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Messages - PSMKay

Pages: 1 [2] 3 4 ... 91
16
Introductions / Re: Hi there from Australia!
« on: Nov 04, 2017, 10:07 pm »
Ah yes, all the hidden things that only become visible when you register. All our forms and localized boards. Welcome to the site, glad you decided to register!

17
The Green Room / Re: Stage Manager Survey 2017
« on: Nov 02, 2017, 10:33 pm »
Yay! It's the survey! We love the survey! Thanks for continuing with this massive project!

18
Introductions / Re: Hello from Boston
« on: Nov 02, 2017, 08:47 am »
Personally I've always wondered why fire drills and evacuations in the dark weren't integrated into more tech weeks.

19
I started as a performer. Actually I'd gone from dancer > actor > musician > director > electrician > LD > stage manager > producer > stage manager by the time I was 19. If anything as a stage manager I regretted not spending longer on stage learning the real craft of it (as opposed to high school scenery chewing), as I needed that language to participate in table work and work with understudies.

A huge part of your job as a stage manager involves talking with performers, so knowing their language and their experience will be a definite asset. Another huge part of the job involves working with directors, who also usually emerge from performance.

PS Welcome to the site!

20
The Green Room / Dear Abby: Box Office Misbehavior
« on: Oct 23, 2017, 09:33 am »
From time to time the SMNetwork staff posts on behalf of members who wish to remain anonymous. We call these "Dear Abby" posts after the venerable newspaper advice column. This is one such post.

Quote
What would you do if you found out the theater where you're SMing is doing something you believe is illegal, but that is not physically going to put anyone in danger?

More details: My show has been oversold 4 times in the last 2 weeks, and I found out from the house manager that it isn't an accident. According to him, upper management at the theater has decided that since there are so many no-shows for every performance, they're going to just oversell the house rather than have a 'sold out' show with empty seats. The way they're doing this is by releasing tickets for sale on third-party sites like Goldstar, but then also selling those tickets via the theater's website/box office as well.

I have worked in a box office a few times over the years, and I have been told by past box office managers that selling the same seat twice is scalping and is illegal. I've never seen that law in writing or anything myself, and don't know who enforces it or how.

Having an oversold house is wildly inconvenient for me and for the house manager (show starting late, upset patrons, late seating in the middle of the house because that's the only empty seat, turning away the volunteer ushers), but no one is in danger, and as an SM hired on for one show this isn't my department or my job.

Would you say something to the theater? Try to report it to someone? Leave it alone and hope karma comes back around?

Editor's note: This is an AEA house but I'm not sure if it's IA.

21
The Green Room / Re: Remembering Nick Tochelli
« on: Oct 08, 2017, 11:22 am »
For those wishing to help with the college fund for Nick's kids, there is a donation site set up at:

https://www.youcaring.com/annalydiawilltochelli-973171

If you would like to send a check please PM me for the mailing address.

22
The Green Room / Remembering Nick Tochelli
« on: Oct 05, 2017, 10:34 pm »
I am unhappy to report the loss of one of our major contributors. Nick Tochelli, former NY SM and technician, has passed away of complications from a brain tumor at the age of 35. He leaves behind a wife and 2 kids.

His wife Anna has posted the following arrangements to his Facebook for any who wish to help the family.
Quote
Nicholas S. Tochelli II

Arthur F. White Funeral Home
Farmingdale Location
315 Conklin Street
Farmingdale, NY 11735
Tel: 1-516-249-0336

Sunday, October 8th, 2017
1-3pm, 6-8pm
In lieu of flowers, information will be provided for how to support our children's college fund.

I will keep an eye out and update with where to send donations.

23
Introductions / Re: Arizona SM here
« on: Sep 15, 2017, 05:30 am »
Welcome to the site and the other side of the stage!

