46
Tools of the Trade / Re: Do you prefer Word or Excel?
« on: Nov 09, 2012, 10:06 am »
How do you do your calling scripts in Excel?
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48
Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: ARTICLE: Stage Managers using a paperless process
« on: Oct 31, 2012, 06:14 pm »I've worked with designers and actors who still use an AOL account as their main email.
Hey, hey, hey, no judging those of us who still have an AOL account. Some of us have had AOL since the internet began (Yes, Virginia there was a time before internet). AOL links to Mail like any other e-mail account. Doesn't mean we are surfing the web with it.
Now back on topic...
49
The Hardline / Re: Showcase Costume Fittings
« on: Oct 06, 2012, 07:57 am »
Even on the LORT contract, there is no span of day rule, it is 12 hours by default, since you need a 12 hour turn around, but you can schedule a 13 hour span of day if you are pushing back your start time an hour.
I'm confused. Doesn't Rule 50(a)(3) spell out the 12 hour work day? I've always gone by that.
50
Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Schedule
« on: Sep 29, 2012, 10:08 am »
First of all "only a three month time period"... be grateful for that much time.
Part of this question seems like a conversation with your director, musical director, and choreographer. How do they want to work? In my experience the learning of the music comes first followed by staging and choreography (but not necessarily in that order for the staging and choreography). Some teams I've worked with want to get the big group numbers knocked out of the way and then focus on staging and smaller numbers. Some want to do a mix. Some of this also depends on number of rehearsal spaces you have available. Can your principals be learning music while your ensemble is learning the dance break? Etc. Does your director want to be in the same room with the choreographer the whole time. Do you have more than one accompanist so that you can be running multiple rooms at the same time?
I work two-week summer stock in the summer. We generally have 2 to 3 rooms running all at the same time-a dance room, a staging room, and a music room. We have 2 to 3 accompanists available. It is a scheduling puzzle to get everything staged in 5.5 days, but this is a very different scenario than your 3 month span.
PM me if you want an example of our rehearsal schedules for a week.
Good luck!
Part of this question seems like a conversation with your director, musical director, and choreographer. How do they want to work? In my experience the learning of the music comes first followed by staging and choreography (but not necessarily in that order for the staging and choreography). Some teams I've worked with want to get the big group numbers knocked out of the way and then focus on staging and smaller numbers. Some want to do a mix. Some of this also depends on number of rehearsal spaces you have available. Can your principals be learning music while your ensemble is learning the dance break? Etc. Does your director want to be in the same room with the choreographer the whole time. Do you have more than one accompanist so that you can be running multiple rooms at the same time?
I work two-week summer stock in the summer. We generally have 2 to 3 rooms running all at the same time-a dance room, a staging room, and a music room. We have 2 to 3 accompanists available. It is a scheduling puzzle to get everything staged in 5.5 days, but this is a very different scenario than your 3 month span.
PM me if you want an example of our rehearsal schedules for a week.
Good luck!
51
Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Blocking help
« on: Sep 23, 2012, 12:35 pm »
I'm exactly opposite. My eye goes to the ground plan first to help orientate me then to the written word. I feel that both are important to getting the whole picture of what is happening. I do as SMeustace originally described. I put reference numbers in the script that correspond to blocking on the back of the previous page and then fill in arrows/diagram to support the blocking. For good or for bad, the one thing I have found too cluttering is adding the reference numbers in the diagram. I tend to leave them out unless absolutely necessary.
52
The Green Room / Re: NYTIMES: Actor Housing
« on: Sep 03, 2012, 08:20 pm »
Yes, but do they have sharp knives... : )
53
Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Time question
« on: Aug 23, 2012, 08:43 pm »
On Performance Reports, I round to the nearest 15 sec. On rehearsal reports I don't report seconds.
54
The Hardline / Re: Air Conditioning broken
« on: Jun 17, 2012, 10:52 am »It can be an extreme measure but one can always call OSHA.
I would be hesitant to call OSHA unless an employee's life is in danger. Once you call OSHA there is no going back. If the company is making its best effort to get it fixed, there is no reason to get that extreme. Things break. If the company is dragging its feet, then I think you start with AEA and go from there. That's why we have a union.
55
The Green Room / Re: SMASH - the TV series
« on: May 19, 2012, 08:34 am »Given Theresa Rebeck's involvement - I think a basic understanding is there . . .
...have you seen The Understudy... I haven't seen an episode of SMASH but it doesn't surprise me that the SM is is drawn as useless...
