Messages

91

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: USITT Stage Management Mentor Project (2010)

« on: Sep 03, 2009, 01:12 pm »

Sorry if I put this in the wrong section. I wasn't sure since it fits under a professional association as well a mentor program within that association.

Thank you for your responses. Right now I'm definitely looking to get extra experience and helping SM a conference with professionals is very interesting and sounds like a great opportunity. On the other hand I would like to check out the job fair and maybe even attend an SM class if something sparks my interest.

I guess this will be a decision I can only make when there is some kind of published schedule and the application for the Mentor Project is actually posted. I will definitely be applying to do the volunteer program so I don't have to worry about the entry cost. Since they only take a small handful of SMs I can apply and if I get accepted that is great and if I don't it will leave me more time for more of the conference.

Will any members of the SMNetwork be around at USITT? I would love to meet some of the members and see who I've been talking to on the forums.

92

Students and Novice Stage Managers / USITT Stage Management Mentor Project (2010)

« on: Sep 02, 2009, 04:06 pm »

Is anyone involved with the mentor project or know anyone involved this year? Applications haven't gone up yet, but I was hoping to talk to someone about what the project is all about, how many people are accepted, when applications go up, etc.

USITT conference is being held in KC this year, which is fantastic since it is so incredibly close to where I live. I also plan to sign up for the volunteer program. I need to make sure I can do both, which I would imagine I could work out somehow. I sent my student application in today so hopefully I will be a student member in the next couple weeks.

93

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Student SM Challenge #8: Running Late

« on: Aug 26, 2009, 01:34 am »

I don't remember ever actually running late to a call, but I have had to step outside of the building for a quick moment after a call had started. I let my crew members who were working onstage know where I would be and let them know I'd be back in a couple minutes.

In a professional situation I would call my ASM if one was available to get things started. Thus far I have been lucky enough to have at least one crew member that I trusted enough to get things started without my immediate presence. I would hope professional my tardiness would not bring the show to a standstill. Activities should occur normally without the SM having to micromanage every detail.

94

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: PROMPT BOOK: Creating a Calling Script (meta-thread)

« on: Jun 27, 2009, 08:37 pm »

I don't know if anyone has heard of this method yet, but my current PSM picked up from a previous gig and now uses it for our summer stock program. It is a great method of using only one script for both blocking, cue-ing, and tech notes that is extremely clean and easy to use. And solves the right-handed woes of writing blocking on the left side of the binder.

When you copy your script hole punch the paper on both sides. For rehearsals put the script in so that the fronts of the pages are on the left. That means your script will be backwards and you will flip from the back of your binder to the front (pages turn left to right). It is a lot easier to get used to that you think to retrain your brain to work this way. Split the blank pages of the script in half long way so that you have two columns. On the left side you write your blocking. I use the method of writing the blocking and assigning numbers which correspond to the moments on the script. The right column is used for any tech notes, especially useful for creating run sheets, prop hand offs, etc.

Once it comes time to go into tech simply flip the entire script over and place back the normal way. Now you have your script on the right again (easy to now write in cues) with all your notes, reminders, and blocking on the left.

95

Tools of the Trade / Re: Twitter.

« on: Jun 01, 2009, 04:03 pm »

Thus far I have seen only a few good uses for Twitter. None of them are related yet to the non-advertisement sector of show business. In our college town most of the local businesses now have twitter accounts and facebook fan pages. They use these to advertise special discounts, encourage patrons to drop by and any other advertising they can do.

I personally have not joined Twitter and do not believe there is anything interesting enough in my life to justify micro-blogging. The only purpose I would ever join is to follow the companies that offer the discounts via Twitter or to follow the shows I really like to watch.

In the future, once it expands service (like Facebook did), I think we will be able to find more uses in theatre. To make it functional though it would need to work like text messaging. That way you could sent out immediate changes to a schedule or other messages that multiple people need but you don't have time to call. Like I said, it is a futuristic website service that could become useful with more features.

96

Tools of the Trade / Re: Prompt Book Dividers

« on: May 14, 2009, 11:24 pm »

Never seen dividers with tabs pre-made on top, but these stick tabs are very durable and stiff just like those on most dividers. Kind of expensive but very much worth it since they last forever.

