Complete Stage

Complete Stage

Elvis Presley The Complete Stage Shows Performances part 1 of 6

The Stage Manager: The Toughest Job You'll EVer Love

Stage Manager: The Toughest Job You'll Ever Love

 

Most people have no idea what a stage manager does. Generally, they think he's a stage hand of some sort, moving sets, arranging props, or sweeping the stage.

In fact, a stage manager is a very important profession. Without a stage manager, a director would not be able to put together a production.

 

From the moment a director is given a script to direct, he must have a stage manager at his side. The stage manager also must read the script, writing down every prop used, every piece of furniture mentioned, every important set piece that an actor may have to work with, every sound effect from ringing telephones to a dog barking outside a window; every nuance of light whether it be interior or exterior, sunny, raining, snowing, daytime or night time, the time period in which it is set, what potential costume issues might take place. Do any characters wear glasses, smoke cigarettes, put their fist through a wall, use crutches, or a cane? Is there a fire in the fireplace? Do glasses need to be thrown in a fit of rage? Are there firearms, or other weapons involved?

Once this information is collected, it needs to be typed up under the various categories of set, props, lights, special effects, costumes, and sound effects. Then, the list must be copied and distributed to all of the designers who will take part in the production.

The stage manager then calls the set designer, the lighting designer, the costume designer, the technical director, the production manager, and the director for the first production meeting, where all of the above issues will be discussed, and ideas tossed around for how these things can best be accomplished. It is then up to the stage manager to follow-up to make sure that progress is taking place and that any new issues that may come up later are added to the list.

After the first production meeting, the director holds an audition. Based on the reading of the play, he knows the type of actor he wants for each role. Then, a general audition notice gets posted in the trade papers complete with time, place, and phone number, and the stage manager sets up appointments for the audition. In addition, the director will ask the stage manager to call certain actors with whom he has worked and invite them to audition.

I then, as stage manager put together sides--audition pieces from the script that the director wants the actors to read--which must be copied, stapled and distributed so that they may familiarize themselves with the scene they will be reading. I then take all actor headshots, confirm that the information on them is accurate, and give them to the director in the order in which the actor will be called. When everyone is thus supplied, I take my place beside the director and the audition process begins. Generally, I will have an assistant or an intern who will maintain order in the waiting area and direct the actors into the audition room called. If someone doesn't show, the director will use the time to go over his notes, or take a break. Auditions are a long and tedious process, and are generally done over the course of eight to ten hours.

When the auditions are over, my assistant and I, clean up the audition room and waiting area, after which I may--depending on my relationship with the director--sit in the director's office and discuss the merits of the various actors. From this discussion a list is generated of actors the director wishes to see again in a callback audition. These are generally scheduled for the next day or the day after. I then call everyone on the list and schedule them to come back in.

Meanwhile, I must also call to schedule a second production meeting for the purpose of seeing the set blueprints, the costume drawings, the lighting scheme, the method of sound and special effects, to be approved or disapproved by the director. This is also where any problems are brought up which need to be solved. What's the best way to make a breakaway sleeve that can be mended everyday? How do we stage an actor to break a blood packet where it needs to be seen without being seen to do so? Where can we throw a bottle or glass safely so it will both break every time, and not hurt the actors or members of the audience? How do we set explosives without hurting anyone or damaging the set? How do we change a scene from a snowy exterior, to a warm fireplace lit interior in less than five minutes with only two interns or assistants to do it? These are all real questions with which I have had to sit and brainstorm with various designers in my professional career.

Following the callback audition, the director must now choose the actors that he will use in the roles of his production. Talent is not the only consideration. One must also take into account scheduling (some actors work in simultaneous projects or have real jobs), temperament (does the actor take direction well and add to an ensemble?), previous experience (has the actor ever played a role of this magnitude before?), and punctuality (does the actor have a reputation for always being late?). Stage managers can often be very helpful in this regard because they work often in different theaters, with different actors and directors, and may know more about an actor than the director does. This is one reason why smart actors always kiss up to their stage manager.

Once the cast is chosen, I must call those that are cast as well as those that are not. These calls are always difficult. Then the director and I put together the schedule for rehearsals. Generally, they are scheduled for five days a week, approximately eight hours a day with a lunch and Actor's Equity Association required breaks. The rehearsal period is usually three weeks followed by a run through, a technical rehearsal and a dress rehearsal, all of which will be held at night.

