Hope Rose Kelly

Inside Look: Weston Playhouse Stage Management Internship

Posted on by Hope Rose Kelly

The following article continues a series devoted to stage management training programs (undergrad, grad, internships, etc.) across the country from the perspective of working stage managers who attended them. – Hope Rose Kelly (Editor-in-Chief)

Weston Playhouse Theatre Company – Weston, VT

Stage Management Internship – 2014

By Kyle P. Gillikin and Nicki Berger

This program takes place during the summer stock season and the length of the position was from the end of May until middle August. I interviewed for this position in person at SETC with the Production Manager and Associate Production Manager and then filled out an application following the interview and sent recommendation letters by email. This was a very quick process, due to the nature of  SETC. The position was compensated at $100.00 a week and housing was provided

The duties involved supporting the Stage Management team on 2 or 3 productions throughout the season during pre-production, rehearsal, tech, and performance weeks. Assisting with all rehearsal needs, creation of necessary paperwork, schedules, inter-departmental communications, attending production meetings, taking notes, and sometimes serving on show run crew backstage as needed.  In reality you act as an ASM on the children’s musical at their smaller venue and a second ASM for the mainstage musical under the Equity ASM and PSM. You also assist in the upkeep, cleanup and maintenance of work areas, rehearsal and performance spaces, office equipment, assist in other departments as assigned, attend intern meetings, provide support for special events or company projects as needed. There is an intern company of 24, two of which are Stage Management Interns.

Both of the productions I (Kyle) worked on were musicals. A smaller children’s musical with Weston’s young company (Schoolhouse Rock Live!) and on a mainstage musical (Mamma Mia!). However I was also able to work on a reunion concert they put on that season as part of their 80th anniversary. We rehearsed six days a week with one day off most weeks as well as attending any production and intern meetings as needed. The tech process involved two 10 of 12’s followed by two days of morning rehearsals and a preview performance later that day and the second day the rehearsal was followed by the opening performance. Both productions did eight shows a week.

This program offered a great opportunity to dive right in and start working with professionals in the industry while having the large teaching emphasis put into their intern program. You are able to go right into rehearsals for these productions, start working with the rest of the stage management team and learn from them. You can also earn EMC points for some of the work. This program also requires you to attend a weekly intern meeting, where we sit down with one or more of the artists that came in to work on a particular project and speak to them about their lives and/or a particular topic.

Highlights of the experience included living in the housing with a great group of people, a lot of which we are still friends with; being in beautiful Vermont, enjoying the views and being able to disconnect for a little bit; the close community the stage managers make among themselves – we had multiple nights of getting together, sharing a drink and talking for hours listening to everyone’s stories; they also offered a stage management round table to anyone who wished to participate; and getting to work with some great people, some of which will let you be in their infamous cabaret. Being around for the 80th celebration was amazing. There are so few theaters in America that have been running that long. We threw a parade, invited past performers out for a cabaret, and had a community celebration. The community and history of Weston is a big part of the experience and it was never celebrated more than at the 80th anniversary.

This program helped me (Kyle) learn how to be a better manager and how translatable all of my skills. Since leaving Weston I have been working as a stage manager for Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, Virginia – starting out there as an event operations stage manager and continuing on to be a show operations stage manager and area supervisor for the park. Almost every theater I have worked at since leaving Weston I have met another technician or performer who is part of the Weston family and it has created great conversations, instant bonding and networking. I’m (Nikki) currently working as a PA at Hartford Stage through connections I made at Weston.

We could recommend this program to anyone looking for more experience working at a professional Equity theatre. Mostly undergrad and grad students, due to the educational nature of this internship and how the people you work with want you to learn and succeed.

Hope Rose Kelly

Inside Look: Ithaca College Stage Management

Posted on by Hope Rose Kelly

The following article continues a series devoted to stage management training programs (undergrad, grad, internships, etc.) across the country from the perspective of working stage managers who attended them. – Hope Rose Kelly (Editor-in-Chief)

Ithaca College – Ithaca, NY

B.A. Theatre Studies – Concentration in Stage Management – 2013-2016

By Liza Miller

As a graduate of Ithaca College’s Theatre Arts Department I regularly implement my education in my work. Before I chose Ithaca, determined to become a stage manager, the only thing I had stage managed was my high school’s talent show. My high school was small and there was no theatre department, only a drama club. There were only two backstage crew and everyone else was an actor. I chose Ithaca College because it is located in Ithaca, New York – one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. The city feels like the middle of nowhere but the mountains and the lake are breath taking and there is plenty of hiking. I chose the Department of Theatre Arts because everyone I met was friendly and bright and honestly in love with their school. So…lacking all knowledge of actual stage management ICTA accepted me with open arms and gave me the fundamental skills and practical experience required to succeed after graduation.

Ithaca Theatre Department has five majors. All of them are undergraduate degrees and when I went there (2013 – 2016) if you primarily focused on stage management you were a B.A. Theatre Studies major. You don’t graduate with a degree in stage management but there were unofficial paths within the major that a student could choose to follow or not; Stage Management being one. The B.A took four years to complete and you must interview to be accepted into the major. When I applied I had to submit a resume, and a letter explaining why I wanted to be a B.A. I was then contacted by the department to set up an interview. One of the B.A. professors met with me, looked over what I submitted with my application and then asked me a few questions. I was very nervous (which was completely unnecessary) so I honestly don’t remember it very well.

Most class years have three to five stage managers but in my year there were ten by graduation. Ithaca has 2 main stage theaters and 5 studios, one of which is a small 50 seat theater. There are 6 main stage productions and an unbelievable amount of student produced productions every year. There are also productions and presentations connected to the directing, play writing and performance classes. The main stages include 3 plays, 2 musicals and 1 opera. Every other year a play was replaced by a dance show. As a stage manager you would be assigned to a production in addition to your daily classes. If you entered the program as a freshman you would shadow an SM team during the fall semester and be a Production Assistant in the Spring. As a sophomore you would be assigned as a PA again or you may become an Assistant Stage Manager depending on your abilities and skills. Junior year you would usually be an ASM or a Production Stage Manager for one of the smaller shows in the studio theaters. Senior year most Stage Managers will PSM a mainstage show.

None of the assignments were guaranteed. Other than the initial shadow assignment all positions were based on merit and performance. At Ithaca there is an Instructor called the Stage Management Production Mentor. They would teach the class “Stage Management I” held every fall semester and also be responsible for reviewing your performance at the end of the show. The reviews were important but fairly relaxed. Everyone you interacted with, student and professor, would be able to submit an evaluation of your skills to the SM Mentor anonymously and then the mentor shared the evaluations in the student’s review in a constructive and educational way with a focus on how to improve on mistakes.

One of the amazing things about Ithaca’s Theatre Department was that every rehearsal, tech and performance was run like an Equity level production. When I was a PA on my first Off-Broadway production I was happily surprised to find that everything I did as a PA in college was the same as what I needed to do in a professional production. The paperwork was the same, the breaks were the same and the responsibilities were the same. This goes for the ASM and PSM duties at Ithaca as well.

Ithaca College holds classes Monday to Friday so rehearsals would be held 7pm – 10pm, Monday to Friday with a 5 hour rehearsal on either Saturday or Sunday. Tech usually started on a Thursday and went from 7pm – 11pm, Friday was 7pm – 11pm and then there was usually a 10 out of 12 on Saturday or Sunday and then Monday was 7pm-11pm with First preview on Tuesday night.

I felt that the Ithaca College SM program required you to be self-motivated. They give you all the tools and experience you need to start and then they expect you to run with it. The SM mentor was always there to answer questions and supervised tech but you were also expected to be independent and hold your own. You must run the rehearsal room and production meetings and the performances were all on the stage managers. Though competitive, Ithaca was never hostile. I always felt that students had healthy respect for each other even in stressful situations. Professors were always rooting for their students and ready with an encouraging word or constructive criticism. I feel that the program was equal parts education and experience and students had the freedom to make mistakes in a professional setting.

Since graduation, Liza has worked in NYC at Classic Stage Company and Signature Theatre. As of 2018, she gained her card with Actors’ Equity Association.

Hope Rose Kelly

Inside Look: Emerson College BFA Stage Management

Posted on by Hope Rose Kelly

The following article continues a series devoted to stage management training programs (undergrad, grad, internships, etc.) across the country from the perspective of working stage managers who attended them. – Hope Rose Kelly (Editor-in-Chief)

Emerson College – Boston, MA

BFA Stage & Production Management – 2013-2017

By Jessica Kemp

I come from a very small town in Upstate New York – the Adirondacks. My big sister introduced me to the world of théâtre and dance, but I eventually fell into stage management after I watched a scene change in a community theatre production of The Sound of Music take five minutes and cringed. I never fully committed to any trade. I balanced dance, stage management, vocal performances, and acting throughout my high school years. When it came time for me to think about life after high school, I had no clue, which is perfectly normal! I knew I wanted a small college. Large groups of people overwhelm me and I enjoyed my small hometown class size. The thought of a huge campus that took 30 minutes just to walk across terrified me and because of dance, I learn better in a one-on-one situation. My years of school and dance also made me realize that I’m a tactile learner and I have never been one to enjoy down-time for more than a few days.

EMERSON COLLEGE – THE SCHOOL IN A SNAPSHOT.

Emerson College is a small “liberal arts” college in Boston Proper with roughly 4,000 students on its campus. I say “liberal arts” because the BFA Stage & Production Management track itself is really a conservatory. The campus is the size of two blocks along Boylston St. with a Los Angeles campus and a castle in the Netherlands where you can study abroad. There are a few main schools within the college: Visual Media Arts (aka film); Writing, Literature, Publishing; Journalism; Communication Studies; Communication Sciences & Disorders; Political Communications; Marketing Communication; Liberal and Interdisciplinary Studies; and the Performing Arts. The BFA Stage & Production Management major lives within Performing Arts and all Performing Arts majors are Fine Arts majors – there is no BA option. Most students are undergrads but there are a few masters programs in each school. You can create your own major (called IDIP) if you don’t find a perfect fit and even dip into Entrepreneurial Studies. Emerson can fund your great new business and help you get started.

