Stage Manager backstage

[sallyj]

I am in support of an SM being in the booth, especially if it is a huge moving scenery show. When it is cramped backstage, and all you can do is sit and manage because (a) that is your job, and (b) you are tied to a headset and a promptscript, you are in the way. Should chaos break out, you can't or shouldn't leave the headset even for a second to "see what the problem is". Your job is to keep the show running, which means keeping the other cues on schedule as much as possible. It is about trust and delegation.

SJM

[GeneralDoom]

Personaly, it depends on what the needs of the show are and what the style of cueing is. I happen to do a lot of shows with visual cues so for the space that I am in it is best if I am upstairs in the Booth. However, when I make out the crew assignment lists, I list whom is to be on what side of the stage and who is to be on headset so when there is issues with people not being on the headset I know exactly who to chewout, eventhough the note goes to the entire crew.
Being backstage give more control, but if you have a compentent crew, and a good ASM, it won't matter where you call the show from

[egorleski]

I Think it entirely depends on the theatre. And also on the staff. Idealy you have a talented enough staff that you can trust they will get the job done. We are lucky at my school that we always have a good relyable group of people. The SM calls from the booth. They are in headset comunication with the light board operator, the spotlight operator, a person on sound, the SR and SL ASM's, flyrail, and a person on special effects. We are lucky in that our program is large enough that ASMs are always on headset and report when shifts are done, but we have a nightvision camera and a monitor by the SM so that they can see whats going on durign the shift and make sure it goes alright and if an actor drops somthing can tell the crew where to pick it up. seems to work quite well.

[Arez]

Ship or anyone really that knows the answer. . . you said if the SM is backstage they are normally on the right, is there a reason the right is better then the left?

[Chris15]

Originally Posted by Arez

Ship or anyone really that knows the answer. . . you said if the SM is backstage they are normally on the right, is there a reason the right is better then the left?

Do you mean stage right or house right. House right (Stage Left) is known as Prompt side, so that might have something to do with it.

If they are the STAGE manager, then it would be logical that they would be on the stage which they are managing now wouldn't it?

[saxman0317]

We simply do both most of the time, that way you have multiple views of things calling your shots.

[Arez]

Ship's post(second or third post on the first page) said stage right.

[fosstech]

Wow...old thread

Anyways, we don't have enough space in our booth for the board ops let alone the SM. And the fact that the booth's HVAC does whatever the HVAC in the house does makes being up there sometimes a very unpleasant experience. Being crammed into a booth with numerous heat-producing pieces of equipment plus a HVAC vent in the celing breathing fire down our necks isn't very fun. It can easily get to be 85+ degrees in there in the winter. We can usually reverse the problem by bringing up FOH...the system intakes are up there, so when it gets the hot air from FOH, it switches to AC mode, and then things start to get a little more reasonable.

Gotta get off that tangent...

Our SM usually sits SL. Why SL? Well, the green room is SL. The fly rail is SR, and we have our ASM stand on that side. It works out pretty well.

[audioslavematt]

Originally Posted by fosstech

Our SM usually sits SL. Why SL? Well, the green room is SL. The fly rail is SR, and we have our ASM stand on that side. It works out pretty well.

That's how our theatre is set up as well. All of our communications, a set of house and rehearsal light controls, and the God clock are in a nifty little console designed by one of our former master electricians.

[Chris15]

Originally Posted by audioslavematt

That's how our theatre is set up as well. All of our communications, a set of house and rehearsal light controls, and the God clock are in a nifty little console designed by one of our former master electricians.

The theatres nearest us have a similar sort of console, with paging, comms master station, clock next to a panel of light switches 3' x 2' PS. The flies are on that side but so is the Green Room. The Sydney Opera House locates all its stage manager's desks in prompt corner.