

« on: Nov 11, 2013, 11:45 pm »

Glad to hear things are going better for you. This process (going by your prior posts) has apparently been quite stressful for you so perhaps tech seems calm by comparison?

354

Articles from the Old Site / Re: Tips: Spike Tape on Demand

« on: Nov 02, 2013, 03:52 am »

Proper attribution sorted, thanks!

355

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Is My Degree Even Worth It?

« on: Oct 28, 2013, 11:45 pm »

Let's put this in a different framework. What if the first post had gone more like this:

I'm currently in the 2nd week of an open run for a non-equity theatre. More and more recently I've been feeling like continuing with the run isn't worth the low payscale. My cast and crew are rude, immature, and unprofessional and I just don't know what to do. I hate quitting things that I've started, but I feel like this is not going to be worth it in the end. I love the script, but I really cannot stand the company.

How would you respond?

356

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Verbiage on Calling Cues

« on: Oct 19, 2013, 02:34 pm »

Based on our discussion of this topic last year, the popular term seems to be "tab".

357

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: WHAT WOULD YOU DO- Staged Reading Nightmare

« on: Oct 18, 2013, 02:59 am »

Back it up several steps.

You always want to be able to go with Plan A. It's the smoothest, most ideal route.
When Plan A stops working, you move on to Plan B.
Plan B is ideally as close as possible to Plan A. (It's only when you get to Plans, say, G, H and I that start to get really weird.)
However, no matter what you cannot lose sight of the original goal.
Before you switch over to Plan B, you need to figure out how to transition back to Plan A if it becomes feasible later down the road.

If you knew your final reader was en route and there was a chance of arrival, a contingency for this event should have been built into the rehearsal.

However, if it wasn't, I would do up a very large placard saying "ReaderName: She's Here! Sending Her Up," hold it up facing the stage at the next transition between poems, and hope to get some sort of acknowledgement. (ReaderName should, of course, be replaced with the name of the person who was subbed in to read the final poem.) Send in the clown right before her poem is up.

358

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Figuring out a concentration

« on: Oct 17, 2013, 05:55 pm »

Of course none of this is answering the original question.

So, to clarify, here are some questions that would float through my mind if I were hiring for a pro SM or ASM position and received a resume from a recent college grad:

- Do they have experience in dealing with cast members of all ages and backgrounds, or only college kids?
- Have they worked in the type of house that we have here? (e.g., Arena, Thrust, Black box)?
- Do they understand the budget constraints of professional theatre or have they only worked in environments where money is no problem?
- Have they worked in a situation where designers are not all immediately accessible and on hand?
- Have they worked in a situation where they don't have a prop shop and/or costume shop nearby to pull rehearsal props and costumes?
- Are they familiar and practiced in dealing with union regulations?
- Do they have the aesthetic skill and sense of timing necessary to maintain the types of shows we produce? (e.g., script analysis, character preservation, timing for audiences, training & putting in understudies)

Now, when you say "concentration" you could mean either of two things. One, your college (like my alma mater) calls the traditional "major" a "concentration" instead. This means that I "concentrated" in theatre arts. Alternately, your college may have a "theatre arts" major, with any of the concentrations you listed as sub-options to delineate your focus. If you were to define my college experience this way, I "majored" in theatre arts, but "concentrated" in surrealistic French marionette theatre of the early 20th century. Note that I did not "concentrate" in stage management. However, by the time I graduated I had probably 15 university stage management credits, 8 professional stage management credits and 2 pro directing credits on my resume.

As for which is the best to choose? Go with the one that gives you the most connections and hands-on experience with third-party performing arts groups. If none are available, go with the one that leaves you enough time to pursue these third-party connections on your own. Work on some school productions - the connections you make with your classmates while doing them may come in handy later in life. But make sure you find a way to diversify that experience so that you can bulk up your resume and have opportunities to apply your classroom learning in real life situations.

359

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Figuring out a concentration

« on: Oct 16, 2013, 09:04 pm »

If I were in a hiring position, I'd want to see a resume with a diversity of real production experience. It doesn't matter what coursework you've taken. Your university experience will take up about 2-3 lines on your resume at most.

360

The Hardline / Re: Employee-Handbook Required Preshow Calls (and more)

« on: Oct 14, 2013, 05:33 pm »

The scenario I had in mind was a long show where other unions with minimum call times come into play.

Suppose you've got a house with no crossover, or the crossover requires lengthy travel, outdoor travel, etc. Not uncommon. Anyone starting SL has to be at places by 5 minutes, while anyone starting SR can head out at 3m, since they can only cross when the main rag is in.

Now, suppose this messed up house decides to do a show that's say, 3h and 30 minutes if everything goes according to schedule. You've got stagehands and/or orchestra on a 3.5 hour minimum call, and after that the entire crew & orch get paid by the hour. A lag on start time could get very pricy for the theatre at that point.

See this IATSE agreement (warning: large PDF), top of page 6 for an example of such an agreement.

While I don't deny that there are problems higher up on the food chain if they're running that close to the minimum call limit, it isn't totally farfetched for me to see a company blaming the stage manager for the extra cost instead of fixing the real problem of excessive risk-taking.