Messages

451

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: YAle Short Hand

« on: Mar 25, 2007, 09:33 am »

Never heard of any specific blocking notation.

Most common seems to just be using abreviations, a bit like so:

W1 -> DSL T1

(Woman 1, crosses to Down Stage Left of Table 1 - W1 and T1 are defined elsewhere (table in the floor plan and the woman in  the cast list))

also often writen as

W1 X DSL T1

452

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: YAle Short Hand

« on: Mar 25, 2007, 02:50 am »

I was under the impression that the two main forms of shorthand were the Gregg and Teeline (with Pitmans for the "old schoolers").

That said, it is doubtfull that a director would give you notes in shorthand. Shorthand is a dieing skill - even journalists tend to shy away from it due to the ease of access to personal tape recorders.

453

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Keeping it Straight with BIG CASTS

« on: Mar 23, 2007, 09:40 pm »

I am hopeless with names. The quick photo idea is a good one. I would talk to your cast about the idea first - maybe suggest that you put up a photo board as well if the rehearsal room is yours alone as most of the cast will be in the same situation as yourself - you could even make it a place to pin up those memorable shots that invariably occur. Otherwise, go with name lables or badges.

454

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Smudgy Card stock

« on: Mar 22, 2007, 03:56 am »

Make sure your card stock is suited for your printer/copier - laser card stock is slightly different to inkjet. Make sure it is non-gloss and that you are printing on the right side - something to do with the treatments applied to the paper I think.

 A lot of copiers have problems with anything over about 120 GSM - check through it's manual. It may be worth your while to try a print shop - ask them about the right stock to use. It may end up cheaper to actually get them to print it.

455

Tools of the Trade / Re: Notebook for Mac

« on: Mar 21, 2007, 04:09 am »

Can't say I have heard about it, HOWEVER: Word 2004 (the latest Word for OSX) has "notebook" as one of the layouts, which has tabs, which I have thought of using for organising paperwork, although I have never gotten round to it.

456

The Hardline / Re: Copyright laws

« on: Mar 20, 2007, 02:16 pm »

Whilst SM and PM may be contractors, they are often involved in the decision making process - and I have seen some very sneaky contracts which contained clauses about "Ensuring show develops within the bounds of contractual obligations to the rights company.". I don't know if they (being companies) can do that under the union regs, and I have no idea what the result would be if a clause like that was tested (either in AU or the US)

457

Stage Management: Other / Re: Just did my first wedding...

« on: Mar 20, 2007, 04:27 am »

I just LX'oped my first wedding... god I wish we had a stage manager.

The ceremony was not too bad - the room we used was already full of pretty architectural lighting, so it was a set it and leave it.

The reception however was another thing all together.

There was a 'set designer' - who gave one lighting idea, which did not work (movers on the pinspot gobo aimed at the centre piece, to give an inner glow. Only worked when the table was centered under the movers, and the movers were static in the ceiling.... it didn't work at all), the 'coordinator' had no real input, and kept refering to documents I never got, and basically, I made some looks and fudged it from there. It did not help that I could not see the bridal table (and lecturn) because they had a band on the stage, and as such, decided they wanted rostra at the other end of the banquet hall, coincidently under the bio box... That meant I had to lean out of the bio to see if someone was at the lecturn, of if they were getting up to dance, or whatever

And the "2k fresnel washes on the (client supplied) backdrop" were not for the stage, as had been implied but rather for a frilly white back cloth behind the bridal table. We did not find out until about an hour before 'opening' so we had to navigate the scissor lift between preset tables... not fun.

Catering always tend to run late (this from the AV op... why they needed an AV op, I will never know, there was one cue during the entire 8 hour reception... It was a Kosher event... and the Jew's sure know how to party). The exception is usually inhouse caterers, who often run early because they want to get the party out of the hall ASAP so that they can clean up.

So any wedding companies that read this... Stage manager = essential.
trike the floor and leave.

458

SMNetwork Archives / Re: Stress and Eating Right

« on: Mar 19, 2007, 01:07 am »

It really isn't that hard to take a packed lunch/dinner to school/collage/work/university/the theatre. Most places are obliged (at least in Australia - I don't know if it is the same in the US) to provide basic "Food warming & storing" appliances (ie a microwave and a fridge).

Plan out what you are going to eat in advance, then pre-prepare as much of it as you can. I eat stirfry at least once a week. So I make sure I have pre-cut all my vegetables and my meat, so all I need to do is combine them in a wok and mix up a sauce (which I usually do in the wok whilst everything else is cooking). I make sure that I cook enough stirfry that I can also take it for lunch the next day.
Combine that with rice (A rice cooker is the best investment I made as a student. Put the rice in, wash out the starch, top up with water to the line, add some salt, put on and walk away. When it is done cooking, it stays warm, fluffy and perfect for up to about 2 hours (after that it dries out a little too much) so you can do homework whilst it cooks, and don't have to watch the clock) and you have a perfectly healthy meal or two.

I was given a book called "100 quick meals with less than 6 ingredients" - or something close to that, I have too many recipie books - which has decent meals that don't take much time to cook or prepare.

And don't rule out the common sarnie (aka sandwich). It does not have to be boring. Chicken, avocado and cheese is beautiful. You can also add sundried tomatoe for more kick. Slap it under the grill for a few seconds... bliss. Try to use different breads like sourdough, foccacia, bagels etc. Even a simple salad sarnie can be turned an oral masterpiece - another personal favorite here - thinly sliced sourdough, lettuce (iceberg lettuce, ripped off leaves, not sliced into thin strips...), tomatoe (if taking to work, take the tomatoe in a separate container and add just before eating), carrot (shredded), beetroot (same as tomatoe if taking to work, as you want the beetroot to be nice and moise) and cheese (I lean towards Old English/Tastey over cheddar, but whatever floats your boat).

