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Introductions / Re: Welcome to SMNetwork! / How to post an intro

« Last post by JonasJaclyn on Aug 04, 2023, 12:22 am »

Hello All!

I'm so happy I found a group with fellow SMs. My name is Jaclyn (She/her)! I've been stage managing for about 5 years. I started in college at Cal State Fullerton and just fell in love with it. After the pandemic, I became a production stage manager for a tiny theater in Los Alamitos. The theater unfortunately closed and I am now a professional freelance stage manager. I'm looking forward to hearing all of your wonderful stories and tips about our lovely theater world <3

The Green Room / Re: Novels About Stage Management?

« Last post by Juniper on Jul 07, 2023, 03:26 am »

Wow, thank you so much! I will absolutely check out as many of these as possible!

The Green Room / Re: Novels About Stage Management?

« Last post by Maribeth on Jul 06, 2023, 08:49 pm »

There's a great thread here about books featuring stage managers and backstage folks - I had to do some digging to find it and it really took me back! Thanks for the walk through memory lane.

The Green Room / Novels About Stage Management?

« Last post by Juniper on Jul 06, 2023, 01:56 pm »

Thank you in advance for your help! I love books about the theatre experience but find them to mostly be centered on actors and would love ones about stage managers and/or tech crew!Its been hard to find good novels about the backstage aspects of theatre but I'm sure there's bound to be some out there. If anyone knows of any, or knows where I could find some I'd be so grateful!

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Stage Managing as an Actor

« Last post by Maribeth on Jul 04, 2023, 03:59 pm »

It's not common, and I can't say I've done it myself, but I know a handful of folks (maybe two?) who pursued both professionally. I know a handful of others who will casually stage manage things like workshops, readings, etc for smaller theatres, when the time commitment is relatively small.

With AEA as the union for both, there's an inherent risk of joining the union for one of those passions, while not ready to join for the other. I.e. if you join because you're ready to as an actor, you are then a member as a stage manager as well, and wouldn't be able to take non-union gigs (and vice versa).

There's also a risk of a theatre that you work with associating you with one of these jobs more than the other - so if they think of you as an actor, you're less likely to get hired as an SM there. Not to say that it's impossible to break that perception, but it's something to be prepared for.

As mentioned in the previous response, there's always a benefit in understanding the other roles we work with - it can be a real strength as a stage manager to understand the vocabulary, process, and needs of acting. I'm sure any future stage managers you work with while acting will also appreciate your understanding of what goes into their jobs as well!