Messages

1

The Green Room / Re: 10 things actors can do to get off to a good start with a stage manager

« on: May 06, 2013, 03:38 pm »

10- If you're having a problem with something please let me know.  Although I try to anticipate problems, I can't think of everything.  I would much rather solve your problem on day two or three, then let it fester for a week or month until it is unbearable to you.  I can't fix what I don't know is broken.

This, a thousand times this.  I had this problem in my last show, where an actor was having an issue and instead of telling me about it, decided to make an executive decision which would have very noticeably altered an important scene in the show.  Luckily my ASM got wind of it before it happened and I empowered her to not allow the change, but then said actor blew up because I had "overridden his authority".  We had to have the exact discussion as above, in that I am here to help you, if there is a problem please let me know and I will do everything I can to help you solve it while ensuring the integrity of the show.  But those backstage should not be making decisions without my input that would majorly change the show (with of course the standard caveat that if they are reacting to a dangerous situation, by all means save someone without asking my permission first!).   

2

Stage Management: Other / Re: first time SMing ballet

« on: May 05, 2013, 07:50 pm »

Yeah, I've just confirmed that in this particular production they want the evil fairy to give her a bouquet of flowers and that the drop spindle will be hidden inside for her to prick her finger on.  I totally understand not being able to dance ballet with a spinning wheel, I just find it interesting that they would go for a drop spindle and not something like a distaff.  Still, excited to be doing the show!

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The Green Room / Re: SM Tumblr

« on: May 01, 2013, 01:28 pm »

OMG, I love the "when there's a nice looking gentleman in your cast" one!!!  This always happens to me at auditions, especially musicals as I love a man who can sing.  I definitely look for wedding rings!  But then eventually I'm just "meh".  It's just so true.

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Stage Management: Other / Re: first time SMing ballet

« on: May 01, 2013, 01:17 pm »

Ha!  Good to know. 

Also - to anyone who has done Sleeping Beauty as a ballet, did they use a spinning wheel or a spindle?  I actually knit and spin as a hobby, and own my own spinning wheel and spin my own yarn.  I was very pleased to have a line on a traditional walking wheel that would have a "sharp" quill for Sleeping Beauty to prick her hand on, only to be told by the owner of the company that they are looking for a drop spindle instead!  She even sent me a photo.  Is this normal for the ballet?  I'm just a little flabbergasted because anyone who has ever used a drop spindle would know there is no way you can prick yourself on it.  I figured they would have an old spinning wheel with a distaff (also a pointy thing) which is inaccurate but an understandable mistake.  I'm just not sure what to do with the fact that they want a drop spindle instead -  I don't want them to look dumb, but anyone who has held a drop spindle for two seconds would know you can't prick yourself on one.  It just seems very odd to me!

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Stage Management: Other / Re: first time SMing ballet

« on: Apr 30, 2013, 12:35 pm »

So hi all, I sort of went away for a while, but now I'm back lurking again and saw I had missed this reply!

The short answer is yes - I would stage manage ballet again and I did!  After doing La Fille Mal Gardee last spring, I SM'd this company's December production of Nutcracker and am getting ready to SM this year's spring ballet which is Sleeping Beauty.

For La Fille, they really only had light cues at the beginning and end of each track (no live music, but from a CD).  So I made a list of the songs in the show and wrote descriptions of each ("main female solo" or "youngest girls in yellow dresses").  For each place that had a light cue (i.e. the end of a track of music), I had my sound board op give me a 15 second warning before the end of the track and then he would count down from five and when he got to 0 and the track switched I would call the light cue.  We did it this way because he was in the booth and I was backstage and therefore without knowing the music very well (since I had less than a week to learn it, and it was all classical sounding to me!) I needed him to help me know where I was in the show.

Nutcracker was very different - from the start I already knew the music fairly well.  I also met up with the lady who had SM'd this show the year before and she very graciously gave me her notes.  She used pages where the left hand side of the page was a stage diagram and the right hand side had her notes.  There were more cues in Nutcracker (and more internal cues) so I had to know the whole thing in a lot more detail, but I had time to do this so it was fine.  I did get to blow some rudimentary pyro for Drosselmeyer's entrance which was fun.   

