61
Stage Management: Other / Re: Festival Stage Management
« on: May 15, 2013, 06:57 pm »
One addition: any alerts or warnings? (Strobes/hazers/gunshots/etc.)
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14 Jan 2021: Happy 21st birthday, SMNetwork! I replaced the old broken mobile theme. -K
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62
Employment / Re: Making the transition to PSM
« on: May 11, 2013, 12:26 am »
A large summerstock festival has a "stable" of 6 stage managers, supplemented by 3-8 contractors and a further 10-15 apprentices and interns. (Depending on the complexity of the season, the precise use of venues, etc.)
Every year, one of the core SMs (usually the job rotates among 3 people in particular) is elevated to serve as PSM, and the job involves what essentially amounts to coordinating the stage management department.
- Scheduling and coordinating use of rehearsal and performance space.
- Representing stage management at progress and planning meetings.
- Updating and drafting health and safety documentation and policies.
- Being on-call 24/7 during the festival itself for any manner of emergency.
- Serving as the primary point of executive contact between the production departments and stage management. ("We'd like to schedule the costume fittings as follows", rather than having each show submit requests independently and making wardrobe sort them out.)
- Hiring and supervising the contractor SMs. (As well as the apprentices, etc.)
- Serving as a keyholder for the festival. (One of only 3 people with an absolute master key, the other two being the General Manager and the head of security.)
- Hiring and coordinating non-production contractors. (Fight directors, accent coaches, etc.)
- A few other duties in this line.
Because of the workload this generates (and especially because of their position at the top of the emergency call list), the PSM cannot take a show of their own. A summer as PSM is a "summer off" from stage management, but it's a job which has to be done, and which is done best by someone who knows the realities of stage management within this festival environment.
Other companies will do things differently. The thing with Summerstock is that it generates a lot of work in a short period of time. In a rep company, the PSM could conceivably balance their executive work with some hands-on stage management: the company produces 12 shows a year, and the PSM--if they're so inclined--might take one or two.
Every year, one of the core SMs (usually the job rotates among 3 people in particular) is elevated to serve as PSM, and the job involves what essentially amounts to coordinating the stage management department.
- Scheduling and coordinating use of rehearsal and performance space.
- Representing stage management at progress and planning meetings.
- Updating and drafting health and safety documentation and policies.
- Being on-call 24/7 during the festival itself for any manner of emergency.
- Serving as the primary point of executive contact between the production departments and stage management. ("We'd like to schedule the costume fittings as follows", rather than having each show submit requests independently and making wardrobe sort them out.)
- Hiring and supervising the contractor SMs. (As well as the apprentices, etc.)
- Serving as a keyholder for the festival. (One of only 3 people with an absolute master key, the other two being the General Manager and the head of security.)
- Hiring and coordinating non-production contractors. (Fight directors, accent coaches, etc.)
- A few other duties in this line.
Because of the workload this generates (and especially because of their position at the top of the emergency call list), the PSM cannot take a show of their own. A summer as PSM is a "summer off" from stage management, but it's a job which has to be done, and which is done best by someone who knows the realities of stage management within this festival environment.
Other companies will do things differently. The thing with Summerstock is that it generates a lot of work in a short period of time. In a rep company, the PSM could conceivably balance their executive work with some hands-on stage management: the company produces 12 shows a year, and the PSM--if they're so inclined--might take one or two.
63
Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: PROFESSIONALISM: Personal reasons NOT to do a show?
« on: May 09, 2013, 10:01 pm »
Given that there appears to be consensus on this matter, can we maybe approach this from a different angle?
Suppose you're working on a show which a large part of the community considers to be controversial, if not outright offensive.
For your part, you believe in the material. You may not be totally comfortable with the broader situation, but you don't find the material or the treatment to be offensive. (Or, if you do find it offensive, you're okay with this offensiveness in context: it's making a worthwhile point.)
Because of this controversy, a campaign has been organized to close the show. How far are you willing to go before you call it quits?
Would you cross a picket line to get to work? Would anonymous threats of vaguely-defined violence (The phone rings. "We're gonna get you. *click*") throw you off? Would you be willing to endure excommunication from a religious organization in the service of your job?
(This is a little lurid and hopped-up, obviously, but campaigns of this nature have targeted artists and employees of theatres, most notably the company attached to the original run of Jerry Springer: The Opera, a show which I think most of us would not find at all offensive or problematic on its own merits.)