The culture at Emerson is to always be on the go – there isn’t a lot of down-time, and most people at Emerson like it that way: have an internship, be in five student organizations, go all the way in a class project, hold a job, study. I found that most people here have set their goals very, very high; they come in knowing what they want to do. There is a lot of creative energy. It’s exhausting and exhilarating at the same time.

It is difficult, as a performing arts major, to transcend and break into any other schools or fields, but extra-curricular activities are in abundance and minors are relatively achievable. You can work at a radio station or on live-broadcast TV shows put on by students, be in an a capella group, help with student-produced films. I chose to minor in American Sign Language. The Emerson Experience is what you make of it. No two Emerson educations are exactly alike.

BFA STAGE & PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT – AN OVERVIEW.

Emerson College has a tremendous technical theatre program. It’s not something I, or my beloved colleagues, quite realized until we went out into the real world. Below are some of the highlights of the college, the BFA Stage & Production Management degree, and other opportunities available to you at Emerson.

The Woman in Charge of the Program. The Stage & Production Management department is headed by our fearless leader, Debra Acquavella (from here-on Deb). She is an artist with a vast wealth of knowledge in regional and commercial theatre which will benefit your education.

Classes. You are required to take four stage management classes, one production stage management class, one arts management class, and some craft classes to learn what carpenters, electricians, and stitchers do on a daily basis. The Performing Arts department requires that you take a few overview theatre classes and that’s where you’ll meet your fellow acting, directing, and technical theatre majors. As you see, this major is highly stage management skewed, but the production management class is taught by a real-life production manager who comes in on his day off to teach and you work alongside a production manager daily.

Emerson Stage. Emerson Stage is its own little beast. Based off of the LORT model, Emerson Stage is a “company” that produces theatre all year round so students can gain practical experience. The General Manager, Assistant to the General Manager, Production Manager, and directors are all staff members. Students learn how to create theatre through Emerson Stage with assignments and guidance from an advisor. Though involved every year, Stage & Production Management students receive credit for these Emerson Stage shows junior and senior year – and they are involved in both stage management and production management capacities (we call these production management positions production supervisors). You start from the bottom in both tracks and work your way up to stage manage and/or production manage your senior year. Emerson Stage produces a variety of work which gives students access to classic plays, a fall musical/revue, a spring musical, and a spring month-long festival of new works by student and professional playwrights. When Stage & Production Management students receive class credit for the productions you will meet with Deb once a week in a class called Production Projects. In Production Projects, you discuss challenges within your own show as well as your classmates. Deb will encourage you to work in the props department on one of these shows, and some Stage & Production Management students have even gained experience in the sound and lighting departments. The more experience you get in each field, the more it will aid you as a stage manager.

Student Theater Organizations. Alongside Emerson Stage, some people find their theatre communities through student theater organizations. These are completely student produced works, where anybody can dabble in any field. Journalism majors can audition, marketing majors can be in a dance troupe, and a stage manager can try their hand at lighting design. It’s really quite incredible to see the work done for and by your peers. These are extremely low budget productions that tech in a few hours and are open for a couple of performances. You are not tied to a supervisor/advisor in these organizations, and your first year at Emerson you will need permission from Deb to participate in a production or stage management capacity. This isn’t as cruel as it sounds. The first year of college is a lot, this program is a lot of time and effort, and these student productions will take you by storm if you aren’t prepared. She wants to make sure you have the groundwork laid out for your own mental and physical health before you explore student theatre.

The Theatres & Rehearsal Space. Emerson has a surprising amount of room for such a small campus. Emerson calls six theaters home, and has nine studio/rehearsal spaces and countless private practice rooms across its campus. The Greene Theater is your traditional 100-seat proscenium theater, the Semel Theater holds a bit more and is a ¾ thrust. The Jackie Liebergott Black Box molds to whatever shape the designer and director decide. The majority of Emerson Stage productions will happen on these stages. Student theater organizations will produce most of their work in the Cabaret (the Cab), which is a smaller black box theater. The Paramount and Majestic Theatres are the largest stages and have the largest houses, but are kept busy throughout the year with ArtsEmerson productions. Emerson Stage traditionally puts up one show in the Paramount and one in the Majestic each year. Emerson College also owns The Emerson Colonial Theater, which, in its heyday, was home to many Broadway tryouts (Bob Fosse tap danced on the table – there’s still a chip). In 2018, the Ambassador Theatre Group will have a lease on The Colonial opening with Moulin Rouge. 

Internships and Outside Work. A large portion of your education will be outside of the Emerson bubble. While it isn’t required, you will most likely obtain an internship or outside experience of some kind in the Greater Boston area. Some of these experiences are paid and some of them aren’t. During my time at Emerson, my classmates worked at Huntington Theatre Company, American Repertory Theater, Actors Shakespeare Project, Central Square Theatre, Speakeasy Stage Company, Lyric Stage Company… the list goes on. These opportunities are invaluable, attainable, and encouraged. This business is incredibly small and someone with a connection to Emerson works at each one of these amazing companies. You will also be encouraged to do theater in the summer by way of internships or jobs, but it is important to remember that these are not necessary. While they are great for your career and you will come back to the fall semester having grown so much, your mental health is also important. If you need the summer off, you need the summer off.

Studying Abroad. You can certainly study abroad, but as a Stage & Production Management student, you have to prepare ahead of time for this. The most popular place to study abroad is in the Netherlands. Emerson owns a castle called Kasteel Well. In this program, you are in Europe for a fall, spring, or summer semester, and you travel to different places on the weekend. Food is not offered at the castle on weekends, basically encouraging you to go elsewhere. For those who went, I know it drastically changed their lives. They forged new friendships and learned more about themselves than they ever thought possible.

Stage & Production Management students can only attend the fall semester of their sophomore year. This is just the way it works out given all the different classes you have to take to earn your degree. I did know a student who went in the summer session, but class selection is extremely limited. Here’s the other catch: it’s a lottery system. A certain percentage of Performing Arts, Journalism, WLP (and so forth) students are selected to go at random. I was number two on the wait list when I left my freshman year. If people had dropped out, I could have gone. The college also encourages you to have $6,000 set aside for your semester, so get that second job now.

Another popular place to study away from Boston is Emerson Los Angeles. This is our Los Angeles campus that typically gets you an internship in the film industry. A Stage & Production Management student was the first to go in my time there and she worked as an executive assistant. If you’re interested in the west coast, the film industry, or want to find other ways to develop leadership skills, I highly recommend this. There are, of course, other places to study abroad!

The ProArts Consortium. This is an incredible opportunity that I, honestly, never took advantage of. At the most basic level, a bunch of art schools in Boston got together and said, “Sure! We’ll take some students from your school if you take some students from our school for a class and still have those credits count. Why not?” This means that if you’re interested in taking dance classes at Boston Conservatory/Berklee, you most likely can. A classmate of mine took a bookmaking class at MassArt.

THE APPLICATION PROCESS.

The Application. Emerson holds their application on the CommonApp and will require some supplemental materials. There is the opportunity to apply for their Honors Program there as well, which requires more writing. You will apply to the school and schedule an interview separately.

The Interview. Emerson College has an interview process. You must be accepted into the school and accepted into the program separately. Deb travels to different cities throughout the year and conducts interviews in NYC, Chicago, and Boston. You can even phone in internationally to speak with her. You’ll have to come to your interview with a 1” portfolio of your work, including pictures and any documents that you’ve worked on. Don’t bring in an entire prompt book, but bring in some complicated blocking pages if you have them. Did you make a calendar? Put that in too.

Deb’s interview stuck out amongst the rest of the other colleges. It was the first interview I had that wasn’t in a sterile room. Her office has personality, and her bookshelves show history. Deb doesn’t just look to see what you already know. She just wants you to succeed. In fact, she’ll breeze through your portfolio and then set it aside to talk to you. She looks to see if you’re a good fit for the school and for her department. She wants to get to know you, not just your work, in those few short minutes. Freshman year, her students will start from different spots on the path but her goal is to get you all walking together down that yellow brick road. You will work one-on-one with this woman for four years. Interview her as much as she does you. Just be yourself walking into that room, because that’s what she wants to see

How about those Standardized Tests? Academics are important to get into the college. Emerson doesn’t expect you to have a 4.0 in high school, but they do expect you to care about your studies. So study for those SATs and study before your tests. You can apply to be a part of the Honors Program, which cuts your tuition in half. If you choose this, you must write a thesis in order to graduate and will take classes that are only held for Honors students

OKAY, OKAY. BUT FOR REAL. ARE THERE ANY CONS?

Like all schools, of course there are. My main concern with the college is that I believe they are looking to expand their student population. There are more students than the college and its facilities can currently hold, and that causes extra stress on everyone. The student to professor ratio is increasing while the classrooms themselves are staying the same size, so it’s a tight squeeze most of the time.

Without a doubt. While everyone at some point has some issues with the college – this will happen anywhere you go – the education I received at Emerson is incomparable. This program is strong and there will be no need for you to attend a graduate school, though an apprenticeship after graduation isn’t a bad idea just to break into the industry. As alumni, we emerge ready to jump into the field and ready to swim. The program boasts of alums continually working on and off Broadway (Miss Saigon, The Band’s Visit, Sleep No More), Cirque De Soleil’s Michael Jackson One in Las Vegas, tours like Rent and The Book of Mormon, TV live productions (Peter Pan), regional theaters all over the country, and so much more. The fact that you are able to take hold of your own education while at school truly means that you are able to take hold of your future.

