Stage Directions – December 2014: The art and craft of stage management involves a particular set of skills for success. Yet those qualities are not unique to theatre; in fact they are applicable to many careers beyond stage management. Although these abilities may seem second nature to good stage managers, it’s gratifying to find that they are valued in many other professions. Recently I talked with three former AEA stage managers—who have taken their expertise successfully into other areas—about the portability of stage management, connections and surprises, and how they’d do returning to the field.
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We recently had a panel come into our Professional Prep class to talk about this very topic. The parity between what a SM does and what a triage nurse does in terms of prioritizing emergencies and weeding out the true problems from the over-played is an apt one. Of course that's not all a triage nurse has to know how to do, but I can see how an SM would have the organizational part down. Two other features of the theatre professional I've heard lauded by managers and employers outside the industry are our dogged belief in deadlines and our equally dogged insistence on doing whatever has to be done in whatever short amount of time and with whatever narrow resources to get the show up. We are generally not quitters, and the energy we are willing to devote to a project is often much greater than those around us. Having worked on more than a few projects outside the industry, I can say from experience it is this quality I have found most different from those I worked with. "The show must go on" is cliche, sure, but the attitude it represents is one that is very attractive to any employer or successful team.
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