Messages

46

The Green Room / Re: Mini Rant---SM T-shirts and products

« on: Jun 15, 2014, 12:57 pm »

I'm not a big t-shirt person, though I might go for a coffee mug with the "Already Calm - I'm the Stage Manager." I don't think that's "dickish," though the "Keep Calm" thing has become way overused.

47

The Green Room / Re: The Stage Manager's Nightmare

« on: Jun 13, 2014, 11:35 am »

I had a new one, last night!

I work a lot of rental shows where the performer(s) show up with their sound on an iPod. Usually it's just one continuous playlist, so I plug it into the board, check levels, make sure it's in Airplane Mode, and make sure it's not on shuffle. Usually it's a "spare" iPod, so it stays in the booth for the length of their run.

Last show I did ran off the performers personal iPhone, however (also, no dialogue, just continuous soundtrack!). She took it back between performances and home every night.

I guess this made me more anxious than I realized, because last night I dreamed that she forgot it, one day. She came in and said, "No problem, I'll just improvise some other show to what's on your iPod!" With a full house and the owner of the company in the audience. What a disaster!

48

Self-Promotion / Re: Theatres That Have Opened - Easing the Emergency

« on: Jun 06, 2014, 06:23 pm »

Arís Theatre in Atlanta, GA. Opened June 2013.

49

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / PEOPLE: Handling outrageous requests OR "Not My Division!"

« on: May 30, 2014, 05:16 pm »

I'd like to hear how other people handle those "you want what, now?" requests from performers. Things they seem to want you, specifically, to handle for them, but that are completely absurd.

I'm not talking about constant thermostat adjustments or special laundry soap for allergies.

I'm talking about things like a new performer at the theatre who doesn't like the comp policy and wants you, the Stage Manager, to find a workaround for them.

Or one who wants cases of bottled water in the green room, not because there is no potable water backstage, but because the green room drinking fountain, "doesn't have enough pressure to fill my water bottle quickly." (It does, I fill my bottle at it all the time)

Or the artist who is outraged the theatre did not buy a brand new $300 mic element for him, because he's germophobic. And wants to know what bathroom arrangements are being made for him because he doesn't want to use the same bathroom the cast of the other show is using.

Or who shows up at the theatre hours after everyone else has left and wants to know why there's no one there to let them in to take a shower.

I want to roll my eyes and say, "Suck it up, Buttercup! We're a fairly poor not-for profit, and these are the facilities we have!" What I do is listen to them rave and then calmly repeat, "I understand your concern, but this is what we have to use and this is the policy that relates to it." Lather, rinse, repeat a couple of times and eventually they get the message because I cannot just magic another bathroom or a never-used-before mic element out of thin air.

But that tactic is wearing a bit thin, especially on things like tickets, facilities, and sound that are "Not my circus, not my monkey." Anyone have another way of handling it?

Edited to add topic tag. - Maribeth

50

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: TERMS YOU NEVER HEARD OF BEFORE

« on: May 29, 2014, 07:00 pm »

Where I work now, we have a "Big List." Essentially it's the prop/scenery/costume/music/SFX/puppet lists in one big list, divided up by scene. I've actually never found a use for it that each of those individual lists (also still produced) can't cover. But it's what they ask for, so it's what I produce!

51

The Green Room / Re: comic abt SMs, LDs and DSs

« on: Apr 08, 2014, 11:08 am »

I hope it keeps up. I've found it pretty entertaining so far!

52

Tools of the Trade / Who builds your Qlab file, and how?

« on: Apr 04, 2014, 02:21 pm »

This is a subject for those who might be working in smaller theatres where you as the stage manager run the boards, instead of calling cues to operators. It also ties in a bit to digital prompt books.

I work mostly in small theatres, and a lot of shows I run lights and sound myself, off Qlab. More and more I've found myself building the Q list instead of picking up and running a list built for me by sound designers or MEs.

As a matter of fact, more and more Qlab tends to be my prompt script. I'm able to set it up to my liking in terms of groups and such, change the color for certain cues, drop in reminder notes about sound mixing, and build cue lines right into the names of the Qs. Since I'm only looking back and forth between the screen and stage, instead of screen, stage and script, I'm able to keep my eyes on the stage more than I otherwise would. AND if the other stage manager has to come run my show for some emergency reason (or I have to do hers) we both find it easier to follow each other's Qlab files for a show we've never run before than turning pages on a unfamiliar  prompt script while trying to mix mics and run lights and sound.

(I still construct a running script for the archive, but that's usually well after we've opened. Modifying Qlab data during tech is way faster than erase and write in a script!)

Does anyone else build your own Qlab files? Or modify ones given to you by designers to fit your needs?

53

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

« on: Mar 15, 2014, 09:57 am »

I did a horrible one earlier this week. I sent the text: "Jon (specialty director for some very specific bits of the show) just left in disgust because we spent 40 minutes working a new gag instead of one of the things that doesn't CURRENTLY work. Tonight is a drinking night."

It was supposed to go to my girlfriend, who is my best cheerleader in difficult show situations and always helps me rally my mood and energy.

Instead, it went to the choreographer. 

54

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Dear Abby: Gay students in the dressing room

« on: Mar 04, 2014, 11:06 am »

What do you do?

