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Messages - prizm

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The Hardline / assigning Dance Captain
« on: Aug 01, 2014, 02:24 am »
OK I've been at this a while and am lost. My producer contacted me today after reading in the report who was assigned Dance Captain by Choreographer. She is honestly the best suited out of the cast but is EMC and not equity yet. The producer thinks the position has to go to an Equity member, I know I have done several shows where the DC or a Fight Captain was non union to save money.
In this case I think the choice was made because she was the best choice and not to save money, obviously the producer wants to have a union member.
The language in the contract says there has to be one, it never says they have to be union.
does anyone know the rule here? Ive already sent the question out to my rep but she is out of town for 5 days and I would like to avoid embarrassment for this girl if I have to take the gig away from her.

Contract is SPT by the way.

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The Hardline / Re: Half Hour Call
« on: Apr 16, 2009, 12:11 am »
this is all true. Thanks I hardly ever work SPT but I never thought to look in duties of the actor so it is most likely there for all contracts. I see your point on the 10 min call issue. the truth is I said I have to go check on the house and its like 3mins to 10 and wasnt able to get back till 8mins which is more my point. If I though he wasnt trying to push me and actually needed it I would have given it to him the show is only 80mins its not like I cant be flexible.

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Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: A Chorus Line
« on: Apr 14, 2009, 03:26 pm »
Well ACL for me was a fun show though my director added a lot of mirror moves in the back and we had 20 or so on flys for the song that she danced "into" so that bit took a while. We also had several follow spots. On that note I was always trained to call spots then I went into IA houses where spots took their own cues or there was a spot caller. I have settled on calling spots in and out and let them refer to their cue sheets for size color and who. though I keep those nots in my book should there be a sub.

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The Hardline / Re: Half Hour Call
« on: Apr 14, 2009, 03:10 pm »
I have always given 1/2 hour if the actors are getting into costume otherwise its just a normal rehearsal. This leads me to another question. I hope it dosen't diverge too much. Where is the rule that says the SM has to give calls (ie.1/2 hour, 15min, 10min, 5min places). I have always assumed this was just a courtesy, but i was told by a deputy when i missed the 10min call that I had to hold curtain. I of course said no cause I called 1/2 hour. I tried to find something in the book to support me but I couldn't even find a rule requiring an actor to be in the space 30mins prior to curtain. I found rules that reference 1/2 hour but that is it.

5
I have read though all of this and I agree that times are hard. But I also agree that we need to work hard not to create a self-fulfilling prophecy. I have been on every side of this situation recently. I was a resident PSM at a company which decided after we were in rehearsals for the second show in our season to stop producing. Everyone was sent home we changed shows opened and closed in a week. The staff was laid off on closing and the theater is now trying to stay open as a rental house for other companies. My point is I have been there but since then I have seen the panic out there. And I think some are mistaking fiscal responsibility for dooms day. I have been at a theater that has made some major cut backs recently eliminating part time and over hire and scaling back on shows. They are however working with their board to make it safely through this mess. I have no fear that things may get a bit tough but having see what closes a theater up close I know they arent headed that way. But all this talk has people scared and its infectious and it scares me more than talking about theaters closing. 

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The Hardline / Deputy on a One Man Show
« on: Apr 14, 2009, 02:41 pm »
Ok before I call equity about this I wanted to hear from others, because I wants this to be a non-issue if possible. I am doing a one Man show  SPT10 (so there is only one actor and me). He has flat out refused to be deputy. I feel the deputy in a one man show is no big deal. Its just the two of us so he should come to me with issues. Am  I wrong? Does he have to be deputy? Do I have to to the deputy paperwork or can I just let that go?

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The Hardline / Re: AEA - LORT - REP - QUESTION #2
« on: Dec 31, 2006, 12:57 am »
well it depends on the rep, the schedule and the people you have. I worked at a LORT REP for two years and we did a six show rep so the scheduling was tight but it was a science. If you gave me more specifics I might be able to help. We had PA's that were MFA students so they took the brunt of the load but for the rep we had 3 SM's each had two shows as SM and two shows as ASM. Again the PA's did a good portion of the typical ASM paperwork. We would rehearse 4 shows open two add the nest to into the halls open the next and so on. Once you get into performance its just remembering which show and which space you are in and wheather or no there is a fight call. Now if you have to have a brush up or put in then things get a bit fuzzy cause you have to try and do it when the right set is in place. The only issue I ever ran into was when they extended the run of a show prior to rep into the rep rehearsal period. which put me on three shows at one time. But I took the overtime and didnt sleep for two weeks. The money was nice so I didnt complain. Id be happy to look for an old schedule to send if youd like.

