Messages

1

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Am I Being Too demanding?

« on: Mar 23, 2015, 02:30 pm »

Thank you both for your feedback, it's really appreciated.

cdavisnyc, based off your suggestions I've changed a lot of the wording to be more logic based and less emotion based. I am upset when I think of the last production and it was showing when it shouldn't and some statements came off in ways I didn't mean them to.

I don't mind that he watches the show with a directorial mind. I don't mind if he wants to talk after a show about what happened or thoughts he's had and how to improve.  I do mind when in the middle of the show he decides to come to the booth to inform me of things that weren't perfect. I'm generally aware of these things and am already trying to fix it.

We had an official post-mortem last show and then an additional un-official one with the two of us and the Assistant Director over dinner and drinks. It went well at the time so perhaps I'm simply feeling burned from the prior experience and should just let it go.

Loebtmc - I wish it were a college production. I teach/work at a college and have no issues there with clear communication, standards, and making sure things run well.

This theatre considers itself semi-professional. Everyone gets paid, contracts are laid out on day one, and 1099's are given at the end of the tax year. The director has a masters in directing but somehow managed to do so without taking a single technical class so he's genuinely clueless as to how these things run.

Since I have no other shows lined up for the time slot and I know the theatres in town with the EMC program don't have anything in that time frame I'd like to take it since I'd rather work than not work and a little extra income is nice.

I appreciate your feedback and have scheduled an informal meeting with the director, assistant director and myself for later this week to go over the calendar and talk about potential.  Having slept on it I really think that half the issues can be solved by designated tech time and the other half by coming to an understanding of what it is a SM does and what his expectations of a SM are. Perhaps it won't be a big deal at all.

2

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: SCHEDULING: When do you start getting involved with scheduling?

« on: Mar 22, 2015, 10:20 pm »

I've had a few directors lately who prefer to completely make their own schedule. It always throws me a little bit but I guess they know how they work better than I do.

That being said, generally I start building the calendar in prep week unless it's an unusually large show with an unusually large cast. I also build it backwards starting with opening night, however many previews, and working from there.

3

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Am I Being Too demanding?

« on: Mar 22, 2015, 10:07 pm »

I've been stage managing locally for about five years now, and I have a day job (as a Technical Director at a college) that pays my real bills but other than about four months of the past five years I've been constantly working as an SM and have started to accrue Equity points.  I give you this information to let you know where I am in my pursuit of stage management.

Last fall I had a show that began rehearsing in October and opened mid January of this year. The director is somewhat of a friend of mine and I felt really good going into it. We had a fairly large cast - 28 people and it was a musical so there were many elements that went into the production.

Rehearsals (although long and difficult) ultimately ran fine. We were more or less able to accomplish what was needed in the time given.  From day one however I explained to the director that I needed more than 8 hours for tech since that was also supposed to include a 3 hour sitzprobe and the show itself was 2.5 hours. I knew this wouldn't be a reality, especially trying to run and balance 15 mics for the first time. 
Sure enough, we didn't finish during the one day he had designated for tech, it took an additional two days of scheduled "runs" which left us with only two days before we opened and on opening night he had tv monitors installed and informed me we would also be running projections. It was a slightly more stressful than normal tech week. Then once the show opened he continued to give my board operators, and cast notes, call meetings, and essentially never gave me the show to run.

He's asked me to work with him again. In much the same scenario. It'll be a musical, but we'll only have a cast of 19. I've told him I'll have to think about it and send him a list of things that I need to know won't happen again if I agree to work this contract.  My list is as follows, and what I need to know from you is if I'm being ridiculous/too demanding.

- Once we open you will not call cast meetings or be present at them.
- Once the show opens you don't give notes to actors. If something is wrong or off, I will give the note. If you're very concerned talk to me about it and I'll make sure they get the note.
- If you have a technical note, bring it to me or the designer, not my board op.
- Assuming we have a successful and smooth dry tech, give me at least another full day for wet tech.  I'll likely need a 10 of 12 to accomplish what needs done.
- Once the show opens we don't add new elements.
- Once the show opens do not approach the tech booth during a show, I assure you if something is wrong I'm aware of it and trying to fix it. Your yelling isn't helping.
- You are absolutely welcome to attend every performance if you'd like. But you'll do it as a patron.  Don't interrupt or try to control mic checks/dimmer checks/whatever it is I'm trying to do on stage. 

Essentially I guess my issue is that I felt at no point did it become my show. Am I being ridiculous? Is this a reasonable list of requests? Have you ever worked with a director that didn't act as if he respected you and/or never backed off and just let you run your show? How did you handle it?

4

Introductions / New from Utah

« on: Jul 30, 2013, 11:19 pm »

Hey all, my name is Annie, I'm from Utah, and I really like to do things correctly. Enough so that prior to posting here I've read about ten other introduction threads, took the time to update my profile with some basic information, and  thoroughly read through the community rules and standards. It turns out I may be a bit of a perfectionist.
I'm a recent college grad with my BFA, and am working semi-professionally around the Salt Lake Valley. I've got a few contracts lined up right now and for the most part I absolutely adore everything about my job stage managing. I've joined the board hoping to gain insight from others as issues I'm unfamiliar with arise and to be exposed to many different ways of doing things, after all since there is no right way I might as well figure out what the "best" way for me is. I look forward to learning from many of you.