Messages

646

The Hardline / Re: Theatres That Have Closed--Can You Say "Emergency?"

« on: Apr 14, 2009, 03:02 pm »

I think some are mistaking fiscal responsibility for dooms day. 

Well said.  I think you should be commended for bringing a dose of realism to the discussion.  The sky is not falling, folks.  The economy has forced us (albeit unwelcome) into a period of attrition at the end of which efficiently managed organizations will again thrive.

647

Employment / Re: Cruise jobs

« on: Apr 07, 2009, 08:44 am »

You should be able to find some information at royalcaribbeanproductions.com. 

648

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Quick Question

« on: Apr 03, 2009, 08:43 am »

Would it be this system from Rose Brand?  Looks to be a travel line that is a bit beefier than your normal travel track.  Certainly nothing wrong with asking your TD to confirm! 

649

SMNetwork Archives / Re: AEA and Facebook

« on: Apr 02, 2009, 10:30 pm »

Is publicity for theatres a bad thing? 

Obviously the point of AEA is to protect the best interests of its members, but would a rule enforcing this really be in the members' best interests?  And furthermore, does AEA really have the resources to prowl facebook in search of "illegal" photos?  There's a thread here that does nothing but spread doom and gloom on the state of the industry with theatres tanking for lack of subscription.  Let's be careful our actions as a community don't contribute to the casualties.

Many unions walk a fine line between protecting their members and stifling their industry (see UAW and the American auto industry); I sincerely hope AEA remains on the side of the former.

650

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: A Chorus Line

« on: Mar 30, 2009, 09:39 pm »

Any one have thoughts, the Lighting designer thinks that his assistant, who is the board op too, should call the follow spot cues for the show.  I disagree though, especially since I know the board op and she has a tendancy to take cues whenever she feels like it despite what may be happening else where.

My opinion on this is mixed.  If you have a solid board op and experienced spot ops then it can take a lot of headache away from you.  How many spot cues do you have?  How are your spot ops?  How is your board op?

651

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Natural Disaster vs. Rehearsal?

« on: Mar 29, 2009, 09:06 pm »

Welcome to SMNet, Katie!  Sorry your introduction couldn't be under better circumstances.  I hope your family and friends are all safe.

Well certainly this would fall under the "extenuating circumstances" category.  I personally think it's okay for the director to rehearse with whatever group he could assemble (provided said group was safe and any personal responsibilities like family or property were not compromised by going to rehearsal).  That's a lot of rehearsal time to lose.  In this case it's most likely going to be more beneficial to the production as a whole for him to get what he can done and you and the others to play catch up when you return.  If half the cast is gone, he likely won't be able to get a lot done anyhow.

652

Tools of the Trade / Language Learning Software

« on: Mar 29, 2009, 02:53 pm »

So I have decided to learn a second language and was curious if anyone had recommendations as far as language learning software.  Have you used anything like this before?  Right now I am looking at Rosetta Stone but would like to see if anyone else has used something like this in the past.  Thoughts?

653

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

« on: Mar 29, 2009, 01:08 pm »

I have to admit that although reply all can get you into trouble, if an e-mail discussion is started to a group, keeping it going as a group is a good idea - so everyone can maintain either input in the situation, collaborate on a solution, or just be kept in the loop.  I hate when a designer says "What ever became of that issue . . . ". 

I agree with Matthew on this one.  It's easy for someone to delete an email that they may not need.  If they don't get a piece of information they need it can create a mess later on.  Not to say I'm one of those folks that CCs the world on all emails, but I do think a discussion should stay with all parties on the original message.

654

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

« on: Mar 28, 2009, 10:45 am »

Outlook also has a "recall message" feature, which has been a life saver more than once.  If someone has already opened the email there is nothing you can do, but otherwise it takes the message back.  This works really well for resending messages if you forgot the attachment.  HOWEVER, everyone who received the message gets a notice that they had a recalled email.

Careful with this feature - this will only work if you are using a Microsoft exchange server inside a domain.  i.e. if my email address is "kevin@xyz.com" and I send an email to bob@xyz.com, jim@xyz.com, cathy@gmail.com, and nancy@yahoo.com and I "recall send", it will recall from Bob and Jim as they are inside my domain (xyz.com) but it will not recall from any external domain, so Cathy and Nancy would still get my mail message.  Once a mail message is off of your local network and onto the net there's no practical way to get it back!

655

SMNetwork Archives / Re: 1880s Prompt Books Online

« on: Mar 28, 2009, 12:01 am »

Those are awesome!  It's so difficult to find any documented history of stage management, this is really cool to see.

656

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

« on: Mar 27, 2009, 09:38 pm »

Okay, so we've got a few great examples of what can happen when you mistakenly send an email to the wrong people.

Let's steer back to topic and discuss what can be done to prevent that from happening, and if it has happened, what you've done to fix your mistake.

657

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

« on: Mar 27, 2009, 09:57 am »

Surely we've all done it at some point - click "send" on an email that wasn't ready, or was addressed to the wrong people, or maybe you accidentally hit "reply all".  Hopefully if this has happened to you it hasn't been anything embarrassing or harmful.

So what steps do you take to prevent this?

If you have done it, what kind of damage control can you do to mitigate the consequences?

658

Tools of the Trade / Re: Online Stage Management Software

« on: Mar 26, 2009, 09:42 pm »

Okay folks.  Since this thread has started we've had more than our share of really shameful advertisements from folks obviously either with MTI, or who benefit in some direct way by advertising MTI's product. (Joining SMNet and their first and only post singing praises of a subscription-based product.)

This thread is locked and will die a not-so-noble death.  Also, all links to any subscription-based software have been deleted.

We're happy to entertain discussion on the merits of online stage management software as it's certainly a tool that could be useful to some.  Moving forward, however, all discussions on this topic will need to take a broader point of view and will be very heavily moderated.  Normally this is not how we like to do things, but it's become clear that to foster and encourage objective discussion and debate that this sort of topic will need to be watched a bit more closely than others.

Cheers,

Kevin.

659

Tools of the Trade / Re: AB USB Cables

« on: Mar 16, 2009, 10:37 am »

Anytime VSM!

As the OP's problem has been solved, the thread will be locked.

660

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Working with animals?

« on: Mar 16, 2009, 10:05 am »

Part of your job as a Stage Manager is to do some basic Risk Management (evaluate risk for situations), and if you're going to take on a risk, figuring out ways to mitigate that risk to have the least possible impact on safety and cost.

In my book a monkey/chimp/advanced primate without a trained handler is very high on the risk scale (see chimp goes crazy article) for what is, by comparison, a relatively low reward.  Chimp - handler + many performers + bright stage lights + hundreds in the audience = bad, in my opinion.

The decision likely will be way above the SM's head in any situation, but it is your responsibility to at least raise the concern to management (or school administration, in this case) about the potential ramifications.