Director acting as Stage Manager?

[wah0808]

Wouldn't this situation put you in a position to break the rule "Never give the director a headset"?

Just a thought...

Alan...

[NickJones]

I agree with the no headset for the director, if its somthing crucial, he can get a message to us. But if not, then he can sit and watch. [rant]Nothing is more distracting than when he is in the booth during a run through and asks you to change somthing, and says "I'll do it where is the slider for that light" and you explain to him, that on a Strand 300, you have to key in the channels and you cant just push it up so stop trying, and then somthing is said by the the SM and you miss what was said.[/rant]

So as for a director stage manager, I say bad idea. Our director watches each run through making notes, allways noting, that way he can hand me a list of things and he comes up to the booth and I fix them. He can't be making directors notes and watching the show as he throws props at actors before shoving them onstage. I think its a bad idea.
Nick

[IndigoFire]

Directors as SM have never worked for me. Luckily enough, last time this happened the crew i had was very independent and did an excellent job of keeping up despite the director writing notes on her script 10 pages back.

Once i was able to impress upon her that the technical aspects do not directly reflect upon her, she was much more willing to relinquish the role.
She saw every aspect of the production as something that required her input to succeed, and then tried to micro-manage.
After our early tech rehearsals went very well, she gained confidence in leaving the technical aspects to the techs.

[sp010123]

I am against the idea.

Let alone the management ability issue, the two roles (SM and director) are two opposite things, the SM should try to control when the director's imagination went too far and also why we need SM is because the director, who handle the artistic side of plays, need someone to handle the technical and operational issues.

I dunno to what degree does ur director mean by stage managing...if he's cueing it too it's crazy. How can a director focus on the acting if he has a bunch of cues to call?

I am sure there are people who are good at both directing and SMing, but to me doing both at the same time is not gonna work.

[ptr250]

I run a community children’s theatre. We normally do our shows in our HS mini-theatre and I always end up directing, running the lights and sound. It is very difficult because I have a hard time not watching the show with a director’s eye when I should be watching it with a stage manager/ tech director’s eye. We just finished our first production in the main theatre (High School Musical – cast of 50). The district required we used their technical director, but I ended up being the stage manager. It was still very hard to separate my director’s responsibility. In another thread someone asked how a SM should call a show. I decided to fall back on my TV roots. Instead of calling ready camera/take camera I called ready light/take light etc. seemed to work just fine. In a perfect world I would never SM or TD any show I was directing.

[chris325]

As for a director SMing a show, I think that it would be a bad idea. I've never had to experience it, but because of the multiple tasks required by both directors and stage managers, I just don't think it would work. However, in the high school format I work with, I've found that assistant directors stage managing works well. We've done it a lot, as our AD's are usually students, and don't need to do much else during tech rehersals that the director can't.

Now, just imagine a director/LD combo, or director/TD combo...

[Soxred93]

Originally Posted by chris325

Now, just imagine a director/LD combo, or director/TD combo...

For the past 13 years, our school has been that. Then again, he was a technical theatre major...

[Sayen]

Originally Posted by chris325

Now, just imagine a director/LD combo, or director/TD combo...

Ugh, that's me half the time, but then that's also many high school teachers. If I have students interested I'll pass off the job, but frequently at a small school it's hard to find designers - lighting, sound, set, costumes... Operators are a dime a dozen. I do the plots and sets for almost every show, which is taxing on me trying to supervise both talent and tech.

Regarding the original question, it depends on the temperament of the person assuming both roles. An artistic person as director, someone more like an actor, is a nightmare. A technical person as director might understand the rules a bit better. I've worked with both, and I hope I'm the second one. One yearly rental includes a person who likes to write, direct, and SM the show - and she's a nightmare on the headset and doesn't understand the director's boundaries. There's a reason why directors are usually not allowed around working areas once a show starts, and anyone doing a crossover role who can't respect those boundaries is going to create problems.

Personally I rely on my SM so much when I'm directing that I would hate to ever pull off a production without them. As someone above noted, there's no way I could divide my time in that manner and pull off the same quality I can when I have a strong SM next to me.