Putting a Face on Theatre

Stage Manager question one

Hey everyone, this is the starting point of the discussion if you want to talk part. If you have more questions about this process just let me know! I will try to give you an I deal on what area we are focusing in class on to ease any question/confusion.

This group we where talking about what makes a good SM, Supplies, Charts, and Forms. Below is the questions we came up with in class.

1a. What are the three most important traits that a professional stage manager needs to possess and why?

1b. What are your 3 most indispensible forms that you use daily and why?

1c. What are your 3 most indispensible tools you use on a daily basis and why?

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Steven on January 21, 2011 at 2:40pm

For me there are stages I use

Safety rules I want followed (As the production dictates) This every crew hand must sign off on.
Pre check list. Over time a given venue will have a common template you might be able to copy.Tech checks, call numbers, marks, overheads, Sound or f/x, supply sign offs Etc.
Cue sheet
Post clean up and lockup.

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Permalink Reply by Madeline Jahn on January 21, 2011 at 7:46pm

Hi Kayla,

I just taught a stage management course at a community college, and now I am stage managing at the Blue Barn Theatre in Omaha, NE. So, off the top of my head, here are some answers to those questions:

1a. A stage manager must possess: Grace under pressure; a Multi-tasking, detail-oriented, organized & adaptible brain; a sense of humor

1b. 1)Scene breakdown/schedule/conflicts (to stay on top of everyone & where they're supposed to be); 2)Rehearsal report (to stay on top of tech issues and notes); 3)?? All SM forms are indispensible? Ha!

1c. 1)A good mechanical pencil with a cozy grip & a never-ending twist-up eraser (to take copious notes & erase & change them constantly); 2) laptop/email (to stay on top of note organizing & immediately keep in touch); 3) a black sharpie (for hundreds of reasons)

Hope that helps. Have fun with the class!

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Permalink Reply by Trish Causey on January 21, 2011 at 8:21pm

Hey, there!

Just wanted to chime in and let you know about my TheatreFace.com blog posts re: "Stage Managing 101" and "Basic SM Duties." This Monday, I'll post Part III: "SM Tools of the Trade."

Enjoy, and feel free to leave comments on the blog post pages. Thank you!

trish

http://www.TrishCausey.com

http://theater.about.com

http://www.MusicalTheatreTalk.com

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Permalink Reply by Sarah Bauer on January 21, 2011 at 11:02pm

1a. A little OCD, Multi-Tasker, Maturity

1b. Calendar (w/rehearsal schedule and all conflicts)-to know what's coming up in the week and to assist with any last minute changes; Scene Breakdown-because actors want to know how long they have before they're up again during rehearsal; Rehearsal Report (current and the previous rehearsal's)-so I know what the director and I talked about and to make sure things that were mentioned at the previous rehearsal are being taken care of.

1c. Mechanical Pencil (never have to worry about sharpening it) and a big eraser, Ruler, Post Its (in assorted sizes and colors!)

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Permalink Reply by Rob Scott 1 day ago

Great questions, Kayla. I'll answer from my experiences as SM for many community theater productions as well as five years of experience as the volunteer technical director of a children's theater.

1a) #1: a sense of calm and focus when you are trying to do ten things at once, you are trying to keep control of the rehearsal or pre-show preparations and cast or crew are at you about various issues.
#2: the ability to delegate as needed, or sometimes not being at all afraid to firmly say either "No, I can't do that for you now." or "I'll find somebody to help you in a bit." You have specific duties to attend to in order to get things running, so don't get bogged down in other people's details (that they probably should have dealt with themselves or at least not at a critical time). This is particularly strong advice for SMs in large cast community theater productions or other productions where you might face large numbers of inexperienced actors of various ages.
#3: the ability to act as advocate for your cast while acting as the advocate for the director to the cast and as the advocate for the theater to the cast and director both. The SM is usually the nexus of information flow during a production, so be a good communicator and you must be firm with cast, director or theater manager about some things as they come up.

1b) #1: the rehearsal schedule. In community theater (particularly with young cast members) there are *always* people asking about the rehearsal schedule because they don't always take the commitment as seriously as some of us might like.
#2: Not a form, but daily notes. Document everything. I have had to use my notes to justify (to the theater management) insurance coverage for crew or actor injuries before. Since community theater is nearly all volunteer, proper documentation can help settle any issues about when an event happened and what steps were taken prior to and after the event.
#3: again, not a form, but a daily report of the rehearsal or production activities that you give to the director and (in our case in community theater) the staff Production Director. Individual costume or set notes may be confined to the interested parties. As a rule I think that community theaters are less strict about use of specific forms, but general documentation protocols should be followed nonetheless.

1c) #1: a box of #2 pencils, pre-sharpened. At the start of a production, I purchase (depending on numbers in the cast) 20-40 pencils and then pre-sharpen them. I not only prefer them myself instead of mechanical pencils, but then I always have pencils to give to the cast for their script or blocking notes. There will always be cast members who don't have a pencil when they should have. Corollary: remind your cast early and often that they should make notes IN PENCIL ONLY in their scripts, doubly so if it's a rented script.
#2) a cloth bookbag to carry my own personal rehearsal garp around in (at a minimum script, SM rehearsal notebook(s), pencils, highlighters, stickies, ibuprofin, throat lozenges and a protein bar and protein shake just in case I didn't get a chance to eat prior to rehearsal or show). I have an entirely separate kit for SM "stuff" (like spike tape, masking tape, staple gun, etc).
#3) ibuprofin. Srsly.

Being well organized and having a knack for working with, creating compromise with and soothing emotional personalities (in theater? Noooo, really???) are probably the biggest keys to my successful experiences as an SM.