Messages

361

Tools of the Trade / Re: Useful Literature

« on: Jun 28, 2010, 02:03 pm »

Miss Manners' Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behaviour has been extremely helpful to me. Yes, it's written as an etiquette guide, but if you take it as a companion to How To Win Friends, it becomes a guide to broader graceful living.

Not once in the entire book does she cover how to set a table or which fork to use. What she really talks about is how to articulate your needs without being a selfish jerk, how to deal with workplace politics, how to handle difficult people, how to address uncomfortable subjects and situations, how to smother bad ideas without generating hard feelings, how to use correspondence most effectively, and so on.

362

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: CAST: Practical jokes on final performance?

« on: Jun 27, 2010, 08:29 pm »

Although I fully admit they don't work, I'm a fan of giving a lecture as a means of plausible deniability. If practical jokes start happening anyway, I start pulling people aside for a one-on-one: "Look, I really don't care if you play pranks backstage. But if you create problems for the company by damaging property, offending personnel or endangering the quality of the show, you're creating problems for the producer and might even void your contract. I warned you once when I told the entire company about this: consider this your second warning. There might not be a third."

363

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

« on: Jun 27, 2010, 08:23 pm »

Absent? You're Absent?
You've had the dates since April!
"Not a big deal"? Really!?

Company members
please note: eating cupcakes is
not "running my lines".

Tea? You want a tea?
I'm busy. Green room is that way.
Go make it yourself.

364

The Green Room / Re: COLLEGE GENERAL DISCUSSION: Is the traditional four year college worth it now?

« on: Jun 25, 2010, 08:45 pm »

Different paths lead to different levels of success for different people. Pope Catholic, bears poop in woods.

I went to university myself, and it's played into my goals: I tend to flutter between stage management, production management and broader theatrical administration, so having a deeper understanding of the theory and practice around theatre has served me well, as has the flexibility a university program offered: I took courses in HR, in accountancy, in economics and in cultural studies, and all of it has been useful to me in my career.

If I had wanted to end up in a different place with more technical responsibilities, then a college program would have made more sense.

I think it's strongly advisable to get some sort of certification if you want to make a career out of technical theatre, although there's no reason to do so right off the bat: a few years working in the industry before you go to school actually makes a lot of sense. I've seen quite a few people bump their heads against barriers, though: "I'm sorry, we really wanted someone with a degree."

Of course, it bears noting that, in some circles, having a BFA/BA means you're an overeducated putz with a chip on your shoulder, while in others not having a degree means you're an uneducated interloper who doesn't really "get" it.

Final thought: having a degree makes your life substantially easier if you need to get out of the industry. A BFA might not be the most useful degree in the world in terms of jobs outside of theatre, but it's better than nothing.

365

The Green Room / Re: Summer projects

« on: Jun 24, 2010, 03:28 pm »

I'm in rehearsal six days a week at the moment, but in my spare moments I've been coding a sort of "sim university" game in PHP/mySQL. It's mostly for my own amusement, but I'll probably release it among friends and see how it goes. It's still a good few months off, although once this show comes down I have about a month of vacation time to invest in it, so we'll see.

366

Tools of the Trade / Re: Headset-suitable eyewear

« on: Jun 19, 2010, 05:14 pm »

I'll give the nerd glasses a try: Zenni seems to have a few suitable pairs, and while they won't suit me at all, if I'm only wearing them to call shows it shouldn't be a problem.

In the long term, though, I might look into pince-nez, if only for sheer pretention. 

367

Tools of the Trade / Headset-suitable eyewear

« on: Jun 15, 2010, 06:16 pm »

I wear eyeglasses for distance vision, which presents problems when calling from a booth: the muffs either pinch the glasses into my temples, or bend and warp them, or push them forward until they fall off my nose...

I do own a featherweight headset, and it fixes the problem, but I can't always use it: my current job has me calling from a booth that also contains the (spectacularly noisy) dimmer rack, and without big muffs I can't even hear myself think.

If I can't do anything about the muffs, does anyone have any lines on good eyewear? Contact lenses are an easy solution, but have you tried any other options? (Have you found a frame design that works well with headsets? Does anyone have experience with monocles or pince-nez?)

