Messages

721

Employment / Fired from an SM Job

« on: May 21, 2006, 04:59 pm »

I have been on the other end of the stick (firing an SM, and working on productions with a fired SM).

The main problem when you fire an SM is the fact that they are often very bad breaks (not that any firing is pleasent) and they can really mess up a production.

Look at it this way: In most businesses, a management position has a 'life expectancy' greater than the manager filling it. The loss of a manager means reduced efficiency for a few weeks whilst someone is trained up and briefed in how the role works within the business, however in the grand scheme of things, it is a minor inconvenience.

Stage Managers have a life expectancy of arround 3-6 months on most shows. The loss of a stage manager can (and often does) put a lot of strain on everyone involved and if the break is really bad can set the production back months (1 of the shows I fired an SM from (University show) was set back a month because the SM burnt the prompt copy and sabotaged the production in a lot of other ways).

The decision to lay off a stage manager is one that is extreamly difficult, and requires a LOT of thought and a pretty damn good reason in most cases (irreconcilable differences between the SM and basically everyone, not doing your job properly etc)

That is of course assuming your producers/production managers/other are sane, rational beings.

722

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Audition

« on: May 18, 2006, 08:56 pm »

Really? I have never (when working in musical theatre anyway) seen an audition run at less than 5 minutes (an instant no). If it was a straight dramatic play, then I could imagin 3 minutes per person working (at a squeeze).

723

SMNetwork Archives / Website suggestion!

« on: May 18, 2006, 02:20 am »

Whilst it is true that stage management is subjective, wiki's usually have a 'talk' or 'discussion' page which allows members to discuss the content. By using that, you can come up with a "Largely accepted" answer to the question.

724

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / the WHO-WHAT-WHERE

« on: May 17, 2006, 09:07 pm »

A who/what/where is usually fairly independant of the directorial stage directions. The who/what/where is a scene breakdown of "Who" (LX, Sound, Deck, member of cast), "What" (entrance, lighting state change, a scene change etc), "Where" (Which page/line/scene/act). That is the sort I use anyway.

725

SMNetwork Archives / Website suggestion!

« on: May 17, 2006, 09:00 pm »

On the topic of "What is a wiki":

The way a wiki works is someone creates an article (anyone).  They write some content, place it in certain categories. Someone else comes along later and reads that same article and thinks "Oh, That's wrong." They click edit, and they change the article. Someone else comes along and they see it is missing some information, so they click edit and add it.

If you want an example of a wiki, have a look at This one or if you want to see a really spectacular wiki, look at wikipedia.

Basically a wiki is a site that any member can edit all (or most) of the content. (For example, pages can be protected if need be)

726

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Audition

« on: May 17, 2006, 09:45 am »

One thing you will really need to look into is the number of people you expect to audition. If your director refuses to do group auditions with a large draw play, you REALLY need to think about logistics.

In a day, I would say 50 is the MOST people you can put in. That is less than 10 minutes per person, auditioning for 8 hours. So you may need to arrange scheduling. What I like to do is create an order sheet. I put 40 spots on each day, each is a 12 minute slot (10 minute audition with 1 minute either side).

The way I have been doing it recently in large casts (and after convincing the director) is I have every auditionee come in on day 1, at 9am. I let the director brief everyone on the show, what they are looking for etc. Then I get up and do my administrative bit, describing the process.

Then I ask for them to come towards my 'sign up crew' (Yes, I use a crew on larger scale shows) and work on a first in, first serve basis, handing out the paperwork. If we have a 1 week audition period, I like to delegate one person to the first three days, and one to the last 2 days and put a nice sign behind each one. The process basically goes fill out your form, book a time and hand in form. In return we give you a card with the time and your audition form number. I warn them that they will be required at least 15 minutes before their call time, and will be alowed dedicated use of a warm up room 10 minutes before their audition.

In large scale auditions, I make the excerpts available online, and then in the audition waiting room I leave a hand full of them.

Large scale auditions are a long and tedious process and your time will be spent doing HUGE amounts of paperwork and organising paperwork. You will notice I mentioned audition form numbers - they make the logistical nightmare far less nightmareish I find (because I use the same number on everything, I don't need to know names or spellings of names)

Remember you HAVE to leave a break for lunch and you should leave one mid afternoon and one nid morning break as well (working on the 8 and a half hour day, I have 4 hours (20 slots, one crossed out in the middle for a break) half hour break then another 4 hours with the same layout as the morning)

727

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Audition

« on: May 16, 2006, 10:52 pm »

The majority is organisation. They may want you to duplicate filled out audition forms, take head shots, brief the actors on the audition process etc. You will most likely be in charge of sign-up/sign-in, making sure refreshments are there, organising audition scripts/excerpts, if they are aloud to use tape/cd for backing music, you will often have to organise that,

The other part depends on the director - some like to ask you your opinion, some don't. If you are a company SM with a guest director, it is not uncommon to be 'interrogated' about certain actors, especially if there is not a casting officer/producer within the company.

