Messages

46

Employment / Re: stage management college degrees

« on: Jul 03, 2006, 02:34 am »

I SM'ed in undergrad but didn't focus on it.   I also built and painted scenery (for work/study funds), ran followspots, hung and focused lights, and did pretty much whatever theatre monkeying needed doing. There was one Stage Management class¹ offered senior year, and i took it, but by then i'd already SM'ed more than half a dozen shows because i was around and overly responsible.  Before that class I learned from reading the one book in the library (Stern) and on the fly from Director's requests and guidance.  Up until a few months before graduation i was on a Lit PhD track (English major) and the Theatre major was just a bonus resulting from all the of the Theatre classes i had taken for fun. (And because i enjoyed picking up additional majors.)

I guess i learned just enough to seriously consider learning more...so i dumped the dissertation and went to  grad school for an MFA in Stage Management.



¹ The class was mostly a review of what i'd picked up along the way, but i was introduced to several new books (Schneider and Ionazzi) and lots of fun blocking notation systems 

47

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Lights? Electrics? Elex? What do you say?

« on: Jun 22, 2006, 08:34 pm »

Strange that you find Lights easier to say. It could be something to do with accent etc.
but I find enounciation of Lights so that it is clear to the ops takes more time and effort than LX (pronounced Elex). If someone had a research paper they had to do for college, it could be a really interesting thing to look into (topic "What enviromental factors assist in the evolution of theatrical vocabulary?") Something that I don't have the time to do, but really fascinates me.

I'm from Virginia, so it could very well be a matter of pronunciation.  Consonants require more precision and enunciation, but vowels take longer to leave the mouth....

Anyone looking for a thesis topic?  If recording rights allowed, it would be fascinating to hear samples of people calling the same sequence from the same show, performed in various places around the world ....

48

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Lights? Electrics? Elex? What do you say?

« on: Jun 22, 2006, 08:28 pm »

I write LX/elex but say "lights."
Hm... but I never realized that before reading this thread.

!  I didn't think it was odd until someone commented a couple of months ago.
It seems clear enough on the page....

49

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Lights? Electrics? Elex? What do you say?

« on: Jun 21, 2006, 05:18 pm »

"Lights" in regional, "electrics" with touring or commerical productions has been my experience.

I started with "lights" in education theatre, first time i heard "elex" was a British group on tour, and the audio engineer was named Alex.  All kinds of confusing listening to that show being called.

"Elex" may make more sense if you're also calling mic cues, but when you have thirty cues to a page and audio does all mic work on its own (i.e. the audio tech has a script and knows when his mic cues are, I don't have to tell him), "elex" takes way too long to say. 

I write an electrics cue as "LX 20" but call "lights 20."  LX is so much faster to write or type.... So far that hasn't confused anyone trying to call from my book...and i had someone take over a weekend on my last show with no problems...once they get past the entire book being backwards issue.

More than one syllable gets in the way.  The easier to say, the better!:
lights 5 GO
sound 5 GO
sky in GO  (or Rail on a Q light)
deck 5 GO
trap open GO
fog GO
pyro (ok, "fire" doesn't really seem appropriate to say over headset) GO
meat GO
pot GO
poop GO (i do a lot of kids shows...)

Along the same lines, i kinda gave up on standbys.  It takes a long time to say and ties up my tongue.  The beginning of the cue load ("lights...") has the same function, gives em enough time to position finger over button or unlock lineset.  Again, haven't had any complaints about it

 If there's been more than a page since the last cue, i might say:
"Warn: Swag In on the rail, Sound 30 through 38, Lights 17 through 28."
And that carries through until another pause long enough to turn off the mic and drink some water.

And being dyslexic, i *heart* lettering sound cues.  Sadly, this isn't at all practical with computerized sound  systems and hundreds of cues *sigh*   [1] So i get stuck with sequences like:
Lights 45.6 and Sound 46 GO
Seriously.  Why bother saying numbers like that when you're bound to confuse them?  Heck, sometimes just "sound and lights GO" works for extended cue sequences.

