Messages

46

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Cast/Crew call format question

« on: Apr 17, 2008, 02:48 am »

I make calls as follows:

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we are at half hour.  30 minutes to places, please 30 minutes to places."
"15 minutes to places, please, 15 minute to places"
"5 minutes to places, please, 5 minutes to places"
"Ladies and Gentlemen, places please."

47

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Help! My ASM is USELESS.

« on: Apr 15, 2008, 02:19 am »

If you are going to have another person on headset during the show, why don't you simply switch hats with those two individuals? Perhaps the relief of not being the ASM will spur her on to being a better crew person, taking directions as opposed to giving them...?

This is an excellent idea. At the very least, it's worth a shot. With two pairs of eyes (and ears) on cans, one would hope your safety and efficiency factors increase. Maybe she's not a natural leader and needs that "velvet hand in the iron glove" sort of motivation; with the shared responsibility, it's possible she'll come 'round.

Afraid it's not that simple.   You see if i asked a faculty member if I could do this, they'd give me a line about "educational obligation" and about how her learning from the experience is more important than her being a good ASM.  Whatever...the show's in tech and she hasn't killed anybody and all of her stuff is getting done.  Now I have other people to worry about.

48

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Help! My ASM is USELESS.

« on: Apr 08, 2008, 12:13 am »

Much of the problem lies in the fact that there are NO people left in the department.  For some reason, a lot of people chose not to enroll in practicum this semester, so we're left with 1 wardrobe person, 1 props master (also serving as the props run crew), 2 make-up people (and almost the whole cast is playing more than one character, so make-up changes often), and until yesterday we didn't have a light board op.  So, long story short, even if I could get her removed form the show...there's no one to replace her...at least now she's an extra pair of hands when she pays attention.   I AM going to have another person on headset during the show, though.  Luckily, the actors are all blocked to be BEHIND the wagon before it rolls, so there shouldn't be anybody in front of it.
However today, I came close to losing it.  I can't even trust her to be on book.  An actor called line and she wasn't even on the right page, so he had to start his whole monologue over again.  I pulled her aside after rehearsal and told her that she HAD to stay on top of things.  I think it may have helped a little.  Now that she knows I'm going to call her on it when she screws up, she'll probably try harder.

49

SMNetwork Archives / Re: Disease Prevention Techniques

« on: Mar 31, 2008, 01:04 am »

We learned a valuable lesson this year at TBTG....musical during cold and flu season=BAD IDEA....they had to cancel 2 shows of The Threepenny Opera because the girl playing Macheath (yes, the GIRL...they set it in 1920's Germany in a Cabaret....much gender bending) lost her voice and half the company ended up with the flu.  I was so glad I wasn't the SM and felt so bad for the girl who was. Then, we had a minor MRSA scare....we thought our department was cursed for a while.  We blame it on our TD who said the name of THAT SCOTTISH PLAY during a meeting one day. 

50

SMNetwork Archives / Re: Disease Prevention Techniques

« on: Mar 30, 2008, 02:07 am »

I wash my hands as often as possible, drink water every chance I get, and use airborne.  Also, Hand sanitizer is your best friend.
But, sometimes it just isn't possible to ward off everything. I got a virus that was plaguing our campus about a week before we started rehearsals for my current production.  After that, my immune system was screwed and a few weeks ago I ended up with the stomach flu.  I was puking every half hour or so and my assistant director actually had to sternly tell me to stay home and that she would cover rehearsal (she's a former SM)....I was so determined I could go anyway and just puke in a bucket the whole time, lol. 

51

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / JOB DESCRIPTION: Set Modifications the SM's responsibility?!?!?

« on: Mar 29, 2008, 05:01 am »

So this is my situation (keep in mind this is educational theatre):
So, on my current production, our set consists of a 14 x 14' platform that has steps units on both DS corners, on each side, and on each US corner.  The step units on the side of the stage have been wobbly since they were installed.  It has begun to concern me as we have actors walking and fighting on these stairs, therefore I put it in a rehearsal report, with the intent to talk to the Technical Director the next day.  Before  could get to him, he pulled NOT ME, but my ASSISTANT DIRECTOR (also a student) aside and said that I was being ridiculous and should have taken the initiative to fix the steps myself.  She explained to him that that was not my place and that he would be upset if I had touched "his set", but he still didn't seem to think that this was his responsibility.  
Now, am I wrong, or is the safety of the set, not something the TD should fix?  Since when is it the SM's responsibility to modify the set?  Second of all, isn't it extremely unprofessional to talk to someone about this other than me?  Do you think this is just an educational theater, "I'm a professor, so I'm better than you" situation?  In a professional situation isn't there some kind of equity guideline that would get me into trouble for modifying the set without the consent of the TD?

Any advice you could give me would be great....I'm just trying to figure out if I really was wrong.  Thanks!

52

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Help! My ASM is USELESS.

« on: Mar 24, 2008, 01:52 am »

Thanks guys.  Part of the problem lies in the odd trust factors/professional relationships that are present on this production.  Yes, this is educational theatre.  My director is not technically a member of the Theatre faculty, he is the Dean of the College of Fine Arts, which is intimidating to begin with for everyone.  He's in a guest artist situation and although he technically has authority over everyone, he is very serious about not over-stepping his boundaries and staying off of everyone's toes.  Normally the practicum advisor for a show (the one grading the rehearsal company, including management and dramaturgy) is the director, but since he is a guest artist the practicum advisor is a separate faculty member, who also happens to be playing Falstaff.  It's a screwed up situation to begin with.  So essentially, we have actors grading actors and a director who is afraid to take action against anyone besides actors.  ..and then there's me in the middle.  So, yes, I'm most likely going to have a talk about my ASM with our practicum advisor (although I'm pretty sure he's noticed, since her lack of focus is very evident when she's the one handing him his line notes and staying on book).  I just pray we get through tech alive.  ...to think that she will be the one backstage cuing a 400 lb. pageant wagon to roll.  I'm seriously going to have to call cues like this:
"Standby Wagon
Are all the actors out of the way of the wagon?
Are you sure?
Wagon GO"

Wow.  Thanks a lot, though, guys...I really do appreciate your advice.  Keep it coming if anyone has any other thoughts.

