Messages

61

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / SCHEDULING: How do you allocate shows?

« on: Aug 24, 2010, 02:14 am »

This really only applies to those who work full-time with one company, as I do.  We have two spaces and 3 SMs, occasionally augmented with casuals for kids' school holiday shows or when someone is on leave, and yesterday one of the other SMs and I sat down with the production manager to sort out scheduling for next year, now that the season is almost completely locked down.

It struck me as we were doing this that we somehow manage to be very relaxed about it, yet everyone seems to get almost all that they want very amicably.  We have one "fixed point" in the year which is that I do the musical, and take it from there; some of it is logical in that you can't do show B if you're on show A, but other than that it's all worked out by discussion and agreement.  How do others do it?  Does your head stage manager or production manager simply decide who is doing what, or do you get a say in the shows that you'd like (or not like!) to stage manage?

62

Tools of the Trade / Re: Fake Braces

« on: Aug 22, 2010, 07:08 am »

You should really go to an orthopedic surgeon.

Do you mean an orthodontic surgeon?!

63

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: HOUSE MANAGEMENT: Do you spill the beans about your famous audience members?

« on: Aug 20, 2010, 10:47 pm »

Sometimes I tell the cast, sometimes not - I've just come off a show where we had the house lights up (in a 123-seat house) and so they could very clearly see if anyone they knew was in - so I told them beforehand so they wouldn't get any surprises.  But if there's anyone in the cast who doesn't like to know, I'll keep it quiet unless another cast member specifically asks me - in which case I tell them and ask them to keep it to themselves.

64

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: CAST: Practical jokes on final performance?

« on: Aug 18, 2010, 02:23 am »

WOW - I have never heard of professional shows where practical jokes are seen/heard by the audience and/or in any way disrupt or alter the show!

....why not? The actors themselves are as human as anyone else.  They deserve to have a little fun every once and a while. Granted, they are paid enormously, but I'm sure that the directors and producers and whatnot expect SOMETHING to happen....
-Rose

I'm totally with Matthew Shiner on this one.  If it affects how the audience see the show, it's an absolute no-go, and I won't hesitate to go to official warning territory, particularly if the cast have been warned (as in On-Headset's example).

65

Tools of the Trade / Re: PROPS: Dead Birds

« on: Aug 17, 2010, 02:28 am »

Can you talk to a local taxidermist - they may have some ideas?  We did The Seagull recently and ended up with a real dead (stuffed) seagull, which brought with it its own issues.  We actually acquired the seagull through our Arkadina, who was walking through the central city a couple of months before rehearsals started when a perfectly formed seagull literally dropped dead at her feet....so she got a plastic bag, picked it up, took it home and put it into her freezer and then brought it into the theatre!!  We did have to get all sorts of permits and permission to use it though - and it had to go to a museum after the season ended, as the species is protected (even though it died of natural causes!!).

66

The Green Room / Re: SMNetwork's Resident expert in...

« on: Aug 12, 2010, 06:41 am »

I'm the grammar and apostrophe police.  I hate, hate, hate this seemingly common belief that every word with an "s" on the end needs an apostrophe....

67

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: MUSICALS: Currently working on my first musical

« on: Jul 21, 2010, 08:44 pm »

I almost always put blocking into the script (the only exception was when I did Miss Saigon) and then call the show from a combination of script and score - but as Celeste said, it's personal preference.  I do read music though - my mother is a music teacher so I learnt to read music at the same time as I learnt to read!  I usually end up putting my calling script together in the last week of rehearsals because by then I have a fairly good idea of which pieces of the score I'll need and which I won't - mostly the underscoring I don't bother with and if there's a long introduction to a number under dialogue then I don't bother with that either.  In terms of cues, I notate the same way as I do in the script - it would only confuse me to change it!

68

Tools of the Trade / Re: Hand/head sets for light use in Spain

« on: Jun 29, 2010, 04:38 pm »

Are you after radios or wired comms?  Radios have the disadvantage that only one person can speak at once, and until they've released the talk button anything that anyone else says won't be heard - this is able to be overcome with good comms etiquette, but it is a pain.  The disadvantage of wired comms is that you'll have to run cables in every time you use them - but they're more reliable and you don't have the one person talking issue of radios.  Can I suggest you go over to www.blue-room.org.uk and have a search there - we've had many, many discussions about comms over there, probably in much more detail than you'll find here!

69

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: CAST: Practical jokes on final performance?

« on: Jun 27, 2010, 06:23 am »

I usually find that a stern lecture has almost no effect.  The method I've found works the best is to say "I know I don't need to tell you this, because I know you're all much too professional to even consider practical jokes, but I'm going to say it anyway.  Tonight's audience has paid the same amount of money as everyone else to see this show, and so they deserve to see the same show as everyone else got to see - please can we make sure they do.  Thanks"

70

The Green Room / Re: Vacation Fantasies?

« on: Jun 12, 2010, 08:52 pm »

New Zeland.  There's so much variety in such a small area, and it's so far away!

I'm biased (of course!) but NZ is one of the most beautiful places in the world....it really does look like the Lord of the Rings films!

A mate and I are planning to drive right through the middle of Australia next year - from Adelaide to Darwin - it's supposed to be one of the best road trips in the world and is something I've wanted to do for a while.

I'd also love to take the Canadian train trip - there's a Dick Francis book which takes place on the trip and it's fascinated me ever since.

71

The Green Room / Re: Vacation Suggestions

« on: Jun 09, 2010, 02:11 am »

London is about my favourite non-lying-on-a-beach-with-a-book holiday spot - I don't get there as often as I'd like (I'm about as far from London as it's possible to be!) but that does make it all the better when I get there.  You never run out of things to do, even if it's just sitting in Covent Garden watching the buskers, plus if you decide you do want to go to the theatre you have lots of options!

72

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: REHEARSALS: Giving line notes

« on: May 31, 2010, 09:13 pm »

When I'm doing line notes I don't send it out if it's a one-off - my general rule is that the actor needs to have done it twice before I'll tell them.  If it's a one-off then it could just as easily been a slip-up rather than having learnt it incorrectly.

73

The Green Room / Re: Best showing of appreciation from a cast?

« on: May 26, 2010, 06:49 am »

^^^That's awesome!  I had a nice one from a director I often work with the other day - she's working in another city with another company at the moment and not enjoying their SMs at all - she Facebooked me and all the message said was "you are officially the best stage manager in the country".  Considering it took her three shows working with me to trust me at all, it made me happy!

74

The Green Room / Re: Food in the Green Room and Smoking in costume?

« on: May 05, 2010, 11:22 am »

Seems to me that removing all food from the green room is a bit unreasonable - Wardrobe and I do try to enforce the "no eating in costume" rule, but our green room is where our kitchen facilities are so we couldn't get rid of the food even if we wanted to!  As for smoking, where I can I try to stop them smoking in costume but if it's something that's particularly difficult to get in and out of then a coat or robe is OK - not great, but OK.

75

Tools of the Trade / Re: Prop Drinks : Port

« on: Feb 27, 2010, 05:44 pm »

I've always used blackcurrant cordial with flat Coke and a tiny bit of blue food colouring - takes a little bit of experimentation to get it right but looks good when the proportions are correct!