I find from working backstage that getting a cue like "curtain in" or "house off" is much more clear than "transition 5" or "shift F."  People running around pulling ropes don't have time to consult run sheets, so whenever possible i like to give warns that state exactly what they are doing while turning on the appropriate cue light .



[1]  The first show i called at this theatre i requested letters and the designer reluctantly agreed. Since we went through the alphabet twice (A, B, C, D, E, F....AA, AB, AC, AD, AE, AF....BA, BB, BC, BC, BE, BF... etc) as the run went on i called one show with NATO alphabet words (modified, things like Bravo, Kilo, Romeo...not something you want to be saying on headset) and themes. A fruit day:  Sound apple GO.  Soun Banana GO.  A music day:  Sound alto GO, sound bass GO.  Fun while it lasted.

50

Stage Management: Other / Re: Event management

« on: Jun 19, 2006, 12:47 am »

Well, i asked for what i was used to getting ($850 a week, for two weeks of work).  That turns out to be a bit low considering the complexity of the event, but it was fun and i didn't have to stay for strike   As soon as all the projections and slides and IMAG and auction and awards and video and confetti canons were done, the band played on and i went home.  And didn't have to file for unemployment those two weeks between shows!

51

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Creating a call script

« on: Jun 19, 2006, 12:41 am »

When i'm doing complicated shows with very little tech time, i try to get cue lists ahead of time from designers and stock up on post it flags - the kind that come in packs of 4 colors with a colored square and then a longer rectangular clear strip.  Cue numbers and descriptions can be written onto the clear part, and the whole thing stuck on to any script page.  Different colors for different kinds of cues (yellow=lights, blue=sound, green=deck/automation, red=cue light, etc.  whatever works for that pruduction)

The advantage is that when you call a complicated sequence, then need to move the lights before the sound and the rail after the trap, you can literally pick up the cues and reorganize them.  So after that preview when the director wants to try starting the music before the rest of the scene change, or cheating the trap open before anything else, those changes are super easy to make without lots of erasing.    Less messy, and the color coding can be very helpful.

The disadvantage is the possibility of losing a sticky note, and the fact that if you make a copy you can't send pages with flags through an automatice feeder copier.   I've never lost a note, and the exact cue location is still penciled in.

Sometimes i get paranoid and go through removing flags and writing in cues once the show is opened.

For long runs or shows that will be handed off, i use Matt's word based computer system.  It's clean, easy to read, and handily archived electronically

52

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: International Show Calling

« on: Jun 19, 2006, 12:21 am »

First:  Wow!  This is my first post with the new system and I am very impressed with the options!  Hooray for bells and whistles.

I work in regional theatres in the US, and this is fairly representative for the regional theatres where I've worked (mostly in Southern California).

For an 8pm curtain of "A Christmas Carol," for example:

7:20pm  - Fight Call/Dance Call/make the cast sing one or two group numbers for vocals/mic levels when applicable

7:30pm  - Call half hour ("half hour, this is half hour, the house is opening") door to door, in person, confirming that everyone is present.
 - Give house to house manager via walkie talkie
Erin to house management, the house is yours

7:35pm - Contact understudies if need be.....

7:44pm - Call 15 minutes to places via PA system to backstage and all dressing rooms
"Ladies and gentlement of A Christmas Carol, fifteen minutes to places please, this is your fifteen minute call, fifteen minutes to places"

7:54pm - Call 5 minutes to places via PA system
"Ladies and gentlemen of A Christmas Carol, five minutes to places please, this is your five minute call, fiv3e minutes to places"

7:55pm - Box office checks in with house manager, via walkie talkie, number of tickets still to be picked up
 - Check in with house manager, confirm that we are at five minutes,
"Erin to house managment.  I am at five.  How does it look out there?"
House manager rings for five in lobby.  House manager continues to run all announcements in the lobby.