Suppose you're working on a show which a large part of the community considers to be controversial, if not outright offensive.
For your part, you believe in the material. You may not be totally comfortable with the broader situation, but you don't find the material or the treatment to be offensive. (Or, if you do find it offensive, you're okay with this offensiveness in context: it's making a worthwhile point.)
Because of this controversy, a campaign has been organized to close the show. How far are you willing to go before you call it quits?
Would you cross a picket line to get to work? Would anonymous threats of vaguely-defined violence (The phone rings. "We're gonna get you. *click*") throw you off? Would you be willing to endure excommunication from a religious organization in the service of your job?
(This is a little lurid and hopped-up, obviously, but campaigns of this nature have targeted artists and employees of theatres, most notably the company attached to the original run of Jerry Springer: The Opera, a show which I think most of us would not find at all offensive or problematic on its own merits.)
64
Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: What do I need to know about working with professional actors?
« on: May 07, 2013, 09:44 pm »
"Also it would be really cool if I did a really awesome job to get reference letters from these people?"
To build on what BAR said, many actors (including Equity actors!) have no concept of what stage managers actually do. (Beyond the things obvious to actors: taking notes, whining at them about not signing in, etc.) Very few actors are in any position to assess the competence or ability of their SM, even an SM with whom they've worked extensively.
You want letters from producers, letters from directors, letters from production managers, letters from supervising stage managers, and maybe letters from technical directors. Those are what count. A letter from an actor might as well be a letter from your mom, and will be viewed as such by the boards and committees and hiring managers who read these letters.
-----
I do, however, have one piece of advice for you when dealing with actors, and especially for dealing with actors who find themselves "slumming" in community or student theatre.
Above all else, and at all times, remember that you do not run Miss Scrimmage's Finishing School for Proper Young Ladies and Gentlemen. You run a theatre.
Some people are entitled jerks, or brittle divas, or tempestuous egoists, or whatever else. And that's okay.
It is not your job to fix these people, or address their personal problems, or "teach them a lesson". On the most basic level, your job as concerns actors is to get them to follow your instructions. These situations aren't won or lost by determining who screams the loudest, they're won or lost on whether or not the actors comply with your directions. If they're compliant, then you've won.
No matter what they scream at you, no matter what they say behind your back, no matter what lies they spread, resist the urge to kick back. Don't get involved in shouting matches, don't start whisper campaigns, don't even gossip if you can resist the urge to do so. So long as the actor is following your instructions, they can call you whatever sort of name they like: you're winning, and that's what really counts.
This doesn't mean you have to be a total doormat. Some things are well and truly beyond the pale. If an actor comes up and grabs you inappropriately, or makes a serious threat of physical violence, or whatever else, you have every right to deal with that situation appropriately. Similarly, if someone is well and truly impossible to work with, that's perfectly fair to discuss with the producer. In private.
But for the garden-variety backstage blowup, so long as you can get that actor on the stage, and so long as that actor reads their lines and completes their blocking and doesn't screw up the show for anyone else, do not fight back. Do not give in. You've won: the actor remains under your control, the show went on, and putting up with jerks (and the egos, attitudes, epithets and screams of those jerks) is part of the job.
To build on what BAR said, many actors (including Equity actors!) have no concept of what stage managers actually do. (Beyond the things obvious to actors: taking notes, whining at them about not signing in, etc.) Very few actors are in any position to assess the competence or ability of their SM, even an SM with whom they've worked extensively.
You want letters from producers, letters from directors, letters from production managers, letters from supervising stage managers, and maybe letters from technical directors. Those are what count. A letter from an actor might as well be a letter from your mom, and will be viewed as such by the boards and committees and hiring managers who read these letters.
-----
I do, however, have one piece of advice for you when dealing with actors, and especially for dealing with actors who find themselves "slumming" in community or student theatre.
Above all else, and at all times, remember that you do not run Miss Scrimmage's Finishing School for Proper Young Ladies and Gentlemen. You run a theatre.
Some people are entitled jerks, or brittle divas, or tempestuous egoists, or whatever else. And that's okay.
It is not your job to fix these people, or address their personal problems, or "teach them a lesson". On the most basic level, your job as concerns actors is to get them to follow your instructions. These situations aren't won or lost by determining who screams the loudest, they're won or lost on whether or not the actors comply with your directions. If they're compliant, then you've won.
