Messages

1

Self-Promotion / Seussical

« on: May 24, 2011, 09:16 pm »

We have just started Seussical
I am happy to announce that I am stage managing it too. This is more exciting than usual because it is outside of school during the summer. It is a summer stock program that will consist of four weeks of nothing but rehearsong and perfecting our cast.
They say programs outside of schools change a person and I can't wait to become a better stage manager.

 

2

The Green Room / Re: Is permanent marker okay?

« on: Mar 24, 2011, 01:00 pm »

is there a reason the TD wanted to use permanent marker?

I haven't a clue, his decisions are...questionable. I believe the idea was to save money though I'm not sure how because paint costs less (especially Oops paint!)

I am afraid that it will show through the paint we use just for this show because we are using sharpee as an outline for the man who is painting our backdrop.
That means next year we'll spend more money assembling another backdrop..or he might not let us fix that problem because he wants us to "save money" and we'll just deal with this snowball of a problem thats rolling downhill.

If the marker does bleed through the paint to cover it up, what is the easiest way( most likely cheapest way as well) to fix such a problem?

3

The Green Room / Re: Exercises & Warm-Ups That Don't Suck

« on: Mar 23, 2011, 03:16 pm »

The Siege of Belgrade

A fun vocal exercise, from my perspective I see that it not only helps with diction and projecting but it helps the cast and crew get rid of nervous emotions.

You would say one line they repeat it, then you would go on with the the next line and they would repeat that line etc etc etc.

An Austrian army, awfully arrayed,
Boldly by battery beseiged Belgrade;
Cossack commanders cannonading come,
Dealing destruction’s devastating doom;
Every endeavour engineers essay
For fame, for fortune, forming furious fray

Keep in mind if you use a loud projected voice or a silly voice the students might get into it more and copy your voice.
For some odd reason the person who leads the exercise says the exercise in a ridiculous british accent and it makes it very silly and exciting.

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The Green Room / Is permanent marker okay?

« on: Mar 23, 2011, 02:55 pm »

Currently we are adding some last touches to our musical Guys and Dolls. The last thing we need to do is create our backdrop.The thing is the TD decided to project a city scene onto our backdrop and trace it over with permanent marker. Is that okay? Because it seems that if we made a mistake we wouldn't be able to get rid of it.

5

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Stage Managment Colleges in NY

« on: Mar 03, 2011, 10:31 am »

The immediate knee jerk reactions I will give is SUNY-Fredonia and SUNY-Purchase. They are two of the best schools for theater in the state college system. The only thing about Fredonia is it doesn't have a Stage Management program per se. You can (or could when I went there) create a major that is tailored to your needs. For instance, a friend I went to school with created a Technical Direction BFA major approved by the school.

Purchase has a ready made BFA. It's a conservatory vs. liberal arts like Fredonia. Being a Fredonia alum, I have an ingrained dislike of Purchase but could never be able to identify exactly what it is that I dislike about the school. But those two would be my suggestions.

Can you recall SUNY tuition if you don't mind me asking?

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Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Humor: Stage Managing the World

« on: Mar 03, 2011, 10:28 am »

The other day an actress was asked what was in her salad, and couldn't remember. As she went "ummmmmm..." I looked down to where my script usually is and drew in a breath to feed her the line.

I love that! So funny!

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The Green Room / Re: Do you add a personal touch to your booth?

« on: Mar 03, 2011, 12:31 am »

:] We definitely add our personal touch.

Every year we color a flier of a show and paste it on the wall.We have the noose from Jesus Christ Superstar that we used, a ninja made out of tape on the wall, a  gaff tape ball, an A Team poster, animal crackers taped on the wall, christmas lights as our light to read our que sheets, um I make paper dolls of my crew during down time and finally Julius Caesars head..it was a statue made out of paper machae. We rub his head for good luck and he holds the stage managers headset on his head . (the stage managers headset is a little nicer than the others..)