Deb and the rest of the Performing Arts faculty really do care about each and every one of their students. Personal connections are made over the course of four years that won’t go away. The program not only focuses on your career, but also on your life. The trust and support you gain and create with your classmates will continue to grow after you leave Emerson. Their successes are my successes, too. I found the second family I didn’t know I needed.

Jessica Kemp is currently a Stage Management Apprentice at Actors Theatre of Louisville where she is now overcoming her childhood fear working on a fun new number called “Little Bunny Foo Foo”.

Melissa Nathan

Diary of an SPT Stage Manager: Rehearsal Week 3 for Godot

Posted on by Melissa Nathan

Rehearsal, Day 12:

We didn’t start until noon today! Hooray! That’s really because one of my actors had a doctor’s appointment, but it works out well for everyone.

I walked into the kitchen to discover an overabundance of coffee. I guess we won’t have to worry about that for a while.

Our Didi (who had the doctor’s appointment) texted our Gogo to tell him that it looked like he wouldn’t be able to make it in until 1pm because they were very slow (his appointment was at 9:45am). I’m not sure why he didn’t text me, but ok. My ASM ran lines with Gogo, while the AD was getting restless. I started gathering the things we would need to take to the performance space. When we took a break at 1:20pm, Gogo checked his phone and said Didi now doesn’t think he’d get here until 3pm (again, why isn’t he texting me?). ASM continued to run lines with Gogo and the AD worked with Lucky on his speech in one of the smaller studios (Lucky happened to be here working on his lines and was happy to work on the them with the AD). We were able to pick up our original schedule after lunch although Didi didn’t arrive until 3:30pm and he was not happy (because who would be after sitting in a doctor’s appointment for five and half hours).

The president of the board came in to watch for a little while. The AD has an open door policy; anyone could come in to watch rehearsal.

After I sent out the daily for today’s rehearsal (emailed on Saturday), I had received an email from Pozzo saying his conflict was for Tuesday and Thursday, not Monday and Wednesday (the daily said he should get there as soon as he could). I could picture my conflicts calendar in my head and was 99% sure that it said Monday and Wednesday, but I apologized and said I must have written it down wrong. Later, he emailed myself and the AD saying he had gotten the dates wrong: he thought the 27th was Tuesday. While doing the daily for Tuesday, we had to adjust our start and end times a little to accommodate that because the AD wanted to do a stumble thru.

Rehearsal, Day 13:

We worked with Didi and Gogo for the first half of the day (doing the things we were supposed to do yesterday). And I found out that one of my dearest friends had a baby!

When we went to lunch, I went on Facebook and found out an actor friend that I had just worked with this past summer passed away. It was definitely a circle of life kind of day.

After lunch we did a stumble thru. That was rough. Particularly for Act 2 (which we didn’t even get to finish because we ran out of time). One of the education actors (my former ASM) asked if she could watch to which the AD said of course. I wanted her to sit by me but the AD said she should sit in the row of chairs closest to the actors so they could get a feel for it. After rehearsal, one of my actors said they should have gotten advanced warning that she was going to be there and it’s totally against Equity rules. First, she asked if she could watch right before we started. Second, the AD pointed her out. Third, I don’t recall any kind of rule like that so I’m going to have to look it up. But really though, I think he was just mad at himself since the stumble didn’t go so well.

Rehearsal, Day 14:

This morning I discovered that my friend who passed away had committed suicide. Needless to say, this was a very hard day. I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around it.

We worked large sections of the show with the four adults and Pozzo went for a fitting at the local university (our costume designer works there). We also worked Lucky’s speech.

After rehearsal I went to the grocery store to get food props for us to try on Friday and Saturday.

Rehearsal, Day 15:

We started the day working the four adults scene in Act 2 but then the actors asked if they could just run lines for that scene for a bit. While they did that, I was able to gather some things that we’ll need to take to the performance space. Load out of our building is Saturday so I’ve been gathering things little by little. We used to have a pink plastic storage box with stage management supplies but I haven’t seen it, so I thought it didn’t exist anymore (since the move) but my company manager said she’ll look when she gets back from her errands.

Our contact person at the performance space called me to ask how many tables we needed for the dressing rooms and front of house. I was a little surprised because we’ve always brought our own tables in the past but it’s great that we don’t have to this time. Apparently, they are new tables so we have to get some plastic tablecloths to put over them to make sure they don’t get ruined by makeup or anything. She also said that the dressing room we’ll be using is what we would normally use as the ladies dressing room. I guess since we don’t have any ladies in the show this year they decided this would be easier.

My ASM went into one of the other studios to work with Lucky on his speech so I read the Boy’s lines while working his Act 2 scene (we didn’t call him today). Personally, I think it was some of my best work.

Rehearsal, Day 16:

We did a lot of scene work today. My ASM was doing line notes for Didi and Gogo so I went into another studio to work with Lucky on his speech.

We added food props today: a turnip (that won’t actually be eaten), a carrot (that needs to have the greens attached – not available in the local regular grocery stores, have to go to Sprouts or Whole Foods or something), 3 pieces of fake chicken (for our vegetarian) and 3 chicken leg bones for Gogo to knaw on (with the chicken cut off).

My ASM brought me lunch today from the restaurant she works at! She’s the best!

The Company Manager texted me that afternoon saying the Boy’s father just called the office and said the Boy had a sore throat and couldn’t talk so he wouldn’t be coming in. I’m not sure why he didn’t contact me but that’s a moot point.

Towards the end of rehearsal, one of the Education Managers texted me asking if I had contacted the education actors who were supposed to be helping with load out and load in to tell them about the time change because no one seemed to know about it. I said no because I didn’t know I was supposed to. The week before at our production meeting we had changed the times. I emailed the three people in charge of the education actors to let them know. One of them emailed me back asking if it was going to change again. There was another part of this email that I didn’t see so I only answered that first part. The second part said if it doesn’t change again, please let the actors know. If I would have seen that part, I would have said I can’t contact them because I don’t have their information. Not to mention the fact that it’s not my job because I’m not in charge of them, that’s why I emailed the other people. The EM who texted me said she would get in touch with them all and will get back to me if there were any conflicts. Luckily there weren’t. Whew.

After I sent out the daily and report, I went out to dinner with three people from the company. It was great and we were there for a really long time because we started talking about Equity rules. I’m not sure how we started talking about it but it was a learning experience for us all.

Right before we left dinner, I saw I had an email from the Boy’s mother. She said he now had a fever so she was going to bring him to the doctor tomorrow. She was worried it could be strep. I called my AD to see what we wanted to do because tomorrow was going to be our designer run. He didn’t text me back until after midnight and said we certainly don’t want anyone getting sick but let’s wait to see what the diagnosis is before determining attendance. I emailed his mother to let him know.

Rehearsal, Day 17:

When I woke up, I saw an email from the Boy’s mother (sent at 5 something in the morning) saying he still had a fever and she would keep me posted. I still hadn’t heard from her by 9:45am (we were supposed to start with the Boy at 10) so I called her. They were just leaving the doctor’s office. He didn’t have strep or the flu but he was still contagious. Needless to say, I told her to bring him home to get better.

We had our designer run this morning with my ASM filling in for the Boy and gave notes. It went pretty well, considering we hadn’t run the whole thing before.

We went to lunch and our Lighting Designer/TD started load out. We thought they were going to take the walls we had in the studio after we were done but they were moving so fast we extended lunch by 15 minutes so they could load out of our studio. They were done with the whole load out in less than two hours!

After rehearsal, we had a production meeting while my ASM was packing up the rest of the hospitality things (coffee pot, mugs, etc). I specifically mentioned to my costume designer that she could load in on Monday and someone would be able to help her/direct her to the dressing room area (she had never worked in the space before) since my ASM and I wouldn’t be there (we have off on Sunday and Monday due to load in). After the meeting, my ASM and I packed up our cars – she took the SM and hospitality supplies while I took the props and some other various things (and my own stuff of course). We’ll get to the performance space at 9am on Tuesday (the earliest we can get in) to get ready for rehearsal to start at 10am. There really isn’t a lot for my ASM to do during the show so whatever we don’t finish before we start, she can continue.

Thanks for still reading! See you in tech!

Melissa Nathan

Diary of an SPT Stage Manager: Rehearsal Week 2 for Godot

Posted on by Melissa Nathan

Rehearsal, Day 7:

After Sunday’s rehearsal, the AD (who is the director) asked if there was any way we could rehearse on Thanksgiving (we are going to be short three hours this week because of the extra day off). This is my 4th show with this company in this slot and we’ve never had this come up before. It’s probably because we would have normally started a week earlier so this would have been week 3. I also happen to think we’re in really good shape considering we’re just starting week 2. According to the SPT (Small Professional Theatre) rulebook, we are not allowed to rehearse on Thanksgiving or Christmas Day. But, I emailed my Business Rep just in case. My Rep is great and not just because I’ve known her for a while. She emailed me back within half an hour or so and explained that if he really wants to rehearse on Thanksgiving, he could contact Equity. IF Equity says it’s ok, it would probably be very expensive. She said he should call on Monday if he wants to try. I emailed him that information and told him if he wants, he could add an extra hour to three days of rehearsal this week, but that would mean we’d go into overtime for those three days. Needless to say, I didn’t hear anything today about rehearsing on Thanksgiving or adding extra time to other days. Personally, if I were home with my family for Thanksgiving and was told I have to work, I wouldn’t want to. But since I’m not and since it would have only been three hours, I would’ve been ok with it (especially if I was going to be paid more). But, I’m also not upset that we’re not rehearsing because who doesn’t like having an extra day off.

Anyway, back to the business at hand:

It’s week 2! I came in this morning and made brunch plans for Sunday with the Company Manager and the Education Manager. I can’t wait!

My ASM swept and set up the prop table while I reset the tables (since we are finally done with tablework). One table for stage management, one for the AD, and one for the actors.

