Messages

31

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Scheduling concerns with my director

« on: Oct 09, 2015, 12:33 pm »

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I feel like you're thinking this might be more of a confrontation (why are we so far behind?!) than a conversation. The best thing is to state facts, "Hi Director. So, right now we have pages 1-4 and 12-15 blocked. Great! What's are you thinking for for next week? Maybe blah and blah as they tie into blah? Should we schedule the fight director for next week? If we block through 30, we'll cover that section," etc. Just calm, knowledgable and helpful.

Also, do you have a production manager/producer/department head who can prod him about scheduling? I've run into this quite a few times, where wires are crossed and no one knows who's supposed to talk to and schedule someone.

32

Self-Promotion / Re: Coraline

« on: Oct 09, 2015, 12:22 am »

I had no idea Coraline was a musical! The 11 year-old goth inside of me is thrilled (as much as she can be).

33

Self-Promotion / Re: Flowers Stink!

« on: Oct 02, 2015, 08:25 pm »

Man, Brooklyn Botanic Garden needs to step its game up!

34

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: PROMPT SCRIPT: Assistant Stage Manager Paperwork

« on: Oct 01, 2015, 12:48 am »

Something that hasn't come up about this topic is that it's helpful for ASMs to know the blocking for understudy rehearsals. If you have a handful of understudies covering multiple parts, oftentimes it falls on the SM team to walk the other parts- if the ASMs don't have blocking written down, it can be a painful/unproductive rehearsal.

Absolutely! The last theatre I was at always had understudies cover multiple actors who played multiple parts, so we were almost always standing in for someone. It went so much smoother if we knew at least where to stand in a general sketch sort of way, but because none of the PA-ASMs had ever dealt with understudy rehearsals, it was a bit rough at the start because we didn't have much blocking down. Live and learn, obviously.

35

Introductions / Re: Still pretty new

« on: Oct 01, 2015, 12:40 am »

Hi Jace! Welcome to the board.

36

Self-Promotion / My first real show as PSM! Last Call

« on: Oct 01, 2015, 12:38 am »

I just realized this...I'm doing my first non-school, non-small-festival-show as a PSM! So I thought I should self-promote a little.  It's a great one-woman show at IRT, co-produced with terraNOVA Collective, called Last Call.
If you like comedies about bar flys and family drama, you'll love it and should definitely come by. That or come gawk at the booth that I literally have to crawl into. : O (There's also a VERY good bar promotion included with your program if you need any more incentive).

http://irttheater.org/3b-development-series/last-call/

37

The Green Room / Re: SMNetwork Member Spotlight Interviews (now with text transcription!)

« on: Aug 28, 2015, 04:30 am »

Fantastic! I am very excited to see the other interviews too.

38

The Hardline / Re: To Off-Broadway or not...

« on: Aug 10, 2015, 05:40 pm »

The impetus for my post is that I've had several job offers lately for Showcase Code productions at Off-Broadway venues where the offer email has said "it's low budget, but it's a solid Off-Broadway credit for your resume."

I've had this happen a lot too, and I agree that it's disingenuous.

39

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: 'Wicked' Internships

« on: Aug 06, 2015, 10:37 pm »

I know someone who was interviewed/invited to apply for that. I think she shadowed the show, and also took the Broadway Basics workshop- it's an SM workshop run by two (former? current?) SMs for Wicked.

40

The Green Room / Re: The Stage Manager's Nightmare

« on: Jul 27, 2015, 02:01 pm »

The only real nightmare I've had is a recurring one where it's the first wet tech and I don't have a prompt book at all. Like, nothing. It's so awful.

I actually had that happen to me for real, but during I think our second performance- long story. I printed out the scripts from dropbox, re-wrote the cues from memory sans #s, asked the board ops to trust me when I said go, and we were off to the races. Luckily it was an evening of about 5 short one acts so it was fairly low-pressure but it still worked out- still the scariest moments I've had SMing though.

41

The Green Room / Re: Got my first post-college job!

« on: Jul 27, 2015, 01:44 pm »

Congrats!

42

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: STAGING: Realistic CPR

« on: Jul 23, 2015, 01:38 am »

Dart, you're correct. The American Heart Association, based off recent studies, now says that chest compressions on their own are basically just as effective as compressions + breaths. They recommend not doing them unless you have a CPR face mask- that way, the rescuer is not exposed to anything the patient might be carrying. Of course, this is a fairly recent change to the CPR curriculum so most people trained by media still think of breaths as a main component.

43

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: STAGING: Realistic CPR

« on: Jul 18, 2015, 02:10 am »

(SMMEade! So am... well was ... I!! and I use that training all the damn time!)

...

You will notice on TV that actors give CPR with bent elbows like a plié. Much as that's wrong, it protects the actor receiving it.

It's so handy, isn't it? Though the only hospital trip I've ever had to mandate was my own.
And I've actually never noticed that. I don't watch a lot of medical shows so now I'll be looking for it.

44

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: PAing while in Equity

« on: Jul 17, 2015, 07:29 pm »

Thanks to both of you. I talk a lot to other PAs about the labor issues we face, and Matthew brings up a lot of the points that frequently come up with us- wishing we had at least minimum wage, union protections, etc- even being EMC doesn't really help much. It is ridiculous when you're "PAing" a show, but are essentially an ASM. Things to think about...

45

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: STAGING: Realistic CPR

« on: Jul 17, 2015, 07:20 pm »

I'm an EMT, and this makes me nervous. Where are you hoping the patient actor will be? Realistically, CPR is done on a hard surface, like a backboard or floor. But Matthew is right, to make this work without hurting anyone, the patient will need to be on something that has some bounce to it with a protective plate across the chest so that they aren't actually decompressing his chest, just pressing him into the floor.
I'm also a little nervy about the actors "giving" CPR for 15 straight minutes. CPR is fairly exhausting when done correctly and if they're doing it consistently every night for a run, there's a possibility of hurting their wrists if they're not trained on proper technique. They should definitely talk to the instructor during their class about their specific needs.