Messages

1

The Green Room / Re: Your First Theater Crush

« on: Aug 25, 2013, 05:53 pm »

Two:

My grandmother bought my mother tickets to Phantom of the Opera. She didn't want to go, so my grandmother took me. I was 4. The chandelier dropped and all I thought was "How did they DO THAT?"

I went to Les Miserables with my mom and had to write a review for class. (2nd grade.) I spent an entire paragraph marveling at the turntable floor.

Basically, I saw stage magic and I wanted to do THAT.

2

Employment / Re: Corporate SM Gigs

« on: Aug 19, 2013, 09:37 pm »

Hi! I have recently transitioned into more corporate event work. I was referred by a friend, did some overhire/day-of management for smaller events, and was hired on a more full-time basis when a position opened up. Unfortunately this is sort of unhelpful for you, but I would look at event companies and probably venues as well.

3

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: PEOPLE: Working with a new Director

« on: Aug 10, 2013, 02:11 pm »

I just like to meet before rehearsal starts for coffee or whatnot and open with "How do you like to work?" and "What do you expect of your stage manager?"

4

The Green Room / Re: Dealing with Thank You Notes

« on: Aug 05, 2013, 08:06 pm »

Okay, so now everybody gets a card, but what about gifts?

After the final show is the cast and crew party, (parents and children invited for a small fee to cover food). At this party the sentiments begin, (working with children makes this a party like no other) "Oh great shows, I love you guys" ect. happens and gifts come out for the production team. I personally always give gifts to "the team" because we've just spent the majority of three months of our life together and usually it's a pretty decent time. I always find relevancy for someones gift and I do a great job of figuring out what people like and I always been very selective about what gifts I give.

Anyhow I want to give gifts, even to him (so I can give gifts to everyone else), any ideas?
(Male, 19, first time stage manager...that's all I got basically for information about him)

Perhaps a book on stage management?
(I do have a fallback choice in mind for him as well)

There's a thread with SM gifts here:
http://smnetwork.org/forum/the-green-room/sm-gifts!/msg31192/#msg31192

On my first professional gig as an ASM, my SM gave me a great mini-maglite.

5

Employment / Thousands in back taxes ride on one question:

« on: Jul 20, 2013, 11:14 pm »

Is Venus de Mars a professional or amateur artist?

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2013/07/19/arts/demars-artist-tax-audit

6

Stage Management: Other / Re: Festival Stage Management

« on: May 13, 2013, 10:56 pm »

When I managed a similar situation, here were the bare-bones questions we emailed them before tech. Maybe some of them would help?

List any set pieces/props that will be set onstage during the transition into your show.
List any set pieces/props that will be brought onstage during your show.
How many sound cues are you planning to have?
Any any actors entering from the house?
Will you be needing any crew assistance (scene changes, prop handoffs, costume changes)?

We also timed each piece during tech and noted that.

7

The Green Room / Re: The Onion: Find The Thing You're Most Passionate About, Then Do It On Nights And

« on: Mar 22, 2013, 04:17 pm »

Matthew soap box complete.

Jessie soap box "go."

Seems like every time this comes up on the forum, Matthew says "don't be a stage manager just because you love doing it." And I agree with him.

However, loving something is the PERFECT reason to TRY to do it as a career.  So what if you spend 5, 10, 15 years struggling to the job you love and then change your mind.  Potentially changing careers is NOT a reason not to try.

Staging managing has allowed me to travel across my own country, to Europe and now to Asia.  I've done many kinds of shows and met many kinds of people.  I have been poor- yes, really really poor working on Showcase Code shows in NYC.

Even if I never SM again, I won't regret that time.

My mom worked as an OB nurse for 30+ years, then she decided she didn't want to be in patient care anymore and got a job as a shift director (pretty much the hospital stage manager).

A friend from high school had a job as an engineer and designed submarines for the Navy.  After 10+ she's got bored, got her MBA and a masters in Environmental Studies and is now doing awesome stuff to clean up our water.

