Messages

91

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Notating a Dance Sequence

« on: Aug 24, 2007, 08:58 am »

There's a good discussion of musical notation here in the Plays/Musicals forum:
http://smnetwork.org/forum/index.php/topic,2018.0.html

92

Stage Management: Other / Re: Taping the stage for dance

« on: Aug 23, 2007, 09:18 am »

Occasionally - more with musicals or operas that include a ballet - I've been asked by the choreographer to include marks along the DS edge of the stage for every 2-foot increments off center. Of course we always do this in the rehearsal hall, but every now and then I'm asked to include it on the stage too.

93

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

« on: Aug 17, 2007, 08:48 am »

I'm looking for a good, comfy pair of black sneakers that don't look like huge cross-trainers. Any suggestions?

Sketchers makes great shoes that last long and can take a  lot of wear and abuse. They have nice looking loafer/dress style shoes in addition to the sk8ter sneakers they are known for, and I like their styles for men and women. Harley Davidson actually makes stylish, tough wearing boots for men and women that are something that not everyone else might have (a good alternative to the ubiquitous Doc Martins). You also might earn some cred with the way tough biker stagehands.    Fitzwell, Zappos.com's house brand, specializes in affordable, comfortable shoes for men and women (but mostly women) that have more style than your typical comfort/work shoe but are designed to be worn while you stand on your feet all day. You might have a pair of these for opening night. All this stuff is available on www.zappos.com, which is my very favorite shoe website. (No, I don't work for them! I am just embarassingly familiar with their website.) None of these shoes are crazy expensive, either.

94

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

« on: Aug 17, 2007, 08:34 am »

If you're in NYC, you wear black all the time anyway, right?
 

95

Tools of the Trade / Re: Prop Designs

« on: Aug 14, 2007, 09:55 pm »

I love proppeople.com!
I lurk there often wishing I were as creative as most of the posters there. 

96

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Where do I start?

« on: Aug 14, 2007, 09:50 pm »

Cori, I would answer that you need an undergraduate degree in something - anything (it doesn't have to be in theatre or stage management) - to be considered a serious candidate for career employment. I don't mean that you can't make a great career without a degree - lots of people have. But these days, I strongly believe you need a college degree for, as you say, people to take you seriously. The hotter debate these days seems to be whether you need a master's too (see the many threads on this site debating this issue). But an undergrad degree, absolutely, yes, you need it.

97

Uploaded Forms / Re: WWW form...anyone?

« on: Aug 07, 2007, 08:51 am »

A WWW is not a run sheet, and you shouldn't use it that way.
The WWW tracks everything, not just singers, not just tech.
You break out a WWW into run sheets for each department. Really, no one but the SM team ever needs to see the WWW.

Depending on how you use it, the WWW can be a marvelous time saving device. By the time I've done the WWW, slamming out the run sheets takes literally a few hours - not days of work.

I stand by my WWW (which is generated from the WWWs from top US opera companies like Houston and SFO), and would also say that I think it's fine to post it here in the interest of professional community education - we're not exactly sharing state secrets here.

98

Stage Management: Other / Re: Otello, Turn of the Screw, Tosca...tips or memorable moments anyone?

« on: Aug 06, 2007, 09:06 am »

These will all be pretty SM-friendly operas, I think.
Otello and Tosca will be the easier ones here, since they are such standards.
But I love love love Turn of the Screw.

All of these can go with either a really high level of production (automation, projections, big sets, huge choruses for Otello and Tosca - oh, there are kids in Tosca), or they can be pretty simple. Check with the PM what your shows will be like.

With any luck, you'll enjoy some amazing singing in all of these. The Tosca-Scarpia scene is always a joy to stage. Try, if you can, to be sure he doesn't get too rough with her - usually they'll be okay in rehearsal but in the excitement of performance, I've known ladies to find themselves bruised after Act II.

99

Stage Management: Other / Re: Otello, Turn of the Screw, Tosca...tips or memorable moments anyone?

« on: Aug 06, 2007, 08:56 am »

OMG we did a Tosca where the diva would not jump.
Couldn't wouldn't didn't.
Until opening night, when she flung herself farther than anyone expected and it was all the stagehand could do to drag the matress over to catch her.

100

Employment / Re: Getting Jobs & Leaving Jobs

« on: Aug 06, 2007, 08:53 am »

When I've had to leave positions, I tell my supervisors in person first, and give them a letter a few days later. You can find examples of letters online - be sure it's professional, positive, honest, and well written. It'll go in your file for sure! Also, I try to give at least one month's notice, in general, and whenever possible time it so that it's between seasons or at least shows.