One thing I did learn about ballet that I did not know before - they bow a lot!  One of the trickiest things was knowing which mode the CD player was in - autopause or continual. If there was no bow at the end of the song, the CD player needed to be in continuous mode, where it would just continue on into the next track by itself.  But if there was a bow, it needed to be in autopause so it would stop automatically, the dancers could bow, and then once they had cleared (or whatever) I could call sound for the next track to go.  So I had lots of notes reaffirming what mode the CD player should be in at any given time and was checking in with my sound board op to make sure it was in the right mode, etc.

It was also really awesome to find out that ballet pays a lot more than SMing for a community theatre around here!  I am where I am for the time being due to being a homeowner, which limits my career prospects, but I was really glad to get paid a lot more to do ballet which also had a much shorter time commitment!  I am going to continue to work with this ballet company and hope to find other similar opportunities (opera?!?) so I can grow my skills and keep getting paid more. 

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Stage Management: Other / Re: first time SMing ballet

« on: May 25, 2012, 12:21 pm »

Thanks for the tips everyone!

I did pick up a DVD from the director on Wednesday and have been watching the ballet.  Unfortunately, the version they are doing is slightly different from the DVD so I will have my work cut out for me.  The director did say there are not a huge number of cues, though one dancer does fly briefly and there is a storm scene with lots of light cues (the ballet is La fille mal gardee).  I have my first rehearsal (not at the space, but at a rehearsal location) tomorrow.

I think the thing that will be hardest about this is no script.  I can follow music but not strictly read it; not sure if they will give me a score or if I will just attempt to write down blocking.  They did give me a scene list with times for each dance/bit of music, so that will help some. 

Exciting!

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Stage Management: Other / first time SMing ballet

« on: May 22, 2012, 02:35 pm »

I got an email yesterday from a director I worked with four or five years ago looking for a replacement SM for a ballet that goes up next weekend!  I have never SM'd ballet before and only ASM'd one Irish dance show several years ago (and did not call the show).  What do I need to know about SMing ballet?

The director has sent me a scene list plus some links to the ballet on YouTube.  I will be meeting him one night this week to pick up a CD of the music.  Our first rehearsal is on Saturday, and we have rehearsals nightly until the first performance the following Friday.

I was sort of taking a break from SMing as I sort out my priorities and then suddenly this landed in my lap!  They are even paying me more money for a week of work than I made in the entire three plus months SMing the extremely successful show at the community theatre I did earlier this year.  In fact, the pay for this one week of ballet is more than a week of take-home pay at my "real" day job!  I am really wanting this to go well, so throw any tips/pointers you have my way!  In the mean time, I will go read old posts and see what I can find out that way.   

8

Employment / Re: time to ask for a raise?

« on: Apr 30, 2012, 11:22 am »

I just closed a show with Company B and I've identified the big difference (to me) between the two - respect.  Even though the folks at Company A are older and there is little to no social dynamic, they respect my work as a SM so much more than Company B does.  They send me cards.  The include me in the cast photo.  By contrast, we were just sent a link to over 1000 photos taken of this recent show with Company B and my back is in two of them.  No one thanked me for my hard work, they just asked me to turn in my key and dismissed me.  I realize that SMing is not a glamorous job, but I am a little upset about the lack of even basic acknowledgement from Company B that I did actually do work on this show. 

It's also difficult because I've been working with Company B for over six years (they were the first theatre that hired me when I moved to WNC) and yet I feel like I have nothing on the lines of "tenure".  I do at least one show with them every year, maybe more, even the years that I stopped SMing because they weren't paying me.  I have AD'd twice.  And yet I feel like there are all these new people there who are trying to tell me what to do, and it's very frustrating.  They have a "resident" SM (who never actually SM's any of the shows) who came to the last evening performance on Saturday and who said she would have to meet with me to review my work on the show.  I am confused about why she wants to meet with me because no one has said anything to me about poor performance on my part. 