No matter what they scream at you, no matter what they say behind your back, no matter what lies they spread, resist the urge to kick back. Don't get involved in shouting matches, don't start whisper campaigns, don't even gossip if you can resist the urge to do so. So long as the actor is following your instructions, they can call you whatever sort of name they like: you're winning, and that's what really counts.
This doesn't mean you have to be a total doormat. Some things are well and truly beyond the pale. If an actor comes up and grabs you inappropriately, or makes a serious threat of physical violence, or whatever else, you have every right to deal with that situation appropriately. Similarly, if someone is well and truly impossible to work with, that's perfectly fair to discuss with the producer. In private.
But for the garden-variety backstage blowup, so long as you can get that actor on the stage, and so long as that actor reads their lines and completes their blocking and doesn't screw up the show for anyone else, do not fight back. Do not give in. You've won: the actor remains under your control, the show went on, and putting up with jerks (and the egos, attitudes, epithets and screams of those jerks) is part of the job.
65
Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Can you earn a living? (2013 Research Data)
« on: May 07, 2013, 09:16 pm »
One thing that's being discounted here is the teaching track.
I live in a major metropolitan area. Within a commute's distance, you'll find a good 8-9 university-level theatre programs and 5 community colleges offering a tech/production/design program.
We mustn't get ahead of ourselves, of course: between them, these ~15 programs might only create 20-25 faculty-level jobs for stage managers. (And a growing number of these jobs will be part-time/adjunct work, which must be supplemented by other gigs.) But in an environment where 150 jobs is an abnormally high figure, 20-25 additional positions is actually a pretty big number. (It's also a very different sort of work, but the trade-off is that these jobs have perks like health insurance and predictable incomes and regular full-time hours and maternity leave, etc.)
I live in a major metropolitan area. Within a commute's distance, you'll find a good 8-9 university-level theatre programs and 5 community colleges offering a tech/production/design program.
We mustn't get ahead of ourselves, of course: between them, these ~15 programs might only create 20-25 faculty-level jobs for stage managers. (And a growing number of these jobs will be part-time/adjunct work, which must be supplemented by other gigs.) But in an environment where 150 jobs is an abnormally high figure, 20-25 additional positions is actually a pretty big number. (It's also a very different sort of work, but the trade-off is that these jobs have perks like health insurance and predictable incomes and regular full-time hours and maternity leave, etc.)
66
College and Graduate Studies / Re: What can students do to get into a SM job faster and stay in it longer?
« on: May 07, 2013, 10:19 am »
Work.
Work everywhere. Work anywhere. Work on everything. Work on student shows. Work on "real" shows. Work on shows that you and three friends put on in the basement of a bar. (And if you don't have those sorts of friends, find them.)
The SMs who stand out aren't the ones with good grades (little secret: nobody cares what grades you got]) or even the ones who graduated from fantastic schools (the proportion of SMs with BFAs, let alone BFAs specialized in stage management, is very low compared to most professions), but the ones who have kept themselves busy. Even if you aren't working prestigious gigs, work.
Check out the attached chart, which shows the amount of resources you'll have as a stage manager over time. In high school you have relatively few; as soon as you start university, the quality and the volume will increase significantly. (At least, it will at a half-decent school.) Well-maintained facilities, new and well-maintained equipment, all sorts of experts and mentors to assist you, the first "real" show budget you'll experience, etc.
Just as importantly, your BFA resources will increase over time. As you move towards fourth year, you'll start working in more advanced venues, have more access to faculty members, be trusted to work with the newest, shiniest and most complicated equipment, and so on.
Then you graduate, and--for most students--you land pretty damn hard.
If you're a real eager beaver who positioned themselves very well (internships with prestigious companies, summerstock work, etc.), you might not have this experience: you might jump straight to apprenticing somewhere fancy and wonderful and never look back.
You might also go a route like working cruise ships or tourist shows, which will spare you the worst of this phenomenon.
But if you're like most BFA students, after you graduate, you leave this land of milk and honey (state-of-the-art facilities and equipment, amazing instructors, decently-sized budgets...), and find yourself pulling together shows in church basements with no resources and a budget of "How many coins can we pull out of the director's couch."
It's possible to claw yourself out of there. But it's easier if you have practice, and it's easier if you have the sort of experience needed to hook yourself into more prestigious and better-paying gigs. You get both that practice and that experience by doing it while you're still a student, and this will spare you the hardest, lowest and most difficult part of that trough.
