Messages

91

The Green Room / Re: Best one-liner from a performance report

« on: Nov 15, 2011, 08:12 pm »

"We need a portable stripper pole.  Jeff says he knows exactly what we need and will get it. We'll want to put a “North Pole” sign on it.  Perhaps msitletoe."

92

The Green Room / "The Wind Beneath My Wings" or "With a Little Help From my Friends"

« on: Nov 14, 2011, 12:39 pm »

  Don't throw tomatoes; I promise, I won't sing.

Our jobs can suck.  They are hard, extremely time consuming, and just flat out exhausting.  None of us could do it totally on our own, all the time.  So, tell us about the people who help you get through your day.  Put that good energy back out into the world, for them, and then go thank them!

My Mom, who never nags me about the irregularity of my calls home (or the fact that I haven't come home for Christmas or Thanksgiving in five years), and, when I do call, may not have a clue what I'm talking about, but will let me rant about it until I'm done.

I've been blessed with a wonderful series of ATD's who always check in with me, ask if there's anything they can do for me, and are, in general, just pleasant people to be around when everyone else is letting the stress get to them.

And my blessed roommate who, after watching me drop five pounds in a week, determined that if she cooks for me, and yells at me about it, I might actually eat something.  She reminds me to take a sweater because I'm always kvetching about how cold it is backstage.  And when I was doing temporal math, out loud, trying to figure out if I had time to go to the grocery store this week, told me to leave a list and some money on the counter, and she'd go to the store for me.  This woman is keeping me alive.  I have the best roommate in the world, and yes, I do tell her that.

So, who helps keep your world turning when the show(s) have you running around crazy?

93

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Battery Drain on wireless mics

« on: Nov 08, 2011, 10:59 am »

I don't recall what brand of batteries we're using, but they're the same this company always uses, and has not had problems, before.  They are non-rechargeable.  We also thought about the "bad batch" of batteries, but pulled a different box of batteries, from a different order, and it didn't help.

This theatre has the same sound designer/engineer for most of their shows; I'm not sure where he's put the wireless receiver, but I would guess in the same place he always has before.  Could be wrong, of course.  I'll bring that one up as an option.

94

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / TECHNOLOGY: Battery Drain on wireless mics

« on: Nov 07, 2011, 12:48 pm »

Hey, folks we are all stumped on this one at my current show, and we're all casting out for ideas.

In the show I'm currently working the mic packs are draining batteries SUPER fast.   As in, a fresh battery is put in at half hour, and it's totally dead before intermission.  Erratically.  This has happened on six of the seven packs in use on the show, and at least once goes out EVERY PERFORMANCE; sometimes three or four!  At one point, our engineer put in a fresh battery, saw three bars on the indicator, turned away for a few minutes to do some mixing at sound check, and when she turned back, the low battery indicator was flashing.

We're stumped.  The sound designer, sound engineer, SM and myself have NEVER experienced anything like this before.  We've trouble shot everything we could think of, and are at the point where we're contemplating ridiculous things like whether the brand of condoms we are using is somehow blocking the signal and making them work harder.  Like I said, ridiculous.

So, has anyone had anything like this happen on any of their show, or have any idea of things we can do/check, etc. that is beyond the logical things?

Edit to subject line-Rebbe

95

The Green Room / Halloween 2011

« on: Oct 03, 2011, 12:31 pm »

Halloween is less than a month away!  Does anyone have any fun plans/shows/costumes/events going on?

I'm trying to organize a pumpkin carving party at my house for some friends, and figuring out what costume to wear to work that day....

96

The Green Room / Re: What one item do you think describes our profession?

« on: Sep 30, 2011, 05:47 pm »

Clipboard and checklist.  Or, at least that's what I use when I'm doing some sort of grahpic design about stage management.

97

The Green Room / Re: show us your booth!

« on: Sep 28, 2011, 05:16 pm »

The booth I'm curently working in is about standard.  I won't call it "my" booth yet, as it's only my first gig at this theatre, and I'm only in for two weeks (but more possible gigs in the future!)
Here's the booth:

9-28 006 by tempest_fae, on Flickr

But what's REALLY exciting about my current gig is who I get to look down the ahll and say, "Hey," to, every morning as I unlock the theatre doors.

9-28 007 by tempest_fae, on Flickr

Yes, that is who you think it is.  My life = made.

98

The Green Room / Re: Happiness is...

« on: Sep 21, 2011, 08:49 pm »

...coming home from a horrible day and finding your roommate has bought you a bottle of your favorite drink.
...the feeling you get walking through a door labeled "Employees Only" at a theatre you've always wanted to work in.
...clean sheets.

99

The Green Room / Re: Thread to vent about / Actors behaving badly / As haiku only

« on: Sep 04, 2011, 05:35 pm »

Each night: cough drop just
before getting tied up.  Spit
it in my hand!?  Ew.