368

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Saving Old Scripts

« on: Jun 13, 2010, 02:26 am »

There are sometimes issues of legality concerning retaining a script beyond the run of the show, so unless the producer has indicated they want my scripts returned, or there's a company library/archive/repository which deals in scripts and notes, I've always destroyed my scripts.

I've been in the practice of keeping show paperwork for 3 years and then shredding it when I do my taxes, but recently I've gotten in the practice of converting my paperwork into electronic formats (especially biography/contact forms), so it's likely that I'll start keeping stuff in perpetuity. (In an encrypted format, of course.)

369

The Green Room / Re: Vacation Fantasies?

« on: Jun 12, 2010, 04:17 am »

I've always wanted to hop on The Canadian, which is a five-day rail journey from Toronto to Vancouver. It costs about as much as an equivalent cruise, but it tends to sell out, so I often find myself with either the money or the time, but never both--so far.

370

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

« on: Jun 11, 2010, 06:06 pm »

In the ambulance,
I explained one final time
why we don't touch jacks.

Your constant presence
despite your diphtheria
has floored us all.

The techs are on break.
From the stage: "Hey guys, watch this!"
Damn! Sound the alarms!

Late again? Don't worry.
We weren't planning to rehearse.
We show up for fun.

371

The Green Room / Re: Vacation Suggestions

« on: Jun 11, 2010, 02:03 am »

Stratford-Upon-Avon

Everytime I go to England I find myself going back there.  Great places to eat and stay, quiet, laid back, opportunity to see great theatre if you want, and with plenty of things to explore in and around the area.  I never tire of it.

Or, if transatlantic travel is out of your budget, Stratford, Ontario, which offers some of North America's best theatre, pleasant scenery, Japanese tourists and a twee main street containing no less than three Ye Olde Fudge Shoppes.

372

College and Graduate Studies / Re: Transferring to Canada

« on: Jun 06, 2010, 02:27 pm »

The "best" theatre schools (this is, of course, subjective) would be NTS, York, UBC, McGill, Alberta and (for tech, perhaps not for acting) Ryerson. You might also wish to consider the University of Toronto, the University of Victoria, Dalhousie or Ottawa.

It bears noting that all of Canada's mainline undergraduate universities are large and public: with the exception of NTS, all the ones I've listed have at least 10 000 undergraduate students and full Liberal Arts and Science faculties in addition to their Fine Arts programming.

My understanding is that York has the strongest dance program in the country, but--again--this is somewhat subjective.

373

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: REHEARSALS: Giving line notes

« on: Jun 01, 2010, 03:54 pm »

I do notes after the first error, but don't add a second note for subsequent errors.

My logic is that line notes aren't about "you need to learn this line" so much as "you need to polish and work on this segment of the script before the next rehearsal". A proficient actor will work on their script outside of rehearsal regardless of anything else, and line notes are meant to indicate areas which need special attention. Even if it's a once-off oops, it's probably still a good idea to work on that bit of the text between rehearsals.

374

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: PROFESSIONALISM: Director and Producer don't get along

« on: May 28, 2010, 06:25 pm »

Worst comes to worst, I might consider talking to production management about closing rehearsals outright. Lock the room if you have to. No access, not even company members.

Screaming matches during rehearsal are embarrassing and demeaning enough unto themselves, but they also rob the company of rehearsal time, spoil the director's temper and concentration, and put actors on-edge. If they want to scream at each other, they can do it in the producer's office, not mid-rehearsal in front of the cast.

375

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: REHEARSALS: Director makes a poor decision of a character

« on: May 28, 2010, 06:21 pm »

I also think that as the producer's employee, the stage manager has a responsibility to make the producer aware of problems that would seriously affect the quality of the show.

While this is certainly true, I'm not sure I'd try and stretch it as far as has been done here.

Director lets morale get so low that the show might fall apart? Call in the producer.

Director is neglecting parts of the production so much so that the end-result will be deficient? Call in the producer.

Director is being too aggressive or selfish and risks violating the law or a contract? Call in the producer.

Director appears to be utterly incompetent and in way (way!) over their head? Call in the producer.

Director makes a solitary questionable artistic decision in what is otherwise a garden-variety production? Not so much.