Messages

76

The Green Room / Re: Your First Theater Crush

« on: Dec 04, 2013, 04:17 am »

When I was 9 I saw a production of Joseph at a local dinner theatre. I don't know if that was really the moment that made me say "this is what I want to do with my life" (and I'm glad for that... I wouldn't survive in dinner theatre!) but it definitely made a lasting impact. It's not the first show I saw, I had attended a couple TYA shows here and there - just the first one I have a solid memory of. I've been back to that theatre a handful of times over the years.

Around the same time I have vivid memories of putting on skits with friends (camp talent show, or just backyard plays) but it never occurred to me that I'd be making plays for a living in the future.

Honestly, the first show that made me say "this is what I want to do with my life" was a summer camp production of High School Musical, I was the stage manager and a co-counselor with the director, choreographer, and music director. At that point I was just doing it for kicks, but it was that show that made me realize, wow hey this could be it. Maybe this is what I need to be doing.

77

Tools of the Trade / Re: Ergonomics and the Tech Table

« on: Dec 04, 2013, 04:04 am »

I don't have anything personal to add, but I have seen a stage manager call a show from sitting on a balance ball behind the desk.

78

Employment / Re: Separate SM Resume

« on: Dec 04, 2013, 03:53 am »

It ultimately depends on how you want to present yourself. The short answer is: You can tailor your resume for the job you're applying for. If you're applying for an ASM position, you'll want to have more ASM credits on your resume, but if you're applying for an SM job you should show more SM credits. If you have enough SM credits to have a full resume on their own, then by all means do that. But if you are worried that your credits will look sparse because you can't fill a whole page with just SM credits, then I'd say continue to keep both on there, but maybe adjust here and there depending on the job you're applying for.

For me personally: I've done a fair amount of ASM work, mostly at one particular theatre which is pretty well-known in town, and people who see those jobs on my resume are probably familiar with at least one of the shows I ASM'ed there, if not just generally familiar with the company and the people who work there. I have about the same number of SM credits, but it's at a random assortment of theatres that are less impressive. So I'm still at a spot in my career where I think it's important to keep my ASM work on my primary stage management resume, because I have definitely gotten hired based on those credits. The same can't be said for my SM credits.

79

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: MORALE: tech relief

« on: Aug 30, 2013, 01:38 am »

Ahhh sorry, had a brain fart - when I searched earlier, I forgot to switch it to search the entire forum instead of just this board. I'm a dingbat. http://smnetwork.org/forum/the-green-room/food-tech-dinners-etc-(merged-topics)/

80

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / MORALE: tech relief

« on: Aug 29, 2013, 03:48 pm »

Mod: I wasn't sure whether to put this under "morale" or "tech" since it's kind of both. If it seems better to list it as tech, sorry for the trouble!

Anyway, I was just wondering if you have any routines or habits that you use to keep yourself healthy, safe, and sane throughout tech.

Do you tend to indulge in junk food during tech since it's the only time you let yourself do that, or do you eat healthier than normal? If you need caffeine, what's your preference? What snacks do you like to eat to keep yourself going on looooong days? What do you like to do to support your crew, designers, and cast when energy and morale are waning?
Post Merge: Aug 29, 2013, 03:50 pmMy answers:

About a year and a half ago, I was ASM on a show with an LD who, upon learning that the SM planned to sit in the green room for her dinner break on our first ten out of twelve, established a rule that the entire SM team must leave the building during the break. I have adopted this as my own personal rule, and I will do everything in my power to make sure myself and the rest of the SM team get some sunshine and fresh air, even if it's only half an hour.

I tend to eat at least as healthy as usual, if not more. I like to eat a good breakfast with protein in it (NO DONUTS ahhhh I'd be asleep in 2 hours!). I like to bring fruit (bananas especially!), veggies and dip or hummus, nuts (depending on allergies in the room of course), crackers and cheese... Stuff that's simple to nosh on but also doesn't sit heavy in the stomach and doesn't make me feel like crap. I like coffee in the morning and Diet Coke with dinner and lots of water throughout the day, but by the end of tech week I'll probably have graduated to sugar-free Red Bull (and when I'm really exhausted, I drink a frosty-cold Red Bull in the shower!)

As far as company support goes, I like to bring enough snacks to share with anyone who needs them. I keep a blanket in my car in case anyone needs to nap during the break. And I give all my designers/directors a thank you card at opening (cast and crew get cards at closing).

81

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Contracts?

