www.broadwayworld.com: Actors' Equity Association, the national labor union representing more than 51,000 professional actors and stage managers in live theatre, announces the inaugural Stage Manager Day will take place tomorrow, Thursday, February 16, 2023, celebrating and acknowledging of the important role stage managers play on every production. The union intends for this to be the beginning of an annual celebration.
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As a stage manager there is recognition of the work that you do from the cast and crew of your productions, but often they are overlooked by unions and other members in the theatre community. Being the glue that holds most shows together, it is surprising how little recognition they receive from the Actor’s Equity Association. It is enlightening to see now that the national labor union that represents more than 51,000 actors and stage managers has announced an inaugural Stage manager day to celebrate and recognize the work that stage managers do for every show. I hope that unions around the world take notice of the Actor’s Equity Association so that they too can help celebrate the technicians, designers, and workers that often get overlooked in the grand scheme of creating a theatrical production. In light of this inaugural celebration, I hope that other technicians who are often overlooked will begin to be seen more often than they are.
I know there have been informal stage management days in the past, so I guess it’s nice to have an Equity-recognized, annual event. Stage managers definitely deserve the appreciation! Although often behind the scenes and not really looking for the spotlight, it’s still nice to have some respect for the work, dedication, and responsibilities that go into being a stage manager. When I’m not stage managing I miss it, and it’ll be nice to get back to that soon. There are so many lovely stage managers at CMU who definitely should be celebrated on this day. I mostly know of Amanda Spooner from the Year of the Stage Manager Facebook account, which also does great work for providing resources and camaraderie to SMs, Equity and otherwise. This day is a great way to bring stage managers together and show some love for the craft, which is often misunderstood outside of theatrical circles.
It’s exciting to see stage managers being recognized within Actors Equity. As stated in the article, sometimes being a manager can be a thankless job. And although it is what we signed up for, it is always nice to feel seen. I know that there is also an international SM day as well on October 10th but February 16th celebrates stage managers joining the union specifically. I followed along on Instagram throughout the day and it was cool to see what people wanted to thank their stage managers for. Some thoughtful, some humorous, but I am sure all appreciated. I also always enjoy getting insight from other stage managers on what they value and what they think is important to highlight on days when we are noticed. Especially when the point of the job is to not be noticed. I am looking forward to seeing how these days of recognition continue to grow and what it does to the role of a manager. What does it look like when managers are seen?
Oh em gee it is a day all about my profession! How exciting!! As a proud stage manager (in training,) I always get so excited when one of these days rolls around. (I say “one of these days” because I feel like there’s a so-called “stage management day” every few months from different people, I don't know.) “This year's Stage Manager Day will fall on the 103rd anniversary of Equity first recognizing a stage manager as a distinct category of worker within the union.” That's a huge deal!! I know one day I will most likely be an equity stage manager, which I am really looking forward to and cannot wait to launch my career into that phase. As I continued to read this article, I saw that there was an interview with Amanda Spooner this morning that I missed, but it would have been so cool to see that because she was a huge inspiration and mentor to me when I was making college decisions!
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