There was a weird buzzing sound in the room which got worse when I put the lights on (maybe as a result of the power outage on Sunday), so we kept the lights off most of the day. Luckily, it was a nice, sunny day so we had a lot of light coming in through the many windows.

We started staging the top of Act 2. There’s a lot of blocking that happens without any lines at the top so I made my actor a little cheat sheet which he was very appreciative of.

One of my actors has had some medical problems (that I will not go into since it’s personal) that we were aware of long before starting rehearsals. Because of that, he will have to leave for various appointments including today. It makes it a little difficult since he’s pretty much on stage the entire time and we can’t really do much without him but we certainly want to be mindful of his health. While he was gone, two of my actors ran lines with my ASM reading in the other actor’s lines.

It was Moe Monday ($5 burritos or bowls at Moe’s), so the Education Manager picked up a bowl for me and we had lunch together. It was nice.

When we came back, we tried the lights again but got the same loud buzzing sound so we turned them off again.

My actor who had the doctor’s appointment was late coming back so the other actor ran lines with my ASM.

By the time my actor got back, it was time for the other two actors to join us so we picked up staging where we had left off on Sunday and then moved on to the second scene that the four are in together. And hilarity ensued. At one point, my ASM and I put our sunglasses on because the sun was in our eyes.

The rest of the day was pretty much the same. After rehearsal, I quickly did the schedule and report. I had to go to the store to pick up some stuff for Thanksgiving.

Rehearsal, Day 8:

My actors playing Didi and Gogo are always early. I usually get to the theatre 30-45 minutes before we start and my actors are always there before me running lines. They’re so good. Today, we started at 10:30am (half an hour later than normal) so I told my ASM to be there at 10. She had told me that the later start time really helped her because she had to go downtown to pick something up. Unfortunately, she underestimated how much time it would take for her to get from downtown to the theatre so she was late. She had let me know though and there wasn’t really a lot to do beforehand so it wasn’t that big of a deal.

We continued staging and had the Boy come in earlier than usual; he had been released from school due to Thanksgiving break. I’m from New York and we never had a Thanksgiving break. We had Thursday and Friday off and that’s it.

When I made my character/scene breakdown during prep week, I broke it down into essentially French scenes (a French scene is delineated by when people enter and exit; the scene starts when someone enters and ends when someone exits). This particular play is in two acts, but has no scenes so making French scenes is helpful. There’s 10 French scenes; two scenes have all four adult actors and two other scenes have Didi, Gogo, and the Boy. The other scenes are just Didi and Gogo. I have two extra blocks under each scene column on my breakdown to mark when we’ve done them. We read thru all the scenes so they all get a check mark. As of today, we’ve staged all the scenes except for two so those scenes get another check. Once we stage everything and really start working through the show, each scene will get another check. I keep my breakdown in front of me so I remember to check things off as we do them.

After rehearsal, I did the daily and report and then I talked to one of my actors and one of the education actors for a bit and then went to pick up my dinner (Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken; it’s literally the best).

At about 10:30pm, my ASM texted me asking if we were starting rehearsal at 10:30am again because that’s what the daily says. I could have sworn I had changed the time but when I pulled up the daily I saw that it did indeed say 10:30. I sent out a correction email and apologized for any inconvenience. Then my ASM texted me thank you and I said “No, thank you!” Good thing she caught that. Sometimes it doesn’t matter how many times you proof something. I normally would have my ASM check the dailies before I email it but I thought it wasn’t necessary for this show since it’s such a small cast and our rehearsal schedule is pretty much the same every day. Except for this one day! I will look it more closely from now on!

Rehearsal, Day 9:

We didn’t have our Lucky today because he had to teach and perform one of the education shows all day, but we were able to get a lot done without him. We reviewed the parts of Act 2 that we’ve already done (except for the part with the Boy, because he wasn’t called) and we staged the last two little scenes. We finished the initial staging!

It has been so cold in the rehearsal studio that the Company Manager gave me a small space heater. I put it on a chair slightly behind my ASM and I. It’s definitely helping.

We spend a lot of time in rehearsal talking about the Marx Brothers. Any time you can talk about the Marx Brothers is a good time. Seriously, if you don’t know who they are, Google them! We talk about them for a reason though. Didi and Gogo are clowns. Not circus clowns but clowns like the Marx Brothers and Buster Keaton. It’s research!

I got a new unicorn notebook from the dollar bins at Target the other day so I now have that with my show notebook. I’m currently using my new notebook to write down bullet points for this diary!

The last hour of rehearsal before any day off, but especially an extra day off, is rough. It goes by soooooo slowly and everyone gets really punchy.

In addition to keeping my character/scene breakdown in front of me (as described above in Day 8), I also keep my conflicts calendar there. I hand write updates in as necessary but it’s good to have nearby when we’re making the schedule after rehearsal. The conflicts for this show haven’t been terrible, especially because of the nature of the show. Last year was brutal because we had a cast of eight or nine; every person was playing more than one character and half of the cast was in the education show so it made scheduling a nightmare.

I’m so glad tomorrow is Thanksgiving! Not just for an extra day off, but so I can eat my weight in food. I don’t even need turkey; just give me the side dishes and dessert (I made two pumpkin pies after I got back from rehearsal; tomorrow I’ll make baked brie. It’s going to be delicious)! My AD and his wife (the General Manager) are having us over so it should be a great day!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Rehearsal, Day 10:

We talked about Thanksgiving and what everyone did on their extra day off. I had brought in a huge thing of Ambrosia that my host had made for her Thanksgiving.

We reviewed/worked scenes today, mostly in Act 2. Everyone was called at least for an hour. We also started fittings today; Didi, Gogo, and the Boy tried on their costumes. Pozzo and Lucky’s weren’t ready yet.

I’ve done a number of shows with kids in them (varying from elementary to high school ages) and each experience is different. This show is no exception. The Boy’s mother emails me in response to my daily schedules almost every day. Sometimes it seems like she’s just double checking that he’s only called for that particular amount of time and sometimes she says things like “his dad will be picking him up, what time is he done?” when it’s clearly stated on the schedule. Today was a new one. After we were done with the Boy in rehearsal, he went for a fitting. We had gone a little over time and decided to take our ten-minute break a littler early since we were supposed to start something new. It’s a good thing we broke early because the Boy’s mother called me. She said she emailed me but figured she’d call me anyway and asked if I was in the space and who should she ask about getting him a haircut (because he really wants one). I said I am in the space because we’re in rehearsal. I also told her that I would ask the AD and costume designer about his hair but I think we want to keep his hair this length. I swear I was on the phone with her for like eight out of the ten-minute break. I asked the AD and sure enough he said the Boy should not get a haircut.

About half an hour after we started up again, I saw the Boy leave and I went to talk to the costume designer. We need a specialty item for one of my actors and I wanted to know if she understood my notes in the report and if we could get the item by Monday. She said yes to both things.

On our next break, I checked my email. I had forgotten that the Boy’s mother had said she emailed me as well. She asked me the same question in the email and also said that the Boy wanted to know what the schedule was for Saturday and when would I know that. I emailed her back and said I would know after rehearsal today. I’m not sure how many times I’ve told her that.

We had a production meeting after rehearsal. It took a surprisingly long time, considering there are only four of us.

Rehearsal, Day 11:

One of my actors brought in a coffee cake from Panera and said it’s the best. He may be right about that. I had just had breakfast so I didn’t eat any before rehearsal.

Ten or so minutes before rehearsal was supposed to start, my actors informed me that they just made the last pot of coffee and they knew they were going to want more during the day. It would’ve been nice to know we were running low a little sooner but, whatever. Luckily, there’s a Walmart and a Target across the street so I sent my ASM to get some. Coffee crisis averted! Whew!

We were working through Act 1 today. Lucky has a big, non-sensical speech from page 33-35. During our first week of rehearsal, he had said he was going to get the speech word perfect the first time he was off book so I bet him $5 that he wouldn’t be (my ASM was our witness). He decided today was the day. I made sure that my ASM knew this was his choice. When it came time for his speech, he was doing really well. He substituted one word early and if that was the only thing he had missed, I would’ve just given him $5. But, he missed “a sentence” (there’s no actual punctuation in the speech but in a normal speech, it would’ve been considered a sentence), so I won the bet. I was still really impressed with how much he got right though.

My AD used the word “vociferously” today. I was very impressed and am going to try to use it in my everyday life. It means “in a loud and forceful manner”.

I ate a piece of coffee cake during our second break. It was like second breakfast (I’m kind of like a hobbit).

After lunch, we had the Boy in. He must have thought we were all crazy because we spent at least ten minutes talking about curling (it’s a sport that’s played with brooms and a large “stone” and is very popular in Canada. Seriously, it’s an Olympic sport. Look it up.) I think that started because my ASM is Canadian and Gogo has taken to calling her Canada.

I noticed while the AD, Didi, and Gogo were talking, the Boy wandered around briefly and was looking at Gogo’s script. A little while later, he asked me to look at my script. I asked him if he had his and he said no, he forgot it. I told him he has to remember his script. This wasn’t the first time he’s had script issues. The AD had emailed a script to his mother when he was cast. They never printed it out and he never even read his scenes. We had a copy for him for the first day of rehearsal which I had held together with a binder clip. When he came in that first day, I would tell him the page numbers and he said there are no page numbers. I said they’re under the binder clip, which he never took off. My ASM got him a small binder for his script but he never asked us to hole punch it so we figured he had one at home (not an unusual thing). The next time he was called (the last day of the first week), the page number thing came up again and the AD said we discussed this last time. He saw he had a binder and asked him why he hadn’t hole punched his script and he said he didn’t know. I pointed out our hole punch (which is sitting on the SM table), but he just took his script and left. I understand that he’s only fourteen years old, but this is not his first show. This isn’t even his first show with this particular theatre. My ASM and I are more than happy to help out in any way we can, but we’re not mind readers; we can only help if we know that it’s needed or wanted. Sigh.

