Messages

31

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Headset Chatter Blog

« on: Dec 27, 2014, 06:02 pm »

I read through the entirety of this blog during a very easy tech once.  It was really interesting as a window into the touring world especially.  She doesn't post very often now, but I follow her on Twitter and she's fairly active there.

Nick_tochelli I figured out you were the one she was talking about for so many of the posts.  A shame her links to your blog come back as invite only.  Although perhaps you could pass along some more information about her Filemaker database?

32

December Madness 2 / Re: SOFTWARE Division Finals: Excel vs Qlab

« on: Dec 24, 2014, 10:14 pm »

This is a tremendously hard one for me, because I personally LOVE Qlab.  I'm close to buying a (used) Mac for my theatre out of my own money just so I can use it (we're an all-HP company due to Greek Mafia-related reasons...)

But which of the two is more important to me as a Stage Manager?  In theory, a stage manager wouldn't necessarily be running cues themselves, so is Qlab really a contender for a Stage Manager's tool?  Tempest is absolutely right, there are times when Qlab enables us to do a production so much more easily than the alternative, but like BayAreaSM I think that Excel is always useful and more directly applicable to stage managers.

It kills me to do it, but I'm voting Excel.  To me, Qlab is that bad boy with the awesome car that all the girls want to date, but Excel is the chunky accountant who may be boring but at the end of the day he's what you really need.

33

December Madness 2 / Re: SOFTWARE Round 3: Photoshop vs. Filemaker

« on: Dec 08, 2014, 12:20 am »

As much as I'd love to get into databases, as far as i can tell that's beyond me for now.  However, I've definitely used Photoshop in my SM life.  One of my favorite uses is cleaning up ground plans for blocking blanks and scene change diagrams.

34

December Madness 2 / Re: SOFTWARE: Word vs Web Browser

« on: Dec 03, 2014, 02:23 pm »

Meanwhile, Google Docs just added the ability to edit MS Office Files without having to convert them to Google's formats.  Story here on Engadget:http://www.engadget.com/2014/12/02/google-drive-office-files-gmail/
Maybe it's enough to swing the votes in Web browser's favor? Or is it too little too late from team Internets?

35

December Madness 2 / Re: SOFTWARE: Word vs Web Browser

« on: Dec 02, 2014, 02:17 pm »

I have to agree with Tempest here.  Although Maribeth is right, Google's solution isn't as good about creating something to print out.  But keep in mind with Office.com, you can have Word IN a web browser!  So the web browser gets my vote.

36

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Dress blacks and what is or is not acceptable

« on: Nov 19, 2014, 06:07 pm »

I'd recommend not wearing a tie at all if you're running a backstage track.  Even with a tie clip, you're still risking getting it caught somewhere, and do you really want to be wearing something that flaps around?  It makes me think of the "No capes!" scene from The Incredibles.  I had a dresser once who wore vests and bow ties, but dressers can get away with that.

I also wouldn't personally risk slacks or button-downs either--I'd be afraid to rip them or spill something on them, or wear them out, or lose a button, or get them dusty, or, or, etc. But if you're you're not moving set pieces or working with food or a fly rail I guess it's up to you.  I just wouldn't wear something "nice" to run a show unless I was in a booth.

If you're in a booth, though, dress up to the nines if you want!  Color-wise, as LizzG said, you could consider not sticking to wearing blacks.  My personal rule is if I'm going to be onstage, say helping with an intermission shift, or if I'm in an open booth, I wear blacks.  If not, something presentable at least--there is always the possibility of a Stage Manager having to interact with a patron, so they should always be dressed in presentable blacks or business casual.

37

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Sharing Paperwork with ASMs

« on: Aug 03, 2014, 05:55 pm »

Going between Word and Apple's Pages isn't too bad.  Going between Excel and Apple's Numbers and Excel is terrible.

38

Employment / Re: Applying for AEA Positions W/O Being AEA

« on: May 25, 2014, 02:08 pm »

Followup question: should one mention their AEA status in the cover letter?  Admit to not being AEA but say you're willing to turn? Not mention it at all and hope they don't notice you're not a member yet? Pros and cons there? Especially if a listing asks for AEA SMs and you don't want them to think you just didn't read the posting?

39

Job Postings / Re: AEA-Assistant Stage Manager Needed

« on: May 20, 2014, 04:13 pm »

The Offstage Jobs post (http://offstagejobs.com/jobdetail.php?jobID=26485) for this position also says it's a 1 day position, but the job dates says June 2-Aug 3.

40

Introductions / Re: Here to Learn!

« on: Jan 17, 2014, 09:00 am »

Hi Christian! I'm an '12 Graduate of UK.  It's good to meet another person who bleeds blue!  Let me know if you ever need anything or want to chat.

41

Stage Management: Other / Re: Teaching Score Reading

« on: Nov 23, 2013, 04:13 pm »

One thing that really helped me understand music reading early on was a program called MIDINotate.  It's no longer around, but Notation Software (http://www.notation.com/) has essentially the same thing, and with 30-day free trials.  Basically, the software takes .mid files and transforms them into sheet music.  Then you can hit play, and watch a line move across the staves and notes light up as they play.  A simple internet search can pull up MIDIs of just about anything you can think of, and you can load MIDIs into the software.  You could have a student look up a song they are familiar with, and visually see what the notes look like as they play.  I used to spend hours finding MIDIs and watch them play, and even now when I read a score I envision a line going across it and hitting the notes as they're played.

42

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: ESCRIPTS: Post your requests for electronic scripts here!

« on: Apr 09, 2013, 02:13 pm »

Hello!  Does anyone have a Word version of "Angel Street: A Victorian Thriller in Three Acts" by Patrick Hamilton?  Thanks!

43

The Green Room / Re: SMNetwork fundraising drive 2013

« on: Mar 02, 2013, 12:19 am »

Donating a little bit of the money I never would have gained if I never had this site!

44

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: CALLING: Projections...how do you call it?

« on: Sep 08, 2012, 11:36 am »

For my final production in college I SM'ed Thoroughly Modern Millie.  The show features a few sections where characters are speaking and singing in Chinese while the lyrics and lines are projected to a supertitle screen.  Since the video cues for the supertitle slides were so densely packed, two to three per line, I chose not to use "GO" as the operating word for the video op.  Instead he took his cues off of the word "Mark."  So a sequence might be:
"Mark....mark...mark....Lights GO...mark....mark....Rail GO...mark...mark..." etc.
This drastically cut down on the number of "GOs" and helped prevent ops taking cues at the wrong times.

45

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Dear Abby: What classes would you look for in a BFA stage management program?

« on: Feb 02, 2012, 11:36 am »

The college where I got my AA has an associates program in CAD.  For the technical theatre degree we had to take the first two courses from the CAD department.  The first was focused on hand-drafting to provide context for CAD.  The second course introduced AutoCad and how to use that program to draft instead of using drafting pencils and paper.  I think that if it were more focused on Theatre then both classes could be combined, covering both hand drafting and CAD software in a theatre context.  The classes that I took focused a lot on CAD's use in architecture and construction, but the instructor knew the theatre students were more interested in the program for scenic blueprints so that's what he had us do for our projects.

In short, a course combining both hand drafting and CAD software could definitely be a good thing.