53

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / PEOPLE: Help! My ASM is USELESS.

« on: Mar 23, 2008, 11:43 pm »

Alright, so here's the scenario.  I'm stage managing a production of Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part I.  My ASM is not working out well at all.  It's not that she doesn't listen to me, it's that everything I tell her to do is done WRONG.  
-I asked her to return a broom to the scene shop last week and then lock it when she was done.....she locked my keys in the shop.  
-I asked her to sign in actors and call anyone who was missing (while I ran to the props loft to grab some rehearsal props that the props dept. hadn't pulled yet) .  When I came back down she told me everyone was here.  She was wrong, and actor was missing, and I had to explain why he wasn't called to an impatient director IN FRONT OF THE ENTIRE COMPANY.
-She text messages during rehearsal
-She leaves with the cast unless I specifically grab her before she slips out the door.  Usually I'm busy with other things and don't catch her, leaving me to clear the space by myself.
-When we were spiking the set on the floor (before the deck was built), I was taping the 14' square platform.  I laid the corners....all she had to do was connect them with spike tape.  When I returned, I was looking at a 14' x 12' rectangle (HOW DOES THAT EVEN HAPPEN??!!!!!!!?!?!?).  I had to redo the platform AND spike these complicated step units in the 5 minutes before rehearsal....by myself.  

I have talked to her about these issues, but nothing seems to take.  I have even given her assignments to read from Tom Kelly's and Lawrence Stern's books.  She reads whole chapters from them..I've seen her read them....but, still nothing sinks in.  I mean I understand that some people just aren't cut out for management, but she's not even trying.  Does anybody have any suggestions?  How can I get through to her, or at least keep her from screwing things up.  I mean, I've taken to just doing things myself because everything she screws up reflects badly upon me.  I'm getting concerned because we're only a few weeks from tech, we open on the 17 of April.  Since I'll call from the booth at the back of the house (black box in thrust) she'll be the ONLY management person backstage.  I'm really worried.  PLEASE HELP!

54

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Peter Pan

« on: Mar 16, 2008, 11:05 pm »

Just my 2 cents here, take it with a grain of salt:
My high school just did Peter Pan, and I went back to see it.  the cast told me that the ZFX guys were kinda rude and would only give the understudies 10 minutes each to practice fly (even though they perform for 2 shows so they aren't even understudies in the traditional sense). But I'm sure the company itself is fine, but I guys our guys lacked certain people skills.

55

Uploaded Forms / Re: Line Notes (for going "off book")

« on: Feb 13, 2008, 03:10 pm »

Just thought I'd throw my current line notes form out there.  I'm currently working Shakespeare which is why I have a space for the line number (the blank marked "line" is for an actual quotation).  I (or my ASM) may or may not fill in all the blanks, depends on the pace of the dialogue.  More often than not, we will go back and fill the specifics in after the scene has stopped.  I have "please take the time to review these notes" on the bottom , because this is college theater and the last show I worked on (as an ASM) , I had a problem with actors leaving their line notes in the mainspace after rehearsal, so they obviously weren't even looking at them after I spent the entire rehearsal writing them out.  Needless to say it was a bit frustrating.  The sheet is in Excel format.

56

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Taking Notes

« on: Feb 08, 2008, 12:23 am »

The last show I worked on (a crazy devised theater piece with a lot of cues), I was ASMing, so I was backstage, while the SM was in the booth.  She would dictate notes to me over headset ("Geoff, take a note...", "Hey Geoff, did you get the note that..."), and I also took a lot of my own notes.  After the performance, I would just hand her a stack of post-its and she would pass them on accordingly.  Then, again...we kind of read each others mind sometimes and many time, I'd end up handing her a similar note to one that she scribbled down between cues.  It seemed to work well, we got through the production alive, at least.

57

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Visual Cues--Who's Responsible?

« on: Jan 27, 2008, 01:20 pm »

If you have to let him know when cues are coming up, why is he even there?!  I'd definitely be taking this one higher - probably to the PSM.  He's not there to it back and watch the show - if he wants to do that, buy a ticket...

Seriously.  They are in the wrong line of work. That is absolutely something that you should bring in confidence to someone higher up.

58

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Visual Cues--Who's Responsible?

« on: Jan 25, 2008, 12:22 pm »

Often times, the SM will take off the headset during the performance and ask us to watch the book while he "takes a break."  He missed a standby once because of that.

That's completely unacceptable.  If the stage manager isn't on top of things, then no one can be expected execute cues correctly.

59

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Visual Cues--Who's Responsible?

« on: Jan 23, 2008, 12:54 pm »

Typically it works well if the SM calls something like:

Standby L24 and S13, that light cue is on your visual.

..but that's just my experience.

60

Tools of the Trade / Re: Clock/Timer recommendation

« on: Dec 01, 2007, 01:18 am »

I have lately started using a small clip metronome/clock.  It's got a main clock feature and is the perfect size.  I just clip it onto my clipboard and I just have to look down to see what time it is.  If you set the metronome function to 60 bpm, it functions as a second timer, in essence.  nothing beat you're classic old "gym coach" style stop watch for timing scenes, etc., though.