The first rehearsal is usually a sit-around-a-table affair in which the actors read through the play. During this time, I take additional notes on props, sets, costume changes and lights that might have been overlooked in the first read. Generally, once the script has been read through, the actors are allowed to call it a day and go home to learn their lines. On the schedule is listed the scene numbers, pages, and actors that will be called each day. Only the stage manager and director will have to be at rehearsal all day, everyday.

Beginning the next day, hand props are brought in that need to be used for the scenes we are working. In a small professional theater, props are usually secured by the stage manager. Most theaters have a basement full of props that have been used in previous productions, but, occasionally a prop will be difficult to obtain, or need to be made. Then it gets turned over to the technical director or the set designer. In larger theaters, there is a props department that handles all props. That must be nice. I have never worked with a props department. I have worked mostly in small professional theaters such as the Lyric Stage Co. of Boston, and the Publick Theatre.

Before the first ‘on-your-feet' rehearsal, a mock-up of the set must be created. This usually involves setting up a table where a bar is supposed to be, three chairs to represent a couch, a picture hung on the wall to represent a window, tape on the floor to represent the doorway, just enough for the director to stage the actors around until the actual set pieces are brought in, usually about a week after rehearsals start. Staging, or blocking, depending upon what the director prefers it to be called, is the moving around of actors at certain points in the scene. The stage manager writes all of it down in the master script that will ultimately be used to run the show later when it goes into actual production. Once the staging is set, it can not be changed except by the director. The set pieces, the props, the special effects, and especially the lighting will all be based upon the way the scene is blocked.

Because the first week of rehearsal is almost entirely devoted to staging, problems will often come up when the actual set pieces are brought in. The bar is much bigger than the table we used, the couch is bigger and has to be rearranged to fit properly in the space originally occupied by three chairs, etc. and when that happens, certain scenes need to be re-staged. I always have a good eraser handy on these occasions.

Once the furniture is in place and the scenes have been restaged, rehearsal becomes about acting and adjustments. An adjustment is an external reason for either movement on the stage or a reaction by an actor. During these acting sessions, I am generally freed up to deal with the designers or hunt up props. One of my interns can sit in for me and call the breaks, and record on a separate sheet of paper any changes which might be made in the course of the rehearsal. No one writes in the master script but me.

I generally have a list of things to discuss with designers that may have come up in rehearsal. Notes to the costume designer that a pocket needs to be added to one of the dresses because the actress needs to be able to secrete a note found on the table and that the dress change between scene three and four must occur in less than two minutes. What can be done to make the dresses easier to get out of and into? This is a note to me as well, because I will need to have an intern at the ready to help the actress do this change. I also have a note for the set designer that the director wants a working window at stage right because he wants the actor who will be smoking to be able to have a comic moment by throwing the butt out of the window and wisping away the smoke with his hand. It's also another note to me to make sure that there is a bucket of sand placed beneath the upstage side of the window to catch the lighted butt. I also have a note requesting an additional table and lamp to be place upstage left, to give an actor a reason to move upstage and turn on the light. This note goes to both the set designer and the lighting designer, because a cue will have to be built into the script for turning on the light.

When I am done giving all these notes and listening to all the complaints, I return to rehearsal and record any changes that have occurred in my absence. I also give my assurances to the director that everyone is hard at work and on schedule for the first run through in one week.

The first run-through is generally done when the set is loaded in (completely built and in functioning) and all the props are ready and in place. This is to give the actors an opportunity to deal with their set and their props while simultaneously acting. It's one thing to pretend to go through a door, turn on a light, pick up a poker and poke a log, open a window and toss out a butt, but it is quite another thing to actually do it while acting. It throws off their timing to actually have to turn a handle or reach for a fireplace tool, or throw up a window. It is also the first chance that my assistants will have to make sure all props are placed properly, that the butt bucket is in place, that the quick change intern is in place on time and that the set changes get done with grace and style, without forgetting anything.

The day after the first run-through, the costumer brings in the costumes. Fittings have been running simultaneously during rehearsals, calling in the actors who are not scheduled for rehearsal that day to come and get fitted. Costume day is always a nightmare. Last minute changes are usually required because they not only have to look good on the actors, but have to work within the scenes that they are worn. If a shirt is supposed to be torn during a scene, it must tear in such a way as to be easy on the actor doing the tearing without looking like its just falling off in his hand. At the same time, we don't want a pitched battle with the shirt on stage. It must also be repaired prior to each performance so that it will tear properly every time. The dresses must be made to be changed quickly, the bloody shirts must be washable. The skirts and dresses can't snag on any set pieces or be so long that another actor steps on them.

