61
SMNetwork Archives / Re: Call Board Karma: Keep or drop?
« on: Oct 08, 2006, 12:05 am »
who keeps giving me negative karma?? i am the ROXXORRSZZ
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14 Jan 2021: Happy 21st birthday, SMNetwork! I replaced the old broken mobile theme. -K
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62
Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Email Nightly SM Reports
« on: Oct 06, 2006, 04:21 pm »
I hate attachments. With a passion.
HAAAATE.
I type up my report in Word as I go in rehearsal (yay for laptop!) and then c/p the text into email.
Those who can read RTF email get a treat, but it is formatted in such a way as to be understandable in plaintext as well.
No tables. Nothing fancy. Just the facts.
I rely on my inspiring wit to keep them reading.
HAAAATE.
I type up my report in Word as I go in rehearsal (yay for laptop!) and then c/p the text into email.
Those who can read RTF email get a treat, but it is formatted in such a way as to be understandable in plaintext as well.
No tables. Nothing fancy. Just the facts.
I rely on my inspiring wit to keep them reading.
63
Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / CALLING: Actor Calls
« on: Oct 06, 2006, 04:19 pm »
Most of the stage managers in my area give actor calls from Places. As in, "5 minutes until Places" and so on. Some of them, consider Places to be at 5 minutes before the scheduled start time. I am guessing that means a 5 minute call is actually 10 minutes until the curtain.
I was taught:
1. Calls are from scheduled curtain. ("5 minutes" is 5 minutes until curtain, and so on)
2. Do not call Places until you know we are not holding the curtain. Places is when it is time for the show, not at the 5 minute mark. It is a waste to have actors get restless standing around backstage, as we hold for the next 10 minutes or more while people park their cars.
How is it done? How should it be done? What were you taught?
I was taught:
1. Calls are from scheduled curtain. ("5 minutes" is 5 minutes until curtain, and so on)
2. Do not call Places until you know we are not holding the curtain. Places is when it is time for the show, not at the 5 minute mark. It is a waste to have actors get restless standing around backstage, as we hold for the next 10 minutes or more while people park their cars.
How is it done? How should it be done? What were you taught?
64
Tools of the Trade / Re: latest toyes...
« on: Oct 02, 2006, 08:28 am »
kjdiehl you need to post pictures of this creation
66
Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Splitting the jobs between co stage managers
« on: Sep 29, 2006, 03:45 pm »
What you want to avoid is more than one person trying to do the same thing, and/or items and tasks not getting done because everyone thinks someone else is doign them or they just plain get lost in the shuffle,
establish clearly up front who is doing what / who handles what areas.
for instance, this way you won't come to tech rehearsals with both the TD and the SM trying to call deck cues, like happened to my wifers once. after a few cues, you begin to wonder why things aren't moving when you call them....
establish clearly up front who is doing what / who handles what areas.
for instance, this way you won't come to tech rehearsals with both the TD and the SM trying to call deck cues, like happened to my wifers once. after a few cues, you begin to wonder why things aren't moving when you call them....
67
Stage Management: Other / Re: Operations Management
« on: Sep 28, 2006, 02:29 pm »
Rich C is the Roxxorz
68
Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: My Strings are Unstrung
« on: Sep 28, 2006, 11:29 am »
It is a 'small professional theatre' operating under an AEA Special Appearance contract. Usually 99 seat audiences, sometimes 199. They have trouble finding good SMs in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill Triangle area. The few good ones get snatched up early. I like to think I belong in that category.
Apparently, he quit after the producer emailed him saying that the actors weren't getting their calls (half hour, 5 mins, etc). His reply was "I do this because I enjoy it" .... That's fine, but if you're getting paid for it, which he was, you need to treat it as a job and do it right.
Knowing the producer, it was probably the straw that broke that camel's back. However, from what I hear, he was a bad SM anyway.
Apparently, he quit after the producer emailed him saying that the actors weren't getting their calls (half hour, 5 mins, etc). His reply was "I do this because I enjoy it" .... That's fine, but if you're getting paid for it, which he was, you need to treat it as a job and do it right.
Knowing the producer, it was probably the straw that broke that camel's back. However, from what I hear, he was a bad SM anyway.
