Messages

76

The Green Room / Re: Can anyone name the SM & Production in this photo?

« on: Dec 15, 2015, 02:17 pm »

Someone in the comments says it's actually Hysteria at Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theatre. Do we have any WHAT or McCallum alums to verify?

77

The Green Room / Can anyone name the SM & Production in this photo?

« on: Dec 14, 2015, 09:48 pm »

Lawrence has asked me to check with the hivemind of SMNetwork in his quest to identify the SM and production shown in the attached stock photo. If anyone knows please reply or PM me.

Thanks!

78

The Green Room / Re: Facebook Group for SMNet members

« on: Dec 09, 2015, 01:21 pm »

If you look back across the history of this thread you'll see that we've had ongoing issues with people coloring outside the lines since pretty much day one. The purposes for which I wanted to use Facebook Groups (driving traffic to SMNetwork and maintaining the brand) are better suited to a page. The purposes for which the members wanted to use our Facebook Group (self promotion and discussion) are better suited to all the other stage management related Facebook groups that don't have a beastly forum like this to back them up.

I'd been planning to shut it down when I had time to properly convert it to a page, but that timeframe got shortened by Fernandez. His behavior was the last straw since it came in during my first vacation in 2 years and pretty much ruined it.

The Facebook Group has taken considerably more time to maintain than the entirety the forums. Every day I would turn down 3-4 requests to join from young SMs who had not read the rules. The spam onslaught - mostly held off by server-side controls here on the forums - is a veritable flood over there.

If Fernandez's behavior is as consistently bad as many of you have stated both here and in my PM box, I would suggest that you guys step up and say something about it. Someone with that lack of self control should not be working in positions where he has to oversee the safety of cast & crew.

79

The Green Room / Re: Facebook Group for SMNet members

« on: Dec 08, 2015, 02:56 am »

Facebook does not make it possible to see a groups intent and rules before requesting membership.

Even though I have made it clear all over the group that it's only for news pertaining to SMNetwork and not a general stage management discussion group, people have continued to post off-topic material, in particular one very rude individual by the name of Michael Fernandez who has been using the group as his personal employment search site.

It is chiefly the fault of Mr. Fernandez that the group is going away, as his response to my message asking him to stop posting job search requests to the group was met with a rude instruction to "get a life."

In order to shut down the group I have to remove all 300+ members one at a time, so it will take me a few days to make it go away entirely. I'll probably replace it with a fan page somewhere further down the line when I'm not so steamed about the whole debacle.

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The Green Room / Re: Facebook Group for SMNet members

« on: Dec 07, 2015, 12:22 pm »

As people still cannot use the Facebook group for its intended purpose, I will be deleting it at some point over the next 48 hours.

81

Introductions / Re: New Enough

« on: Nov 29, 2015, 09:00 am »

Hi!

My name's Lydia and I'm a senior in college, hoping to and I will pursue stage managing as my career post-graduation.

Don't "hope", "do".  Use definitive, forceful words to chart your course.  Hope implies it's out of your control.  It's not - once you decide what you want, go get it. 

Welcome, welcome.  Hoping you find the forum as a helpful resource.

Did you mean, "Going the extra mile to make sure the forum is a helpful resource for you"?

82

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Pickup rehearsals

« on: Nov 18, 2015, 11:13 pm »

In a long-running pro show the SM does the brushups. In college it was always the director for me. I was at a liberal arts school that did not expect to turn out any professional stage managers, so they had no set training in place to teach SMs how to do brushups. Since most of the SMs at my school were disgruntled actors who missed getting cast rather than dedicated career SMs, it was just safer to have the faculty directors do the maintenance.

83

The Green Room / Re: Milestone - 40 years of Stern's "Stage Management"

« on: Nov 17, 2015, 04:14 pm »

The release I signed said "end of this year" (2015) but everything I'm seeing related to the 11th edition's ISBN says it will be out Nov 1 2016.

If you would like to track it, the Hardcover ISBN is 9781138124479 and the softcover ISBN is 9781138124462.

84

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Stage manager portfolio-Help!

« on: Nov 10, 2015, 12:25 pm »

Locked as a duplicate for now. Lucy, if you need to cover something we haven't previously addressed, shoot me a PM and I can reopen.

85

The Hardline / Boycotts and protests in Chicago over Jam Productions mistreatment of staff

« on: Nov 04, 2015, 06:19 pm »

In case you have not been following Chicago's scene, we've got a pretty big brouhaha in process right now between IA Local 2 and Jam Productions. 30 Stagehands at concert venue the Riviera were dismissed en masse, allegedly in response to their voting to join IA. Workers are now complaining of unfair pay (some have gone 7+ years without a pay raise), unsafe working conditions, etc.

I have attached a copy of IATSE Local 2's press release from October 22.

The fired stagehands rallied today out front of Jam's headquarters in downtown Chicago. They are asking that music fans boycott all Jam venues in support. Jam handles multiple music halls and bus & truck locations in Chicago, Memphis and the Twin Cities, and promotes nationwide tours across the US. If you would like to join the boycott, here is a list of all of their venues.

*Asterisk indicates IATSE houses (to the best of my knowledge)

Chicago
Allstate Arena*
Aragon
Auditorium*
Chicago Theatre*
Double Door
Lincoln Hall
Martyrs
Metro
Park West
Riviera
Rosemont Theatre*
Symphony Center*
Toyota Park
UIC Pavilion*
United Center*
The Vic

Occasional Bookings w/o management interest at:
Civic Opera House*
Fourth Presbyterian Church
Subterranean

Twin Cities
First Ave
Myth
Roy Wilkins Theatre*
Xcel Center*

Occasional bookings w/o management interest at:
Northrup Auditorium at UMN*
Fitzgerald Theater*
State Theatre*

Memphis
Orpheum*

86

Stage Management: Other / Great (but old) profile of a rock music stage manager

« on: Nov 04, 2015, 05:43 pm »

I was reading about the ongoing union protests at Chicago's Riviera Theatre and was linked from there to a great and blessedly lengthy profile of a rock venue manager who goes by the name of "Jolly Roger" dating from 2003. Wonderful snapshot of how he got into the industry, what he does, and being a father while working backstage.

87

Employment / Re: Resume Submissions for National Tour

« on: Nov 04, 2015, 05:33 pm »

Do you want AEA members only or are you open to non-union/other union members?

88

Introductions / Re: Not actually a SM, well probably anyways

« on: Oct 27, 2015, 02:14 pm »

Cheeky thing, aren't ya? Welcome aboard.

89

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Rehearsal Reports

« on: Oct 19, 2015, 10:24 pm »

Part of writing good, detailed rehearsal reports is understanding what other departments need to know in order to do their jobs. I suggest you dip a toe into as many other areas of backstage work as you can - carpentry, scenic, costumes, lighting, sound, FOH, etc - to gain awareness of how each area must respond to what evolves in the rehearsal room.

Also, consider taking a look at our forum game from a few years back called "Hell in a Handbag," which focuses on exactly the issue of details in reports.

EDIT: Now that I think on it, good rehearsal reporting also requires a knowledge of the skill levels of your design team. If you've got a very creative and autonomous designer they might need less detail than a student designer with only a few shows under their belt. If you've got a sound designer that loves floor mics when you really need overheads, it helps to know that so you can specify. If you've got someone who tends to get a little too creative about their design choices, you would know to just say "please speak with [director name here] about the new painting needed in II, 4."

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Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Rehearsal Reports

« on: Oct 19, 2015, 10:10 am »

@loebtmc great suggestions for performance reports. Any recommendations for rehearsal reports?