8

The Green Room / Re: Funnest Tech Run Ever

« on: Mar 03, 2011, 12:23 am »

In Godspell we had a batten with a crane that would go up and down and make it look like we were loading crates onto a dock. On the last tech run our prop woman (who is a remarkable woman) instead of unloading a crate off the crane they used a stuffed bear instead

Then in a play called Dolls (sex ed play) where we have teenagers play babies . Our prop woman (again XD) gave a baby a cigar and had him imitate the baby from "Who framed Roger Rabbit?" Oh my goodness it was a riot

9

Tools of the Trade / Re: Discussing drills

« on: Mar 03, 2011, 12:12 am »

oh wow sounds great! Bosch sounds good as well! In the end I got a hand me downs, my mothers plug in Dewalt and my fathers Makita with assorted drill bits so I got both though I appreciate all the opinions and what not

10

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

« on: Feb 06, 2011, 03:58 pm »

"No sexy light unless accompanied by bananas"

Rocky Horror Picture Show

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Tools of the Trade / Re: Discussing drills

« on: Feb 05, 2011, 04:18 pm »

Ah I see!I wish I could afford a Dewalt they are great for all awkward positions to hold a drills (You know upside down and in a impossible to reach corner).But since we'll be building simple sets this year I'll settle on a Makita. I've never liked rechargeable drills because they don't have as much power as a plug in but the Makita sounds like a keeper.Especially since it is for a High School Show and Community Theatre show I should be okay with a Makita and a long long long extension cord.

Thank you for your opinions I appreciate it

12

Tools of the Trade / Discussing drills

« on: Feb 04, 2011, 09:48 pm »

I'm purchasing a hand held drill and I'm not sure which is more efficient..
A Makita or Dewalt?
Which lasts longer?
Which has more power?
Which is cheaper?

I'm sorry if this is a trouble I just wanted a personal opinion.

13

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Humor: Stage Managing the World

« on: Jan 31, 2011, 08:39 pm »

*sighs* Oh my...I have had many dilemmas.
During our Spring Musical I really stress out.
In fact last year:
I answered a phone : "Calie on headset" and hung up saying "Calie off head set"
I bumped into a desk cursed and checked if I moved it off its spike and wondered if I made noise.
A phone ringed and wondered if it was on que
and finally I hit a guy for whistling OUTSIDE a theatre...yeah...I get a little scary

14

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Trash, missing tools and other dilemmas

« on: Jan 31, 2011, 08:21 pm »

Ah..I see! I should have used a different route when talking to the Band Director and I never thought that the TD might've had that much trouble.Hm.Well thank ever so much for the input ^_^.After all we must make the most of it as well!

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Students and Novice Stage Managers / Trash, missing tools and other dilemmas

« on: Jan 30, 2011, 11:54 pm »

Our high school has a great theatre. We in fact have the biggest stage in our little town.
It was once the domain of the techie and actor to move about freely. Now it is in the hands of the band, orchestra and flag line to practice their instruments and flag dancing...thingy,because they had construction in the band room.I do not mind sharing the theatre because it is not mine to decide and lend. However the problem is...they leave everything around! Their trash, shoes, clothing, instrument cases, make up, dirty socks and unmentionables about the stage for us to clean it up. On top of that we cannot have our  after school weekly work calls because we interrupt the drum line in their practice and  they touch the tools and lose them! I somehow have been able to take all this.
I found out this week that one of the flags was wrapped around our fire curtain line. Of course this is dangerous and idiotic for many many reasons. Even if it didn't cause the fire curtain to hit the deck it is still troublesome and costs money that comes out of our program.
When I talk to my technical director and the band director( I'll be honest I was not calm, but it was in private not in public), my technical director gets yelled at instead of the flag line being scolded because it is rude to act like their parent ? I agree I shouldn't have had a fit but why is our technical director the one who is talked to? Why not the flag line?
Is this unjust?Am I overreacting?

Please tell me the Band Director is not biased...