Stage Managers Say GO

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A prop breaks at the end of the first performance on a two-show day

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Every time production makes the show look amazing on a tiny budget

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"I'm ordering spike tape."

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Catching an actor playing with a prop

The G rated version.

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If SM's had beauty pageants

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It's the last day of tech, the show is far from ready, your patience is in the negative...and the production's problem child has yet another request.

But, you know, in Nice Mode.

[sillyname30]

maybehappyendingbway Help us celebrate actorsequity Stage Manager Day by taking a look behind the opening number at the Call Desk with our Production Stage Manager, Justin Scribner!! 🤖

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I find a script in the rehearsal room the day before the off-book deadline

The actor who won’t be off-book until the first performance:

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When you ask the producer for the rate and he says "well for the last stage manager, this was more of a passion project."

[thisistheglamorous-deactivated2]

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When a director thinks they gave you a task, but you write everything down and the task wasn't on your to-do list.

I'm quick to admit and apologize for a mistake, so they usually second guess themselves real quick. Either way, it'll get done.

[hellboys]

Nick Offerman Answers the Web’s Most Searched Questions –WIRED, 2020

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have you ever actually fined an actor for being late for rehearsal/half-hour call, or are you one of the nice SMs out there?

No I’m not one of the nice ones. ;) However, since I don’t work under too many union contracts, setting actor (or designer fines) is out of my hands and directly into the hands of the Artistic Director or Executive Director. That doesn’t mean there aren’t consequences. The last large cast musical I managed, a new-to-us actor was 45 minutes late to first rehearsal, which given certain reasons might be excusable, but he had no real excuse. He was warned that first time that repeated tardiness was grounds for being released. In the first week of rehearsals he was late another 15 minutes, then another 45 minutes for a rehearsal the Artistic Director was attending; when he finally did come in, he said he’d hadn’t gotten my email. I told him to check that again - turns out he did, he just never opened it. That was more than enough reason for the Director and Artistic Director to let him go and hire a replacement. After that word spread quickly that we were quite serious with our 3-strike late policy. And sometimes that’s all it takes.

SMSG

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I just learned that the actor we fired is in the Broadway cast of The Lost Boys. Quite the turnaround.

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Consoling an unhappy actor

The stage manager:

The director:

The wardrobe supervisor:

Another actor:

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My husband asked me for office supplies, and it wasn't the straightforward exchange he was hoping for.

Him: Do you have any of those post-it sticky tabs?

Me, rips open stash: Do you want yellow or assorted?

Him: I don't...I don't need colors....

Me: OR do you want transparent ones?

Him:....

Me: So you can still see the text underneath?

[stagemanagerssaygo]

What is one small, seemingly insignificant thing you have that makes your job as a stage manager easier?

Mine is transparent Post-It Notes.

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I spoke with another SM who I'll be working with next month, and I told her we had both worked with my favorite director. She responded with how many years she had known him and said, "I love working with him, he's good. And he's GOOD." The way she emphasized the second 'good,' from one woman to another, in theatre, I knew exactly what she meant.

I've never seen this director lose his temper or even raise his voice. No sign of an ego either. He ran productions with a quiet authority that I had never seen before or since. I'd work with him again for free, and I mean it. All because my nervous system gets a break whenever he's in charge.