After the set and costumes are complete, it is time for another run-through with costumes. During this rehearsal, the lighting designer gets her first look at the whole picture and takes notes for her lighting design. This is a long night for the lighting designer who has to create a light scheme, the technical director who has to hang the lights and the stage manager who has to explain where everyone will be standing on stage at any given time. Generally, it takes all night because it has to be done when no one is on stage and with no light other than the designer's lighting.

The following morning, I sit with the lighting designer and write down all of her cues in my master script. She explains what she wants to accomplish so that I can get a feel for exactly where the cues will go. This generally takes several hours and many cups of copy before we are done. There are usually well over a hundred cues in even the simplest design. The more complex ones can be as many as 250. Light design cues are written in red, to distinguish them from the other cues. When I am done with lights, I go to the sound designer to get my cues and CD's from him. Some of the sounds are mechanical, as in the doorbell or the telephone, while others are recorded sounds such as dogs barking, crowd noises, music coming from the radio or stereo on stage. Gun shots are recorded and must be cued up and delivered precisely at a given time. Sometimes they will be visual, other times they'll occur on a certain word in the script. These cues I write in blue.

The book is now complete, my assistants have been briefed on the costume changes and set changes, and we are now ready for the technical run-through. Having received no sleep, I must now look forward to at least a four hour tech rehearsal. This because, if a mistake is made, the scene must be done again and again until it is right. This is my night of rehearsal. The actors had three weeks, my assistants and I get one night. I sit alone in the stage managers' booth at the back of the house with a blue gelled light to see by, my book spread out before me, the light board on my right and the sound system and effects panel on my left. I have a head set on to speak to my assistants, and am about to lower the house lights, then the stage lights, cue the opening music and bring up the first cue for the stage lights. My heart is always pumping hard when I'm in the booth. It is very frightening to have command of the entire production in my hands for the first time.

In the seats in front of me, the lighting designer, the technical director, the sound designer, the costume designer, and the director all sit, poised to make notes. Notes to the individual actors, notes to the designers that certain changes need to be made, notes to themselves to change cues, and notes to me concerning my running of the show. We are underway at 7pm. We do not finish until after midnight. Now come the notes. Notes generally run as long as an hour and a half, almost always because someone, usually an actor, has to argue. I take all my notes and put them in the book. They are mostly cueing notes. Too early, here, too late there, "cut that light cue, I don't like it", etc., etc. By 1:30am, we are all done. The cast goes home, and the director brings out beers for all the technical staff, myself included. Just what the doctor ordered.

The next night is the dress rehearsal before a live audience. It is sold as part of the subscription and the audience is one of the kindest we'll see for the entire run. They know they are seeing a dress rehearsal and understand that sometimes there will be glitches. The saying in theatre goes: "Bad dress rehearsal, good run." But, we do not believe that for a minute. We want the dress rehearsal to run as smoothly as any performance. I don't have a lot of time to get it right. Tomorrow night is opening night complete with critics from every newspaper in Boston and a champagne after-party. If I screw up and actors are left on stage to improvise, its their name that winds up in the paper, not mine. I take that responsibility very seriously. Amazingly, the dress rehearsal is near perfect and the director has only a few notes. At 11:00pm, we head over to Bertucci's for beers and appetizers. Then I go home, get a good night's sleep, come in around 10am to check on the set and lights, make sure the dressing rooms are in good order, then hang out in the office with the director all day discussing the next show we'll be doing.

Once the director moves on to his next project, it becomes my job to keep his show exactly as he directed it. That means, actors are not allowed to improve on their staging, or add laughs where there were none, or change their characterization in any way. Some casts are more difficult than others to keep in line. This cast only required an occasional note on my part to keep the integrity of the show. All costume crises, lighting fixture problems, sound equipment failures are my problems to solve now. Mine and my trusty technical director and my brilliant assistants and interns upon whom any stage manager must depend.

The reviews were stellar.

 

 

About the Author

Michele Keith is a freelance writer.  She majored in English and History.  She has also studied Biology, Chemistry, Biotechnology, and Forensic Science.  She has worked as a Professional Stage Manager and a Pharmacy Technician.  She lives in Maine and is currently working on her first book.

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