And when you're living through the "lame duck" period between your announcement and your last day, do the best work you've ever done. I usually keep very quiet about my departure until a day or two before I go, certainly letting everyone know but just not, you know, talking about it a lot. Tie up as many loose ends as you can, get your desk tidier than it ever was before, start jotting down notes you think the next person might need to have, and keep in touch with colleagues about the status of your projects so that someone will have all those helpful tidbits of info that were floating around in your head. I usually grab my supervisor for a quick exit interview - even if they do not initiate it - so that I can be sure they know about my initiatives and observations for the next person that comes in. (I mean, the kind of stuff that comes with the hands-on experience - who's great, who's a problem, general long-term projects, big dreams and ideas, little thorns in your side... just so they have some awareness. If someone comes next season and says "Steve builds props that always break immediately," this won't be the first time anyone's mentioned something about Steve's performance.)

If a kind and well-wishing coworker wants to pull together the "goodbye party," let them, but insist that it be small. Go, enjoy yourself, drink and be merry but do not get blasted and say things you really should never have said. But you should let them throw a little shin-dig for you.

Very best wishes!

101

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Calling a warning for a cue

« on: Aug 06, 2007, 08:38 am »

As with most SMs here, I'll call a rare warning only if it's been very long since the last cue for the op or if the cue takes a long time to set up. I think I've called one warning in the last three years of SMing.

I do call "5-minutes out" calls for the end of the acts or for major scene shifts. But I work in opera (with union crews), and so this is mostly for the carpenters and wardrobe/makeup crew who might need to know when people will be pouring offstage or when the big intermission scene shift will begin. (Start waking up Larry now.) Here in the opera universe, we also call 5-minute warnings for any principal singer's entrance. These are not really "warnings" as you're asking about, but I thought I'd mention it as something unique to the opera world.

102

Uploaded Forms / Re: WWW form...anyone?

« on: Jul 28, 2007, 11:32 am »

WWWs are standard issue for professional opera, and extremely useful overall.
I love WWWs and begin drafting mine before rehearsals even start. This puts me ahead of the game, especially because they can involve a lot of formatting. All my run sheets are then created from the master info contained in the WWW.

Here is my WWW in MSWord format for a "Pagliacci" I did (along with a short comic opener called "Il Maestro di Cappella") at Lake George Opera.
I tried to attach the file for an "Aida" (the opera please), but it was way too big - no surprise there.

I draft preset deck plans marking the placement of props and scenery for each act or major change. But I do these by hand and insert them into the final WWW packets, so I can't include them here.

And when I show this to people who don't work often in opera, they always ask what the "Placement" column here indicates. It is the music score indication: page/system/measure/beat (often beat is not included). So 64/3/3 = Page 64, System (stanza) 3, measure 3. When I write "L" (as in, 72/L/L), it means "last" - technically here the event happens at the very beginning of the first measure of the next page (page 73). But we cue it at the end of the last measure of the previous page - it keeps you from missing that precise cue as you're flipping pages. Make sense?

103

Tools of the Trade / Re: Triangulation taping technique

« on: Jul 28, 2007, 11:23 am »

Yes, Jessie - this is exactly the method I'm talking about!

A few notes for those who have never triangulated before...
- you will need to use long vinyl tape measures (metal tape measures will not work - they have to be more flexible).
- you can use any two arbitrary points on the DS line to triangulate from. Proscenium points are fine, but it truly can be random as long as the points don't move.
- because the two arms can meet at only one point, triangulation is extremely precise - measuring the point within centimeters when done correctly.
- for some plans, triangulation is not the best choice. If you have a lot of up-down/left-right and 90-degree angles, just do your x/y coordinates. Keep life simple.

[turns closet inside out again looking for original scribbled notes on triangulation...]

104

Tools of the Trade / Re: Triangulation taping technique

« on: Jul 27, 2007, 08:19 pm »

No no, seriously. I like math and triangulation and the geometry it uses. It's a great technique that makes taping certain plans much quicker and easier.
I'm still trying to find my notes...

105

Tools of the Trade / Triangulation taping technique

« on: Jul 20, 2007, 08:59 am »

IF you can't find a solution that will make the dancers happy and end up having to re-tape every night, I've got a suggestion that should make it faster.
I SM'd a production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof that ended up in something like four different rehearsal spaces, including a dance rehearsal room.  To make taping the floor easier, I made a gadget!

• Grab some chunks of 3/4" ply that are about 1'x1'.
• Sink a screw into the middle of each, but not all the way through.
• Put one chunk on each corner of your floorplan.
• Draw straight lines from the screw to the edge of the plywood along the line of your wall on each of your squares.
• When re-taping, use an appropriate length string tied to the screw, or a measuring tape to find the lenght of your wall, line it up with your next chunk, and viola.

Instead of plotting all your points, you can now plot just one or two and get the rest of the shape from there.  Initial set up for this can be a little arduous (STRAIGHT lines ar your friend!), but it probably saved me five or six hours over the course of the rehearsal process.

This is actually a variation of the triangulation taping technique. There used to be a great step-by-step explanation of triangulation on this site, but I can't find it anymore. I had acutually copied it out into one of my SM reference binders, but can't find that either. Does anyone have a clear explanation of triangulation, for those who have not yet enjoyed this delightful taping method?