Messages

106

The Green Room / SMs in media?

« on: Apr 15, 2006, 07:06 pm »

I did a show called Durang 6 where we did 6 short plays by Christopher Durang.  I felt so special during Actors Nightmare when the Stage Manager is on at the beginning calling places and 'preparing the set' for the show.  It's a small little piece of the show but it just felt so great watching the actor do that!  It's always fun to see Stage Manager's as a part in a show or film.

107

The Green Room / thank you notes

« on: Apr 15, 2006, 07:04 pm »

I do thank you notes for all cast and crew, and usually buy a small gift for my ASM and Director.  You want to leave a good impression... as stated above, you never know who might know someone.  That one thank you note may serve as a rememberance of you work, and therefore may get you another job.  I also just love thanking the cast and crew to show that everyone in every area or production is appreciated.

108

College and Graduate Studies / Anyone been to U/RTA's?

« on: Apr 15, 2006, 05:26 pm »

I was just curious as to if anyone here has been to U/RTA's and what their audition/interviews were like?  I know you have to show your portfolio and then the schools decide if they want to interview you, and I've been on the U/RTA website to get information, but just wanted to get an insider look at the process to see what I need to start preparing.  I have friends who have gone for Scene Design and Costume Design, but I would like to get information from a Stage Management point of view.  Also, if you were accepted to an U/RTA school, what do you think helped you to get in?  Any information that would help me out I would greatly appreciate.  Thanks!

109

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / What to do After the Show Closes

« on: Apr 11, 2006, 10:47 pm »

I have a really hard time letting things go, especially productions.  When you've worked so incredibly hard on something and then it's over, it definitely messes with your pattern.  I try to avoid this by jumping straight into another show, but when I have the downtime between shows I feel completely worthless!  At the end of each show, I get the cast to sign a program or a poster.  After each show is over, I take the time to frame each poster and program, get pictures together.. that sort of thing.  I also play photographer during the rehearsal process, and take random pictures of rehearsals, breaks, and all of the good times.   I then post them on my website and send the cast and crew the link so that they can copy/look at them.  This usually helps me in closing a show...but I definitely know how you feel!

110

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Calling a HUGE Show... HELP!!!!!

« on: Apr 10, 2006, 05:37 pm »

Thanks for all the feedback! I definitely agree with the clean script thing.  I'm one to keep two scripts, a blocking script and then a call script, so that I have no additional notes to distract me.  Thanks to all for the advice, I'll let you all know how it goes when we open. =)

111

College and Graduate Studies / grad schools

« on: Apr 08, 2006, 11:33 am »

Btw, I do think they are right about the above with getting more experience before you go to U/RTA.  A friend of mine is a fabulous scenic designer, graduated in 2005, and took a semester off to design shows around Wilmington.  He designed about 6 shows during that time, and got into Indiana with full tuition and stipend, etc.  If you haven't done much besides university level, then I definitely suggest taking a semester or a year to get involved elsewhere and doing other things before taking the dive with URTA.  It'll definitely make you stand out and increase your chances, especially since there are so many people and so few spots!

112

College and Graduate Studies / grad schools

« on: Apr 08, 2006, 11:22 am »

For Grad School, the URTA schools I'm looking at are Univ of Illiois Urbana/Champaigne, Univ of Alabama, UC Irvine, and Iowa.  You can go to www.urta.com and look up all of the schools that offer Stage Management.  Unfortunately, less than 1/3 of the schools offer MFA in Stage Management, and they don't recruit every year.  I'm also looking at Rutgers and Columbia, because I want to head further north.  If you go on URTA it helps, and also, if you just do a search on google or yahoo "MFA Stage Management", a whole list of schools comes up with that in the site, so you may find schools that you didn't even know had the program.  I just want to be a Stage Manager, but I don't feel like my undergrad degree will have prepared me enough, which is why I'm going.  We can be looking for grad school buddies  :lol:  Best of Luck!

113

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Calling a HUGE Show... HELP!!!!!

« on: Apr 08, 2006, 11:17 am »

Awesome, thank all of you sooo much.  In response to your questions, one of my flymen is also the scene designer and a great friend, so he is going to try get cue lights because he does not want to be tied down by a headset.   Also, I have a great lighting designer that I have worked with before, and she usually does all odd LXQ's for the ones you have to call, then records even follow cues that aren't called.  Hopefully she will do that and make it easier.  I've just never called a show of this caliber before and am a little nervous about it, so thanks so much for all of the imput, I appreciate it!  

114

SMNetwork Archives / Re: How does one deal with being a stage manager and a frien

« on: Apr 07, 2006, 09:32 pm »

It's hard because you always encounter these situations where you have great friends working with you on a production.  I am also an undergrad, so many of my productions are with peers too.  I've found that if you are serious about the job, you have to be a stage manager and a friend all at once, but find that delicate balance.  It's sooo hard sometimes!! I've found too though that some of my friends, and even enemies lol, respect me more as a friend because I am what they consider a "good" stage manager. I'm able to be firm with everyone, while also maintaining good healthy relationships too.  You have to get your duties done, and also try to be a friend, cheerleader, and everything else.  It's a had job but someone has to do it right!

115

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Calling shows: Calling a HUGE Show... HELP!!!!!

« on: Apr 07, 2006, 09:24 pm »

I'm really lucky because I'm pretty much the only SM at my University, so I really get the experience on a variety of shows.  I just took on Footloose for a  huge theatre company here in town (where the house the touring Broadway shows, etc.), and this is the first shows that I have actually been scared to call.  We are working a fly system where there will be 1-2 drops flown in during each scene, and the director is looking for about 500+ lighting cues, a lot of them overlapping/right behind each other.   I work the Warning, Stand By, Go procedure for cues, and also use different color glow dots to represent each cue and each area (lights, sound, backdrops).  I was just wondering if anyone has any suggestions about calling all of these cues right behind the next, and what works well for everyone else?  This is a show that could make me or a break me for this company, and I really don't want to screw anything up, so any advice would be great!  Thanks =)