24
Employment / Re: Websites part deux
« on: Aug 11, 2017, 07:28 am »
Looks good, Becca. Like the color palette. On my screen the cursive font in the header is a bit hard to read with the drop shadow and the body text could be a bit bigger. Just for professionalism I'd suggest putting in your own favicon, but I'm not sure if that's possible with the free version of wix.

I'll drop a copyedit of your body text in your PM box in a few minutes.

25
The Green Room / MOVED: SM Inspired Mom Blog
« on: May 04, 2017, 10:35 am »

26
Tools of the Trade / Re: Steel toe boots?
« on: Apr 25, 2017, 07:43 am »
Speaking as a veteran of Chicago non-equity, most of the big houses are all IA and the smaller houses are super tiny. In a lot of the storefronts you can't even be on book backstage because the audience will be able to hear your page turns.

If you're working non-equity your main focus will be silence while moving backstage more than protecting your feet from major damage during load ins.

The most I had to do for a load in was sorting props and the occasional piece of furniture. I did sustain some pretty major injuries but most were due to repeatedly falling down flights of stairs in the dark.

27
The Hardline / Dear Abby: When/If to leave a show
« on: Mar 14, 2017, 05:43 pm »
From time to time SMNetwork staff members post questions on behalf of members who wish to remain anonymous. This is one of these questions. In this case I have added one word for the sake of clarity, in brackets.
=======================
I'm about a month out from doing a show with a company I have not previously worked with, as a PA. I was recommended for the job by the Equity SM, who I've worked with before.

We were just working on a show together, and we were going over the schedule together, and chatting about the production meeting they had just had, which I wasn't present for. The SM mentioned that at the production meeting the director mentioned that they wanted to use me (the PA) as the house manager, which, from what she described, sounds very involved and complex, and cuts in to my half hour pre set checks.

I was a bit concerned by this, but small companies often do stuff like this, so I sort of let it go.

Then, right after the other show we were working on closed, the SM called to let me know that the director was behaving very strangely; we have one actor who will be absent for an entire week of rehearsal, and apparently they want me (the PA) to step in as an understudy. The SM mentioned to them that there is an Equity rule that prohibits someone doing two or more roles at once (for example acting and stage managing the same show), and that it would also be really challenging for me to do so much when we were moving into runs and I would be needed backstage.

Long story short, the SM left the show due to the blowback they received.

And, I should mention that none of this information has come from the company itself, everything I know (including everything pertaining to me) has come from the SM.

So my question is this: Should I follow in the SM's footsteps and leave? I don't want to be taken advantage of, and I'm pretty nervous that they haven't said anything to me about what I am apparently expected to do.

Should I wait to see who the [replacement] SM is? Part of me is nervous about leaving a show with a company I haven't worked for and whether that might hurt my chances of getting hired elsewhere, plus, if I left I wouldn't have a job, which I was counting on.

But there's a part of me that feels like, if the SM was driven out a month before the rehearsals even start, then maybe I should trust their instincts and get out while I can.

Sorry to ramble, but I would really love some advice/insight. Thank you!

28
So this means that by using the search term site:actorsequity.org/docs/codes filetype:pdf and site:actorsequity.org/docs/rulebooks filetype:pdf in Google you can get a reasonably complete index of all codes & rulebooks respectively.

29
The Green Room / Re: Oscar Night 2017: How to teach from it
« on: Mar 02, 2017, 02:17 am »
So continuing on this train of thought, it appears that person who confused the envelopes was tweeting photos of winners from backstage despite being asked by his supervisors to not do so during the ceremony.

How do you guys handle social media policy or an electronics policy for your crew? Do you have one? Do you enforce it?

30
Hello and welcome. I would suggest you go back and correct the grammar on your first posts before you proceed. You can edit a post using the Modify button in its top right corner.

This is a site more stringent than even LinkedIn when it comes to presenting yourself politely.

By writing without proper grammar you are saying that your ease of writing is more important than your readers' ease of reading. Posts on here should be written with the same amount of care as school assignments or job cover letters.

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