7:58pm  - If house does not need to hold, call places to backstage (at this point i am in the booth or calling area)
"Ladies and gentlemen of A Christmas Carol, this your places call, places for the top of the show please, places for the top"

Warn top of show
"Places have been called, while we wait for the house this is your warning for sound 3 through 5, lights 2 through 20, curtain out on the rail (cue light), trap open (cue light) actors on cue lights, and of course turn on the appropriate cue lights.
Those warned respond:
"Sound"
"Lights"
"Rail"
"Deck"
"Trap"

 ASM/Deck stage manager checks that everyone is ready on deck
"Places stage left"  "Places stage right"

House manager closes house
"The house is closed"
"Thank you, i am starting"

Ok, i have the house and i have places.
Sound 3 and lights 2 GO
House lights fade to half as recorded preshow announcment plays, telling people to turn off cell phones, unwrap candy, find nearest exit, and not record any part of the show.

Sound 4 GO
Overture starts playing

and the rest of the show continues.  I expect anyone on headset to respond to warns (so that i know s/he heard and is standing by) unless situationally unable to respond.   
 
If it is an especially large or slow cast, i may cal places as early as five minutes to curtain.


And regarding organizational structure, i usually work in system with:

PSM - Production Stage Manager
Runs the SM department for the theatre.  Interviews and hires rest of SM staff, decides show assignments.  Supervises all other stage managers, PAs and interns.

SM - Stage Manager
runs rehearsals and calls the show.  Generates rehearsal and production calendars, schedules, daily calls, contact lists, and generates and deciminates daily notes for all production departments and management.
schedules costume fittings, recording sessions, anything else that might be concurrent with rehearsal
Makes sure that all union rules are obeyed, particularly with regards to hours and breaks.

ASM -Assistant Stage Manager
runs the deck during performances, takes responsibility in rehearsals for all prop/costume/scenery concerns
supervises PAs, interns, and deck crew (in non union houses)

PA- Production assistant
functions like an assistant stage manager, but paid less. 
Often will be on book/giving lines in rehearsal, and then function as deck crew once the show moves to the stage. 

SM intern
does whatever SM duties need to be done   Line notes, being on book, making copies, keeping a master script current, managing and distributing new pages, all that fun stuff.

53

Employment / Re: Fired

« on: May 24, 2006, 01:07 am »

J
Se la vie and I am healthier for it.
/quote]

Yes!    That was an absolutely ridiculous situation, where you were being taken advantage of horribly.  No producer can expect one person to fulfill so many roles, even if it were a one person show with no moving scenery.  It sounds like these "producers" need to retitle themselves "PSM"s and own up to their control issues.

This site has a decent blacklist, right?

54

Stage Management: Other / Event management

« on: May 09, 2006, 03:42 am »

I have an offer to pick up a major event, but i've only done theatre so far.  

Any words of wisdom from those who have branched out?    

For a one-day event with two weeks of prep, what is a reasonable asking salary?  (Event includes auction, a couple of bands, dinner, cocktail reception, ballroom dancing, A/V, balloon scultures, confetti cannon....you get the idea).   I honestly have no idea what to ask, and rated hourly/daily/weekly....This is all new to my world.

55

Tools of the Trade / The comfort of a featherweight headset

« on: May 09, 2006, 03:32 am »

I have a telex which i love, and clearcom which i loathe (as mentioned previously, the boom is too heavy for the headband, and breaks far too easily).

56

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / ESCRIPTS: Final draft, new scripts, and electronic markups

« on: Apr 03, 2006, 10:56 pm »

Ok folks, who were is proficient with computerized scripts?

I'm ready to make my calling script fully electronic (easy enough on a word document) in part because i have to hand over the show for a week later this week.