And to add a bit of pep to your life. Curry. Probably not the healthiest food arround, but it clears out the digestive tract, tastes good, and has a bit of kick.

My personal opinion is frozen food sucks. Instead, call in at a deli or some other fresh food place and grab something there instead. I would much rather pay AU$10 in a cafe for a meal than about the same at McDonalds for a meal, or for a frozen meal. There is only a few dollars between them really in price, and at least the cafe's food is somewhat fresh and somewhat healthy.

459

The Hardline / Re: Copyright laws

« on: Mar 17, 2007, 02:10 am »

Re Erin's post, which I did not see earlier - That is scary. I am not sure if MTI's threats could be carried out - there is a certain ammount of protection given to you when you are an employee of a company, and I doubt that the courts would be on the side of the rights holder when asking for money from people who are not involved in the act of breaking the law, but rather, just doing their job. It is a basic assumption on the part of the actors and crew that the production company has obtained the rights for any show they are employed to work, and they should not have to worry otherwise. I am sure the unions would jump onto the case if it were brought up. Stage Manager/Production Manager/Director/Producer are a slightly different kettle of fish (being management)

460

SMNetwork Archives / Re: I HAVE to share this

« on: Mar 16, 2007, 05:46 pm »

ROFLMAO.

I have seen lunch ladies like that, in fact, whilst I was touring a school show, one of the lunch ladies came on stage and asked the actors if they wanted a cup of coffee or tea - I believe she said "Could I get anyone here a cup of tea of coffee... You are working so hard, and it looks so hot up here". My brilliant cast replied in charactor, and we got some great laughs.

461

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: The blind leading the blind

« on: Mar 12, 2007, 05:46 pm »

If there is an AD in charge of understudy rehearsals, then you need to be able to provide thorough notes to the AD - which they will combine with notes from the director. If there is no AD, then it is not unusual to get the ASM to assist with (and some times even run) understudy rehearsals. If there is an AD, then it is also not unusual for the ASM to 'play stage manager' for their session - especially if the 'real' rehearsals are running concurently.

462

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: How to:

« on: Mar 12, 2007, 05:30 pm »

WRT the cast know-it-all. There are two 'confrontational' roads - the high road and the low road. The high road would be to pull him aside, tell him to pull his head in, as he is employed in the role of an actor, NOT as a consultant/stage manager/director, and that since he has a major in theatre, he should know that there is no "Right and Wrong" way to manage a show, and that his disrespect will not be tollerated.

The low road would of course be to do this publicly.

The later will probably embaras him more - and hopefully make him a tad 'meeker' - however I would not hold my breath. So really, it is either go the high road, or just ignore it.

Re your Significant Other - I would just have a quiet word with him - mention how you don't want to be put in any awkward situations, and you want to separate work from your real life, so if he could please act professional, even if it is not a professional show, you would be most greatful. Then talk about your concerns with your ASM. Ask your ASM to be involved in any 'disciplinary' action between your SO and another, and to let you know if it appears you are treating your SO as anything other than a cast member. You will probably find you overcompensate in reality - being so aware that you don't want to favour him that you are actually harder on him than you would any other cast member - that is something to be aware of too.

463

Employment / Re: resume format

« on: Mar 12, 2007, 05:07 am »

Under Stage Management (or employment history, or whatever you would call it) I would list:

Internship - Company Name
    - Duties: Assistant Stage Manager Show1, Show 2, Show 3

464

Stage Management: Other / Re: Talent Show Tips please?

« on: Mar 12, 2007, 02:53 am »

I would request the CD's/Tapes a day in advance, rip them all, then either compile a new cd, or run them from computer.

465

Stage Management: Other / Re: Tips - Music Festival

« on: Mar 10, 2007, 06:52 pm »

Never stage managed a music festival, but I have worked on them in other capacities. You really need to find out if you are stage managing in the sense of a theatre stage manager (ie pulling all technical elements together and organising everyone) or more of a manager of the stage crews. Anyway....

Organisation is key.

Unlike theatre, sound plays a much larger part in music festivals (duh...) than lights, however as a general rule, both are much larger than your standard theatre rigs (West End/Broadway excepted).

Unless your festival is controlled by sound nazis (very unlikely) every band will have different pieces of equipment used for their set. And it is not just "different guitars", but often different drums, different amplifiers, different microphones, different effects pedals, different monitor arrangement... everything.

Basically, you need to know what each band wants for their set, you need to talk to your sound techs (you will probably have a monitor engineer and a FOH engineer) about which channels things will be on, and you need to work out how you are going to get everything off stage, and the new set on stage within fairly strict time frames - no more than a few minutes usually.

Then you have people management - if you have 10 bands, with an average band size of 5 people, that is 50 people. If this is an outside event, that will mean they will probably be located off site, so you need runners, you need to guess how long it will take to get the band backstage and how long it will take them to get ready once there.

Communication is another big thing. There are scores of people over a large area - you need to know that they either know their jobs well enough that they can make their own decisions, or that you can contact them to tell them what to do in special situations.

The major thing to remember, I suppose, is that you do not have the rehearsal time that theatre usually provides. Chances are your mix engineers and you LX engineer will be used to this sort of situation, which helps, however you need to be keeping everything moving - sound checks, lighting checks... Remember, these are not times for the bands to practice their sets, they are to provide the engineers with a sample to allow them to present the bands in a good light. Get them on, and when the engineers tell you the mixes are right, get them off. Bang, Bang, Bang.