« on: Aug 28, 2013, 12:20 pm »

In my high school we had to sign a contract. Which I guess wasn't so much a CONTRACT in the sense of "you are hired to perform this role and here are all your obligations in that regard," more like "here are our department rules, and in order to be in/work on the show you have to sign this thing saying you agree to them." It included things like punctuality (and who to notify if you're running late), appropriate language (I mean, we were 15...), appropriate dress (no open toed shoes in the shop, etc), required participation in strike, and so on.

82

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Calling Vs. Board Operation

« on: Aug 27, 2013, 03:49 am »

For the initial question: I work in non-AEA, small nonprofit settings. I just finished a show where I operated both sound and lights, it was a 57-page 100-minute play where the audience exit cue was SQ702 and there were at least 50 0-count LX cues. It was utterly ridiculous to expect a single person to have to run that. I really needed three hands (one for lights, one for playback, and one to mute mics, text the house manager to turn off the AC, and turn the pages). This show was crazy, and I really wish I could have just called it - or even if I ran one and called the other, that would have been fine too. However, I'm super used to it. It happens far more often than not, that I'm operating at least either lights or sound, if not both. Some day I'll grow up and work in larger companies and breathe a huge sigh of relief when I'm not pushing all the buttons too.

For SMeustace's question: Yes, definitely. There are some moments where it just won't work for it to be called. Maybe it needs to be absolutely instantaneous, so we can't wait for the lag (however tiny it may be, it's there) between the "GO" call and the actual go. "LX 52 on your visual right when the actor puts the hat on his head." "SQ 29 on your visual as the actress presses the doorbell." "LX 100, 105, and 110, on your visual with each kick." However, in these instances I'm still calling the cues, I'm just telling the operator that they won't hear the GO word from me, they'll see it on stage. The board op is not running it autonomously. I'm still telling them exactly what will happen on stage and what their response to that action should be. (See actress press doorbell, hit GO button in QLab.) I'm not in the dark on these cues at all - I know what's happening and when, it's just a situation where I can't be the one to call it because it really must be timed tighter than I'm capable of calling.

83

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Shadowing: General Q&A

« on: Aug 26, 2013, 11:55 am »

Thanks for this thread, all. It's been super helpful - I have three weeks free between shows this fall and am currently writing a stack of letters requesting shadowing opportunities during that time frame.

If a show's website lists both a Production Stage Manager and a Stage Manager, who should I address the letter to? I'm leaning toward PSM but figured one of you might have some insight into this.

84

Introductions / Re: Hello from Washington, DC!

« on: Aug 12, 2013, 01:11 am »

Hello from yet another DC SM! Best wishes for your show at GALA

85

Self-Promotion / The Lady Becomes Him at Faction of Fools

« on: Apr 16, 2013, 02:12 pm »

Faction of Fools, Washington DC's Commedia dell'Arte company, is just about to open a new work called The Lady Becomes Him, devised from the Casamarciano scenario "Donna Zanni."

Apr 18 – May 12, 2013
Thu, Fri, Sat @ 8pm // Sun @ 2pm

This Wednesday, April 17, is an invited dress rehearsal (want to come? shoot me a PM!) and Thursday is a PWYC preview. Opening reception is Friday the 19th.

We are in the Eastman Studio Theatre, in the Elstad Annex at Gallaudet University, 800 Florida Ave NE. Free parking. 7 blocks from Metro (red line - NoMa-Gallaudet (NY Ave) station).

General tickets are $25. Military, seniors, and students are $15. Gallaudet students are $10. For opening weekend only, use the code NEWWORLDBOX for $12 tickets.

Order your tickets here.

86

The Green Room / Re: Sleeping in your theatre

« on: Mar 17, 2013, 07:23 pm »

A year ago I was working on a show with an extended stage, and one end of the extension was open - the HL/HR seating sections were walled off, so nobody could see the open end because nobody was sitting there. We used this open wall to access the trap that was built into the extension.

Anyway, I never personally did it, but I know of several occasions when people crawled in and napped inside the extension.

I worked in another theatre where the seating was chairs on built-in risers... I would frequently pull a cushion off a chair and lie down in the row, snuggled against the backs of the chairs.

My current theatre has a hall lined with church pews... Hard and not that comfy, but I keep a nice thick blanket in my car.

87

The Green Room / Re: Thoughts on Director Acting in Show?

« on: Mar 08, 2013, 01:11 am »

Sure, there's a company I've done a handful of productions with and on two of them, the director was also the lead (first he was Ligurio in the Mandrake, next he went all-out and played Hamlet) (same director in both of these cases, btw).

