Lights One, GO.

"You sweep and mop the floor, and then do everything else."-Julie Fife Arielle, 24, graduate of The University of Massachusetts Amherst, Assistant Production Manager at the UMass Amherst Department of Theater. This is just a blog for me to rant and rave about my adventures in all aspects of theater management. #fifeyourlife 

[donnajosh]

in which Bradley Whitford IS Josh Lyman

[moods-mercurial]

Lets goooo #interlakessummertheatre #ist2016 #arielleisapsm #smproblems #ilovemyjob #organized

[moods-mercurial]

Choosing fonts is simply a highlight of my line of work. #arielleisapsm #smproblems #ist2016 #interlakessummertheatre #organized #preppedandready (at Interlakes Theatre)

[moods-mercurial]

Ready for day 1 of #alwayspatsycline rehearsal. #IST2016 #arielleisapsm #summerstock #smproblems #me #gpoy #thisismyface #interlakessummertheatre (at Interlakes Theatre)

[lights-one-go]

Hi new followers!

Surprised at the influx of new folks following this blog, come say hi! I'm working as a PSM in New Hampshire this summer so I'll post about that later!

[houdinigenie]

when ur the oldest in the squad and shower them w advice and affection

[moods-mercurial]

Sometimes you just need to take a selfie in your favorite theater and celebrate the wonderful situation you’ve found yourself in. I am so thrilled to announce that I will be the Production Stage Manager for our upcoming production of Collidescope 2.0!!! I can’t wait to work with this amazing company and the amazing team of stage managers. #arielleisaPSM #me #gpoy #thisismyface #backinthegame

[theatercommandments]

This commandment will be made into a shirt that I will purchase for myself and then wear around the Copland School of Music every single day.

So, I work as a professor’s assistant, which means that I send a lot of emails every day. Some of those are time sensitive (it’s really hard to schedule things if people take forever to send in their availability). Most people are pretty good about answering quickly……but there are a few repeat offenders who I almost always have to send a second email to demand a response.

In a show, a lot of times, the main line of communication is through email. If somebody emails you and needs a response, always assume that it’s extremely time sensitive. Your lack of a response can get in the way of somebody’s work, prevent things from being finalized, and cause roadblocks.

Read your email. Respond or at least confirm that you saw it if necessary, as soon as possible. IT’S THAT SIMPLE.

Official Website - Become A Patron - Merch - Posters - Instagram -Facebook - YouTube

[justcallmeaphrabehn]

My best friends know that if they have a question/want to tell me something, their best bet is through e-mail because I check it obsessively for this exact reason

[lights-one-go]

SM’S I NEED YOUR HELP

I am working on a show with a high gloss black floor that is getting more and more scuffed each night. We would like to keep it nice and shiny for opening tomorrow night and we don’t have the resources in our budget to paint it again. I know that the high gloss sealant on the floor is water based so when we mop with even the smallest amount of water it started to break it down.

Has anyone ever done this before? If so, any suggestions?

housetohalf thankyoufive stagemanagerssaygo stagemanagereej

[andsenditsoaring]

Anyone who has ever claimed that majoring in theatre is easy or for lazy academics clearly has never experienced tech week.

[lights-one-go]

Is all of tumblr in tech at the same time again?? I’m in two tech processes at the same time this week. May ramen and chocolate be in your future tumblr! And also a bed. Best of luck with tech everyone!

[peachpit-gabe]

Hello again my beautiful Lushies! 

It’s the start of the new year so why don’t you start it off with some Lush goodies! This giveaway features some refreshing and comforting products to make you feel brand new!  I have a few things I am looking to bestow onto a lucky lushie so here we goooo!

RULES:

Cannot be a LUSH Cosmetics employee. (This is because we get a lovely discount and I would rather someone who can’t always afford Lush products to have some.)

Must be 18 or have a parents permission to give out your name/address.

Reblog once only. Multiples will be disqualified. Likes do not count.

You don’t have to be following me but followers will get two extra bonus prizes. Shipping is US only.

No giveaway blogs please!

THE PRIZES

First Snow Dusting Powder (Seasonal Limited Edition)

Grass Shower Gel

Mini Sugar Scrub

Gold Fun (Seasonal Limited Edition)

Drummers Drumming Reusable Bubble Bath (Seasonal Limited Edition)

Yog Nog Hand and Body Soap (Season Limited Edition)

Fairy Ring Hand and Body Soap (Seasonal Limited Edition)

Dirty Hand and Body Soap

If you are following me you will also receive a Teavana stress-ball and a 1oz sample of the limited edition Chocolate Bananas Foster Herbal Tea from Teavana. 