Conversely, if your entire work background consists of your one annual show in the mainspace with only the finest equipment and personnel, and now you suddenly have to dye costumes in your parents' bathtub and your "venue" is a disused massage parlor in a dingy strip mall and--indignity of indignities--they expect you (YOU! The Stage Manager!) to fold the programmes by hand, that's when you have a nervous breakdown and leave the profession at age 25.
But, at bare minimum, if you reach that stage of your career with zero experience or expertise in handling these situations, it's going to be harder, it's going to take longer, and you're more likely to fail. Get the practice now, when the stakes are fairly low and the benefits are fairly high, and you'll thank yourself later.
Work everywhere. Work anywhere. Work on everything. Work on student shows. Work on "real" shows. Work on shows that you and three friends put on in the basement of a bar. (And if you don't have those sorts of friends, find them.)
The SMs who stand out aren't the ones with good grades (little secret: nobody cares what grades you got]) or even the ones who graduated from fantastic schools (the proportion of SMs with BFAs, let alone BFAs specialized in stage management, is very low compared to most professions), but the ones who have kept themselves busy. Even if you aren't working prestigious gigs, work.
Check out the attached chart, which shows the amount of resources you'll have as a stage manager over time. In high school you have relatively few; as soon as you start university, the quality and the volume will increase significantly. (At least, it will at a half-decent school.) Well-maintained facilities, new and well-maintained equipment, all sorts of experts and mentors to assist you, the first "real" show budget you'll experience, etc.
Just as importantly, your BFA resources will increase over time. As you move towards fourth year, you'll start working in more advanced venues, have more access to faculty members, be trusted to work with the newest, shiniest and most complicated equipment, and so on.
Then you graduate, and--for most students--you land pretty damn hard.
If you're a real eager beaver who positioned themselves very well (internships with prestigious companies, summerstock work, etc.), you might not have this experience: you might jump straight to apprenticing somewhere fancy and wonderful and never look back.
You might also go a route like working cruise ships or tourist shows, which will spare you the worst of this phenomenon.
But if you're like most BFA students, after you graduate, you leave this land of milk and honey (state-of-the-art facilities and equipment, amazing instructors, decently-sized budgets...), and find yourself pulling together shows in church basements with no resources and a budget of "How many coins can we pull out of the director's couch."
It's possible to claw yourself out of there. But it's easier if you have practice, and it's easier if you have the sort of experience needed to hook yourself into more prestigious and better-paying gigs. You get both that practice and that experience by doing it while you're still a student, and this will spare you the hardest, lowest and most difficult part of that trough.
Conversely, if your entire work background consists of your one annual show in the mainspace with only the finest equipment and personnel, and now you suddenly have to dye costumes in your parents' bathtub and your "venue" is a disused massage parlor in a dingy strip mall and--indignity of indignities--they expect you (YOU! The Stage Manager!) to fold the programmes by hand, that's when you have a nervous breakdown and leave the profession at age 25.
But, at bare minimum, if you reach that stage of your career with zero experience or expertise in handling these situations, it's going to be harder, it's going to take longer, and you're more likely to fail. Get the practice now, when the stakes are fairly low and the benefits are fairly high, and you'll thank yourself later.
68
Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Shadowing Etiquette
« on: Apr 27, 2013, 05:44 am »
Observing tech might actually be strongly preferable to observing a show. Once you get the basics down, most shows run more or less the same, especially if you're watching from the booth: unless there are unusual technical elements, you won't see anything from the booth on one show that you wouldn't see on dozens of others. Tech is a completely different beast, and would also give you special insight into how the venue affects technical processes, how similar functions are performed with different equipment by different companies, etc.
In other words, my advice: given the choice between tech or a run, push for tech!
In other words, my advice: given the choice between tech or a run, push for tech!
69
Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Shadowing: General Q&A
« on: Apr 24, 2013, 12:40 pm »
While it's always worth asking (the worst answer you can get is a "no", and SMs are a helpful bunch who will often give you a "no, but": "No, but you can shadow me on another show"; "No, but maybe next season"; "No, but I have a friend at the Swan Theatre who could help you out"; etc.), I would encourage you not to get your hopes up.
Dance competitions, especially those with young contestants (13 or younger) are frantic and hectic and crazy and (IMO) an awful lot of fun to work, but in general the organizers don't want too too too many unknown people backstage because of good, old-fashioned stranger danger. It's usually hard enough talking them into letting us post male technicians backstage, and our guys are full-time staff who we've known for years. Posting complete strangers backstage would not go over well. (Mind you, they seem totally okay with women. It's the men dressed all in black who make people freak out.)
