Messages

931

College and Graduate Studies / Re: Internships?

« on: Aug 02, 2007, 05:24 pm »

I did an apprenticeship at Round House- they don't offer housing but they do offer health insurance, and I was able to live on what they paid me. It's a great program, and I would highly recommend it. PM me if you have any questions about it. I think someone already mentioned it but I believe the Shakespeare and Olney offer housing for interns.....

932

Employment / Re: advice on interviewing

« on: Jul 12, 2007, 12:03 am »

i like coming in with a list of questions- letting the person i'm interviewing with know what i already know about the company/project and what i'd like to know. i think it shows a certain level of interest in the position. i also think bringing a number of extra resumes is a good idea- i have often had an interviewer either ask for an extra copy because they misplaced it, or have another person sitting in on the interview who would like a copy.


also, a couple of basics in terms of preparing for an interview:

it sounds obvious, but dress up for it! it's like an interview for any other job- you shouldn't show up dressed inappropriately. don't wear flip-flops. wear something that looks nice and professional, but that you could wear if they take you on a tour of the theatre. i think there's a thread here somewhere about dressing professionally.

turn off your cell phone.

bring your calendar. if you are interviewing for a specific show or just in general for the company, you should know when you are available.

933

SMNetwork Archives / Re: Fictional books about theatre and backstage life

« on: Jun 24, 2007, 11:23 am »

the deptford trilogy by robertson davies. it's a long trilogy, but the third book, world of wonders has one of the most interesting descriptions of backstage life i've ever read. it describes the tour of a reportory company through canada in i think the middle part of the 20th century. there are at least a few descriptions of stage managers in it- one of the main characters functions as an asm.

a good read, but a big time investment.

934

Stage Management: Other / cold calling an opera

« on: Jun 14, 2007, 03:07 am »

i had an interesting (and somewhat surreal) experience last night, and am wondering if anyone else has done the same-

during the day, i got a call from the PM of an opera company i've worked with for a few years. her stage manager had an emergency and she asked me to come in a call the dress rehearsal. the show i'm currently rehearsing ended early, so i was able to get there about an hour before the orchestra arrived. the show was little women, which is not one that i'm familiar with. the score is in mixed meters-  the time signature changes frequently, sometimes nearly every measure. i have worked with the director and lighting designers before, which made things a little easier.

the SM had unfortunately taken the calling score home with her, so i ended up using the LD's score, and the director gave me the rail cues before we started the dress. luckily, there's no chorus or supers that would need to be cued, and all of the principals took their own cues, without needing to be paged. the ASM cued all of the rail cues off of my GOs, and backstage functioned fairly smoothly. we stopped a few times for the maestro to work some things out musically, but no tragedies with the lights or flying panels- all told, i think it went very well.

all in all, it was kind of fun, and since i haven't gotten to do much opera recently, it was great to get back into it, if only for a night. anyone else ever have to call a score they'd never seen before?

935

College and Graduate Studies / Re: SM Colleges in the MD, PA regions

« on: Jun 14, 2007, 01:23 am »

the university of maryland, college park, has a good technical program. i went there, and while there is only one class for stage management, there are a lot of opportunities to actually stage manage plays, dance performances, and opera. i got some experience working with professional stage managers and directors, and most of the theatre faculty work in DC in professional theatre, so it's a good place to make contacts. one of the first professional shows i ASMed had a cast member and a designer who were my former teachers.

i had a great experience at maryland, and would highly recommend it.

936

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Making a Boulder

« on: Jun 09, 2007, 12:24 pm »

i've used the foam method before. blue foam, which is not beaded like some white foam, works fairly well. if you coat it with something like foamcoat or crystal gel before painting, it will be less likely to get beaten up with use.

you can also use a hot knife to carve it if you have one.

937

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: College Interviews

« on: Jun 03, 2007, 01:45 pm »

I second this- I think that demonstrating potential, a willingness to learn, and an openness to the experience are things that college interviewers would be looking for. Personally, I would also come in with some ideas about what you would like to learn- I think being able to show your interest in their program and what you can learn there would be something great that you can talk about during an interview. Being able to say, "'I'd like to learn more about musicals," or "I would like to understand more about _______". Definitely a good conversation starter, and this also gives them an opportunity to tell you about their program.

Being able to show your potential is great- you'd be surprised at how other things you do relate to stage management. If you have experience in something else that relates (organization, supervising people at a summer job, sign language, dance or music training, etc), be prepared to talk about it. Use the experience that you have- it might be something that makes you valuable to them in some way.

938

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: First Tech Rehearsal

« on: Apr 28, 2007, 05:15 pm »

Keep a good attitude and sense of humor throughout, even if things are stressful. You can definitely help set the tone of the room.

939

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Do you call from house or backstage?

« on: Apr 27, 2007, 12:50 am »

In opera I have always called from backstage. In theatre, usually from the booth. The primary reason for calling backstage in opera for me would be cueing entrances, but being close to the performers and the scene shifts is not a bad thing.....easier to solve problems.

940

The Hardline / Re: Searching for EMC positions...