I mean you can really make this point about anything, but most of us, us theatre folk, advocate all kinds of acceptance but when are we "forcing our ideas on someone else" just like we accuse others of.

I was thinking this to myself earlier in the thread.  Often times those that are the strongest advocates of "tolerance" are the least tolerant of any viewpoint that isn't their own.  I've found this to be pretty universal across the political spectrum.  It's quite interesting, but maybe best left for another topic.

Thing is, if the question were, "What do I do about assigning dressing rooms to a black actor? I'm afraid the other cast members might be uncomfortable sharing a dressing room with him," we wouldn't be having a side discussion about tolerance. It's an absurd question in this day and age.

No, we can't force tolerance on others. Either they are comfortable or they aren't and it all has to do with what goes on in their own head. But we can and should enforce working conditions wherein every company member feels safe, productive, and valued. And this means everyone behaves civilly. Frankly, I don't want to work with anyone, or expose other company members to anyone, who can't be polite and get along with the sorts of "different" people they might have to work with. This work is hard enough.

55

The Green Room / Re: [GAME] The Show Report

« on: Feb 28, 2014, 10:30 am »

Solution: Scene partner David gave up his "whiskey" to help her wash it down, and then went to stare awkwardly out the window until the scene could resume.

Problem: Something unknown went awry in the new llight board in scene 2, and every smart light (i.e. most of the plot) did not do anything the rest of the show.

(yes, this was an opening night years ago)

56

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

« on: Feb 27, 2014, 09:55 am »

Dallas, Ouch!

Awww, come on, no one else has ever succumbed to the just plan sillies?

57

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

« on: Feb 26, 2014, 10:38 am »

Stage Managers are not superheros. As much as we try not to let bad days affect our jobs, we are only human, and sometimes we have slips. I wanna know what sort of silly things you have done on a bad day, whether you're flustered because your alarm didn't go off, or you had a fender bender on the way to work, or you just broke up, or what.

Yesterday, I woke up 40 minutes late (on the first day of rehearsal!) because my alarm clock died on me. I had gotten a GIANT stack of new sheet music files to print the day before that I had to do once I got to the theatre on the cantankerous copier, and it started raining as soon as I came up out of the train station, carrying my laptop, backpack, and Kit. I was NOT having a good day.

Near the end of rehearsal, I looked up from the notes I was taking, and saw something absurd. I almost yelled at the offender to stop chewing on the curtains. The puppet that was chewing on the curtains. I had already opened my mouth when I remembered, it's a PUPPET. It doesn't have ears; it can't hear me. It doesn't act on it's own. And it doesn't have salivary glands, so it can't hurt the curtains.

I knew at that point I was just done with the day. I'm just glad I didn't actually say anything!

58

The Green Room / Re: Personal Budgeting

« on: Feb 18, 2014, 10:55 am »

I made my own fairly simple spreadsheet; it's not hard to make or maintain, and SO HELPFUL!

First three columns list each of my monthly bills, their due date, and how much they are (if it's a bill that varies by month like water or power, I update that last column every time I get a statement). Then there's a total below that last column; that my total to pay my regular bills for the month. 

Then I add two more columns. I get paid bi-weekly, so the next column just splits all the bill amounts in two. I total that column, and that's how much I have to take out of my paycheck every two weeks and deposit in a checking account I use only for paying bills.

The column after that multiplies the previous column by 1.1, or increases the amounts by 10%. That's how much I try to take out of my paycheck and deposit into the bills checking account.

You don't really notice that 10% difference, but boy it helps! If a bill suddenly goes up, you have the money socked away to cover it. After a few months of putting an extra 10% into a bills only account, you'll discover that you have a month's worth of bills saved up. Then two. Then three. When you realize that if you're unemployed for three months you can pay yours bills, even without unemployment? That's a gorgeous feeling of freedom.

59

The Green Room / Re: tech week bingo game

« on: Jan 22, 2014, 04:51 pm »

Oh, I LOVE it. I'm almost tempted to pass it out to the designers and ME during my next tech.

60

Tools of the Trade / Re: POLL: Paperwork Ownership

« on: Jan 17, 2014, 05:32 pm »

What I've always wondered is why don't theatres, especially ones that have specific needs in their paperwork, provide the templates themselves? Pay an SM, their resident if they have one, and use the templates generated by them for all shows.
I mean, I take as much pride in a well-crafted piece of paperwork as the next SM, but there's a limit to the usefulness of individuality.
I used to have a show report form that I'd used for YEARS, in several different venues. But one day, the producing manager, of a theatre for which I was doing my first show, sent me a nasty e-mail saying my paperwork wasn't up to snuff, and they wanted data points A, B, and C, (which were kind of absurd things) and I needed to change the format is was presented in. Okay, whatever, I added the categories and moved some things around.
The next theatre I worked for, I got an opposite e-mail about a piece of paperwork I'd been using for years that said, "Oh, we don't need information X, just cut it out of reports from now on."
And then there are those remounts where I go to look at the old book and the paperwork is awful, practically illegible.
All of these issues would be resolved if each theatre had their own paperwork templates. "This is how we do the paperwork around here. This is the exact information we need in the format everyone is used to seeing it in." Sure, they can't plan a piece of paperwork that will cover every contingency, but if you need to make a new one to cover something specific for your show, you at least have an idea the sort of format the theatre likes!