56
Tools of the Trade / Re: Looking for testers for a new iPhone SM app
« on: May 07, 2012, 09:16 pm »
Maybe I'm being daft, but is there a place to leave you feedback on the program or should I just PM you?
57
The Green Room / Re: ARTICLE: NYT Jobs Few, Grads Flock to Unpaid Internships
« on: May 06, 2012, 04:40 pm »
(Playing devil's advocate...)
There seems to be a very fine line between just getting coffee and being exploited.
Don't get me wrong my theatre intern philosophy is my interns should be paid something and hopefully housing and they don't work if I'm not working. I don't believe in completely unpaid internships. Even something as low as $75 a week is a good faith gesture from the theatre.
But reading these articles I'm struck by those who "only got coffee" and complained that they felt they learned nothing (hours were definitely not exploited in anyway and they were not necessary to the job) to those who are given simple tasks to take on as their own and they fuss and complain that they are being exploited. I'm definitely not saying that working 9 to 9 unpaid is okay or being sent to pick up people's groceries is acceptable. Those are definitely NOT okay in my book. But it seems to me by definition an intern is someone who is there to learn how that particular business works. By being assigned tasks, no matter how menial, you are getting an opportunity to be a part of the process. And maybe there is a day that process goes long. Or lunch is slammed in someplace. That is part of that particular business. If you wanted to intern at Wal-Mart you would discover 4 hour shifts and then you would get to go home. How is my intern going to learn how to improve on their paperwork if they don't take a stab at it on their own?
I wonder if there is just a little bit of "I went to college and this is beneath me" mentality these days. (Yes, sounding like a grumpy old woman) And I also wonder if they are not using the internship to the fullest. To get the most out of an internship, the intern themselves have to be a part of the process, talking with people, meeting with people, taking advantage of the place they are in, making connections and asking questions. If these people had nothing to learn and knew everything they wouldn't need the internship to begin with, they would have a job.
For the record, I also am glad I am not graduating college in this job market. It's tough. And since it seems that unpaid or low-paid internships are the way to get started, take full advantage so you only have to do one or two. (Six... that's crazy! Go work at McDonald's or Starbucks)
Off my soapbox...
There seems to be a very fine line between just getting coffee and being exploited.
Don't get me wrong my theatre intern philosophy is my interns should be paid something and hopefully housing and they don't work if I'm not working. I don't believe in completely unpaid internships. Even something as low as $75 a week is a good faith gesture from the theatre.
But reading these articles I'm struck by those who "only got coffee" and complained that they felt they learned nothing (hours were definitely not exploited in anyway and they were not necessary to the job) to those who are given simple tasks to take on as their own and they fuss and complain that they are being exploited. I'm definitely not saying that working 9 to 9 unpaid is okay or being sent to pick up people's groceries is acceptable. Those are definitely NOT okay in my book. But it seems to me by definition an intern is someone who is there to learn how that particular business works. By being assigned tasks, no matter how menial, you are getting an opportunity to be a part of the process. And maybe there is a day that process goes long. Or lunch is slammed in someplace. That is part of that particular business. If you wanted to intern at Wal-Mart you would discover 4 hour shifts and then you would get to go home. How is my intern going to learn how to improve on their paperwork if they don't take a stab at it on their own?
I wonder if there is just a little bit of "I went to college and this is beneath me" mentality these days. (Yes, sounding like a grumpy old woman) And I also wonder if they are not using the internship to the fullest. To get the most out of an internship, the intern themselves have to be a part of the process, talking with people, meeting with people, taking advantage of the place they are in, making connections and asking questions. If these people had nothing to learn and knew everything they wouldn't need the internship to begin with, they would have a job.
For the record, I also am glad I am not graduating college in this job market. It's tough. And since it seems that unpaid or low-paid internships are the way to get started, take full advantage so you only have to do one or two. (Six... that's crazy! Go work at McDonald's or Starbucks)
Off my soapbox...
58
Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: PROPS : Biscuits
« on: Apr 23, 2012, 09:07 pm »
That's close to mine, though I only use flour, baking powder, salt, butter and milk.
59
The Green Room / Re: SM: WORST THINGS
« on: Apr 23, 2012, 09:29 am »
The last quarter inch of lead in a mechanical pencil that keeps spinning so you can't get a good point...
60
Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: PROPS : Biscuits
« on: Apr 19, 2012, 11:23 am »
Funny, I would assume (and we know what they say, but being a southerner...) the fact that he is a good ole southern boy, he is referring to the southern american cold leftover biscuit (scone). However, I do not know the play, nor what the set up is. Feel free to PM me if you want a recipe, southern biscuit are not a crumbly as scones (at least American scones) but super simple to make.