Messages

76

SMNetwork Archives / Re: I could have kissed them!

« on: Apr 15, 2009, 09:34 am »

I could have kissed my entire cast and crew last night! I'm working on The Pillowman right now and last night we had to build some set pieces, make a few props, spray paint our green girl's clothing, clean out our green room, set up our lights before filming a segment for our Little Jesus, running  Act 3, and figuring out shifts.  I sat there for the first part of rehearsal stringing our backdrops, my guys got there and immediately got to work, we finished prop/set needs about a half hour later than we'd hoped, but almost everything was done.  while we filmed in the space, I sent my boys to the green room to line through acts I and III.  twenty minutes into filming I pop in to check on them, expecting to have to give a pep talk on how they shouldn't be goofing off, and they're almost done with act III.  I leave after they've started I, filming goes incredibly smoothly, then we run transitions without a hitch, and act III is close to perfect.  To top it all off, as I'm thanking them for their patience before they leave, my Ariel turns to me and says, "thank you for everything. really, thank you so much. you're amazing" and gives me a huge hug. 

I floated all the way home, and I'm still on a high from my glorious cast.

77

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Your Prompt Book - Left or Right?

« on: Apr 09, 2009, 02:20 pm »

All the SMs I work with put blocking on the left and Qs on the right, with the text on the right hand page.  The interesting thing is our TD teaches a basic production class that has a Prompt Script project-and he teaches them blocking on the left & Qs on the right, in a narrow margin near the text.  He's also a lighting designer, so he needs extra space for description of Q's but only basic blocking diagrams.  Any of my friends who have taken that class see my book and wonder why its 'backwards'. 

78

SMNetwork Archives / Re: 1880s Prompt Books Online

« on: Mar 28, 2009, 04:17 pm »

wow.  what an awesome find.  This job really stands the test of time quite well, huh?

I wonder if anything will change in the next 150 years, or if those prompt books will be just as similar to ours as mine is to that of 1880...these are so cool, thanks for sharing!

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SMNetwork Archives / Re: I could have kissed them!

« on: Mar 18, 2009, 09:19 am »

I could have kissed my director last night. 

After a near sleepless night, waking up with a cough and no voice out of nowhere, followed by a day that was more stressful than it should have been, I showed up at rehearsal to cut & copy my prompt script........only to find my lovely director in the copy room with a clean, one-sided, beautifully copied script already made.  I'm surprised I didn't actually kiss him, that script was the most beautiful thing I'd seen in days:)

80

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

« on: Mar 14, 2009, 02:54 pm »

Hi all! I know I asked this before, but I just wanted to check again--does anyone have THE PILLOWMAN?  Any electronic format would be just fine. Thanks!!

81

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Acting Class?

« on: Feb 20, 2009, 03:45 pm »

Do it. Speaking as someone who was an actor first and has since worked with many SMs who don't know anything about acting, it's one of the best things you can do for yourself.  Like hbelden said, knowing 'their' language is key to giving clear notes, and you'll be able to understand your actors so much better.

82

Tools of the Trade / Re: THE Sharpie topic

« on: Feb 13, 2009, 12:27 am »

Clickable Sharpies are the greatest invention ever.  As are the minis on keyrings.  Both have gotten me out of numerous fixes.

Good to know about the green sharpie/black light.  That's something I'm sure I'll use someday, once the right project comes along...

83

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: The Chatty SM

« on: Feb 12, 2009, 05:07 pm »

Thanks so much for all of your input!

To answer questions:

There is a faculty adviser on the piece, but she is never at rehearsals.  If I can find her, I may talk to her, but she doesn't have any direct effect on what goes on in the room.  Personally, I had been thinking about approaching the director (who is also an SM and I know has noticed/brought up the texting & chatting in the room), but I don't want to cause drama, as the group of SMs in my department can get a bit "Mean Girls" at times. 

In terms of why I'm doing blocking & lines--because the other ASM and I both want to go into stage management in the future, the SM is treating us almost more like co-SMs than ASMs, so we do lines & blocking along with her.  Typically when we get into run throughs, the ASMs are just on book/taking line notes, so that should be less of a problem in the next few days.  I had been paying extra attention to blocking precisely because the SM wasn't, and was asking me when & how actor A got to the chair, or when actor B entered....

We have a run through tonight, hopefully that will go a little smoother than things have been because there will probably be designers' faculty advisers (and maybe the main adviser too) in the room, plus everyone is a little more professional on the nights of runs.  If the distractions persist after tonight, I'll see if there's a way to bring it up to the director or the other ASM. 

I'll let you know what happens, thanks again!

