About first SM gig -
Never let them see you sweat.
I promise, the night after your first tech reh you will go to the nearest wall and kick it a few times, yell, and then kick some more for good measure. That's why it's rehearsal; so you can screw up and not feel bad about messing up the audience's experience. Frustration is a good thing - it keeps you on your toes, and that in turn makes you understand the job better.
Keep all your breakdowns, plots, sign-in sheet blanks, post-its
etc. close at
hand. Lots of pencils. A large
binder (or two smaller binders, one for script and one for other paperwork) usually works out.
For
blocking notation during rehearsal: if your director likes to reblock scenes more than once, put the
blocking on post-it notes with the date in the top corner. That way, you can record all the various incarnations a given scene undergoes without mauling your script too much, and just copy the final
blocking into the
book and toss the post-its
on opening.
Breakdowns: you can go Martha Stewart with any show and make breakdowns for lights, sound, costumes, sets,
props... until your computer crashes. Depending on the show, these can be helpful or just a waste of time. When I was in high school, they were nice to know how to do, but never really moved the show along. In college, these breakdowns sometimes inform the final designs to a significant extent. Do whatever works best for your particular show. The only breakdown I suggest you develop before going into tech is a scene change sheet - distributing this to a crew before the runthru can make tech go SO much faster! And it gives you an opportunity to get a sense of how your crew will work as a team.
All that said, have fun and happy calling!
Best of luck,
Megf