Today, I started making a list of things we needed to bring to the performance space. Next Saturday, our Technical Director (who is also our Lighting Designer) will be loading up a large truck after rehearsal and then will load in to the space on Sunday. It’s nice to be in this new space because everything we need is here instead of being in multiple spaces. I also found two nice plastic storage boxes that we can use for stage management, hospitality, and show stuff to bring to the performance space. I put a note in the rehearsal report that the Admin staff should gather any Front of House stuff by the loading dock on Friday before they leave for the weekend. That way it can go right on the truck. Stage Management has this rolling tool case called Fat Max; we used it to go to all of our different performance spaces throughout the years. I’m retiring Fat Max. He had a good run but he doesn’t like to close anymore (or when you can close him, it’s hard to open him again) and we really won’t need him anymore since we’re going to be performing in our own space after this show. I honestly haven’t used anything in Fat Max, besides spike or gaff tape, in a couple of years, so I’m going to clean him out for retirement before we leave (that way we don’t have to lug him with us).

That’s the end of another week! Two down, three to go!

xoxox
Melissa

Melissa Nathan

Diary of an SPT Stage Manager: Rehearsal, Week 1 for Godot

Posted on by Melissa Nathan

Rehearsal, Day 1:

On our first day of rehearsal, I had my ASM work on the fabric on the mirrors. It seems to be a never-ending battle. While she was doing that, I was doing last minute things like printing copies of the costume renderings to post, setting up tables, etc. My ASM then swept and set up chairs. I put cough drops in a couple of paper cups to put on the tables as well as pencils, highlighters, tissues, hand sanitizer, a 3-hole punch, and the model of the set. One of my actors came in early and made coffee for everyone (and boiled the water for tea). That’s so nice of him!

We started the rehearsal day with Equity business: we elected a deputy (I said “Does anyone have an overwhelming desire to be the deputy” and was met with dead silence. Then I said “Don’t all raise your hands at once.”) My coffee making actor volunteered once I told him that all deputy things are now done online. I wish Equity would start sending deputy badges again; I feel like that would be a nice little incentive.

Then we took a tour of the new building and our AD spoke a little bit about the upcoming renovations.

By the time we were done with the tour, our non-AEA actor had arrived (after being part of the theatre’s educations tours) and we did design presentations. We don’t really have a set designer since we’re using the same set we used last year (except much more distressed; it won’t look anything like it did last year). Actually, I guess you can say we have two set designers: the person who actually originally designed it and my AD since he is the one changing it. We used the model from last year, which the AD had distressed and added to and he did the presentation. Our costume designer showed us her renderings and research. She had also brought rehearsal hats, shoes, and jackets, which is very helpful!

The next thing was to read the play. We didn’t have our Boy since he was in school, but my ASM read him in for his two scenes (just a reminder that we’re doing Waiting for Godot). We also discussed the play a bit.

After we came back from lunch, Boy was able to join us, so we re-read his scenes and had a lengthy discussion about the play and some of Beckett’s influences. Naturally, we talked about absurdism, but we also talked about surrealism, Dadaism, realism, existentialism, and philosophy. Then we watched a silent film called Film, which was written by Beckett, directed by Alan Schneider, and starred Buster Keaton. It was about 17 minutes long.

We talked a little about schedule for the rest of the week. The AD usually does an acting exercise called Dropping In (a process/exercise developed and introduced by founding Artistic Director, Tina Packer, of Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, MA). It is intended to help the actor more fully and imaginatively explore, and viscerally and emotionally connect to the words in a text. It can be quite a powerful experience for the actor as they immerse themselves into the thoughts and feelings of a character through the words a character speaks or hears spoken, making imaginative associations and emotional connections with their own lives. It is usually the first step in the rehearsal process. The actor sits in a chair facing their scene partner (also sitting in a chair) and a prompter sits behind each actor feeding in the lines word by word stopping to ask a question then repeating the word/line to the actor who says the word/line until the prompter moves on. One can expect to take 15-20 minutes per page. This is really something that needs to be witnessed; the explanation doesn’t do it justice. The AD decided he didn’t want to do that this time and we were going to do regular table work instead (dissecting the play).

After rehearsal ended, my ASM went back to taping the fabric on the mirrors; they had fallen during the day. While she did that, the AD and I discussed the schedule for the next day. Then I typed and emailed the daily schedule for Tuesday and that day’s rehearsal report. I also printed three dailies (1 to post on the call board, 1 for stage management, and 1 for the AD) and called it a day.

Rehearsal, Day 2:

My ASM and I came in and found one of my actors already there (at least half an hour early) and he had already made coffee. Once again, my ASM tried putting the fabric back up.

Today we did table work. We started with Vladamir and Estragon, since they are in the whole show. We let them go an hour early and worked with Lucky. The one time Lucky speaks, it’s a three page non-sensical monologue. Even though we had released Didi and Gogo, they asked if my ASM could run lines with them, so of course I said yes (since we were doing table work and there wasn’t really anything for her to do).

Our schedule for the next day was going to be the same as today, but this time I added Didi and Gogo running lines for the last hour of the day instead of being released and they thanked me, which was nice.

It’s amazing that we get anything done at all since we spend so much time laughing.

Rehearsal, Day 3:

Today was pretty much the same as yesterday: tablework with Didi and Gogo and then they went to run lines and we worked with Lucky. Today we also took publicity photos with Didi and Gogo.

Rehearsal, Day 4:

Today was pretty much the same as the past two days, except that we didn’t do photos. We did, however, have a production meeting after rehearsal.

Also, the Secret Santa forms have been pouring in! We’ll be picking in a couple of days.

Rehearsal, Day 5:

Today we did more table work, but also got on our feet and started staging. We’re using a lot of the stage directions that are in the script because the AD thinks that Beckett put them there for a reason. It makes writing blocking very easy: since there are so many stage directions, there’s no point to rewrite what’s already there. I will write new things that aren’t there, but for the most part, that’s just who is crossing where and in what direction.

After lunch, we got our Pozzo back (he had a conflict the previous three days), so we did tablework for the two scenes that the four actors are in together.

Once we did brief tablework, we got on our feet. The AD and Pozzo did some work with the whip, which will give me a heart attack every time.

Then, the AD worked with Lucky to organize how he would be carrying all his props (a large bag, a picnic basket with a bottle of wine, and a wooden folding stool). Lucky comes in with a rope around his neck (Pozzo has the other end); Lucky exits the other side of the stage and we have staged him to hit the back of the flat to make a noise like he’s falling. That won’t be an issue once we’re in the space because the walls will be secure, but currently they’re essentially supporting each other so right now every time he hits the flat, it moves. My ASM and I jumped every time. My ASM stood there to give it more support but it didn’t really work. Luckily, it didn’t fall.

As soon as rehearsal ended, I did the daily and was out by 6:15pm; I had a ticket to see Alton Brown at a theatre downtown. We were originally supposed to get out at 5pm so I would’ve had plenty of time to get there, but we changed end of day to 6pm. I knew I’d be able to get downtown in time (it was about a 30 minute drive), but I was worried about finding parking on a Friday night. Since I was able to get out by 6:15pm (that was probably the fastest I’ve ever gotten a daily out), I got downtown by 6:45pm and found valet parking (because there was nothing else). I made it with 12 minutes to spare! Whew! After I got back from the show (which was amazing), I sent out the report. I didn’t feel bad about not sending it out right away, because there wasn’t anything pressing that had to be addressed the next day.

Rehearsal, Day 6:

Before rehearsal, my ASM and I went into props storage looking for fake fruit and vegetables and I ended up cutting my hand on a broken plastic box, so that was fun. It didn’t turn out to be as bad as I originally thought, but it was hurting all day. We did, however, get our fruits and vegetables. The purpose of the fake items was to act as dofers (stand ins) for what will eventually be real turnips & carrots as specified in the play.

We did the last bit of tablework with the Boy and staged the first Boy scene. Afterwards, we released the Boy (he had his final performance at another theatre that evening) and continued staging with the other four actors.

About half an hour after lunch, the power went out. It had been storming on and off (and it was very windy), but it wasn’t raining at the time. We soon discovered that the power was only out in the offices and rehearsal studios, but the outlets in the studio still worked (I know, weird). At that point, the sun was coming out for a bit, which gave us light because we have a lot of windows. We got a number of lamps from various parts of the building and some large flashlights. As it started to get darker, my ASM used a little flashlight to stay on book and I happened to have a booklight that I lent to Pozzo, who was using his script. The power came back on at 5pm (it had been about two hours).

The last part of our exciting day, was picking Secret Santas! The people that were in the building picked and I was going to have everyone else pick tomorrow.

After rehearsal, I went to the Grizzlies game (NBA). My host (we have host housing here) had gotten box seats from someone. The free food for the people in the box seats wasn’t very good, so I got Rendezvous BBQ nachos (seriously, they’re the best and if you’re ever in Memphis, go to Rendezvous). Unfortunately, the Grizzlies lost miserably. When I got back to the house I sent out the daily and report. Normally, I try to get them out as fast as possible, but since we were off the next day, it wasn’t as imperative.

I hope you’re enjoying reading this!

Thanks!
xoxox
Melissa

Rehearsal Week 1 Addendum:

Technically, we were off on Sunday, but the theatre was doing a reading at a fancy club, so I volunteered to help the Company Manager. When I say I volunteered, that’s exactly what I mean. No one asked me; I wasn’t forced. I just like to help out if I can. Besides, there was free food and everyone who hadn’t picked Secret Santas on Saturday, was able to pick, so we can get started!