Link to stick tabs


Moderator note - Cleaned up code in hyperlink.  Content unchanged.  -kmc307

97

Tools of the Trade / Re: Google Docs?

« on: May 13, 2009, 10:34 pm »

The main benefit is that anything uplaoded will look the same on almost any PC out there... The same cannot be said for a .doc file on a public file share.

I might dispute that only because many of Google documents, sites, etc. will chance slight format on different sized computers. I can't remember if it was a problem on the documents specifically, but I do know that some google features conform to the size of the screen it is being shown on.

It would be interesting to test this further.

98

Tools of the Trade / Re: Google Docs?

« on: May 13, 2009, 12:47 pm »

Last summer I did an internship where the festival data was all stored on Google. Everyone created a google account upon arrival and each department could see the main calendar and each department was able to update their own personal calendar. It worked fantastically to keep everyone up-to-date and made everyone aware of any changes to the major schedule asap.

We also used the powerpoint for training, the word feature to type up memos and made to do lists, the excel feature to keep track of our personal budgeting, equipment tracking, etc.

I found that Google worked best in our situation because there were two dozen or more people who needed continuous access to the most up-to-date information. Had we solely relied on daily updates we would of all been behind the times. Plus it saves paper and energy (as the ASM intern I didn't have to always take time to run across the festival campus to find someone immediately).

99

Employment / Re: Websites

« on: Apr 20, 2009, 11:38 am »

To be honest, every resume or e-mail tht I get with a web site, I look through. 

Any way to get MORE information about an candidate is a welcome opportunity.

Absolutely.  The biggest thing for me with a website was always that it gave me a chance to get a feel for a candidate's personality beyond "show x, position y, director z" that's on a resume.  This gives an advantage to those that have taken the time to do it.  If you're a freelance SM sending out a good volume of resumes, I'd say it's certainly worth the time.

Kevin, what exactly helps you find a candidate's personality beyond the resume part on a website? Since I am trying to build up my website I am curious what additions are recommended that will show me in the best possible light.

100

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Dressing For The Part?

« on: Apr 14, 2009, 04:12 pm »

Even in rehearsal, I tend to dress a bit more. For me, dressing up a bit means "I'm going to work" and helps to put me in the right mindset. I'm also the crazy sort that really enjoys working in a dress, jewelry, etc. My producer always says that I don't dress like a typical stage manager!

How do you tape the rehearsal floor, manipulate props, and move around unobtrusively in a dress and jewelry?

We girls are talented that way. 

101

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Student SM Challenge #6: Design your Department

« on: Apr 10, 2009, 12:27 pm »

This is a very detailed scenario that would take huge amounts of paperwork and proposals. But here is where I would start...

SM Courses (required for major):
Stage Management I, Stage Management II, Interpersonal Communication Skills, Company Management, PSY: Personalities, Senior Production Seminar

PSY: Personalities is a class we offer here at my school that I feel would be extremely beneficial to SM students because they learn what the major personality types are and how each one is best communicated with. Senior Production Seminar is another class we offer to tech students where you learn how to find and get jobs, portfolios, mock interviews and the like.

SM Courses (recommended):
All design courses available, drafting, any psychology courses, speech, acting I, any art history (if there is an interest in designing especially)

Staff:
Naturally I would want experienced stage managers who are also skilled in other fields such as lighting and/or sound. Also an SM or other professional who has experience in company management. I would fill in any holes for design and hire a TD as well. Other traits I would look for is good communication and collaborative skills, excellent teaching skills that focus on hands-on experience, and positive personalities that can help encourage a new program to grow.

At first we would be pressed to fill a full season effectively with a huge number of SM students. I would look at how many actors we would have and try to use that to judge how many production we could handle. My goal would be to increase the number of sponsored production to four, and encourage off-the-wall productions that are student handled.

This would definitely be a self-starter program that will need to find good students who show initiative to start their own programs and production to learn what they need in addition to what the program itself can offer. My hope would be to mainly recruit SM students who are also interested in learning design, directing and possibly acting. This way each SM can hopefully SM once, ASM once, and work on two other design assignments (in addition to outside projects). In this case I would hope to recruit 4 SM for the first few years until the program grows.

