PEOPLE: Saving an actor's neck

[hbelden]

Here's the fun part of being an ASM.  I'm running SR, and just before going onstage, an actor put down a prop on the prop table, then made his entrance SR.  It's one of those specific props used in the show - like Desdemona's handkerchief.  I thought, "that's not right, is it?"  He exits SL and re-enters SL a minute later, so I didn't think he would want to crossover just to get this prop.  I double-checked with the SL stage manager, and it didn't make any sense to her either.  So, I walked over to SL with his prop and handed it to him - and was thanked profusely!  He had just spaced for a second and thought he was done with it.  It was the second show of a two-show day, and he got confused.  He would have been really struggling if he had gone on without it.

It's just so rare to be thanked by an actor - during a performance, even! - that I wanted to mention it here.

[samthestagemanager]

that is incredibly rare to be thanked by an actor during a show. good job!

[MeganTrigg]

Is it really all that rare? If so, I've been amazingly lucky. 90% of the actors I work with have manners and are courteous and a joy to work with. I mean, I know I'm prone to bitching about the other 10% a lot more than I praise the good ones, but I definitely get the sense that there's more good ones out there than bad.

Am I just naive or lucky, or is it more common than these posters are suggesting? I know I love my actors. I'd do almost anything for them, and they'd do the same for me. Give and take.

[hbelden]

I was speaking of more than just courtesy.  It's almost standard for actors to use "Thank you" as a polite way of saying "I heard what you just said and have taken the note/announcement/warning, etc.".  But it's rare for an actor to (a) recognize that I've saved their bacon and (b) appreciate the fact by thanking me.

[Mac Calder]

Actors, and people in general, seem to de-value the word thank-you. Manners are high on my list of things I appreciate, and I think as SMs we tend to go well beyond the call of duty and frankly, we are under-appreciated. In fact it seems that almost everyone who does not appear on stage is basically underappreciated. Whilst I know most of us accept this, it is certainly nice when actors realise it.

I think almost every SM has had a show where it seems everyone but you and your crew are thanked for "All the work they put into the show" and you sit there and think "Why on earth do I bother". It is the moments where actors realise that if it was not for your work they would have screwed up, that makes me realise that I really am needed. Situations like that warm your heart a bit and stop you from being a cold hearted, mean spirited person.

Good work OP!

[stagerosie]

Congrats.