Messages

61

Tools of the Trade / Re: HELP! with fake body parts/follow spot rental

« on: Apr 22, 2009, 03:11 am »

For the body parts, try Bizarre and Novelty on West 2nd near Manitoba Street. So many weird and wonderful things in there!

For the spot, Christie Lites.  They're in Burnaby on Winston Street at Bainbridge. 

62

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Headset Etiquette

« on: Apr 10, 2009, 02:26 pm »

I was learning headset protocols at the same time as I was working for my college's student police force back in the mid 90's.  At the time, I was doing radio dispatch for about 20 hours a week, so I was spending more time with the police walkies than I was on headset.  My headset style was definitely shaped by working in that kind of environment.

This is a quirk I am definitely familiar with!  Before I got back into theatre, I was in Law Enforcement for a couple of years.  The 10-code and other policeism often sneak into my comms lingo.  Old habits die hard. 

63

The Hardline / Re: Musician's Union and Stage Managers

« on: Apr 06, 2009, 04:17 pm »

Each orchestra/ensemble has their own collective agreement with the union, so each one will be a little different.  As far as SM's go, I think the biggest difference is that an orchestra SM is non-union and thus jobs that are verboten by Equity (like payroll), become the SM's responsibility. 

64

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Community Theater

« on: Apr 01, 2009, 03:38 pm »

thanks everyone for answering me questions
is is possible for me to get experience stage managing a community production, do you think?

Short answer, Yes.

65

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Community Theater

« on: Mar 30, 2009, 03:57 pm »

Generally speaking, Production Managers are charged with staffing the shows.  So if you can contact the PM, that is a good way to go about things.  However with many community theatres, the PM job gets rotated around so as not to burn out volunteers.  You may want to CC your inquiry to the general info address as well to better your chances of contacting the right person.

Best of luck!

66

Tools of the Trade / Re: Oops! I didn't mean to send that.

« on: Mar 28, 2009, 12:18 am »

For those of you using email software such as Outlook or Entourage.  You can set your account settings to only send during the normal send/receive schedule as opposed to the moment you click send on your message.  This way you can skim through your outbox for errors before your messages get blasted off into internetland.

67

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Lobby Signage

« on: Mar 26, 2009, 10:46 pm »

People don't really read signs, so I think anything beyond the standard small sign about cell phones and food/drinks in the theatre beside the house doors would probably be wasted.  It is fairly common to see a blurb on theatre/concert etiquette in the program. 

68

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Requests for Electronic Scripts -- Post 'em here!

« on: Mar 10, 2009, 11:41 am »

My turn now.  Can anyone hook me up with:

Light in the Piazza
Crazy for You
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Drowsy Chaperone

I am doing all four this summer.

Thanks in advance,
Ruth

Drowsy and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels can't be licensed at the moment, as they're on tour. (I don't know if you can secure the rights in time for your summer production...)  Just a heads-up. 

Rights were secured months ago!!! I guess these shows are not touring anywhere near enough to Brunswick, Maine to matter!

Indeed.  A company in my neck of the woods did a 6 week run of Drowsy a few months back.

69

Tools of the Trade / Re: Conquering Spam Filters

« on: Feb 27, 2009, 12:01 pm »

I use email provided by my ISP.  The ISP provides pretty solid spam filtering along with some filters built into MS Entourage (Outlook for Mac).  It works pretty well.  Usually once every two months or so a spam message will make it to my inbox and about the same frequency for a real email ending up in spam box.  All in all, I'm very happy with the reliability. 

70

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Sound cues: turning off actor's mic when they exit

« on: Feb 08, 2009, 12:55 am »

Putting on audio tech cap for a moment, I'm responsible for muting and bringing up and killing mics as needed without a cue from the SM.  While I'm mixing a show, I'm not even on cans as I really can't hear properly with one ear covered.  I've never thought about a cue for offstage lines before.  Not a bad idea if the sound tech is coming in late or is less on the ball than desired.

71

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Shakespeare Tips

« on: Feb 02, 2009, 02:46 pm »

It just started Tech Week for The Taming of the Shrew and I can appreciate you being a little overwhelmed if you've never done a Shakespeare before.  My show has a cast of 24 playing 31 roles.  I think my best advice would be (above just being really organized, but you're an SM, so that's already a given ) get your hands on a good gloss of the show.  An important part of the rehearsal process is figuring out what exactly everybody is talking about.  I my always humble opinion, the Folger Shakespeare Library editions are the best, but there are other sources out there.

Detailed costume and prop plots are your friend. 

If you have any specific questions, feel free to drop me a line.

Cheers,

Ted

72

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Dry Ice

« on: Jan 20, 2009, 02:15 pm »

Honestly, I think dry ice is more trouble than it is worth.  Between storage, procurement, power, and safety issues (dry ice will burn your skin, use neoprene gloves, long sleeves, and a face shield at all times), chemical foggers are the way to go.  While the name currently escapes me, there are foggers that cool the fog to create the dry ice like, low lying cloud effect.  Not only is this safer and easier, but the technician has a lot more control over the output.

73

Tools of the Trade / Re: Legal ramifications with cell phone jamming.

« on: Jan 11, 2009, 02:08 pm »

The issues that we encounter are the same for any theatre, idiots that forget to turn their phones off or at least to vibrate during a performance thereby interrupting the performance.

Someone told me about once about a theatre that has a very creative welcome message.  After the standard please turn off your phones bit, the voice continued and said something to the effect of, "I know you think your phone is off, but you should really check.  What if you forgot?  You don't want to be the person who's phone rings in the middle of the performance do you?  That would be sooo embarrassing!"  Not quite as professional or formal as I'm sure we're all used to, but apparently very effective.

For all intents and purposes, the person would just have a No Signal display on their phone.  There are dead zones everywhere for every provider so it would probably go unnoticed.

Probably, but is it worth risking a six-figure fine from the FCC?

74

Tools of the Trade / Re: Legal ramifications with cell phone jamming.

« on: Jan 11, 2009, 01:08 pm »

The first legal issue you'd encounter is that it is illegal to interfere with telecommunications signals.  Another issue is you could end up being liable if you jammed the cell phone of someone trying to call 911 for an emergency, or prevented a surgeon from receiving an urgent call that s/he needs to perform a life saving operation, etc etc.  So yeah ... not a good plan.

What sort of issues are you having in your theatre that you think cell phone signals are responsible for?



Moderator note:  edited subject line for clarity - kmc307

75

The Hardline / Re: CAEA Apprenticeships

« on: Dec 30, 2008, 01:13 pm »

Hi: I've been CAEA for 20 years.. Apprentices are paid whatever the company is offering. There is no set amount by equity. I've heard of some smaller companies not paying anything (although this is rare). Most mid-sized, well established houses pay $500 per week. Younger or smaller companies can pay $350. I would say that's the standard range. It's not a question equity can answer. I'd be careful making that your first question though to the theatre. They want you to want the credit and if you're only doing it for the cash, it may come off as applying for the job for the wrong reason. Usually, young apprentices can afford to do this since they're living at home still. Hope that helps!

Very helpful, thank you!

I'm getting back into theatre because jobs I was doing 'for the money' made me want to put my eye out with a fork.  Thanks for clearing things up for me.  Most appreciated.