Melissa Nathan

Diary of an SPT Stage Manager: Prep Week for Godot

Posted on by Melissa Nathan

I had been thinking of doing something like this for a while but it wasn’t until someone else did it for a LORT contract that I decided it could be interesting to see the differences between that and SPT.

Before I get started, here’s a little background info. The theatre I’m currently working at is celebrating its 10th Anniversary. I am celebrating my 5th anniversary with the company (4 years, 5 seasons, 6 shows). The production is Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot which should be a lot of fun, especially with the cast we have. The theatre recently moved into their own building for the first time which is very exciting. There are a lot of renovations that have to happen before we’ll be performing there but we’re all moved in and can rehearse in the new space. Our performances will take place at a museum; we’ve been performing there for years and this will be the last time we have to transform a non-theatre space into a performance venue. I’ll miss the museum though; it was daunting the first time I had to be in that space but I quickly got used to it. They have great exhibits and the people that work there are really nice.

Prep Week, Day 1:

I started on Monday, 11/6 (our day off will be Sundays, at least until we go into tech; more on that later) and most of the prep days will probably be straight sixes. My ASM is non-Equity and she doesn’t start until Monday but, there’s really not a whole lot to do.

Since we’re in a new building, the first thing I did was get the new Wi-Fi password. Then I had to connect my computers to the printers so I could print remotely. I’m not sure I didn’t have access to the printers since I’ve had them previously, but I reinstalled them and it wasn’t a big deal. I could set up the black & white printer but was having trouble setting up the other one – I figured I’d do that later. Once I had printing capabilities, I printed the Equity ballots, info forms (for stage management’s files only), the Equity Pre-production Safety Sheet (which I have never filled out before), and the Equity Deferred Salary Agreement (which I’ve also never filled out before). The reason why I had never filled
out the two latter forms before is because of the recently updated SPT agreement.

The Artistic Director is directing the show so he emailed me some information for the calendar which I inputted into a rough draft of the calendar that I had made around a month ago (it’s easy when you’ve been doing shows for the same theatre, in the same slot, for the past three year). I then printed the calendar and put it in the AD’s inbox so he could proof it. He had also sent me some actor conflicts which I added to my conflict calendar (luckily there’s not that many this time around; last year was a little brutal).

Next, I set up my desk. Took out some tchotchkes from my work bag, along with my little digital clock, post-its, hand sanitizer, mints, and tea. Then I hung up some special photos that travel around with me: a note from my oldest niece that says “I love you Aunt Melissa”, pictures of my nieces & nephew, and some stuff from a show I did at the beginning of the year that holds a special place in my heart. Also, a picture of Elvis because, why not. I also put some non-perishable food items in a desk drawer for easy access.

After that, I met the new bookkeeper, who seems like a lovely person, and got some petty cash in case I need to get any supplies.

Then I ate lunch at my desk while taking the SM survey (seriously, if you haven’t taken it already, you should). The SM survey comes out every two years. Its purpose is to examine the current trends in American stage management. Here is a link: http://www.smsurvey.info

After lunch, I was able to set up the other printer with help from one of the admin people. I printed out the cover sheet for my production book and the Secret Santa forms (I include them in the actor packets, so people can get them back to me as soon as possible). It’s my fourth year organizing Secret Santa here and it’s usually a big hit. I’m not sure how well it’ll go over this year because we have a smaller cast, but I always include the admin folks so hopefully we’ll have a decent amount of people to participate.

By that point, the AD had given the calendar proof back to me with corrections. I made said corrections and printed out a copy. I always put holidays & such on my show calendars in different colors, so it makes it look nice.

Then I set up the first rehearsal & performance reports, as well as the daily call for the first rehearsal. I haven’t talked to the AD about first rehearsal yet, so I really just put the date and such on it (and Equity business).

The theatre does a lot of non-Equity educational shows as well so by that time of day there were a lot of actors roaming around whom I’ve worked with before. Everyone was so happy to see me and I was happy to see them. It’s kind of like Cheers; it’s nice to be someplace where everyone knows your name.

My ASM came in to get a script so it was great to see her ahead of time and talk about some things. I’ve never worked with her as an ASM before but she was a sort of PA on a show I did here two years ago and she’s been an ASM on other shows here since then. I think she’ll be great. And she also works at a restaurant I really like near the museum so that’s good. I asked her if she wouldn’t mind coming in to help me tape the floor on Thursday even though she’s not technically on contract yet. She said she has to check her work schedule. It’s not a huge deal if she can’t help as it’s essentially just a bunch of lines, which I’ve taped out myself before. I’ve taped out worse by myself. But hopefully I won’t actually have to tape out the set itself, since it’s actually in the building. We’re working on the logistics of using it for rehearsal, which would be amazing! Fingers crossed!

The last thing I did was the blocking page for my script. There’s not a lot of “wiggle room” at the museum, so we’ve essentially used the same set configuration for the past three years but each year we’ve added to it. This year, is no different, except that instead of adding to the set, we’re distressing it. It already looks great; you’d never know it was the same. The good thing about that is I already have a ground plan from last year. Unfortunately, I couldn’t copy and paste the ground plan onto my blocking page for my script so I had to improvise. I printed it out, whited out some things I didn’t need, took a picture of it with my phone, emailed it to myself, adjusted the color a bit, then copied and pasted it onto my blocking page. I was able to put three on. I may not need all three but it’s nice to have options. That took more time than I had anticipated but at least it’s done!

I guess I should say the ground plan was the last “big” thing I did. Afterwards, I emailed the company manager with a list for Costco (she’s going tomorrow and I’m hoping I’ll be back from my production meeting in time to go with her). I also asked her for the rough draft of the contact sheet so I can make any necessary updates tomorrow.

That’s all for day 1! Stay tuned for day 2, where I’ll work on the contact sheet, the character/scene breakdown, and have a production meeting at a Mexican restaurant!

Day 2:

I started today by updating and printing the contact sheet. Then I created my email groups. Luckily, I already had most of the actors and production staff already in my email.

At 11:30am, the AD and I left for our noon production meeting which was taking place at a Mexican restaurant. Most of the production staff works towards the midtown area of the city so it’s easier for us to head out there during lunch. All production meetings should take place at restaurants. Once rehearsals start, the meetings will happen at the theatre after rehearsal. Our lighting designer got held up at his other job (he works for the local opera), so he was a little late. I won’t have to tape the entire set because we’ll be able to put some of our walls up! Yay! The costume renderings are gorgeous; I can’t wait to see the actual pieces. Once everything was said and done, we didn’t get back to the theatre until close to 2pm, so that took up a good chunk of the day.

After we got back, I went over the pre-production safety form with the AD so that can now get mailed to Equity.

Then I made some tea, because I was thirsty; I found a cute chicken mug in the kitchen and have now claimed as my own, at least for this show. That reminded me that I had to label mugs for the actors and my ASM.

I sent an email to the education folks to let them know that we’ll be rehearsing in Studio B and I’ll be taping on Thursday, so they should move anything that needs moving before then. I also sent an email to the production and admin staff with the calendar. I will also send one to the actors, along with other pertinent information, but I’m still waiting on an email address (we have a 14 year old in the show and I want to make sure both he and his mother get all correspondence).

I then asked the General Manager and the Education Manager if they wanted to participate in Secret Santa. I usually include the admin staff, but this year I’m going to include all the actors in the educational shows since my show has a small cast and I know at least one of my actors will not want to partake (he’s pretty curmudgeonly, but in a good way). Then I asked one of the educational actors if she could find out if anyone in her cast wants to participate. She was my ASM last year and she’s great.

After I left for the day, I received an email from the company manager with the email address I was waiting for, but I’ll take care of that tomorrow.

Day 3:

I came in and ate the Dunkin Donuts breakfast sandwich I had just picked up while adjusting some formatting on the contact sheet. I printed the contact sheet for my book and then emailed it to the company manager so she could input it into the company handbook/welcome packet (she will add the calendar to the packet as well). Once she has the handbook done, she’ll print them and give them to me to put with the actor packets. I also told her that if she needed an extra set of eyes, I’d be happy to take a look at it.

Our costume designer came in this morning to pull things, so I went back to storage to see if she needed any help. Nothing is really organized back there since they just moved in not too long ago so she was fighting the urge to straighten up as she looked through everything. I told her if she needs any help to just let me know.

After that, I went through the script to mark any props as well as entrances & exits for my character/scene breakdown. Since this is Waiting for Godot, this may be the smallest character/scene breakdown I’ve ever had to make. The AD has made a props list (and most of the show props have already been pulled) but I’m going through to make my own list so I can then compare the two and make sure all of our bases are covered.

I emailed the calendar to my actors and not 10 minutes later, got a call from my young actor’s mother with loads of questions. I told her I am aware of his conflicts and we do not plan on having him miss school other than our 10 out of 12 day and two school matinees. We will have a script for him on Monday and he doesn’t have to pick it up before than. Hopefully I set her mind at ease. I think I did. I realized that this is the fourth show I’ve done in 2017 that has at least one young actor in it.

My company manager and I took a trip to Office Depot and Target to get some supplies. That kind of worked out well for me since I needed to get some other things at Target anyway so it saved me a trip. I got the last two things on my SM supply list (hand sanitizer and dividers).

After the shopping trip, I put together the props list based on the script and then compared it to what the AD had. It was the same. Then I printed three copies (one each for myself, my ASM, and the AD).

I took a lunch break and then proofed the company handbook. I added some restaurants and such that are more local to our new location. Then I emailed it back to the CM.

I did my character/scene breakdown, which took about 10 minutes, but then I was having trouble printing it on the color printer so I printed it on the other printer for now just so I have something to reference until I figure out what’s wrong.

After that, I printed my blocking page on the back of my script. I use one script for both blocking and cues because it makes it easier for me. I’ve tried the two scripts thing and it’s just too much. I also like to have my blocking page on the left and the script page on the right. It seems like most right-handed SMs prefer to have their script on the left and the blocking page on the right. I’ve tried it that way and I just don’t like it. Maybe it stems from the fact that in college I was taught to have blocking on the left and cues on the right.