Winner will be chosen by a random number generator. Contest ends March 1st! 

GOOD LUCK AND STAY BEAUTIFUL EVERYONE!

[peachpit-gabe]

LESS THAN A MONTH AWAY TO REBLOG AND WIN! Remember to follow the guidelines for entering!

[peachpit-gabe]

Hello lovelies! YOU HAVE 24 HOURS LEFT IF YOU HAVEN’T REBLOGGED ALREADY! Best of luck everyone!

[lights-one-go]

Hey! I saw that you work at UMass, and I was wondering if you knew anything about/have ever worked at the Williamstown Theater Festival—one of my friends recommended I apply there, but I know nothing about east coast theater at all, being from CA! If you happen to have any opinions on it or other theater festivals you might recommend, I'd love to hear them! Best, Mitchell

I unfortunately have not had any experience with them... 

Followers can you help Mitchell out?

[slightlynaive]

Once again, dear technical theater side of Tumblr, it appears we are all in tech week at the same time.

Stay strong, stay safe, stay healthy.

[q2qcomics-deactivated20200929]

Change your socks.

[lizimajig]

Don’t forget to eat.

[stage-managers-are-magic]

Keep what left you have of your sanity.

[catherinedesilver]

Hello, I’ll be auditioning for the role of Stage Manager and I’ll be singing, “Put that thing back where it came from” from Monsters INC.

[slashcapades]

endlessly-fascinating

[lights-one-go]

Letter of recommendation help!

Would anyone be willing to read a letter of rec I had to write for myself so a faculty member could sign it? Id be eternally grateful!

[lights-one-go]

The issue with working in the Theater Department at a university...

Is that when I'm in the office I can hear people in the hallway talking, and mostly it's just conversation. Today it's two girls openly discussing how one of them was sleeping with someone else's boyfriend. Then I realized due to the speed she was speaking and the cadence of her voice they are definitely rehearsing a scene. 

LOLOLOLOL

[no-oath-no-spell-deactivated201]

does anyone have superstitions? like ghosts or saying the scottish play... etc.

For a while I had a good luck bandanna, but I gave it up after I cut my hair. My only thing now is that I bake brownies for every production I work on. I have had two ghost stories, though.

Once in undergrad I was directing a ten minute play, and we were rehearsing in our smallest space. Once my actors was waiting offstage for an entrance while I was talking to the other actors. Then the offstage actor slowly walked onstage with a confused look on her face. I said, “Hey Jordan, you alright?” She asked, “Is anyone else in here?” We all said no. Then Jordan said, “I swear I heard a little girl’s voice say ‘Is it alright if I watch?’” We all shuddered and said “Hell yeah, you can watch!”

In the same space, I was getting props in an adjacent room while a director was in the space itself. I heard a girl’s voice say “Hello? Is anyone in here?” I replied, “Yeah, I’m in the prop room, Andi.” The director asked who I was talking to, and I told her I was replying to her. She denied having said anything. Creepy stuff.

housetohalf, thankyoufive, levianity, got any good stories?

[housetohalf]

I used to carry a domino from a friend in my tech apron, but I stopped doing that in college. Some of the lighting guys at my college though the theaters were haunted, and sometimes it felt like you were being watched by ~something~ in the grid, and there’d be ambient footsteps or voices. But the theatre building was huge and old, so that might have just been the pipes.

[lights-one-go]

I am adamant about not saying Macbeth in a theater. Also whistling when we're I'm in preshow leading up to a performance. 

The Rand Theater at UMass is most definitely haunted. I have a habit of turning off the lights and saying goodnight to the theater. One night, I was staying late after rehearsal so get some paperwork done and I heard a noise out in the hallway by the cable closet. I knew everyone else had already gone home, and it was just me in the theater, but when I went to check out what made the noise, the cable closet was wide open. The weird thing was that no one on my team had a key to the closet, the only ones belong to the sound designer and the master electrician. I closed the closet and went to turn off the lights in the theater and after I said goodnight to the empty theater, I heard someone whisper "Goodnight Arielle" back to me. I'm not afraid of spirits or anything like that, but I am a firm believer in them (grew up in two haunted houses). I think it's the ghost of Frank Rand, the man who financially supported the building of the space and who the theater is named after. His portrait was handing right above the unisom light console where the master switch is, so I think he was just looking out for me. But yeah, that happened.