JOB DESCRIPTION: Fill in the BLANK...

[RuthNY]

Fill in the BLANK from your own experiences:

"Either in pre-production or during the rehearsal process at a theatre I was working at for the first time, I was surprised to discover that BLANK was something they considered part of my job."

The fill-in could be something that stage managers do on a regular basis that you just didn't know about at the time, something you really didn't think was covered by your job description but you cheerfully did it anyway, something you ultimately passed on to another department, or (most fun) something that was so completely wacky, out there, and ridiculous that you did it just to have a story to tell!

[Amie]

When I first started stage managing (at community theatre level), I didn't know it was the stage manager's responsibility to tape down a rehearsal floor for the scenic floorplan. Previously, directors or designers had simply done it. I was hired by a company that expected this of the stage manager and instead of saying I had never done it before, I talked with the TD to get this explained to me. (He was a good friend of mine and knew my background, which is why it didn't come as a surprise that I hadn't done it previously).

This is still one of my least favorite things to do, though the concept is fairly simple. When I co-chaired a stage management workshop last year, it was one area we really made a point to explain and instruct on.  It is also one of the tasks I make an effort to do myself (with my assistant) rather than insist on directors/designers or anyone else who is used to doing so (in certain companies, locally).  That way I can get better at it!

[yoyomankind]

When I first stage managed at my college, I didn't know what a production meeting was, and it was the stage managers job to run them.  The first meeting I found very intimidating, considering that it was a room full of my professors, looking to me for guidance of when to start the meeting and what we were going to talk about.  Now I love planning production meetings and trying to find the most efficient way to organize the meeting so I can get everyone out as quickly as possible.

[sarahbear42]

This is actually during previews... found out that I was expected to not only shut down our (ie backstage) portion of the theatre, but that I was also expected to wait until House Management was finished, and then check down their checklist, since they were all volunteers and I was the only employee expected to stay after the show more than 5 minutes.

I've only seen that particular PM angry once, and it was the next morning when she came in at 6AM and since I hadn't checked, the coffee maker in the lobby was still on. (Understandably, though... the week or so beforehand our scene shop had burned down so everyone was a little jumpy about fire...)

[BLee]

I remember the very first college show I called for. I had mixed up standby and warning. So I would say "Standby light cue 12..." and in response I'd here "warned" and then I'd say "Warning light cue 12" and hear standby. Even though one of my board ops was a SM major no one bothered to tell me it was suppose to be the other way around. For some reason we had not gone over this basic idea in SM I and it wasn't until after the show and during SM II that I realized my mistake. I'm still embarrassed to this day by that mistake.

[SMrose]

I was hired as AEA SM on a show (not my first AEA contract, by the way) and the Producer/Director told me I had to make coffee at rehearsals.  I asked him to find that ruling in the Equity contract...needless to say I was not expected to make coffee.
***I really wouldn't have minded except in the way it was presented as a demand!***

[Celeste_SM]

I was surprised that the community theater I work for expects the stage manager to provide the first draft for the program.

[RuthNY]

This is the kind of thing I was hoping to elicit when I started the thread!  Keep them coming!

I was surprised that the community theater I work for expects the stage manager to provide the first draft for the program.

[Tempest]

I was surprised when I was expected to provide copious and complicated props for a play festival, that I came into halfway through rehearsals.
Needless to say, I was very firm that I was a stage manager not a props designer; they weren't really paying me enough for the one job, much less both.

[CTsometimeSM]

I was surprised when I found out the SM did NOT call cues for the show.  Board operators are expected to do it themselves.  (and the SM's prompt book didn't have the cues, let alone a sensible system for anything else, as I discovered when she didn't show up till around intermission one show)

Yea community theatre. 

[Amie]

I was surprised when I found out the SM did NOT call cues for the show.  Board operators are expected to do it themselves.  (and the SM's prompt book didn't have the cues, let alone a sensible system for anything else, as I discovered when she didn't show up till around intermission one show)

Yea community theatre. 

Yikes! Sorry to hear your community theatre experience was this way.  I'm from Grand Rapids, Michigan.  We have a very strong technical theatre community here and this has never been the case.

What in the world did you DO during the show?!

[CTsometimeSM]

Officially, I wasn't even there (really, no contract, no program, nothing).  Realistically, I was the non-frazled ASM/Costumer/Propsmaster/Fly[which consisted on tie-line and carabiners, and worked beautifully].

On that particular show, I pulled my script (which I thankfully had mostly updated), and used an actor who wasn't in the first act, but actually knew his way around a theatre as a second set of hands.  We pretty much had to rely on both board operators to be in synch and move things based on when the lights went up or down.  Not a hugely complex show, just managed oddly.

I came in late to the production, so trying to re-arrange the system wasn't a brilliant idea-but am working with the director of the next show to see what can be done to increase the level of sanity (day job commitment keep me from SM'ing the next show)

[sievep]

Setting up the orchestra pit.  That one came out of left field for me

[LCSM]

Setting up the orchestra pit.  That one came out of left field for me

Really? The orchestra pit? Was that in general, or just at your particuliar theatre?

[Celeste_SM]

Setting up the orchestra pit.  That one came out of left field for me

Yeah, I'll say. I often facillitate the layout getting from the MD to the theater manager or TD. But I haven't ever had to set it up personally.

I have, however, had to set up orchestra rehearsal layouts. Urg.