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[FAQ] What goes inside a SM Kit?

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Melugin:
Hi everyone! I am just a new SM on this site, as well as the third year in High School--and i want to ask people a question: what do you put inside your SM kit?  :)

Mac Calder:
*POINTS AT SEARCH BUTTON* - There are a number of threads on them. However I could run a small office for 6 months based on the contents of my kit (stationary alone) as well as running a small field hospital, and fix the clothes of a small nation. I think my kit is a bit unique because I am not SOLELY an SM, but I have long surpassed the stage where a bag can contain it all.

Melugin:
so, do you have a list? i need specific ideas!!!  :D  :)  :o  8O  :P  :wink:  :roll:

Mac Calder:
Why? A kit is a very personal 'thing'. It shows your experiances, your nature etc etc etc. I know it sounds weird, but it is the truth.

You know all those cruddy B-Grade martial arts movies and books where they have a really simple quest to complete before they can become masters - building your SM kit is one such task.

Whilst we can recomend items till the cows come home, will you know what you can use it for? If I said gaffer tape, you would think of all the typical uses for gaffer tape, like cable management, but it can do so much more.

Now, a lot of SM's have other training or experiance before they need their own kit - and their kit reflects this training. In no SM course I have seen do they tell you the contents of a kit, instead they tend to encourage that you think about a possible scenario, and what items you would need in your kit to combat it.

One thing I HATE about SM books etc is that often they go on and on about the kit. So much that every wannabe SM and his dog wants to make one, just to say they have a kit. A box of goodies is not a kit. A KIT is built through time and experiance and thought. It is an extension of the being that allows rapid problem solving when used properly. A box of stuff is useless.

An SM kit is not too difficult.

When I constructed my kit, I broke it down to some basic groups.

Stationary/General Sundries. Costume/Cloth. Tools. Electical. Health and well being. etc etc etc

Then I wrote down a list of objects that may be needed to do 'patch up' jobs.

Now young grasshopper, go out and create a kit.

That said, carissa dollar had a good list, but her site seems to have dissapeared

MatthewShiner:
Hi, my name is Matthew.  

(Hello Matthew)

I am a stage manager who doesn't use a kit.  

(GASP FROM THE GROUP AROUND THE ROOM)

Yes.  I have a kit.  I have a very large kit on wheels. I had it from the time I used to do a lot of freelance, but since becoming a resident SM, with an office, an office supply closet, an entire room for storage of extra supplies, and a work filled first aid cabinet.

The Stage Management Kit is a very personal thing, and has a lot to do with how much you feel responsible for.  (Some SM's travel with a full toolkit, I don't do tools.  Not that I feel it is below me, I just don't trust my handicraft work.)

Basically, you should have enough supplies to do the job you need to do - and that is all basically the over riding rule to live by.



There is my deep dark secret.

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