Then I set up the bulletin board by my desk and made a copy of the calendar to put on it. Next, I updated my conflicts calendar with the educational show info for one of my actors and put that on the board as well.

My final task of the day was putting my book together. I’m still working on getting some paperwork and whatnot, but I can put the dividers, calendar, contact list, script and such in, as well as my book cover and the side paper (so people can easily tell what show it is when it’s on a shelf).

Tomorrow is taping day!

Day 4:

I started my day by making oatmeal and tea in the kitchen and chatting with the Company Manager and Education Manager. The EM has been having back issues and may not be able to pack up her car for the two free shows they’re doing in the park tomorrow evening. I volunteered to help since I’m going to the shows anyway.

Next, I went to talk to the new bookkeeper about my salary deferment form (since I haven’t done one of those before and she is dealing with AEA for the first time). I also asked her about my paycheck because it’s Thursday and my direct deposit didn’t go through. She made some sort of mistake (not sure what), but has to give me a physical check this week. As I’m typing this, I can hear her asking the AD questions about it. Good thing I always check my bank account on Thursday mornings! It turns out she forgot to submit my payment but she gave me a paper check for this week.

My next task is setting up the callboard headers. Since we used to move around a lot for rehearsals and performances, we have a portable folding callboard with all pertinent information. I’m going to take the headers and the Equity info off of that and put it on our new permanent callboard by the green room. I had better take a stepstool with me.

Then I taped the floor. This is my 4th show in this particular performance space and I can never find the measurements for the deck. I’m sure I have them in documents for other shows but I always look and can never find them. So last year, I wrote the dimensions on a post-it and left it on the little post-it holder on my desk. Imagine my surprise when I came in for my first day of work on Monday to find that the little post-it had made it through the move! I was so excited! It was a little difficult to do by myself because it’s 41’ 10” long but I had a good system going. It took about half an hour. I almost taped the wrong side of the rehearsal room but quickly realized it before actually taping anything.

I had a good time exploring the area to find something for lunch. I found a great little Vietnamese place and had a delicious chicken banh-mi! And my 3 year old nephew called me when I got back to work so I pretty much stopped everything to talk to him.

Then I took last year’s schedule for our time in the performance space and updated it for this year. I sent that to our contact there for easy reference along with our actual calendar.

Afterwards, I enlisted the help of one of the admin folks to help cover the mirrors in our rehearsal studio. The building used to belong to the local ballet and since we recently moved in we haven’t had time to cover the mirrors. We used some big pieces of leftover purple fabric and gaff tape to cover part of the mirrors. Tomorrow when we come in we’ll see if the fabric stayed up and then we’ll do the rest. A little later when I was walking around with my General Manager, I saw that some of it had already fallen down. That will be a project for tomorrow.

My AD had already gathered most of the props (which isn’t a lot because of what show it is) and I moved them into the rehearsal studio along with 2 acting blocks (which are actually part of the show). Our lighting designer/TD will be coming in on Saturday to move some of our walls into the studio so we can use them (which is why I didn’t have much to tape).

Tomorrow I’ll finish setting up the rehearsal studio, finish putting my book together, and other last minute details. I don’t have much left on my checklist so I think I can get everything done tomorrow and then take the whole weekend off.

Day 5:

I came in to discover that the part of our mirror covering project that we thought would fall is still up while the other part has totally come down. We’ll finish putting the first part up and see if we need the second part. If we do, we have some quick solutions that may work. The best thing to do would be to hang curtains on a string or something so we can pull them across, but this is a very temporary thing since those mirrors will be taken down as part of the renovation, so we’re just trying to do quick and easy.

My Secret Santa partner in crime sent me a list of which of the education actors want to participate, so I put forms and info sheets in everyone’s mailboxes. I just put the forms for my cast into the actor packets, along with info forms for the stage management files, calendars, contact sheets, and Equity ballots (which only goes to three of the five actors and myself). My CM is going to email the company handbook so we don’t kill so many trees. I already gave my non-AEA actor (who’s in one of the educational shows) the actor packet since he’ll be late to our first rehearsal and he’s already turned in his forms!

Then I printed three copies of the props list and character/scene breakdown: one for myself, my ASM, and the AD. I put the ones for my ASM in her packet just so everything is kept together.

I helped load up the cars for tonight’s performances and chatted with some of the actors. Then one of the admin staff brought her one year old so no one could get any work done since babies are so distracting.

After lunch, I finished putting together the actor packets and finished putting my book together. I emailed my costume designer asking if she could email me the costume renderings or bring me copies when she comes on Monday for design presentations.

Now it’s almost time to leave to get ready for the educational shows. I don’t mind helping since I’m pretty much done with prep anyway (and I was already planning on seeing the shows). I’ll send out the daily for the first rehearsal over the weekend and I’ll set up the rehearsal space on Monday morning with my ASM.

UPDATE: After the educational shows (which had a great turnout despite the cold), I sent out the daily just so I could make sure it was done.

Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for the rehearsal process installment!

xoxox
Melissa

Hope Rose Kelly

Inside Look: Williamstown Theatre Festival SM Internship

Posted on by Hope Rose Kelly

The following article continues a series devoted to stage management training programs (undergrad, grad, internships, etc.) across the country from the perspective of current stage managers who attended them. – Hope Rose Kelly (Editor-in-Chief)

Williamstown Theatre Festival – Williamstown, MA

Stage Management Intern 2015 & 2016

By Allison Kelly

I worked as a Stage Management Intern at Williamstown Theatre Festival for two summer seasons. Each season lasted from mid June to late August in Williamstown, Massachusetts on the Williams College campus. A few participants each summer would start in mid/late May in NYC and begin prepping and rehearsing a show there for about a week and a half before traveling to Williamstown.

This was an unpaid internship. You are responsible for your transportation, food, etc. My first summer I paid $500 for housing to stay in the campus dorms (which is basically required for interns). However, as a returnee my second summer, my housing fee for the dorms was waived.  If you work in New York at all you are responsible for your housing there.  The dorms are all single bed rooms with community bath shared between the “pod” of rooms (about 4-6 rooms). There is a shared kitchen and living space in each building.

The Stage Management department was comprised of 14-15 interns, a Resident PSM, a Resident ASM, and 4-5 more AEA SMs. SM interns tended to be current undergrad students or those who had just graduated. The Resident PSM is the head of the department and handles hiring the whole department, scheduling, doing all the things and PSMing two Main Stage shows. The Resident ASM helps the PSM and is the ASM on those 2 Main Stage shows. Other AEA SMs come in to stage manage the rest of the AEA shows of the summer. As interns we served as ASMs and PAs on the AEA shows and could SM, ASM, and PA non-eq shows and other events. The rest of the festival is pretty large as well between the other departments’ interns, staff, and the apprentices – it’s a crazy amount of people to make the festival happen. It’s a blast to get to meet and work with so many people.

As a stage management intern typically (but not always) you work on at least one AEA show and one non-eq show as well as various small projects. WTF has two stages, the Main Stage and the Nikos where its AEA shows perform. For those productions SM interns serve as ASMs and PAs to the AEA SM. On these productions you work on a typical AEA rehearsal and performance schedule. Sometimes this overlaps with other events you might have in the evenings or day off depending on your assignments. Tech is very quick, usually 2 or 3 days, then a few days of previews and rehearsals before opening. The AEA shows are a great experience because it allows you to work closely with AEA SMs and learn from them and all others in the room. WTF does a lot of new works so job duties can be managing script changes, prop and costume tracking, line notes/being on book, maintaining hospitality supplies, etc. It is almost exactly like working professionally but you are expected to ask more questions if you need to.

Non-eq shows usually followed AEA rehearsal schedules but tech and performances were a little quicker. These productions usually featured the Non-Eq company and apprentices. (Non-eq company: actors whose only job this summer is to be in shows and so they have the most time. Usually post undergrad or current grad students. Apprentices: actors who come to the festival to act but also work a lot as crew for various departments. They are usually overworked and tired, but they are a fun and talented group.) The non-eq shows give stage management interns the chance to be the PSM in addition to ASM and PA. Additionally, there are lots of one or two night events and readings that stage management helps with.

Other elements of your experience include a more official educational element, workshops on paperwork, unions, tour life, networking, etc. Because the internship is unpaid it has to have an education element which is done through workshops mostly lead by the Resident PSM but often features the other AEA SMs. (The quality of these can depend on how the leader prepares for them.) WTF is also good at the work hard, play hard element of summer stock. Play includes finding swimming holes, BBQs, opening parties and galas, more parties, and lip dub videos. There are a lot of late nights working but there are even more late nights of having fun with tons of amazing people.

The greatest part of the program was the incredible friendships I made. Working so hard with these people created incredible bonds for all of us which helps with your networking for future jobs. The interns I worked with my two summers at Williamstown are constantly helping each other find work, acting as a support system in this crazy industry, and the people I talk to everyday years later. This festival does a great job giving you the chance to start networking with the people there with you that summer, however it also opens you up to a large number of WTF alumni. If you are interested in working in New York this program is incredible because the AEA SMs are usually NYC based SMs which can help open doors if you do well over the summer. My AEA show transferred to Off-Broadway and the SM of that brought me back as the PA because of the work I had done the previous summer. The Resident PSM brought one of the interns on as a PA on Broadway. Nearly everyone in NYC has heard of this festival and knows the quality it creates and that helps when looking for work. I can easily say WTF has helped me find plenty of work since graduating from college.