Dance competitions, especially those with young contestants (13 or younger) are frantic and hectic and crazy and (IMO) an awful lot of fun to work, but in general the organizers don't want too too too many unknown people backstage because of good, old-fashioned stranger danger. It's usually hard enough talking them into letting us post male technicians backstage, and our guys are full-time staff who we've known for years. Posting complete strangers backstage would not go over well. (Mind you, they seem totally okay with women. It's the men dressed all in black who make people freak out.)
70
The Green Room / Re: Hell in a Handbag (A Game for Stage Managers)
« on: Apr 22, 2013, 11:11 pm »
Could we persuade a local synagogue or an old-school Greek Orthodox church to donate their wedding leavings to us? All those broken plates and glasses would be perfect: bundle them into a burlap sack or a fine cheesecloth, plonk that bundle into a plexiglas or plastic chandelier, and you'd get a lovely tinkle as the whole mess hits the floor without any debris or risk of injury.
NEW NOTE: In scene 627c, de Sade will now urinate all over Marat. This cannot be simulated.
NEW NOTE: In scene 627c, de Sade will now urinate all over Marat. This cannot be simulated.
71
Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Ideas for creative student essays
« on: Apr 17, 2013, 03:08 am »
These are a little wordier:
- Besides obtaining credentials like CPR and First Aid, many stage managers find it immensely beneficial to explore more loosely-defined areas of training: soft skills like cookery, computer programming, musical training, working with animals or children, etc. What are the soft skills you think stage managers would find most beneficial? How do these relate to the job and responsibilities of stage managers? How might these skills increase or decrease in importance in the medium-term future? (Do you have any soft skills you anticipate will prove especially helpful in your own career?)
- One of the biggest challenges facing stage managers is the need to set and maintain healthy boundaries. In addition to problems related to work/life balance, a common difficulty is finding ourselves acting as "cast therapist": not just kissing proverbial boo-boos and providing reassurance, but taking on responsibility for the psychological well-being of cast members--a responsibility for which we aren't qualified, a responsibility which distracts from our other duties, and a situation which may put us into conflicts of interest or inappropriately personal encounters with coworkers. How do effective stage managers strike the balance between taking an interest in the emotional lives of cast members without taking on inappropriate amounts or types of responsibility?
- Thinking about your own tastes and preferences, what do you feel is the ideal relationship between a stage manager and her company? Do you think the stage manager needs to "get her hands dirty", doing all the exercises and warm-ups with the cast, involved in creative processes as an equal participant? Or do you think the stage manager belongs firmly behind the rehearsal table, always at the director's right hand, emphasizing distance and perfect-posture professionalism? Now for the key question: why?
- Despite declining audiences industry-wide, those companies which focus on the needs of specific communities (minority languages, the LGBT community, women, aboriginals, etc.) are doing relatively well. How is working on a show targeted at a specific community different from working in "classical" or "mainstream" theatre? Think of a community of which you aren't a member: if you were asked to stage manage a devised piece for this community, what resources might you tap into, or what might you do differently?
- Besides obtaining credentials like CPR and First Aid, many stage managers find it immensely beneficial to explore more loosely-defined areas of training: soft skills like cookery, computer programming, musical training, working with animals or children, etc. What are the soft skills you think stage managers would find most beneficial? How do these relate to the job and responsibilities of stage managers? How might these skills increase or decrease in importance in the medium-term future? (Do you have any soft skills you anticipate will prove especially helpful in your own career?)
- One of the biggest challenges facing stage managers is the need to set and maintain healthy boundaries. In addition to problems related to work/life balance, a common difficulty is finding ourselves acting as "cast therapist": not just kissing proverbial boo-boos and providing reassurance, but taking on responsibility for the psychological well-being of cast members--a responsibility for which we aren't qualified, a responsibility which distracts from our other duties, and a situation which may put us into conflicts of interest or inappropriately personal encounters with coworkers. How do effective stage managers strike the balance between taking an interest in the emotional lives of cast members without taking on inappropriate amounts or types of responsibility?
- Thinking about your own tastes and preferences, what do you feel is the ideal relationship between a stage manager and her company? Do you think the stage manager needs to "get her hands dirty", doing all the exercises and warm-ups with the cast, involved in creative processes as an equal participant? Or do you think the stage manager belongs firmly behind the rehearsal table, always at the director's right hand, emphasizing distance and perfect-posture professionalism? Now for the key question: why?
