Messages

1

Stage Management: Other / Re: Opera tips

« on: Feb 15, 2016, 04:11 pm »

Not a UK SM here, but one familiar with US Opera SM.

Also, we call our techs the Sitzprobe, stage and piano, and stage and orchestra.

Edit: Also, curious about people talking about putting 30s timings in. Do you just write the time by the dots? I was never taught to do this & I'm not sure why it would be useful if you can read music well. Does anyone care to elaborate on the uses of having the timings written in? Has anyone got any photos of examples? I can't picture it.

That's interesting about the tech names! It's always fun to learn something new

As to timings - As someone who does read music well, I still find timings useful. They can take the guess work out of when to make pages for company members. It can also help with split-second decision making backstage - Do I have time to grab a dresser? How close are we to this prop's re-entrance and do we have time to hot glue it back together, or use the backup that the designer really didn't like, but it still hanging around? Being able to look at the amount of time in black and white (as opera timings are pretty close to exact with maestro tempi) can influence the call you make.
For notation, I put the timings directly between the piano systems in blue ink. Others I've worked with put a dot or check between the systems and putting the timing in the side margin so that it can be found easily. I have an opera score around, but would have to look, since it's been awhile since I've been able to keep one. Perhaps someone else can provide a photo?

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Tools of the Trade / Re: Sticker Suggestions (or alternative)

« on: Nov 20, 2015, 08:38 pm »

I am a big fan of printing the text out on regular copy paper, and using an Elmers repositionable glue stick ($5 on amazon, sold at staples?).
Same basic idea, and it works like a sticker without worrying about it peeling up your paper. It's basically like making a post-it for all the words. I do it whenever I'm calling a musical off the music and need to insert the dialogue to know whats said in a vamp.

Hope that helps!

3

The Green Room / Re: Silly things done when we're not at our best

« on: May 01, 2015, 08:19 pm »

I told the audience of a thousand or so that we were at five minutes.

We had a series of mystery groups use the theatre this week between our shows on Sunday afternoon and this Thursday morning. I wasn't called in for any of them, which is rare. This morning everything went as normal, and it wasn't until an actor got off stage at the end of the second scene (and she told my ASM) that anyone told me the god mic was live. And even then, my ASM understood that my comm was going over mains, not everything I was saying, so I stayed off comm while my sound OP and I tried to find the problem but I was very much talking to my surtitle OP through the whole thing. D'oh!

We never use the god mic to begin with and it's usually not even patched into the board so I didn't think to test it, but that's going on my pre-show from now on!

Last week, while calling a one-man show (Buyer & Cellar), every com channel started broadcasting into the house, beginning when I called 10 Mins to End of Show and 2 standbys. I couldn't tell, because I get stage feed piped into my booth, and I hear myself in my headset anyways... My sound op came on and told me "you're live" before he heard himself and immediately went silent. My ASM turned her wireless pack on, heard the sound go live, and immediately stopped. My actor stopped too.

I thought he had dropped a line, so I was silent in the booth, crossing my fingers that he could pick it back up. He did, and we continued on. I started talking again to give the cues, and he paused. After what seemed like 5 years over the course of 10 seconds, he looked up at the booth and said, in his Barbra Streisand character, "Michelle, Honey? I think you're on the wrong channel. But it's ok. I forgive you." Total mortification followed when the audience applauded. To get through the rest of the show, I had my ASM call me so that she could relay projection cues to the operator backstage, while I talked to the LBO sitting next to me, and used the cue light only for the sound board op.

Turns out there is a "link all" button on the front of our com box, which got hit accidentally. Normally, it allows all the channels to talk to one another. But when you run your God Mic into the com, it allows for everything to be broadcast.

Guess who's always making sure that button is never depressed again?! This girl!!

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Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: CALLING: Articulation marks in SM calling script

« on: Feb 17, 2015, 05:35 pm »

MitchieSM, do you wait until opening until putting them in? I would imagine that sticky dots are a pain to re-position...

Like BayAreaSM said, the ones I use aren't difficult to move at all. I use the Avery 1/4" colored dots that aren't see through, because they're the ones I can find consistently in stores. And I tend to have a number of pre-used ones littering the insides of my binders from ones that have been changed or gotten rid of. So I always have a store of them that I can easily pull from.