Sorry, this is more vent-y than I like to get, I'm just confused by the lack of respect from Company B and my continuing failure to feel like I have a semi-permanent place at any of the theatres in this area.   

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Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Autism-friendly performances

« on: Apr 14, 2012, 08:38 am »

As someone from the autism community, I'd steer you away from Autism Speaks and more towards something like the Autism Society of America (ASA).  There is some controversy within the community re: Autism Speaks because they operate on the assumption that autism is a disease and therefore can be cured.  Some people feel that way but many others do not, and prefer to work with other organizations because they feel strongly that those with ASD (autism spectrum disorders) are different, not diseased and argue that it cannot be cured.

10

Employment / time to ask for a raise?

« on: Apr 13, 2012, 05:09 pm »

I am way out of my depth here, so I know I might just be way wrong on this one so that's why I'm asking for advice.

I SM for several non-profit community theatres in Western North Carolina.  A few years ago I stopped SMing for one company (let's call them Company B) because they did not pay stage managers (though they did pay directors, LDs, etc).  I continued to SM for another theatre (my main theatre, Company A) which paid me a stipend of $200 per straight play and $300 per musical.  Well, the first company started paying SMs $200 per show (this company only does plays, no musicals) and so for the first time I have turned down a job offer at my main theatre to SM for the other company.  I did this for a variety of reasons, but primarily I have missed working with Company B.  Most of the actors and staff are closer to my age (20's and 30's) vs. Company A which is mostly older people.  I have zero social life as it is (working a full time M-F desk job plus theatre will do that to you) and so I was wanting the social connection I have with the folks at Company B.

Well, I just closed a hugely successful show with Company A.  It broke all previous box office records that this company had.  I then turned down an offer to SM their fall musical to take a show with Company B because frankly, $100 difference is not enough to sway me either way and again, I miss working with Company B.  Well, I am currently doing a different show with Company B and is reminding me of the things I didn't like so much about Company B.  SMs also function as Marketing with this company, so I have been organizing the recording of radio commercials, radio interviews, promotional photo shoots, head shots, etc.  I also had zero help in getting a crew for this show, which has been extremely frustrating.  Company A handles all this stuff for me, gets me a crew, and they pay me $100 more. 

So today I got a card from the MD of Company A thanking me again for my work on the hugely successful show and saying how much they miss having me in the building.  I currently have no shows on the books with Company A for the remainder of the year or in 2013.  I am just at a loss how to interpret the card.  Do I ask for a raise and then work only with Company A again?  Obviously they value me and wish I would come back to work with them again.  I can see my friends from Company B outside theatre.  But OTOH, a year or so ago I approached Company A with the idea of becoming a resident SM and they said no.  So now I am just really confused.    

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Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: SHOWS: Chicago

« on: Feb 08, 2012, 03:48 pm »

I've done live mixed shows at this theatre before, and I have always previously run recorded cues on my own from the booth and the live mixer only deals with live sound.  Not saying that's the "right" method but that's the way I've always done it at this particular theatre.  I wasn't really aware there were other options.  I've sent the TD an email about cue lights to see what she thinks and we'll go from there!

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Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: SHOWS: Chicago

« on: Feb 08, 2012, 02:55 pm »

I have actually never used a cue light before and I'm not sure if this theatre has them available.  I'll find out.

I think we may already be at our max for headsets on this show.  Typically the sound guy doesn't have one because we are already using six on this show (which I think is our max unless there is a mysterious seventh headset out there somewhere).  In the booth I've got one and so does the light board op, then both follow spot ops have one, and then my two ASMs (SL and SR).  That's six.  I will check with the TD and see if we have more.

On Monday night we were talking about sound guy "taking the cues off the lights" as in I'd take a light cue and he'd then follow with the sound, but again I don't know how feasible that is as I haven't seen any of the lights at all yet so don't know if the changes would be noticeable enough.  I've worked with this LD before and he sometimes has what I call "fake cues" where there is a cue and I take it but honestly I cannot notice any difference at all onstage.  No problem with that, he's the designer, I just note in my book (usually I write "sneaky!" out to the side  but if we've got any of those going on it could be a problem if he's trying to take sound cues off them.