84

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / PEOPLE: The Chatty SM

« on: Feb 12, 2009, 08:52 am »

I've been putting off posting this, hoping things would get better, but they haven't.

I'm currently one of two ASMs on a college show.  The SM and Director are both students.  I have the least experience of the 3 on the SM team, the other ASM has the most--but the SM is older and therefore got the SM spot.  The two of them are wonderful people, we're all pretty good friends, but I just can't stand rehearsing with them.  The director will be trying out a few new stagings, giving blocking notes verbally, and the two of them are texting (another huge issue at my school, but that's a different thread....) or telling stories or gossiping--and then when an actor calls 'line' and I'm writing down the new blocking, both of them look up and get flustered and then the SM says something snide to me like 'you should really be on book you know.'

I just don't know what to do-or if there is anything that could be done--I feel like I'm the only person who is actually working at most rehearsals, like I'm the only one who cares.  Any advice?  So far it hasn't caused any major problems, but I'm worried for tech, when it may prove more disastrous than I'd like to think.

85

The Green Room / Re: Trivia Tournament II: Electric Boogaloo

« on: Feb 10, 2009, 08:22 am »

I got 2 questions about the inner workings of funtrivia.com today. I guess that's 'general knowledge' I need to brush up on...

86

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: The Ultimate Decision

« on: Feb 04, 2009, 08:53 am »

I started as an actor at age 8 in a musical.  I, like most people I know, was immediately hooked on the world of the theater. 

Years later, in middle school, I was given a role with 3 lines-one in the first scene, 2 in the last-and was also props mistress.  Much to my own chagrin, I really liked the props job, and I was good at it.  My director told me that if I liked this stuff, I was good enough that I could become an SM one day--professionally.  Looking back, this was a huge compliment, but I was offended at the time. 

Sophomore year of HS I took a directing class and directed a one-act.  Junior year I then SM'd the next classes' one-act night, and loved it.  A few more shows on deck crew over the summers, and this year I finally got an ASM spot.  I did that last semester, am doing it again now, and had a meeting with the first cast I'm *really* SMing for last night!

87

Employment / Re: Facebook through an Employer's eyes?

« on: Feb 03, 2009, 05:07 pm »

As a college student who (regrettably) spends a lot of time on Facebook (trying SO hard to break this habit )......

When someone sends a friend request, one of the options when you go to accept or decline is to add that person to a 'friend group'.  The dropdown menu has a "Limited Profile" option. I don't know how to switch someone to "Limited Profile" when they're already your friend, but that's how you do it when they add you.

To edit what is shown in your Limited Profile, go to settings->privacy->profile, and there are controls for who can see what on that page.

Hope this helps!

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Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Reading a play for the first time

« on: Jan 18, 2009, 04:00 pm »

The worst thing I do is find myself timing scene shifts/quick changes in my head.

I do this.  Most of the time the other technical aspects of the show don't clutter my brain and, like I said, I can usually watch a show as 'real' audience, but when the stage is dark for longer than 2 seconds, I start timing.  (This is probably something I picked up from my first director, who hated a dark stage and was notorious for running scene shifts for 30-60 min apiece until they were as short as possible. our crews were insanely fit by the end of tech )

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Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Reading a play for the first time

« on: Jan 17, 2009, 11:59 pm »

I do this, even with shows I have no intention to work on-just something I picked up to read in my spare (haha!) time.  I think I'm starting to get used to it, though.  I've kind of accepted that it will happen, and I find that if I read it without any pens, pencils, paper, highlighters, computers, etc nearby, I have nothing to take notes with, and therefore I'm able to turn the SM voice off--can't record a plot anywhere, have to just dive into the story. 

I haven't had too much of a problem yet with seeing other shows, but I'm sure that's on the way 

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Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Student Stage Manager's Challenge #3: SMs Everywhere

« on: Dec 24, 2008, 10:33 pm »

I just have to share...

Went to Christmas Eve mass tonight with the family, a children's mass at 4pm.  These are always very well managed for the number of people who attend, but can get a bit unruly.  About half an hour in, no major traffic problems, etc, its time for communion.  One usher walks over and tells my section of seats we're 'section 4' for communion...and then section 3 starts to get up before section 1 is done, and they run out of wafers on our side of the church and an usher has to get someone else to pass them out, so we're the last ones to receive communion, finishing ~3 minutes after everyone else...in silence.....and the traffic patterns for communion were awful....

Needless to say, I'm sitting there the whole time thinking of the 3449797 ways I could've prevented an awkward silence throughout the Church tonight 

On that note, Happy Holidays to all!