« on: Apr 19, 2007, 01:30 am »

i got EMC points at a theatre that at the time I think was LOA referencing Lort D, but is now Lort D, if that helps at all.

941

Stage Management: Other / Re: My first opera! The Magic Flute

« on: Mar 24, 2007, 12:16 pm »

there was a discussion a while back about suggestions for opera- http://smnetwork.org/forum/index.php/topic,1249.0.html . it mentions some good ideas.

the thing that helps me the most in opera is timing out the score. sit down with your book and either the cd or if possible, during rehearsal, and mark out timings- either every 30 seconds or some people do every 15 seconds. it will make your life a lot easier later on. i would make sure to ask the conductor or director about any cuts they are planning on making- most of the time they will take out something, and this will affect your timings.

it's also good to know how to identify where you are in the score- when someone asks you for a placement in the score you should able to tell them the page number, system number, and measure. often, the conductor will have a full orchestra score and the page numbers won't match up with everyone else's vocal score. if the score has rehearsal numbers, i usually highlight them. it might be a good idea to find out if they are planning on using rehearsal numbers.

definitely taking care of the singers in rehearsal is a good ideas. cough drops, hot water for tea, etc etc. if the stage is dusty, spraying down the air with water. it will be appreciated.

one of the big differences between theatre and opera is that usually the stage manager in opera will call the show from backstage. (obviously some people do this in theatre as well,). one of the responsibilities of the opera SM is to cue every entrance. it's helpful to have an ASM on the other side of the stage to cue those entrances. every singer entrance should be marked in your book (and your ASM's book). if you have access to a PA system to the dressing rooms, it's helpful to page the singers to backstage at 5 minutes before their entrance cue. i also like to put a warning in at 2 minutes before their entrance so that if they aren't there in time you can send someone after them.

check out the thread at the top- it has some of these suggestions and others.

942

Tools of the Trade / Re: What goes inside a SM Kit?

« on: Feb 18, 2007, 01:32 am »

something i've found useful recently- a disposable camera. i've found that in rehearsal if you want to document the setup of furniture/props quickly, a disposable camera is invaluable. if you have one, a digital camera can be even better- on my current show i used it to send photos of changes to the furniture setup to the lighting designer, so he could adjust his lighting plot before hang. but with a show that has a ton of little hand props, having a photo of how the stage should look can be really useful.

943

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Another difference doing opera...

« on: Jan 07, 2007, 12:48 pm »

Having just moved from Cowlumbus to DC, this conversation is very timely for me!

Now I'm just another person trying to work out, eat well, and stay healthy.

One of my favorite ways to work out in DC is taking dance classes. There's at least a couple of studios that teach some variety of dance, and Joy of Motion (which is where I go) has a lot of drop-in classes. I love it because even if my schedule changes pretty drastically from week to week (daytime rehearsals one week, tech in the evening the next, etc) I can almost always find a class to fit. And then you only pay for the classes you take. Plus it lets me try some new styles of dance without having to commit to taking a class for a few months. I highly recommend JOM.

944

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Interesting request for performance reports...

« on: Dec 08, 2006, 11:35 pm »

I just hated adding up the totals of the different segments - I had a calculator that could add times once...

I don'tknow how to do this, but I know a stage manager who can get Excel to add times. I'm sure it wouldn't be hard to look up...

945

Employment / Hiring and references

« on: Nov 28, 2006, 04:04 am »

fI know the person who I am getting a reference from, then they will know me and hopefully give me a honest, but more educated reference.  Someone telling me "She's great, but you two would not get along" is a much better reference then "She is great."

I agree- I think that anything on my resume (or that can be figured out from it, i.e. production managers) is fair game. DEFINITELY directors, but also conductors, designers, occasionally even actors). I think it can really work to your advantage to have as much information as you can about a show listed- if a hirer knows the stage manager I ASMed for, I think it's almost expected that if they are really interested in hiring me and want information that they would call this person, even if they aren't a listed reference.

I think of this a positive, rather than negative, aspect of a resume, though. The more chance that a hirer knows someone I've worked with, the more they'll trust that person's point of view, instead of knowing that someone who is listed as a reference is undoubtedly going to say good things. Theatre is a small business, and I've definitely had hirers look at my resume during an interview and say, "Oh, you worked at _____ Theatre last season? Then you must have worked with __________, I'll have to give them a call."

Although I'm constantly reworking it, my resume is currently split into ASM and SM positions, and the headings are a little different:

Production      Director        Theatre/Artistic

It's chronological, since I don't have room for dates. "Production" is the title, "director" is self-explanatory, and "Theatre/Artistic" has the theatre company, as well as any other information about the show. I used to have it listed as Thetre/Conductor since I wokr in opera as well as theatre, but to take advantage of the space, I use this "artistic" heading to cover other things as well, such as listing the stage manager if I was the ASM, or if there was something that made that show stand out that I want to feature. Mostly I use it for listing conductors.

I think one of the most valuable things listed on my resume is the director- if I worked with someone that I didn't want a hirer to call I would probably leave the show off.