13

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / SHOWS: Chicago

« on: Feb 08, 2012, 09:59 am »

Hi all, I know I've been absent for a while, but now I'm back!   

I'm getting ready to open a production of Chicago a week from Friday.  We have two more rehearsals, dry tech on Saturday, and cue to cue plus a run on Sunday.  I will admit I am slightly nervous about tech for this show because I have seen zero info about light cues so far and I get the feeling that there will be A LOT of them.

But my question is actually about sound.  For those who know the show, Chicago has a lot of "announcement" type things usually done by an Emcee.  Originally our Emcee was going to be the band director, as the band is onstage, so the announcements would be read live by the band director.  However, this was nixed a few days ago by our director because a) the band director is not comfortable with memorizing lines and he has enough going on and b) he will be missing two performances anyway and we'll have a guest conductor. 

So the new plan is to record these announcements and play them as sound cues.  However, currently the sound guy is lobbying to just play the announcements from a CD at his position.   Now, in this theatre I'm in the booth with my light board op.  We typically don't get a sound board op for sound cues, I just play all sound cues using a computer in the booth.  The live sound guy is located in the house and he is typically not on headset.  In an emergency I can reach him via one of my spot ops (one of the spot towers is directly over the live sound position) but it's not optimal.  EVERYONE (sound guy, director, assistant director) seems to think that sound guy playing the cues from a CD at his position will make things easier for me.  I don't know yet, but I fear that it won't because then I will be unable to coordinate the light cues with these announcements.  If there were only one or two of them, it might work, but there are A LOT of them and they pretty much open almost every musical number in the show.  Now, having me run them would add a lot to what I've got going on (again, already nervous about lights) but I'm willing and able to do it if it will make the performance better.

Sound guy isn't planning on miking actors until Tue of tech week, so now I'm concerned about me learning light cues on Sun, calling only light cues Sun and Mon, and then suddenly having him try to run sound cues Tue and all of us going "huh, this isn't working" and then I have ONE NIGHT on Wed to call both sound and light cues before we get our first preview audience on Thursday.  I don't want to come across as a controlling diva and I also don't want to give the sound guy the impression that I think he's incompetent or anything like that.  I've worked with him before and he's by far the best sound guy I've worked with (this is community theatre, but still).  I am just getting nervous about trying to add sound at the last minute and everyone going "oh wait, this won't work" and then I have to change all the cues the night before the first preview.

Thoughts?  Advice? 

Thanks,

Beth

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Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Business Cards For Students

« on: Aug 19, 2011, 09:38 am »

Re: VisaPrint - I used them once for a production of Beauty and the Beast a few years ago, where I had cards printed with contact info for myself, the director, the box office, etc and handed out to the cast.  Worked great for the show - not so great for me, when I had HUNDREDS of emails from them no matter how many times I took myself off the email list.  I finally had to block them.  It was ridiculous.

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Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: communicating who is called for a rehearsal

« on: Aug 15, 2011, 09:22 am »

Thanks everyone for their support.  I think right now the solution is for me to email out a weekly schedule that expands on the master schedule with all the abbreviations.  However, this also backfired on us yesterday because we were doing a dance rehearsal for the Havana number.  On the master schedule it says "TBA dancers".  I got the list of who is actually in the number from the choreographer earlier in the week, but sent it to the director for final approval before sending it out to everyone.  It didn't get out until Friday afternoon (combo of director taking a few days to get it back to me, plus I was busy at my day job and couldn't send it out until later in the day) and we had an actor who thought he had the weekend off (he is a "gambler") and who didn't check his email from Friday morning on and therefore did not know he was called for rehearsal. 

We do go over at the end of the night every night who is called for rehearsal the next day - however, this is more taking the form of we end rehearsal, and the director asks me to read the schedule for the next day out loud to everyone.  So it's not really him and me going over it (and perhaps saying "oh, you don't need to call so-and-so, please tell him he's not called") but me just reading the same schedule that has already been sent out several days ago.  I will see if I can find a way to get with him perhaps during a break and go over the next day's schedule so when I do read it out loud at the end of the night we are both positive that it is accurate.