 

Elynmarie Kazle

SMA partners with Columbia University for Standing in the Dark

Posted on by Elynmarie Kazle

The Stage Managers’ Association of the United States (SMA) is pleased to announce Standing in the Dark: A Series of Conversations with Prominent Stage Managers. This exciting initiative, a continuation of the SMA’s “Legacy Project,” will be featured on the Association’s website in both podcast and video format.

The Legacy Project has been in development for the past few years under the leadership of the SMA Chair Elynmarie Kazle who has been working to create a structure for the concept and a way of preserving these important voices.  It was originally conceived as a series of video conversations. Standing in the Dark, is a series of audio recordings of prominent stage managers and was created by Rachel Zucker, who envisioned this project as her MFA stage management thesis at Columbia University. The two efforts will be combined as Standing in the Dark: A Series of Conversations with Prominent Stage Managers. Last spring, Zucker contacted the SMA to see if there was interest and support for the continuation of her undertaking beyond graduation and the board of the Stage Managers’ Association has given its full support to the collaboration.

“One would think that stage managers, who are the backbone of the theatre industry, on Broadway and beyond, would have a rich written and/or oral history devoted to their work but unfortunately very little exists,” according to Zucker.  “That’s what really inspired me to propose this as a thesis project, which eventually became Standing in the Dark.  I believe it is important to hear their own words and voices, how these stage managers got to be where they are today.”

Michael J. Passaro, Associate Professor of Professional Practice (and Rachel’s advisor) at Columbia University, was supportive of Rachel’s venture from the start. “When I begin to advise my students on their thesis projects, I ask them a few questions to focus their thinking: What’s missing? What isn’t available to them, or doesn’t currently exist, in the world of stage management theory or practice? What do they wish they had in terms of a resource that will help them – and future stage managers – be better at what they do? Rachel’s proposal crossed my desk and I wrote one word on it: YES!”

In the next few weeks, ten audio podcasts compiled by Zucker will be rolled out on the SMA website along with the first video podcast.  According to Hope Rose Kelly, the Stage Managers’ Association Website Editor in Chief, the podcasts will feature conversations with Bonnie Panson, Michael Passaro, Buzz Cohen and Arturo Porazzi, among others. The first video podcast will feature premiere Broadway stage manager and invererate hiker, Bob Bennett.

“I speak for many of us I’m sure” continued Passaro, “when I wish that legendary voices such as Ruthie Mitchell, Biff Liff, Beverley Randolph and many others were part of this series [who are no longer with us].  There’s no better organization than the SMA to foster the continuation of Rachel’s work and to ensure this incredible history is available to future generations of stage managers.” Speaking for the SMA, Kazle says, “By working together, we can create a cohesive history for our profession.  It is our hope to make this available through our network to future generations of stage managers.”  To nominate a stage manager.  Go to I WANT TO (on stagemanagers.org) and click on NOMINATE A STAGE MANAGER FOR THE LEGACY PROJECT.

Janet Friedman

Meet the 2017 Recipients of the Del Hughes Award

Posted on by Janet Friedman

Buzz Cohen grew up in Broomall, Pennsylvania in a close-knit and endlessly supportive family – the daughter of Lester and Selma Cohen, and sister of Celia Cohen. Although she expected to make her career in languages, her interest in writing led her to script development with her high school’s experimental performance group, where she fell in love with theater. She stage managed her first show during the first semester of her freshman year at Wesleyan University, where she discovered that her true love was, in fact, stage management.

Upon graduation from Wesleyan in 1977, Buzz got her start as the assistant production manager for Missouri Rep in Kansas City, MO. Returning east, she established herself in New York through the usual round of showcases and production assistant’s positions. Two seasons with the Hudson Guild Theater led to her joining Actors’ Equity Association, and eventually to her first Broadway show–the short-lived (but happy) Ned and Jack, directed by Colleen Dewhurst.

Her ability to work in Spanish allowed Buzz to connect with the Public Theater in 1986 for their Festival Latino – and she has remained there ever since, working for artistic directors Joseph Papp, Joanne Akalaitis, George C. Wolfe, and Oskar Eustis. At the time of this award, she is stage-managing her 70th production for the organization, where her work has ranged from 20 Shakespeare in the Park shows at the Delacorte to a wide variety of straight plays and musicals in the downtown space.

Although there have been forays into commercial theater (The Queen and the Rebels and the transferred-from-the-Public The Secret Rapture and The Tempest on Broadway), an ongoing association with Providence, RI’s Trinity Repertory Company (15 shows), and the privilege of stage managing all five incarnations of the International Festival of Puppet Theater for the Henson Foundation, the Public continues to remain her artistic home.

Buzz is the recipient of a unique Obie Award for Distinguished Stage Management.

Malcolm Ewen, who was born and raised in the Chicago area, has been one of the resident stage managers at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Company since 1987. Over the years he has stage managed well over thirty productions for the company as well traveling with Steppenwolf projects to Broadway, Great Britain, South Africa and Australia.

Malcolm Ewen

On Broadway he was the Production Stage Manager of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play), The Grapes of Wrath (Tony Award for Best Play), The Song of Jacob Zulu, The Rise and Fall of Little Voice and The Capeman. Regionally he has worked at the Goodman Theatre, Arena Stage, Berkeley Rep, La Jolla Playhouse, Long Wharf Theatre, Remains Theatre and the Northlight Theatre.

Since 2001 he has served on the Council of Actors’ Equity Association representing Stage Managers in the Central region and chaired the Central Region Stage Managers’ Committee since the early 1990s. Now that the Stage Managers’ Committee is a national committee, he serves as a vice chair.

A former Trustee of the Actors Fund of America, he now serves on the Fund’s National Board of Advisors. Since 1991 he has been a board member of Season of Concern, the Chicago theatre community’s fund raising organization that supports direct care services for those living with AIDS. He was an adjunct faculty member in stage management in the Theatre School at DePaul University for five years. A graduate of Amherst College, he returns every summer to the Green Mountains of Vermont to direct at the Weston Playhouse.

Arturo E. Porazzi

Arturo E. Porazzi was raised on Staten Island, New York, the youngest of four boys and the only one to make a career in theatre. In high school, he discovered his love for theatre as an actor and went to Hofstra University to pursue performance. After a series of acting classes which turned out not to be as rewarding as working backstage, he shifted his focus to being a part of every crew of the theatre department’s productions. Lighting was his first love though it was frustrating at the same time – it took too many instruments to do what he wanted to do. (If only one could refocus and re-color instruments during a performance so you can do more with less – frustrating and how would that ever happen?) Enjoying being at the center of all things and watching the collaboration of many for one goal, stage management was appealing. Back then, we had no classes for stage management. You just did what you were asked to do by the director – script prompting, making lists, posting rehearsals, calling cues. So the foundation was meager.

A brief stint over a summer as the House Technician at Westbury Music Fair taught him how to work with union crews and professional actors and celebrities. Post-graduation led Arturo to summer stock and a regional theater called Playhouse on the Mall – yes, it was in the Paramus Mall in, yes, Paramus, NJ. Here he honed his carpentry and lighting skills. It was there, too, that he met his mentor, Steven Zweigbaum, a professional AEA stage manager and a Del Hughes recipient of 2011.

After that one season, Arturo went out on his first AEA gig as the PSM of a summer tour production of Hair – and it was just that – hairy. He discovered his ability to improvise with the capricious cast members and at the numerous venues along the way.

Having had this baptism of fire, Steve Z put him on as his first ASM for the Broadway production of Shenandoah. It ran for 1050 performances – “automation” was manually set and operated and all the flying scenery was manual as well. We even used typewriters and yellow pads. This was my graduate school in stage management and under Steve Z there was much to learn and much revealed about the business. We went on as a team to do seven Broadway shows – most notably, 42nd Street, Singin’ in the Rain and Me & My Girl. After that Arturo was on his own. His first PSM job from start to finish was George Wolfe’s Jelly’s Last Jam. That’s where he met the one and only Jules Fisher and eventually, the very singular Graciela Daniela.

His subsequent shows were Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public, Victor/Victoria, Triumph of Love, Marie Christine, 42nd Street (the 2001 revival) and Chita Rivera, The Dancer’s Life.
Having done 15 Broadway shows – musicals, he was fortunate not to get hired by Kevin Spacey for Moon For the Misbegotten – not enough straight play credits. As that door closed, another opened up to director Christopher Ashley, currently the Artistic Director of La Jolla Playhouse. Arturo took to Mr. Ashley’s special talent and they have worked together over the years on five productions – most notably, Xanadu, Memphis and currently, Come From Away.

Arturo also does corporate work – aka Business Theater and again, as expected, there are special creative people in this field as well. The work is fast, intense, get it in, get it up, get it on and get out. Thanks to John Bettini and John Fennessy for having me on a couple of my first industrials.

These past 10+ years (he has lost count), Arturo has served as an adjunct professor or guest lecturer, working with many students at Wagner College on Staten Island, Fordham, Columbia, Pace in NYC and UCSD La Jolla, CA. It’s awesome to stand in front of students and try to convey one’s “how” to a successful career in stage management never knowing if it will inspire them or make them run screaming from the classroom. If the latter, then it’s a good thing. Then again, he is very proud of those who have gone successfully forth and have sent him notes of gratitude.

Arturo has sent many thanks to many friends and colleagues with regard to the Del Hughes Award and must state here, that no career happens without the love and support of family. When arts education was high in the spectrum of subjects to take in elementary and high schools, his mother, an English and Speech teacher in high school, instilled in him the thrill of live theatrical performances. Watching The Ed Sullivan Show with his father introduced him to many forms of entertainment.

He has always had the support of his three brothers and their respective families and lastly, his wife, Debora and daughter, Gabriella. Theatre is a mistress all her own and robs one of a plethora of personal time with one’s family. He thanks his wife and daughter for their love and support as they are the reason to strive for success and garner such an award as the Del Hughes Lifetime Achievement.

May we all continue in good health and success and prosperity and HAGS (Have a good show.)