With things like Auditions, it ranges from two extreams, one you operate like a secretary, the other it seems like you are running the whole thing (except for the final decisions of course).

728

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Hospitality backstage

« on: May 15, 2006, 03:58 am »

I think the above post says everything really.

It is not our responsibility, and actors are (usually) adults. They are perfectly capable of looking after themselves.

Then again, I find I do things differently to women SM's when it comes to cast relations - different standards etc. If I was female, maybe I would be more inclined (and it would be more expected of me) to do the whole hospitality thing. Being male, well they don't expect me to be good in the kitchen or know how to make a decent cup of tea (being an avid tea drinker and a bit of a tea snob (no bags for me) I like to think I make a damn good cuppa) or be willing to do dishes.

729

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / the WHO-WHAT-WHERE

« on: May 13, 2006, 10:58 pm »

I start most shows with some form of "WWW" - It makes a lot of sense to do so really. I usually read the script through once, get the idea of the story. Then on the second readthrough I pull out post-it notes and I stick notes on about 'between the lines' things (ie implied props etc). Finally I go through, scene by scene doing a who/what/where. Then I create my individual extractions and lists from the WWW. It helps that with a master list like that, if you do it on something like excel, creating the other extractions is really simple.

730

Students and Novice Stage Managers / resumes

« on: May 13, 2006, 01:27 am »

Well, appart from getting information by reading the other resume threads on this board (Have a look, there are tonnes of them), step 1: Forget using MS Word's resume template. They are shite!

Choose a simple font (Times New Roman, Ariel, Courier New etc) and choose a font size (size 12 TNR is considered standard). Don't do crazy formatting. Bold and underlined for headings, single line break between sections, if you need to go onto a second line, tab it in one tabstop. If you have a long list (ie skills), use two columns if necessary. Keep everything aligned left except for your address (top right corner). I don't bullet (personal preference), some people do... that is personal choice.

731

SMNetwork Archives / Website suggestion!

« on: May 12, 2006, 10:53 pm »

Great idea, but how about a wiki instead?

732

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Hospitality backstage

« on: May 12, 2006, 10:47 pm »

I try and discourage cast from drinking and eating during a show - the exception being water and interval.

The truth of the matter is, I don't have the time to organise a pot of coffee, a pot of decaf etc and I don't want to be stuck back any later cleaning it up and washing 70 odd cups (which is what ends up happening). I let my cast and crew know this when we first enter the space. I provide instant coffee, an urn, sugar, tea bags, milk. You bring your own mug, and you wash it yourself. If I don't have the money in the budget, I  ask for a small donation, I am sorry, but coffee is a low priority on my list.

Water is a different matter. I have a rain water tank at home, so I fill up a whole bunch of water bottles and bring them in every day and chill them.

During rehearsals, I always make sure tea and coffee is available, as is water.

That said, I have heard from a few vocal coaches that tea/coffee/milk/juice/softdrink/alcohol is bad for your voice if you need to sing or project your voice (ie act) so I think it is good practice to discourage the drinking of anything but water before and during a show.

As for snacks, I also enforce a no-eating policy, with the exception of interval - however that is all to be self provided.

I don't like to provide food during a show for a very good reason - crew and stage management often don't get time to scratch themselves during interval, and whilst I could usually care less if I did not get any, I think it is wrong to provide food for the cast when the crew are working.

I suppose my main driving force behind my decisions is the fact that this is a place of employment. They are doing their job. I care greatly about the wellbeing of my cast and crew, but they are there for 3 to 4 hours at most (as a general rule), if they make sure they have dinner before the show, they will not need to eat. And afterwards, they can always go for coffee (hell wait an hour and I would join them).

733

College and Graduate Studies / Theatre program disbanded in a matter of minutes

« on: May 12, 2006, 07:44 am »

Whilst I cannot help with the OP's post - I just want to chime in and say how atrocious it is that so many places seem to have given theatre the shove. I have seen three relatively large theatres being turned into cinemas in less than 2 years and it is really annoying me. I have also seen 1 university drop their courses on production, and just lump it in with the acting courses. It is atrocious.

734

Employment / how long do you wait for a response?

« on: May 09, 2006, 10:53 pm »

I have noticed that you often do not get responses in this day and age when you apply for jobs. Personally, I wonder how hard it would be to email a dear john letter out to everyone who applied and did not make first round, especially since a large number of places are now accepting emailed applications. That is my view anyway (and if I ever start a business, certainly the stand I will be taking).

735

Employment / how long do you wait for a response?

« on: May 08, 2006, 09:14 pm »

It is largely dependant on the company. However if applications close on day X, I would expect them to make first contact with you within 2-8 business days (depending on how many applications they receive and how busy they are). Some companies are odd though, in the fact that if applications close on the monday, they allow late applications for a few days and do not touch the applications until every one is submitted.