Need  I keep going?  We all know many people that aren't doing the exact job they thought they wanted at age 19.

Just like potentially get a divorce years down the road is not a reason to not get married, potentially changing careers is not a reason to not try. (much along the lines of what dallas is saying)

I saw a speaker many years ago who was a writer turned editor turned book jacket designer. During the Q&A, someone asked if he felt like he gave up on his dream of being a writer by becoming more corporate. He said that "dream jobs" grow and evolve as you learn more, and there's nothing wrong with leaving your 10yr-old you's dream behind for your 20yr-old, or your 20yr-old for your 35-yr old.

8

The Green Room / The Onion: Find The Thing You're Most Passionate About, Then Do It On Nights And

« on: Mar 20, 2013, 09:54 pm »

http://www.theonion.com/articles/find-the-thing-youre-most-passionate-about-then-do,31742/

"Because the bottom line is that life is short, and you owe it to yourself to spend the majority of it giving yourself wholly and completely to something you absolutely hate, and 20 minutes here and there doing what you feel you were put on this earth to do."

I'm hearing echoes of the day-job conversation...

9

Employment / Re: Resumes - one page and beyond

« on: Mar 19, 2013, 11:15 am »

I haven't kept my resume to just one page in years for that reason: I email it much more often than I mail it, and it's viewed even more online. Why not have it all up there and let the reader pick and choose what to read?

I have my full resume on my website, but the downloadable version is a 1pg "greatest hits."

10

The Green Room / Re: Staging Shakespeare: a videogame to draw a younger crowd

« on: Mar 16, 2013, 09:17 pm »

I wanna play this game!

I am following their FB page for updates...will let you all know when it launches! (I wanna play it too!)

11

The Green Room / Staging Shakespeare: a videogame to draw a younger crowd

« on: Mar 14, 2013, 11:13 pm »

http://www.stratfordbeaconherald.com/2013/03/04/staging-shakespeare-first-festival-video-game

"In the game, which is currently in development, the player is allotted certain digital assets -- costumes, props, sound and lighting cues -- with which to create a virtual scene from Romeo and Juliet.

The player earns points for successful staging it, and can then unlock new assets, as well as new stages, “levelling up” from the Studio Theatre all the way up to the Festival Theatre."

12

The Green Room / Re: Sleeping in your theatre

« on: Mar 11, 2013, 01:41 pm »

Nobody's mentioned the Equity cot yet? 

At one theater I worked at, there was a great spot in the booth that was above the dimmer rack for some nice white noise and warmth.

13

The Green Room / Re: Weird Dreams

« on: Mar 04, 2013, 06:46 pm »

A new show dream:

I went into rehearsal per usual and the director pulled me aside and said the set had changed. It's a giant ring around the audience, and all the actors will be on roller skates, Starlight Express style, and can I make that work?

14

The Green Room / Re: Thoughts on Director Acting in Show?

« on: Mar 04, 2013, 06:45 pm »

When it goes good, it goes very, very good.
And when it goes bad, it goes horrid.

Agreed. You might suggest getting a stand-in for tech, who can walk and talk Arthur for cueing so the director can sit out and watch.

15

The Green Room / Re: Weird Dreams

« on: Feb 25, 2013, 12:12 pm »

My recurring SM dream is that someone has quit before opening and they've told the producer it's because of me. It then becomes my job to go out on the street and find someone to take over the role! (In one version of this dream, I ran into Norbert Leo Butz, so that wasn't too bad).

I also had a dream where I fell asleep in the booth and woke up to an actress tapping me, telling me they'd been stuck onstage because I hadn't called any cues.

Last night, actually, I dreamed that I was putting a script in order for the show, but I'd get 4 pages in and it'd start over. Then I'd get 9 more pages of act 1, take those out, and I'd be back at page 1 again. I'm sure this has something to do with anxiety over not knowing what I'm doing in the next months!