It was... tricky, but it never really posed a problem. I would record runs on video and put them on a private youtube channel. He would go home and watch it and either email notes or give notes at the top of the next rehearsal.

He's super professional about not crossing lines, so he never shared things peer-to-peer with other actors if they weren't meant to be shared. He was definitely seen more as a director than an actor.

As opposed to the show I'm doing right now, which is a two-hander and one of the actors is also the director and producer. He's way more of an actor than a director... Tonight was the final dress rehearsal and it was the first time we've had a cohesive notes session. Normally it's specific action notes like "this is how you should use that prop" but no real acting/emoting notes. It was very strange. He's used to acting-directing one-man shows so he's had a hard time translating his vision to the other actor, I think. So most of the time they feel like two actors on stage with no director, rather than a director in the audience watching a scene missing an actor (himself)

88

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: SCENERY: Sand Onstage

« on: Feb 26, 2013, 04:53 pm »

We used granulated cork for our sand. It's less dense, and less scratchy. http://www.marylandcork.com/

89

The Green Room / Re: "I quit!"

« on: Feb 24, 2013, 01:18 am »

The only show I have ever quit was the last acting job I ever took. About um... 8 or so years ago, I was cast in a community show. And I quit after about two weeks of rehearsals. I STILL feel terrible about doing it, I realize it must have been a nightmare. They didn't recast my role. It was an ensemble musical, so they just reassigned my lines to other actors, and where I had the lead on an entire song, they didn't have another person who could do it so they split the song up among seven other actors. I went to see it and I felt guilty the whole time.

But the fact was, I was suicidal. It had nothing to do with the show, but I recognized the signs creeping in and I had to put my foot down. There was extraneous stress in my life and I had to remove it. I could afford the spoons to go to my day job... but couldn't spare enough to also go to rehearsal. It wasn't worth sacrificing my health and safety for. So I backed out.

I would do it again. Even as an SM. If the same situation arose... if I was in that bad of a place, I would absolutely quit a show. I'll put myself through a lot for the sake of my shows, but I can't accept any conditions that cause severe mental anguish.

In my SM life though (only about 2 years under my belt), I've never quit anything... but I have definitely had experiences where I've daydreamed about quitting, but forced myself to push through to the end, and promised myself I'm never working for that company again.

90

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Is It Even Worth It?? (Conflict resolution)

« on: Feb 24, 2013, 01:00 am »

The first show I ever stage managed was the final slot of my senior year of high school. Prior to that I had definitely been involved in every show in my HS career - whether I was acting, designing props, AD/ASMing (we usually gave these jobs to one person), helping build costumes, coming in for all-day Saturdays to build sets, or working on run crew, I was involved in every single one of them. We had to apply for positions on each show, and the director would consider applications and choose them. I applied to SM, and so did one other girl, who had only been involved for two years, but had only done technical work. She was a close friend of mine. I got the SM spot, and she ended up being offered AD and ASM. She was REALLY upset about it. She blew up at me, saying I didn't deserve the job because I was an actor, and hadn't really done tech before. Not just her... LOTS of people blew up at me, actually. It was a truly miserable time. But I refused to give up my job. I had earned it fair and square - the director received two applications, and she knew us both well, and she chose me.

It turns out... the show needed her as ASM. There were complicated scene shifts, and I would not have been good enough to coordinate it all myself. I needed her on deck. If we had switched jobs... well, I didn't want to because I had already AD'ed and ASM'ed before and wanted a different experience... but also, the show would have not worked as well as it did. I wasn't good enough to manage the deck. I called the cues and it was fine, but I know for sure that I would have been a disaster backstage, and the show would have been a big mess.

She was still pretty bitter toward me through most of the rehearsal process, but during tech I think it hit both of us how important it was for her to be the ASM.

We graduated a few months later and went to the same university... and by coincidence, ended up living on opposite ends of the same hall. We didn't spend much of the first semester around each other, but second semester of freshman year we were back to being best friends, and sophomore year we lived together.

This isn't really helpful because it doesn't contain any advice. But just... high schoolers are high schoolers. There are going to be conflicts. People will get over it. Sometimes you have to give up on the thing you had your heart set on, in order to keep others happy. Or sometimes you have to do what's right for you and people will be upset but oh well. If this conflict is going to create a toxic environment, maybe you don't want to take this gig. If it's more important to get the experience and you're okay with staying in a fight with this guy, possibly for a long time, then take it. Only you can decide what your priorities are.