Recent content by bendersen

Goal: To address how best to form and train a running crew as a stage manager for a high school theatre production.

I'm not so much worried about people messing up in the first couple tries -- but the scenario described, where the stage crew was unaware of where the scenic pieces went by the day of the show, that really does just strike me as foreign. I'm perfectly used to dealing with a "green" crew, but one...

"Eesh" to the above horror stories. I have zero patience for that sort of thing. I call everything, and design the initial set changes -- although my ASM is smart and she tends to be the one who takes responsibility for the final product (after the director has changed where the bed goes...

I don't open the balcony usually (only had to for one production, West Side Story last spring). So I don't worry about the noise. Frankly, I don't think the audience was really too bothered by my talking -- I'm quiet and the music and actors were loud. We do have a booth though, which I've...

I used this same format for my most recent show, and it was a ton of work, but well worth it. The end result was a fully-modifiable, fully-legible prompt book that anyone could read (my handwriting is not anything to write home about either) and call from. Typing up notes has a couple...

I will just recommend with body mics that your sound board operator is following along on book. My sound board operator was not on book for my last show, and the first couple of nights he was missing the first lines of several entrances. Unless you (as the stage manager) really want to be cueing...

A quick thought. I've always called my shows from our theater's balcony, but I know a lot of stage managers who call their shows from backstage. Which do you use, and what are the relative merits of each? Thanks!

For my last show, which had 31 set changes, I used a format like this:

I actually just wrote up an article about this in another section. Dunno if you're still having the issues, and whether it's at all helpful. Ben

Welcome! All that needs to be said has been, except maybe I will repeat what a wonderful resource CB is. Enjoy it!

Goal: To address how best to form and train a running crew as a stage manager for a high school theatre production. Author’s Note: This article contains several excerpts of my own production materials. I am more than happy to have people edit and reproduce this article, but I would appreciate...

Just wanted to say hi I suppose. My name is Ben Andersen, I'm 17 years old and a stage manager at my high school. I'm here primarily because I've started a mentoring program at my school for younger children (ages 10-14, primarily) in technical theatre. Every now and again, I imagine, I'll need...