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The Hardline / Re: Can they be Deputy?
« on: Dec 31, 2006, 12:47 am »
well just to finalize things there ended up being two actors that were not on the prodution team and one walked into the meeting saying " I want to go to bed so Ill be deputy" So decision made. The company was also able to shift between AEA and Management easily and cause me no issues there. So it all worked out for the best. There were other issues that arose and let me tell you having them there made things a lot easier when it came to talking to the few people who wernt involved in the production. They usually got to it before me as i still had rehearsal and they took care of it during a break. So the field was "softer" when I got there.

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The Hardline / Re: National Touring with Equity
« on: Nov 16, 2006, 07:42 pm »
that is a good point, I guess I never though of it that way. Perhapse in the future I will ask for individual mail at the hotels or ask the actors if they want stubs on the road or with the avaliability of internet if they can just be held at the theatre untill our return.

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The Hardline / Can they be Deputy?
« on: Nov 16, 2006, 07:39 pm »
Ok I am about to start rehersal on a show on the CORST contract and I have an intersting situation. The company has meet its AEA minimum but besides myself the AEA compant consists of one outside actor, the production manager, the company manager, the artistic director the bisnuess manager, the assistant TD, the costume designer... well you see where I am going with this. cna someone on the producing side of the show be Deputy? They are actors during rehearsal but still represent management. Or does the one outside actor have to be Deputy? This is about the oddest thing to walk into on ones first day of prep. well let me know if you have any words of wisdom

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The Hardline / Re: National Touring with Equity
« on: Nov 05, 2006, 01:08 am »
there was no company manager on my tour. She had cancer and had to stay behind. she worked on all her duties from home/ theatre. I have encountered several tours throughout my career that do not tour with company management. It seems to depend on the contract and the company size. we had a group of 12 including td, elex and sound. SO it was small and easily handled.
I agree with the pay stub comment, IF I had been asked to hand out an actual check I would have said no, I don't want that responsibility, a stub is a different matter for me. We set our own limits I guess, and lord knows you could put 5 people in a room to interpret 1 equity rule from the book and get 12 answers and then if you call for clarification you'll get 3 answers.

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Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Two shows at once?
« on: Nov 05, 2006, 12:57 am »
I am not sure if I can help exactly, I have been in situations where I have done up to 4 shows at one time (an extension that overlapped with already scheduled rehersals for a rep season), but all in the same building for the same company though on diffrent contracts (rep vs. non-rep). And While the overtime was great my sanity became a little lacking. I always commit 100% but getting up at 6:30am and going to bed at 2:00am for 3weeks almost killed me and in truth I found my self priortizing show needs. Such as I know the directors really wants x soon but this other show opens first so they need to get y so x will wait till another day. So I would just say know your limits. In my case it was rather poor planning on the theatre's part they often forget their SM's dont rotate in and out like directors and actors. I do however consistantly work on what I call 1.5 shows most of the time. I begin prep for my next show after I have opened my current production.

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Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Dialect Rehearsals
« on: Oct 26, 2006, 01:11 am »
I worked in a Shakespeare theatre for several years and there were always vocal sessions and I was never at them. usually they fell into the rehersal hours and were scheduled like fittings so i was in the rehersal hall anyway. But some days I would be forced to schedule rehersal to start after a vocal for a lead since they were never offstage long enough to miss an hour of rehearsal. on those occasions I treated it like the costume shop, vocal staff had a contact sheet and they could deal with it. I do give dilect notes after opening but the staff has always prepared an IPA sheet for me and I usually get copies of the notes they are given after runs. So I deal with it that way, usually the actors knows when they slipped up anyway.

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when I was working in a road house a local church had burned down and they rented out our space every Sunday. That had to be the oddest experience deciding when the cross gobo would dim up and deciding when the preacher would enter the house so I could cue the follow spot op. and lets not even get into music and mics. it was always a fun time though.

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The Hardline / Is Canada another country?
« on: Oct 26, 2006, 12:42 am »
OK I know that Canada is another country but I am wondering if anyone has had union experience dealing with a show that performs in another country. I am AEA and was offred a contract on a show that is performing in Canada and from all the conversations I had the union was never mentioned, contracts ect. Now this case may be diffrent because it is rehearsing in NYC and performing in Canada but I have head so may diffrent takes on this I was just being curious. I have heard that there is a special relationship with Canadian Equity but I am not aware if this is true or not. Let me know what you know.
On a side note I didnt take the gig because of other reasons so this is truly a curosity since I would like to work with this company in the future.

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