Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.


Messages - BenTheStageMan

Pages: 1 [2] 3 4
16
Introductions / Re: Hello from Kentucky!
« on: Jun 16, 2016, 12:07 pm »
Hi Brent,
Welcome to the forum.  I'm a UK grad myself, Arts Administration major.  Are you doing the workshop with the university or somewhere else? 

17
Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Master Cue Sheet
« on: Jun 08, 2016, 01:45 pm »
The typical layout for a Master Cue Sheet is all of the cues in order they are called.  Usually with a description of each cue and where it is called.  Lights, Sound, Deck, Rail, etc. are all intermingled.
However, to be honest, I have never used a Master Cue Sheet except for one show in college where it was required by a professor.  It's never seemed necessary outside of college.  Of course I've created cue sheets for deck and rail, and lighting designers sometimes create light or follow spot cue sheets, but they've always been separate for me.
What I do have is a run sheet which lists every entrance, exit, set change, rail cue, and anything else that needs to happen backstage.  But lights, sound, etc, don't go on there.

I'm sure other SMs can chime in about their own experiences.

18
Introductions / Re: Hello Everyone
« on: Apr 05, 2016, 10:54 pm »
I second this.  Was supervising a tech recently where the Director and SM apparently decided to wait to figure things out in tech and let me tell you it was a rough few days!  You've got to at least have a plan A, though like they say no battle plan survives contact with the enemy!

19
Seconding what Maribeth said, I prefer to use numbers when possible, but frequently (and especially in musicals) there just isn't time.
To me a stand-by is a 30-second warning.  If there's less than 30 seconds between cues, they get stood-by together, like a chain.
Like Maribeth said, if there's a break it's helpful to break the number into chunks of standbys.

Other departments involved in the sequence do affect it too.  I crewed a show once where we got a rail standby about 2 minutes out from the end of a song because of all the light cues and I found I had to focus very hard to keep my mind (or my body, once) from wandering away from the rail and miss the cue.  Also, having board oped, it can be hard to be in standby for a long sequence of light cues listening for the one sound cue, for minutes on end.

But good on the designer for being so prepared that s/he has cues already!  They are perhaps trying too hard to be helpful with the recommending standby's, but I think it's easier to filter out too much information that to not get enough from a designer.

20
There is a recurring production of a one-man A Christmas Carol that has been running for 6 years.  I've been the SM of this show twice (years 4 and 6) and wouldn't turn the show down if offered again.  Each year there is some kind of innovation which helps spice things up.  In year 4 we added a chandelier, in year 5 they added more set dressing, and this most recent year a few older set pieces were replaced and a large window used in another production that year was adapted to fit the show and add some more depth.
Being able to revisit a piece each year really hones it.  The actor tweaks the script slightly each year, adding one or two sentences that he skipped before, taking out a word or two that are confusing and don't get a response.  The lighting designer adds specials on new set pieces to create new shadows, and sound cues are enhanced.  For every show I do (and this goes for many theatre professionals) I ask "What would I have done differently."  Remounting a show is the perfect chance to do that thing differently.
I'm remounting an entirely different production later this season, with the potential to transfer the show at a later date, and I'm thinking of it more as moving back in to an old home.  How can I rearrange the furniture to fix the things I didn't like it the first time I lived there?  That's how I stay sane.

21
I send out reports no matter what.  I will include notes even if I've given them verbally to designers and/or production staff.  My ASM even sometimes asks me to put a note for her into the report so she remembers to do something before the next show (fix a prop, pin a curtain, etc).  Even if everyone knows their notes at the end of a night, we are all human and we forget and having a report as a reminder is so helpful.

22
I worked at a house with a Britta pitcher and a stack of hard plastic (not disposable) cups on each side of the stage.  We washed the cups each day in the dishwasher.  Actors would often bring up their own water bottles and set them on the water tables.
I know other SM teams taped out water tables like prop tables with labels for each actor so they had their own specific cup or space for their water bottle, but that might be more work than necessary.
Having a stock of reusable plastic cups seems more economical in the long run, but so might saving the dish washing/resetting time by using disposable.  Depends on the financial priorities of the theatre.

23
In response to the initial question, my default note is "No notes, thanks" to each of the departments, and "Nothing to report" in the Absent/Late/Illness-type section, since it is not addressed to anyone.

