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Messages - BenTheStageMan

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46
I wanted to be a SM since senior year of High School.  I'm a Junior getting a BA in Arts Administration, but I'm still planning on pursuing a career in stage management.  So I'd be willing to answer any questions about that.

47
The Green Room / Re: "Seasoned" - yikes
« on: Aug 14, 2010, 03:31 am »
They become heroin capitals and have musicals and HBO dramas written about them?

Could you imagine an HBO drama about a SM?

48
The Green Room / Re: show us your booth!
« on: Aug 14, 2010, 03:08 am »
That's Olyney, isn't it?  I never worked there, but I had a friend who was an intern there and she gave me a tour once and mentioned this little arrangement.

49
I have a SM friend who does checklists and daily calls each day for herself.  She keeps these in a binder, which I guess is the prompt book for her life (I have not seen what else goes in this binder, just the daily checklist section).  I've been somewhat inspired by this, and I'm putting together a binder that has all the important information about my life in it (medical records, etc.).  I'm not good with checklists in my non-theatre life, but I like the idea of a prompt book for my life.

Edited to Add: The daily to-do list is referred to as her "Parade of Daily Adventures" and apparently is a Fly Lady concept.

50
For me, I'd rather take blocking by hand, combining diagrams and shorthand blocking notes.

I have, however, used a computer to take blocking notes on two show's I've done.  One was a compilation of monologues that only had blocking between each monologue (Actor 1 returns to seat, actor 3 steps up to microphone).  I was given the script in .doc and so I just typed in blocking information in italics and parentheses like you see in published scripts.  I also used that show as an experiment in calling from a laptop, inserting cues as call-outs in Word, etc.  I think it worked well, though if it were a longer run (more than the 2 performances) I would have definitely printed the script out for calling.  Instead I just used the script from cue-to-cue with handwritten cues in it as a backup while actually reading off the laptop screen.  The whole thing was an experiment and I wouldn't necessarily do it for every show.

The only other time I took blocking in a laptop was for a show that I worked on for a church celebrating its 300th anniversary.  They had written a play about it, and there was a significant amount of stage direction in the script already (italicized and parenthesized).  I simply added blocking as we went, typing in blue, and emailing the script to the writing team (including the director) after each rehearsal.  Each week, they looked over the changes, changed the font color to black if they approved, and a new script was published.  They also changed dialogue and whatnot over time, and communicated that to the cast as well.  But my digital blocking was what worked best for the situation and my work fitted in with what they needed from me.

So, while I prefer taking blocking by hand with a pencil on a script, there are situations when typing blocking works just fine for me.

51
The Green Room / Re: Best one-liner from a performance report
« on: Apr 02, 2010, 03:12 pm »
"Tonight we had a little problem with a melting electrical outlet. Rehearsal was moved to the band room."

"Boat = Cow going into Pandemonium"

"Tray is to be oriented on (actor) in a somewhat phallic fashion (sticking out longer than it is wide)."

My SM hinting she needs a key to the theatre, doing 25th Annual Spelling Bee: "Key: a small metal object used to lock and unlock doors. Use in a Sentence: We were thankful (actor) had a key to (Theatre) so she could lock up for us last night."

"(Set Designer) would like us to note that American Flags are to be placed on the house left side of the stage.  He may turn us into the authorities if we do not comply."

From Seussical "Also, reminder that (Actor) will not make it to Christmas"

52
The Green Room / Re: Best reason from an actor for being late
« on: Sep 17, 2009, 11:29 pm »
I was late to rehearsal the other day because I was in a very long traffic jam.  I tried three ways to get around it, but to no avail.  When I finally got to the accident that caused the stand-still traffic, I was shocked to discover it was my music director.  He had rear-ended the guy in front of him.  So I parked and got out to make sure he was OK.  He was, thank goodness, so I went on my way.  He never made it to rehearsal, so we went on without him.  But of all the people to be involved in the accident...
Crazy

53
As would I.

Thanks so much!

54
I actually have been using this phrase a whole lot lately.  I'm SMing for a community theatre and the director always gets sidetracked thinking about things we can't acuately fix until we are in the space (which I have seen twice and no one in the group has ever performed in).  To be fair, the whole operation is incredibly seat-of-the-pants and the director is incredibly...vapid.  I'm not seeing a set or props until the start of tech, so I really will be sorting everything out once we get there.

55
I would make a contact sheet and a Calendar.

Then a french scene breakdown.

Then I'd just cross my fingers and hope for the best.

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