Friday, February 28, 2020
Stage Managers in Performances
Dramatics Magazine: FOR MANY STAGE MANAGERS, opening night feels like a finish line. All the months of preparation, weeks of work, rehearsals, tech, and previews culminate in one night of celebration, in one (hopefully) amazing performance. There’s much rejoicing, many congratulations, and more than a few fond farewells as the director, designers, and artistic team head off to their next projects.
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The first time I really realized what a stage manager does in the industry, as far as calling shows goes, was not until the end of my senior year of high school. I was touring a school’s drama program, and part of the tour included an admitted students viewing of a section of a show they were producing at that time. They had the stage manager call the show into a microphone connected to the loudspeaker, so we got to watch the show and listen to the stage manager call it at the same time. It was then that I learned that stage management was so so so much more than checking prop presets and accounting for sick cast members. My only knowledge of stage management came from the stage manager for my high school, which was just my best friend running around backstage accounting for everything I listed above.
I am on run crew right now for Into the Woods, and my big is the stage manager (hey Evan u rock). I have so much respect for the work that they do, and the amount of problems they need to be able to solve..along with doing the heart of their work, which is setting the rhythm of the show.
I thought this article was very interesting, and I think it definitely would have been very helpful for someone who doesn’t know a lot about what stage managers do to read before they start working on a show with a stage manager. I think stage management is one of the jobs that the least people actually know what that job entails, so I am glad there are articles circulating like this that can help people who don’t really know what stage managers do learn. Reading this article was interesting because I am not entirely who this article was for. It seemed like the kind of article that would be intended for people who are not stage managers to read, but there were parts in this article that seemed like direct advice to stage managers, so then maybe the intended audience for this article was stage managers. Or maybe early career stage managers.
I've often thought of performances as the finish line of a production because I have never been a part of a run that lasted longer than a few weeks. I wonder if this perspective is altered for a show that has a different timeline. The adrenaline that arises from calling the show is definitely one of my favorite parts because it keeps me engaged. I'm a big fan of shadowing other stage managers call productions because I can view a different style of calling, and learn intricacies of another production. This aspect of stage management is not always possible to accurately replicate because the excitement (and anxiety) of the moment is not there. While there is standard language that is utilized to call a show, there are differences that this article does not necessarily account for. I understand that this piece is more of an introduction for individuals unfamiliar with the field, but I think it should be acknowledged.
Opening night has always felt like the finish line to me in my history of stage management; our runs never lasted beyond a single weekend. Rehearsals were always the drag for me, and calling the show felt like a sweet reward after weeks and months of taking blocking notes and playing music for dance numbers. This is a good article that neatly summarizes what a stage manager does during the run of the show, which is a part of the process that people don’t really talk about in terms of management, even when you are managing the show. For me, it was hard for me to get into a flow of pre-show check and routines because I was constantly fighting the 60 actors in our musical to get to the venue on time and start the arduous process of hair and makeup, and just when you think you’ve found a rhythm to it all, it’s closing night.
This article clearly and concisely lays out a stage manager's job and is a good resource for those looking to move into stage management or just for someone who wants to know what a stage manager does. For me, opening night has never felt like the end of anything. Opening night has felt like the culmination of weeks upon weeks of rehearsal; opening night was when my job really began, even if the run only lasted for a weekend or two. A month's worth of rehearsals were small potatoes compared to the exhilaration of finally being able to run checklists, wrangle actors and crew, and call the show every single night for a week straight. Like Bridget says, rehearsals are kind of a drag, and opening the show is a sweet, sweet release. The job is not done until strike begins, at which point I become one with the cast and crew as we work together to restore the space to its rep form.
This is a nice article. While it doesn't say anything particularly groundbreaking if you happen to be someone who knows what a stage mager does, it is a very nice, thorough survey of what exactly an SM does and why they do it. It also serves the function of being one of those detailed, specific articles that goes through a process step by step and allows you to check your process against someone elses. Maybe the article lists something as part of its suggested routine that you don't normally do, but you might want to. Or maybe this kind of article might list a slightly different way of doing something that suits your fancy, and that you might want to try the next time you do it. It's great for honing your process. This article in particular goes into a lot of detail about preshow and all the things that a stage manager might be doing in the hour or two before curtain.
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