- Despite declining audiences industry-wide, those companies which focus on the needs of specific communities (minority languages, the LGBT community, women, aboriginals, etc.) are doing relatively well. How is working on a show targeted at a specific community different from working in "classical" or "mainstream" theatre? Think of a community of which you aren't a member: if you were asked to stage manage a devised piece for this community, what resources might you tap into, or what might you do differently?
72
Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: PROFESSIONALISM: Honesty about running a show?
« on: Apr 13, 2013, 05:06 pm »
Something to bear in mind is that almost nobody who works on running crew is actually doing the job we pay them to do.
It's great that ushers tear tickets and hold the doors open and guide patrons to seats with their cute little flashlights, but the ushers are really there so that, if the theatre has to be evacuated, people don't die in the aisles.
It's great that the stagehands move scenery and hold doors open and help move things around, but they're really there so that, if there's a fire, there's someone backstage who knows where the fire extinguishers are, which extinguisher to grab (electrical fire? material fire?), and how to use the thing.
It's great that the board operators follow cues and improvise appropriately, but they're really there so that, when something goes Horribly Horribly Horribly Wrong and the stage manager is flouncing around trying to do a bajillion things at once, the theatre isn't left in total darkness for several minutes and we can get a god mic running sooner rather than later.
And it's great that the stage manager calls the show--but if that's all we needed stage managers to do, you could easily replace them with a MIDI track or just have the board operators do their own cues. The SM's real purpose is to react and respond to emergencies and unexpected situations. That's why someone working at the high end of stage management can make upwards of 60-80k a year for doing a job that college students can do perfectly competently without even expecting a salary: the experienced SM isn't necessarily better at giving cues or taking notes, but they are better at reacting, responding, de-escalating and preventing situations from getting worse.
If nothing is going wrong, then you are doing your job adequately and can relax. Even if it feels like it isn't much of a job.
It's great that ushers tear tickets and hold the doors open and guide patrons to seats with their cute little flashlights, but the ushers are really there so that, if the theatre has to be evacuated, people don't die in the aisles.
It's great that the stagehands move scenery and hold doors open and help move things around, but they're really there so that, if there's a fire, there's someone backstage who knows where the fire extinguishers are, which extinguisher to grab (electrical fire? material fire?), and how to use the thing.
It's great that the board operators follow cues and improvise appropriately, but they're really there so that, when something goes Horribly Horribly Horribly Wrong and the stage manager is flouncing around trying to do a bajillion things at once, the theatre isn't left in total darkness for several minutes and we can get a god mic running sooner rather than later.
And it's great that the stage manager calls the show--but if that's all we needed stage managers to do, you could easily replace them with a MIDI track or just have the board operators do their own cues. The SM's real purpose is to react and respond to emergencies and unexpected situations. That's why someone working at the high end of stage management can make upwards of 60-80k a year for doing a job that college students can do perfectly competently without even expecting a salary: the experienced SM isn't necessarily better at giving cues or taking notes, but they are better at reacting, responding, de-escalating and preventing situations from getting worse.
If nothing is going wrong, then you are doing your job adequately and can relax. Even if it feels like it isn't much of a job.
73
Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: PROP FOOD: Ketchup that isn't ketchup
« on: Mar 24, 2013, 06:36 pm »
White custard with red food colouring? (Make a batch once a week. Those ingredients would probably cost about the same as a can of frosting, and you can dump the leftover milk in the green room for people's coffee.)
The other thing with custard is that it's about as thick and runny as ketchup. I haven't made this recipe, but if it's like the yellow kind, it should work.
The other thing with custard is that it's about as thick and runny as ketchup. I haven't made this recipe, but if it's like the yellow kind, it should work.
74
Tools of the Trade / Re: Email Best Practices for Teams
« on: Mar 22, 2013, 09:43 pm »
One obvious piece of etiquette people often miss:
If you want to be removed from a listserv, the appropriate action is never to reply to the entire listserv asking how to be removed.
If you want to be removed from a listserv, the appropriate action is never to reply to the entire listserv asking how to be removed.
75
Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Director giving husband in the cast notes after opening?
« on: Mar 22, 2013, 09:34 pm »
I don't see a problem here. If the situation is functional (you're being kept in the loop, nobody's fighting or arguing, notes are only being given between the two spouses, etc.), getting involved is likely to make you look like a territorial meddler, and would essentially involve pitching yourself against their marriage. Neither of these things end well for you.