On Taking a Vacation

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Chicago, recharging, Stage Manager, Stage Managing, Theatre, vacation

So I took a break – because I finally had a break.

After closing my last show at the start of February I finally had that much needed time off.  My last break was back in March, 2011.

So what did I do on my vacation?  I went home to Kansas, traveled to Texas, slept, read, baked, and recharged.  Taking some time off is so important.  I absolutely love Stage Managing in Chicago, but if you work non-stop you can get tired, and burned out. There is nothing wrong with some you time.  If anything it helps you be a better SM.

On Juggling Schedules

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Calendar, Chicago, Humor, Schedule, Scheduling, Stage Manager, Stage Managing, Theatre, Windy City

One of the biggest things a Stage Manager does as you move towards the first rehearsal is start working on gathering conflicts and putting together a rehearsal schedule.  It truly is a huge headache.

You’d think it would be easy enough.  You send out an email asking actors for conflicts.  You set a deadline.  People respond.  You put together a calendar.  You put the rehearsal on the calendar (make sure to put times!).  Then you start adding the conflicts to the calendar.

Then you look at it.  And you realize actor A can rehearse Mon/Wed/Sat and actor B can rehearse Tues/Thurs/Sun and actor A and actor B have several scenes together.  What then?  The first solution is to look at moving around what days you rehearse.  If actor A and B are both free Friday then talk to the director to see if Friday rehearsals are an option.  If that solution doesn’t work (which it might not) then you go back to the actors and see how flexible those conflicts are.  And you’d be surprised at how many actors will email you back saying “Well actually…”  and just like that you find some more free time.

Applying this to a larger scale gets tricky, but just be patient and work with the actors and director to find the best solution.  It might mean having a stand in for an actor at some point, and that’s ok as long as you make sure to take notes (both blocking and character) for the absent actor.  After all, you are all working towards putting on an amazing performance.

On Reviews

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Chicago, critics, Humor, reviews, Stage Manager, Stage Managing, Theatre, Windy City

Reviews.

We pretend they don’t affect us, but let’s be honest, we all know that’s not true.  Even a Stage Manager like me reads a bad review and gets bummed out.  We spend weeks pouring our heart and soul into our work.  How could anyone hate it?  Right?  I’ve worked on shows where the reviews have been awful, yet the audience turn out has been sold out houses every night.  I’ve worked on shows that have had glowing reviews and we were scrambling to get bodies in seats.

Reviews are not the be all and end all of a show.  In the long run they don’t determine the audience turn out.  What determines audience turn out is how much you love the show, how much you talk it up, how much you get out there and tell people to come see what it is you have been working on.  Reviews…psh.  What do those critics really know anyways?  How can you really criticize art and decide what is good or bad?

Long post short…don’t let the critic get you down.

On Tech…with the Stomach Flu

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Chicago, flu, Humor, sick, Stage Manager, Stage Managing, stomach flu, tech, Tech Week, Theatre, Windy City

So I just opened a show last weekend.  My 10th show in the Windy City.  It was going so well, until I got to tech week.

Woke up Friday not feeling so hot.  Went to my day job (you know that one that pays the bills).  About three hours later regretted going to my day job because all I wanted to do was go home and lay down.  Was exhausted and  had an upset stomach.  Stuck it out, then went to a spacing rehearsal at the theatre.  Went home that night and passed out around midnight (which is surprisingly early for me).

Saturday morning, and I mean early (like 2 am), woke up feeling worse than I’d ever felt in my life.  Was convinced I was dying.  Spent the next several hours over a toilet.  Had that sudden realization that I was sick, and about to head into two twelve-hour tech days to cue to cue a two and a half hour show.  What do you do?

Suck it up.  I walked into the theatre having only slept a few hours.  My PM put a trashcan next to me.  My AD went and got me saltines and ginger ale (which is all I consumed over the next 24 hours).  It was easily the longest most exhausting tech of my life.  My ASM got her work out dealing with actors while I delt with the design team and director in between sprints to the bathroom.

Let’s just say “The Show Must Go On” has a whole new meaning.

On Updating A Blog!

As it turns out, updating a blog while working a 9-5 day job and 6-11 theatre job is rather difficult.

So, this year I’ve made it my New Year’s Resolution to update this blog weekly!  We will see how this goes (hopefully better then my last tech weekend).

Stay tuned!

On Paper Tech

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Chicago, cue-to-cue, Humor, lighting, paper tech, sound, Stage Manager, Stage Managing, tech, Tech Week, Theatre, Windy City

Paper Tech.  Oh paper tech.  At times you are a blessing.  At times you truly are just a major inconvenience.

For those of you who don’t know what a paper tech is it’s when I, the Stage Manager, sit down with the director, lighting designer, and sound designer to place the cues in the script before we hit the cue-to-cue rehearsal during Tech Week.  Sounds like a great idea.  In theory it is because it will help things go faster.

But sometimes, you get a director who feels that every moment in the show needs it’s own special cue.  Those paper techs tend to last hours…and I’m not even exaggerating.  My record breaking paper tech of this fashion lasted 3 hours.  The designer had a vision and this vision was not flexible and led to a 2 day cue-to-cue for a two hour show.

And sometimes you get a director who doesn’t feel you need a paper tech.  Then you can find yourself in serious trouble when you hit cue-to-cue and have no idea where the cues actually go.  As a result you have to spend part of the time you should be working cues into blocking figuring out if you want a cue in this specific spot to begin with.  Most of the time the answer there is no.

To add to that it’s a pain to try and schedule time for all of you to sit together in the same room and talk it through.  Negotiating multiple schedules is never simple, but that’s a whole other post.

If you’re very lucky though you get that perfect paper tech that goes quickly and leads to a smooth cue-to-cue.  I’ve had my fair share of those and boy do I appreciate them.

But hey, half of the excitement of live theatre is walking into tech and just figuring it out as you go.  And by the end you have a show.  And that’s something.

On Closing A Show

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Chicago, emotion, Humor, Stage Manager, Stage Managing, Theatre, Windy City

I know it seems strange to start at the end, but closing shows has been on my mind a lot lately.  Probably because I just closed a show today.

There are any number of emotions that one can feel when you reach the end of a run, and believe me I’ve felt them all.  There is so much work that goes into a show, and as a Stage Manger being involved from start to finish, you sometimes are burned out by the time you reach closing night.

And then you get that one show that you really don’t want to let go of.  A show that sticks with you, probably because it came at just the right time.  It had the perfect blend of amazingly talented people who truly loved being in the theatre, the show, each other.  A group of people who appreciated everyone, big and small, no matter what their job was in the production.  That’s what this show was to me.  And even though I’m sad to see it end, it is the best kind of sadness one could ask for.

About This Blog!

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Chicago, Humor, Stage Management, Stage Manager, Tech Week, Theatre, Windy City

Stage Management is stressful.  I love it and wouldn’t want to be doing anything else here in Chicago Theatre.  But to survive you have to have a sense of humor and a positive outlook that eventually this show will turn into something the critics might not hate.  That’s what this blog is all about.  Finding the funny in Tech Week, finding the funny in theatre in general, and turning it into a learning experience.  I’ll take from past and current productions I’ve worked on, respecting the privacy of individuals involved by not giving any names.  But hopefully you can walk away from reading having learned something, even if that something is “Man I would NEVER Stage Manage.”

I’ll try and post on a regular bases, but in the past I tend to burn out after a month.  Finding the time isn’t always easy when you’re exhausted after a long day.  However this is one I feel like I can keep up with.  So I’m going to try and hopefully you’ll stick with me.