I think the culture of theatre that I have been immersed in, "Please" and "Thank You" are almost like punctuation.  Even to the point that rather than calling "Hold" in tech, I usually end up calling a "Thank you, hold please!"  To me I think it stems from the "Thank you, five" style acknowledgements we so often get.  I've heard actors saying thank you as a way of acknowledging they understand a director's note. "Thanks" is also almost a default email closing for many people I interact with.  Even yesterday I got an email from wardrobe saying they fixed a costume piece, and the email was signed with a "Thanks!"  Are they thanking me for asking them to fix the costume?  Thanking me for reading the email?

In a "No notes, thanks" situation, to me it's me saying "Thank you for reading," or even "Everything is good, thank you for contributing."  I do try to say "Thank You for..." when we recieve new props in rehearsal, as a way of acknowledging our receipt and indicating the prop suits our needs.  Otherwise, there's a separate note about what should be changed about the prop, and usually those include a "Please."  If a note was addressed in the run, I may simply state that something was fixed, but occasionally I do say thank you in a performance report.

Maybe this is all because I am a younger SM and make up for my lack of klout with politeness.  But I find with the people who I work with on a daily basis I do need to infuse the extra "Please" and "Thank you" to keep things friendly, and to get results, but that may be a unique wrinkle of how my theater works.

Beyond that, to me, "Please" does not have the inferred meaning of "Do this, if it pleases you."  It's a signal that something is needed.  I say "please" to an ASM, even if they need to do something whether it pleases them or not.  In the same way, "Thank You" doesn't carry the meaning of "You are so gracious in doing this for me, who is unworthy."  It's a closing of the loop opened with please.  An acknowledgement that I am satisfied, that the outstanding need as been fulfilled.  And ultimately thanking the person for their time and interaction, because even if it's someone's job to do something for you, I believe you should still thank them for it.

24
The Green Room / Re: Pet Peeve - Mobile Email Signatures
« on: Dec 04, 2015, 10:15 pm »
I had an actor who tended to Reply-All to daily schedules (until I started BCCing everyone to prevent this) with a "Got It!"  Every time.  Like a human Delivery Confirmation.  Her phone's email signature was a cutesy "Big fingers, small keys. Pardon pesky typos, please."
Of course some of the production staff joked about it from time to time.  Brought to a head when my costume designer sent me an email with the signature "Big fingers, riding the bus, sending from my phone - none of this rhymes."

25
You could also consider the locations of the dressing rooms and the entrance of the space.  If the audience comes in from one side the space, that side of the stage could be downstage.  If the dressing rooms are behind one of the set walls, that wall can be upstage.
You could also choose where the booth is as the Downstage direction.
AND if you want to be very radical about it: the point of the playing space that is at the corner of the seating could be downstage, with the far corner upstage.

Plenty of options.  But like Maribeth said it's important that everyone be on the same page about the directions.

26
Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Rehearsal Reports
« on: Oct 18, 2015, 10:10 pm »
I also could send some detailed report samples.  Perhaps too detailed at times...

27
It might be too much work, but you could take mobile, messy notes, and later transfer them into a standard script.  One that can be referenced outside of the space, if needed, safe from the humidity.  I love the contractor clipboard too.

28
Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: STAGING: Realistic CPR
« on: Jul 18, 2015, 06:14 pm »
Also consider establishing some kind of "tell" for the "unconscious" actor to signal that something isn't going right.  Perhaps the padding isn't where it's supposed to be, or something didn't line up and some of the force from the compressions is hurting them, etc.  Something that signals to the person performing CPR they need to be shifted, or change up the angle, tale a break for a second, or even full on abort.  An unobtrusive hand signal, crossing of fingers, foot movement, eyebrow twitch--something that might be hidden from the audience in the chaos but the actors are looking for.  Plan out the signal, and establish a plan b or c.  Make sure everyone knows how it should be if it's going right, so they can tell when something is going wrong.

29
Although, bringing up AEA, I've seen this with Equity SM job listings as well.

30
The Green Room / Re: Has anyone else ever noticed....
« on: Jun 17, 2015, 02:51 pm »
In a nice example of this principal, I shadowed Maribeth on Sunday and lo and behold, the cue light control box died at the end of Intermission!
As the shadow, it was cool to see someone else dealing with a technical problem, which she did very well!  After just a few moments of troubleshooting, once it was clear that hitting the box (the sound engineer's solution) wasn't going to fix it, she came up with a plan to have the ASMs cue actors on at the top of the act, and off we went.  As each sequence that involved cue lights approached, she talked through the cues with the ASMs and then called them over the headsets.  It went very smoothly--I know this is usually the fallback plan if the cue lights fail, but it was nice to see it put into practice.

Although I imagine if I hadn't been there this wouldn't have happened, right?  The curse of the shadow  ;D

Pages: 1 [2] 3 4