Remote Learning for Stage Management Students

For any stage management students sent home or unable to attend classes:

Practice Taking Blocking Notes on Single Set TV Shows!

Any TV Show that primarily uses the same set can provide some AMAZING blocking note practice!

1. Pick a TV Show! TV shows that regularly use the same set are USUALLY sitcoms, try:

   • Friends (Rachel & Monica’s Apartment)

   • The Big Bang Theory (Leonard & Sheldon’s Apartment)

   • Cheers (the bar)

   • Fraiser (Fraiser’s Apartment)

   • Golden Girls (their house)

   • Full/er House (the living room)

   • and many more…

2. Obtain the Ground Plan

   • Some shows ground plans are easily obtainable online - check out this AMAZING ground plan art

   • Draw your own! Break out the papers, pencils, and rulers!

3. Make a blocking KEY

4. Watch the show and take those blocking notes!

   • Check out the Awesome Stage Manager’s post on blocking notes!

Practice Calling a Show

This one works best if you have TWO THINGS:

1. A recording of a show

2. A copy of the calling script

Then, just follow along and practice making all the calls on time!

CONSIDER: Recording yourself so you can hear how you sound over headset!

Have a Paperwork Exchange

Sharing ideas for paperwork format & content is ALWAYS fun (to stage management nerds) - find some people to exchange paperwork with and use those ideas to improve yours!

Actually Read the Textbook

Or read the ones from other schools…

• A Survival Guide for Stage Managers by Mary Ellen Allison

• The Back Stage Guide to Stage Management by Thomas Kelly

• Stage Manager: The Professional Experience - Refreshed by Larry Fazio

• Essentials of Stage Management by Peter Maccoy

• Production Stage Management for Broadway by Peter Lawrence

• The Stage Management Handbook by Daniel Ionazzi

• The Stage Manager's Toolkit by Laurie Kincman

• Stage Management: The Essential Handbook by Gail Pallin

• Stage Management Basics by Emily Roth (includes info on theatre, dance, & opera)

• Last Stage Manager Standing by Daniel B Morgan (about TV stage management!)

• Stage Management: A Gentle Art by Daniel Bond

• A Stage Manager’s Survival Guide: From Callbacks to Closing by Michelle Marko

• Stage Managing & Theatre Etiquette: A Basic Guide by Linda Apperson

Learn Useful Skills

Many skills will make you a better SM!

• Learn to read music
  It will expand the jobs you can work - musicals, operas, dance!

• Learn Basic ASL

• Focus on a specific theatre tech element to learn more about (lighting, sound, projection, props, scenic, etc.)

Take Internet Courses

Stage Management is COMPLEX and there are a lot of courses that apply to stage management!

FREE ONLINE CLASSES

Coursera

• Creative Problem Solving by the University of Michigan

• Improving Communication Skills by University of Pennsylvania

• Personality Types at Work by University of Florida

• Inspiring Leadership through Emotional Intelligence by Case Western Reserve University

edX

• Inspiring & Motivating Arts & Culture Teams by University of Michigan

• Mindfulness and Resilience to Stress at Work by UC Berkeley

FEMA Online Courses

• Leadership & Influence

• Decision Making & Problem Solving

• Effective Communication

Watch Videos

• Ted Talks about theatre!

Read… More

Theatre Industry

• The Season by William Goldman

• Sense of Occasion by Harold Prince

• Untold Stories of Broadway (Volume One) by Jennifer Ashley Tepper

Business & Leadership

• Still Surprised by Warren Bennis

• Good to Great by Jim Collins

• The Advantage by Patrick Lencioni

• The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni

• Daring Greatly by Brené Brown

PLEASE NOTE: This post includes affiliate links.

Have more ideas? Comment below!

In the News - January 2019

It’s 2019.

Early in the month, the Today Show honored their longtime stage manager Mark Traub. 

A stage manager went onstage at the Met to announce technical difficulties before a performance of Carmen.

The Sydney Morning Herald wrote a piece on stage manager, Holly Robinson, of Charlie and The Chocolate Factory at the Capitol Theatre in Sydney, Australia.

Anything can happen and added pressure is what I live off - Holly Robinson

The International Examiner showcased Seattle stage manager, Malie Fujii.

In Jamaica, young people are learning how to stage manage music festivals as part as a cultural exchange educational training program with the UK called Backstage to the Future.

And - a reminder that RENT Live on Fox is playing on January 27 at 8/7c.

In the News - June 2018

Happy July!

And yes, I can’t believe it’s July either…

Here’s the June “In the News” Round-Up!

The touring Hamilton stage managers spoke at (my undergrad Alma mater) UC Irvine in a panel called “In Conversation with the Hamilton Stage Management Team” - they discussed what drew them to theatre, the pros and cons of touring, and much more!

In case you need even more Hamilton, the Broadway production stage manager, Amber White, explained the countless duties required to run such a giant production in Playbill.

Stage Manager Gareth Hulance outlined the difference between stage managing theatre and ceremonies (ex. the Olympics!) on TheatreArtLife.

Tyler Mount, stage manager turned producer, discussed his career trajectory and successes in an interview with Out Magazine.

The BBC wrote a brief piece on a stage manager that is suing a production company for negligence after his feet were crushed by a counterweight.