69
Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / PROFESSIONALISM: My Strings are Unstrung (SM quits show abruptly)
« on: Sep 28, 2006, 10:01 am »
Last night I went to view a local production of the musical 1776. I will be substituting for the light board operator this coming Saturday matinee, and I needed to watch the current op work and learn the show.
Upon my arrival, I went upstairs to the balcony and tech table ("booth"). I was the first one up there. I found a note with the producer's name on the outside. I opened it and out fell two keys on a ring. I read the note. The gist of it was, "Due to personal and professional conflicts I cannot continue to call cues and give calls." I took this to mean the SM resigned.
It was unsigned.
I debated putting the note down and pretending I never found it. But after a moment, I went back dowstairs and presented it to the Producer.
He tried to draft me into calling the show, which I would have done, but I suggested that my wife who had seen the show multiple times and would be able to attend more performances than I should do it. Luckily, the current lightboard op knew the show well enough not to need calls and my wife just ran sound and spotlight. And the ASM backstage didn't rely on cues so all was fine.
Upon my arrival, I went upstairs to the balcony and tech table ("booth"). I was the first one up there. I found a note with the producer's name on the outside. I opened it and out fell two keys on a ring. I read the note. The gist of it was, "Due to personal and professional conflicts I cannot continue to call cues and give calls." I took this to mean the SM resigned.
It was unsigned.
I debated putting the note down and pretending I never found it. But after a moment, I went back dowstairs and presented it to the Producer.
He tried to draft me into calling the show, which I would have done, but I suggested that my wife who had seen the show multiple times and would be able to attend more performances than I should do it. Luckily, the current lightboard op knew the show well enough not to need calls and my wife just ran sound and spotlight. And the ASM backstage didn't rely on cues so all was fine.
70
Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: ASMs vs SMs
« on: Sep 27, 2006, 12:38 pm »
Within reason includes foot massages, doesn't it?
71
Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Book and Tabs
« on: Sep 27, 2006, 09:36 am »
IMHO, it is not terribly important how you organize the information section of your promptbook. Whatever works for you and lets you access the 411 quickly. The most important thing is to have scenes in the script itself tabbed. This is obvious, I know. But someone has to state the obvious and it might as well be me.
It would not hurt to have little post-its marking french scenes, especially if your director has the schedule broken up by french scenes for rehearsals.
It would not hurt to have little post-its marking french scenes, especially if your director has the schedule broken up by french scenes for rehearsals.
72
Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: ASMs vs SMs
« on: Sep 27, 2006, 09:33 am »
I work on a lot of smaller shows. I usually rotate my ASMs so I only have one a night. They don't get paid much and I don't want to overwork them. I put my ASM on book and have her take line notes also. This frees me up to handle blocking, props lists, tracking, and etc.
On a bigger production, I might have one ASM prompting and another handling transitions (setting up for each scene, moving the props back when we go back - all without being told what to do each time).
On a bigger production, I might have one ASM prompting and another handling transitions (setting up for each scene, moving the props back when we go back - all without being told what to do each time).
73
Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Calling Mics
« on: Sep 25, 2006, 10:39 am »
I do not call the body mic cues for a musical. I let the sound engineer handle it. This is not the perfect solution, since this person has a lot to worry about and can forget to turn them off ... and let the audience hear actors go pee.
However, me trying to call a ton of mic cues on top of everything else is no fun either.
i call body mic cues if we are using one in a non-musical as a special effect of some kind
However, me trying to call a ton of mic cues on top of everything else is no fun either.
i call body mic cues if we are using one in a non-musical as a special effect of some kind
74
Tools of the Trade / Re: Favorite Deck Flashlight?
« on: Sep 21, 2006, 01:07 pm »
I used to buy the mini-maglites that twist on and off but they kept getting accidentally turned on in my pocket and the batteries wouldn't last long
does anyone else have this problem?
if i store it in the provided sleeve on my belt does this fix it?
does anyone else have this problem?
if i store it in the provided sleeve on my belt does this fix it?
75
SMNetwork Archives / Re: Leatherman
« on: Sep 20, 2006, 11:33 am »
I got mine at Wal-Mart. be sure to have them pull them out for you to look at and try out all the little tools. take your time. don't be rushed. compare them