Topics

1

The Green Room / Keeping Focus avoiding burn out

« on: Apr 19, 2015, 07:48 pm »

I'm sorry if this is a duplicate I've looked and haven't found anything.

I have been stage managing for years now and I've found lately that my focus has been lacking. I believe this to be the beginning of 'burn out' as all of us seem to reach; that moment when you have worked too often on too little energy and your body (and mind) says no more.
I am wondering if anyone has found a way to keep focus during rehearsals, especially choreo or massively repeated blocking rehearsals. I tend to notice when it's later in the day I start to mentally wander off and not pay as close attention than I usually do.

Almost along the same lines, how does someone avoid burnout?

2

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / COMMUNICATION: Dealing with trouble technicians who are also housemates

« on: Apr 18, 2015, 11:14 am »

I work at a theatre that just recently turned from a summer regional theatre to an all year regional theatre. In this switch the technicians were contracted to have housing provided, we had cabins at our outdoor space. Since the change into full year the upper management has kept to contract and found the technicians a house near our full year space, about 30 minutes away from our summer space. Five out of Six full time technicians are all living in this one house. We all have our own room, except the couple who are dating and chose to live in the same room, so we all have our own space but we share the common areas. We are around each other all of the time and one guy has made tension in the house rise very high. I don't think he realizes it, he started sleeping with another technician while dating another girl who lives halfway across the country.
The tension he has started has risen higher because he said if we don't hire his girlfriend from across the country for our summer season he will leave. He has now brought the tension of the situation from our house into the workplace with this move. Now he is a good sound person and right now we are having a hard time finding a good second for him let alone being able to replace him if he leaves.
How do I get him to realize that he has caused this tension that is just poisoning the good nature of these company members?

3

Introductions / I do believe there's a Theatre in the Mountains of Kentucky

« on: Nov 05, 2014, 07:23 pm »

Basics
Name: Ali
Region: Ketucky
Title: Production Stage Manager

I completely believe that Stage Management is a lifestyle choice, and that some of the best parts about our job are the Horror Stories that we acquire and get to tell people we have lived through.

One summer I was working at an outdoor theatre and we were rep-ing 3 shows when a Derecho, land hurricane, came from the great lakes and ran down the United States. My brother, sister, Brother-in-law, and myself were all working at the same theatre in our own technical fields when we saw there was a storm coming. I started helping my brother, the master electrician, move the scrollers that don't like to get wet, from their outdoor homes to their indoor homes. My sister, the Production Stage Manager, called the National Weather Service to see how bad it was going to be and got told to evacuate all 250 patrons and 75 company members off the top of the mountain. My family had just gotten almost everyone on their way home making sure to let everyone know the weather was going to get bad when we started doing our final checks. By the time we all met at center stage when we were done we stopped talking because there was an odd whistle coming from the gorge about 100 yards away. We looked over the top of the house to see odd specks going up the side of the mountain. It hit us all at the same time, it was trees getting thrown so far into the air they looked like dust. We looked at each other and screamed to everyone, "Get the *@&$ inside!" at the same time. out of the 325 people on top of that mountain that day not one person got hurt.

If you want the full story and are driving through eastern Kentucky we can meet up and swap Horror stories.