If we're in the middle of something, and I've already written out a long cue, I just move the dot and leave the words until a break when I can rewrite everything back out. But I will change things around as I get more comfortable with it. Or as I learn that counting all the people in my warnings takes much more time and the list of people I'm looking for needs to be pushed back a page or two, so that I can still give the warning in the proper spot...

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Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: CALLING: Articulation marks in SM calling script

« on: Feb 10, 2015, 01:29 pm »

Mine differ for whatever kind of show I'm calling.

If I'm using the musical score, for opera or musicals, I use colored dots for all my Warnings/Standbys/GOs. For warnings and standbys, I put the colored dot first, at the time I should start saying it. My GOs, though, I write above the music that I should start saying it with, leaving the colored dot for the placement of the GO so that I know I have enough time to articulate everything.

When I'm working on a musical or straight play where I'm calling from words, I use a little asterisk for when the talking should happen. Particularly if it's a fast paced show.

6

College and Graduate Studies / Re: Best schools for SM.

« on: Oct 10, 2014, 07:12 pm »

University of Michigan has an awesome SM program.

The theater department has a number of ways to become an SM - a BFA program, a BTA (Theater Arts) program, a BA program, as well as the ability to be in a different college within the University and still take a number of SM classes with opportunities. The SM department is small enough that you know everyone, and can get individualized attention with your yearly/semesterly show assignments, but it's within the scope and with the amenities of a large university. It's located in a hip town (Ann Arbor, MI), and the two are integrated really well, so there is no insulated campus. There are lots of student organizations outside of the theatre department that are extremely well established and student run, so you have many opportunities outside of the larger producing body to gain experience. There are lots of things to do outside of theatre world too! Sports, concerts, lectures, anything you'd guess from a Big Ten university. We also have a large alumni base around the country that can help you gain employment after graduation, whether you decide to stick with theater, or change directions.

Go Blue!

7

Tools of the Trade / Re: [FAQ] Electronic Prompt Copies

« on: Apr 19, 2014, 01:58 am »

One thing I like about the newer editions of Word- I find that when doing digital calling scripts, I don't like to spend a lot of time formatting and re-formatting the callout boxes themselves, so I edit a blank callout until it suits me, and then save it as a "Quick Part". I end up with a blank "standby" bubble, a box with a tail (for cues called off of a line), a box with no tail (for visual cues), etc that I can pull up quickly. I don't remember seeing this feature in older versions (or maybe I just didn't know about it). But it saves me a lot of time when typing up cues.

I just figured out a way to save these callouts as a "Gallery", so you can save all the different shapes you use on a menu above the text and quickly pull the one you need into the document. (Basically the same thing, but I'm using OpenOffice on this computer and it works a little differently).

On the "Tools" menu- select "Gallery", which pulls down the gallery to sit at the top of the page. Select the object with the cursor, release it, then click and hold for 2 seconds, and continue dragging it onto the Gallery. The Gallery stays saved even after the program closes so you can use it from show to show.

Hey Maribeth-
What version of word are you using? I just made a script using call outs and copy/pasting them, but I wish I had read this before! I can't figure out how to do galleries or quick parts in Word 2010.

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Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: PEOPLE: Keeping it Straight with BIG CASTS

« on: Mar 13, 2014, 04:49 pm »

Working in opera, I'm also a big fan of having the number of people that you'll be sending onstage. I'll keep a list of last names (tends to be easier to differentiate between 5 different Marys, or the Billy Smith/Betty Sacks issue) so that if I'm missing a person I can go through the list of names, but if I know I'm supposed to have 27 people entering from the SR3 ramp, I find it easier to count heads before going through the list of people.

And even though it's a big group, you will learn almost every single person. Delegating out groups, like dramachic mentions is always a good plan to get everyone's name. And when you just can't remember, most people don't mind a 'hey, friend!' or another generic welcome to get their attention.

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Introductions / Joining the gang

« on: Feb 24, 2014, 04:31 pm »

It's nice to actually join! I've used the site on and off for a couple years now, so I figured it's about time. I hail from Michigan (literally - Go Blue!), and currently work in AZ.

As for a fun little story, nothing too crazy. I spend my summers working opera, so that comes with diva personalities. They're even more fun to deal with when there's a language barrier (Russian this time)! Our show had lots of white costumes, and LOTS of blood since 5 people were killed through the show (guns, daggers, axes) with 3 deaths happening onstage. It made for some interesting communication with the singers