If there are local theaters (community or professional) I would hope to build a relationship with them to possibly have our SMs do unpaid internships during their time (either summers or in between projects) so they can learn how to do crews and possibly shadow an SM (or even have the opportunity to SM in smaller theaters) in a professional atmosphere.

As for extra curricular I would require participation in some form for every sponsored production and encourage participation in all student off-the-walls by offering either credit or some incentive through the department. Every week would be a required production meeting (also potentially for credit) where all of our students come together to discuss what would help them, what they are experiencing and work out any issues and make sure we are all on the same page for the upcoming productions.

These are all mostly ideas from my own college as well as grad programs I have researched. Also some are new takes on old ideas. What do you think Kay, would this be a plausible start to a program?

102

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Dear Abby: Torn between two majors

« on: Apr 06, 2009, 02:00 am »

I understand this struggle, especially if your parents will be the financial backers that make college possible for you. Although I do not agree with their decision to limit your choices if that is what must be done for your education I suggest going for the double major. I know plenty of people in school programs who are successful in much more different fields than tech theatre and computer science. I hope you very much enjoy computer science as well as technical theatre because the work will be hard and depending on the number of credit hours and time of classes it may very well take an extra semester or two to finish both degrees, but it will be well worth it.

To ease your family's concerns about the prospects tied to technical theatre I think it might be useful to do some research (this is a great place to start) of what other jobs not immediately tied to the theatre that many technical theatre majors have achieved. Often parents hear the word "theatre" and see a stereotypical image of a narrow track that only speaks to the words "starving artist". As we well know this is not always the case, showing them just how broad our world really is might just help your case. Hopefully they will come to see that your passion will make you much happier in the job field later and will not limit your success by any stretch of the imagination.

Good luck with the college search. Double majors are a tough yet extremely rewarding venture. You won't regret doing what you love and with the direction the technical arts are going I'd definitely say sievep has the right idea, the field will be greatly useful together.

103

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Stage Managers, Stage manager.

« on: Mar 23, 2009, 04:58 pm »

I am actually on the other side of this situation. I am a stage manager who is directing a project with a first year who is stage managing for my show. I can not tell you how hard it is sometimes to remember which job belongs to who since I learning new tasks I am required to do and falling into old habits doing things that the SM should do.

Anyways, my advice (besides making it clear in rehearsals you are the SM) is to make sure to always be extra loud with your duties to make it clear. I know when my SM keeps up on lines really well that it reminds me not to give an actor a line. When you catch them doing something that is your job step up and say "Let me do that for you. It is my job after all." (in a light hearted way). And at the beginning and end of rehearsal it helps to make a point to quickly discuss the rehearsal from an SM point of view as another reminder. For example, mention what the run time was, how well the actors are doing on lines, any props or notes for the report. The more you remind them of what your job is the more he should let you do it.

And of course, if you believe it will help, I would sit down and write down with him what the SM duties in rehearsal, tech, etc are so that you have a guideline to say "remember that we agreed _________ was my responsibility as the SM."

Hope that helps.

104

Tools of the Trade / Re: Conquering Spam Filters

« on: Feb 27, 2009, 01:24 am »

I know I had a huge problem when I was internship seeking last summer. My school e-mail, which is hosted by Windows Live, doesn't even filter out e-mails from companies, but flat out doesn't allow us to get them. It simply blocked any email from some company e-mails. I was in the dark for a couple of months before I was checking in with some of the companies I applied to and one told me that my e-mail had kicked back as unreceived. Not good for business.

I have had similar problems with hotmail and stopped using Yahoo due to the unnecessary amount of spam that gets sent to those addresses. I now use my gmail account for all professional business (which I have yet to have issue with) and my me.com (mac) account for important technical accounts and orders and such.

105

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: School interviews

« on: Feb 13, 2009, 05:29 pm »

Check with the program person who requested the interview. Often times grad schools have on campus overnight housing for students they are interviewing. Some schools even pay for your trip out there. They list information on the website and definitely ask.