100

The Green Room / Name change and resume/references

« on: Sep 02, 2011, 12:43 pm »

Okay, I am completely stumped about how to handle this and could use some input.  I just got divorced.  Just, as in yesterday.  I have reverted from a rather distincitve last name to my maiden name, which is more common.
Unfortunately, almost ALL the work I have done in this city was while I was married, and my website is my full married name. 
So, how do I indicate that Jessica L. was previous know as Jessica F., so that when prospective employers call my references (or other people they know worked on shows I've worked) they know who the heck I am?
I really, REALLY do not want my ex-husband's name to continue to appear on my resume and website, but I do need people to know who I am when someone calls asking about Jessica L.
Figuring this out was the thing I was dreading most about the divorce.  Help?

101

The Green Room / Re: Your tattoo stories

« on: Aug 23, 2011, 11:58 am »

I have three tattoos, all of which I designed myself.
The largest is a loose celtic knot, in the abstract shape of a bird, that spans my whole lower back.  I did the design and tweaked at it for two years before I actually had it done.  It's big for a first tattoo, but I knew I wanted it, and if I found I couldn't stand the tattoo process, at least I'd have that one.  The impetus to finally get it?  The realization that I was actually better off without the fiancee who had dumped me the year before, so the bird was a celebration of freedom.
Second tattoo had a much shorter planning period.  As an assignement in a college art class, we had to come up with a personal symbol, and I came up with a candle nextled in a crescent moon; and really really liked it.  The next semester, I got it inked on my calf a few hours before curtain on opening night of "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" which I both SMed and Master Carpentered my senior year.  Sort of a "Congratulations, you survived!" treat.
The third is the spiral triskele from the Newgrange Passage Tomb, encircled in vines, at the base of my neck.  The artist did a great job of matching the colors of the bird.
If I wear work appropriate clothes, none of them are visible, except perhaps tiny glimpses of the triskele through my hair, and even if they were visible, they're all tasteful, abstract geometry.  I've had my oldest tattoo for ten years, and I've never regretted a one of them.  They make me happy to think about.
But, I do think that's in a large part because I did the design work on all of them, taking my body shape, aging, weight loss and gain, and pale skin into consideration (only the moon has any black in it.)  I know I wouldn't be so pleased with them, still, if I had picked them out of a book, and I thought about all of them for at least a few months before I went under the needle.

102

The Green Room / Re: What Kind of SM are you?

« on: Aug 05, 2011, 03:40 pm »

I call myself a "Mommy Stage Manager," which is ironic, as I never intend to have kids. 
I take care of people.  I make sure that everyone has what they need to do their jobs, and that they know they can come to me if there are any problems.  This isn't just cast, but designers, directors, and crew, as well.
Sometimes what someone needs is a walk outside with someone to listen to venting, a piece of chocolate, a hair tie, someone to go to bat for them with someone else, a reminder not to forget their cell phone, or even a swift kick to the pants or to be left alone to sulk in their room.  And I can provide all that.  I find myself adapting my role, not just from show to show, but from person to person in any given show.
Also, as "Mommy," I'm ALWAYS the one who just rolls her eyes and goes for the figurative paper towels when everyone else is crying over the figurative spilled milk.

103

The Green Room / Re: You know you're in tech when....

« on: Aug 02, 2011, 12:09 pm »

You know you're in tech when you actually see your house-mate for the first time in four days and she asks, "Who are you?"

104

The Hardline / Re: Union Membership not required under AEA Contract?

« on: Jul 05, 2011, 12:53 pm »

I actually work under these right-to-work state contracts a lot (Georgia).  The theatre I work with does Equity for all performances but their Christmas show, but most other companies in my area, that don't already have resident SMs, are not AEA.  So I've declined to join Equity so far, just to keep the local job options open.

Here's my experience:
When I go in to sign my contract, I sign the official Equity paperwork, and include the notice that I am declining to join Equity.  The producer pays the usual health/pension benifits to Equity; I make at least Equity SM minimum.  I've never had working dues withdrawn, though I have, on the one occasion I made 20 weeks at this theatre, had health insurance for a year.  I'm expected to follow and uphold all Equity rules, work with the Deputy, file reports, etc.

Basicaly, I agree to behave like the Equity SM I would be, if I had chosen to take my card on any given show, and they agree to treat me like one.  But I don't actually have the force of the AEA to back me up if I'm being abused.  I'm pretty good at standing up for myself, if I need to, and the risk is worth it to keep my emplyment options open for the time being.

Going Equity is in the five year plan.  And at this point, I'm about as familiar with the rule books as can be without actually being Equity, so that will be a pretty smooth transition!

105

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Blocking Script vs Calling Script

« on: Jun 28, 2011, 01:00 pm »

I've been using stickies/post-its for over a decade, and I've never "lost" a Q, nor really worried that I might.  Remember, when you're moving your script around, it's probably closed, not pages flapping in the breeze.   
And I find any tiny chance of possibly losing one Q some time a perfectly worthwhile risk considering how much quicker it is to peel up a sticky and move it, during tech, then it is to erase and neatly re-write a whole sequence of qs.
If I was doing an extremely long run show, I might permanentize the cues after a few weeks.