Messages

61

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Director From Hell

« on: Jun 23, 2008, 06:47 pm »

In my company, we always set a due date for rehearsal props, and one for final props, in addition to "last day to add/change." We only have a staff of 4 that handles all of the scenic and props and lighting needs for both our mainstage and our children's/touring groups, so they're almost always overloaded. Hence, the due dates. The SM and props head for the show will work together to get rehearsal props, and the SM's in charge of any on-the-fly rehearsal prop needs, but as we recieve "real" props, the director A) can't complain that we don't have the real so-and-so until the final prop due date, and B) can't change anything after "last day to add/change." We still have moments where the director will get frustrated, but since they're in the meeting when those dates are set and generally pick the dates themselves, it's harder for them to make life miserable for everyone else.

62

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Alertness

« on: Jun 23, 2008, 06:41 pm »

I had a lot of trouble with this when I first got out of college (a whole whopping year ago! lol) and went from a max of 4 performances of a show to a show with 30+ performances. (Hardly 100+, but still can get mind-numbing after the first two weeks or so.) The theater where I work currently has the SM also act as LBO (and occasionally also SBO, which is an interesting console configuration to say the least!) so it doesn't get as boring as it might, but some shows will always make you sleep nomatter what you're doing.

On shows that require more attention, but still have duller moments, I play the waterbottle game. For some reason doing something with my mouth makes me not zone out, so I keep a filled waterbottle on the floor beside my chair, and during the duller moments I take it out and take a sip every time someone misses a line. You can tell how well your actors are doing by how quickly you run to the bathroom at intermission!

On shows that are really low-impact (ie, The Importance of Being Earnest, a 3 act show in which I had about 6 sound cues and 8 light cues... not very exciting), I embroider, play Diner Dash on my phone (you get to where you can play it without really looking at it), or make chain mail. (I'm a renfest nut when I can escape the theater for five minutes...)

My ASM for most of the past year used to read, which I did for a while, but I find myself zoning out REALLY easily, so I certainly wouldn't do that if I'm the one calling the show!

63

Tools of the Trade / Re: What software do you use?

« on: Jun 23, 2008, 11:33 am »

I work on XP Pro at work and Vista at home. Compatibility is fun.

Word/Excel
Macromedia Dreamweaver
Printmaster
Paint Shop Pro (the pre-Corel version)
Adobe Audition
Notepad
Rhapsody

I used to have a really awesome freeware calendar software, which was lost in a computer transition and whose name and location have completely escaped me.
At the theater I'm with currently, we use Office Tracker, but it's not particularly useful for my purposes...

64

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: large scale musical --1st time

« on: Jun 20, 2008, 06:17 pm »

I'm about to go into tech for my first professional full-scale musical...
During music rehearsals, I made notes of any lyric changes/part changes that were made, and of anything else that was useful. Contact your music director, they ought to be able to tell you what they want from you. My only other duties during that time was rehearsal space setup, making sure that all of the company-owned instruments were in good repair, and doing attendance and that kind of thing. I'd suggest sharpening a big batch of pencils, running off a few copies of the score in case you need to make notes in it (I like to go off a xerox and then transfer to the 'good' copy of the score just before previews...) and be sure you're familiar with where songs fall in the script, etc, since that comes up a lot.

65

Stage Management: Other / Orchestra Stage Management & Unions/Pay Rates

« on: Jun 20, 2008, 11:31 am »

This is my first post here, I've been googling all over the place and can't find what I'm looking for so hopefully someone here will know...

I've just been hired on as SM for a chamber orchestra. Previously the only work I've done has been in theatre and the occasional musical, and all of my professional SM work has been for non-union companies... so I don't really know all that much about union work beyond Equity, IATSE, etc-- the stuff they teach you in college.

The first "assignment" I've been given by the orchestra is to find out what the union would be for an orchestra SM, and more specifically to find out the pay scales that would be used there. I'm not sure if the musicians for the orchestra are unionized or not-- it's a small company that right now flies in artists for concerts, but they're in the process of becoming a full-time professional orchestra, so they're wanting to start out on the right foot and be professional about everything.

Any help/links/info you all can give me would be great! Right now they're paying me hourly based on what I've made previously, but something tells me the standard rates are probably better than what I make now!