I love doing new work, but i'm starting to hate final draft and need to find a better way to convert documents.  My intern is sharing the playwright/director's copy of FD in order to keep the script current, and to print out new pages (since the PW/Dir is too busy to do that himself.) and has been fiutzing around with it trying to come up with a sharable document with no simple result.

Trying to save a final draft document as a word document makes the formating go insane.  It takes longer to reformat than it would to retype.  

You can save the document as a PDF format, and i got a trial version of full Acrobat Professional so that i could make modifications, but i can't figure out how to make textual changes or insert regular text (not a text box or callout or pop up window).

I don't have a few hundred extra dollars to throw around on conversion software or scanners.

How do i get a viable electronic script out of a final draft document?

57

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / The SM times are a-changin'?

« on: Apr 03, 2006, 10:25 pm »

Artistic maintenance, for me, is the hardest part of the job.  I am not a director, have never wanted to be a director, and don't think like a director. 

I have nightmares about running understudy rehearsals.  My greatest concern regarding my current show is running understudy rehearsals for a show that is more ballet than drama.  Am currently fighting to have the assistant director at least teach the choreography....it seems beyond the scope of my job and ability to teach complicated dances.  I know that it is part of my job responsibilities, but if i were a competent choreographer and director i wouldn't be a professional stage manager.

In school (including grad school) i never ran a show long enough to do more than basic upkeep (e.g. line and blocking notes).  We discussed how important it was, but never got to actually *do* it.   

All the directors i've worked with have been very good about turning the show over and being supportive, but they also undermine my ability by having notes sessions with the cast while i'm dry running cues and transitions during rehearsals,  or going out to the bar after a rehearsal and making major character and/or textual changes but not passing that information on to me the next day.  How horrifying is it to give a line note and be told "we changed that last night".

So yes, it is our job, but not one easily learned.

58

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Your book Left or right?

« on: Mar 17, 2006, 09:55 pm »

Why would you have 2 scripts. A blocking one and a calling one? What would be the point of a blocking script? Just for rehearsal purposes? Please let me know.

Pretty much.  After weeks of rehearsal, the script tends to get covered in notes and scratchings and other information essential to the show, but not to calling it.  Making  a fresh calling script gives you a fresh, clean canvas.  And it's easier to replace pages when they get too garbled from lots of erasing, since you don't then have to re-copy all the blocking, etc. notes from the dead page.

59

Tools of the Trade / Kit Container

« on: Mar 02, 2006, 05:00 pm »

Currently down to one enormous wheeled tacklebox (can't seem to find a photo online...

Ah, found it:
http://www.thg.ru/howto/20020820/print.html

60

Tools of the Trade / Kit Container

« on: Mar 02, 2006, 04:12 am »

I'm a bit of a packrat and have an assortment of storage bins left over from when i did more 1099 work.  Now that i'm at an institution which provides all the basics (pencils, highlighters, holepunchoers, staplers, tape, paper clips...all that office supply stuff) am trying to pare down a little....

Currently down to one enormous wheeled tacklebox (can't seem to find a photo online...must not be in production anymore, Plano brand) with a roomy tool storage area at the bottom, an insert tool tray, an upper compartment that locks onto the bottom with 4 transparent tackle organizers, removable top and front comparments.   It fits in the back seat of my car (behind the passenger seat, if it's pulled all the way forward) and can be unstacked to fit in the trunk.  At one point there was a side attachment for holding fishing poles but that broke off quickly.

Tackle boxes are the best, with nearly infinite organizational compartments  .You can customize tool boxes with smaller tackle boxes, they come in many sizes.

Avoid the fold out trays
(http://www.planomolding.com/content/index.cfm?siteaction=product&lineid=4&groupid=11&sectionid=36&partid=197)
They break easily.

One of my collegues has:
http://www.planomolding.com/content/index.cfm?siteaction=product&lineid=2&groupid=16&sectionid=54&partid=70
Also wheeled for easy mobility.  The removable trays are handy.