Stage Directions

Like many theatre veterans, I was thoroughly sickened by the stories of abuse in the Chicago Reader article by Aimee Levitt and Christopher Piatt about the Profiles Theatre in Chicago, but I was also saddened that I was not shocked that it happened.  While this was an extreme case, we shouldn’t delude ourselves into thinking that it was an isolated incident.

Two disclaimers:

1.  James Corden’s Broadway Carpool Karaoke is the best advertisement I have ever seen for the Tony Awards.  It almost makes up for….

For the past four years, I have been searching for a better way to record and distribute line notes.  It is easily one of the most labor intensive chores for stage management and speed is a priority so that actors can learn from their mistakes before we work the scene again.  I even met with a software developer, who estimated it would only take about $7,000 to build and another $8,000 in annual royalties to other programmers to create the software needed for this job.  How many copies would we need to sell – and at what price – just to break even?  Then I found an existing little app that does everything a line-note-taker needs for just $5.99.

A popular topic in stage management social media this week has been SM Kits: not necessarily the individual tools (see our very first blog post!), but the containers themselves. 

Summer is right around the corner, which can only mean one thing: summer stock!  In what other field do managers leave their jobs in the city only to take the same jobs in the country and consider it a break?  A Weekend in the Country isn’t a vacation – it is an awesome show-stopper to call night after night!  I have visited some truly beautiful parts of the country, only to sit in a dark room for most of the day.

Should stage managers try to be perfect and what happens when we are not?

I am now officially an old SM.  Not because I have been doing this job for a quarter century.  But because today I found myself on the losing side of history.  All because of a phone call.

One of the sessions I was most excited about at USITT was the very last Saturday session, the Stage Management Round Table. It was facilitated by Michele Kay and boasted a panel of awesome stage managers. They led us in a discussion about Vulnerability, Trust, Communication, Cooperation, Creativity, and Collaboration. We shared thoughts and stories about how each of these things are important and how they build upon one another like the layers of a cake to create a great process.

It has been over a week since USITT and I am still processing the experience! I met some incredible people, saw some inspiring technology, and attended some stellar sessions. It was a wonderfully overwhelming experience and I can’t wait for next year! (St. Louis March 8-11)  

If the stage manager is the communication hub of a production, do we need our own switchboard operator?