Diagrams/Lists

[TechnicalRunner]

you guys may have already thought of this, but i used it when i was SM for our production of You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown! back in middle school (it was really bad looking back on it, but for a middle school play it was good, and there were lots of funny memories ). anyway, i made a diagram of our stage on the computer of what it would look like after each scene change, and printed them all out so i had a booklet. then i had all my crew members intial what they were going to move/bring out/take off before we went out, so it wasn't mass confusion in the blackout. i found this worked really well - all the scene changes went smoothly and quickly.
another thing i did for that play was go through the script and right down which actors were in which scenes, and posted that on both sides of the stage (remember these were little kids...). that worked pretty well too.
just some suggestions....good luck with your next performance!

 

[SuperCow]

What we do is, on the back of each script page is a little diagram of the theater, as well as a bunch of lines for general notes. Then, the SM always has the actors' intended positions, as well as the set positions.

 

[Dark_Oblivion]

Yeah, I do something like that with my plays. Get a diagram of the stage, including the wings, photocopy a bunch of 'em, and then label where each person is right before each scene change. I use colored highlighters instead of initials for claiming responsibility for set changes. But same idea.

 

[Peter]

when we do big shows, the stage crew does this, but I always try to grab a copy of it and run it to the photocopier after rehersal hours so i have a few extra copies of it to replace the ones that get lost 10 minutes before the show! It's a very smart idea to keep a backup or two ready.

 

[ccfan213]

we have a list of who is in what scene on a huge poster in each wing (or at least we used to... dont remember if we did or not on the last show) that way we can keep people out of the wings if their scene is not next.

 

[TechnicalRunner]

hmm those are some really good ideas too. i'll have to use some of them if i end up SMing for Evita this summer...thanks everyone!