Everybody ought to have a stage manager.

Stage managers are awesome. A good stage manager is beyond price. No kidding.

I really didn't realize this back when I was a young actor. I focused on the director. I focused on the other actors. I worked on my inner reality.

I heard the stage manager. I called back, "Thanks, 10!" when I heard the announcement "Ten minutes to places!"

Don't get me wrong, I wasn't rude. I wasn't one of those actors who thinks the stage managers or other techies are unworthy of notice. Not at all! I've always been an ensemble gal, so I felt keenly that every single person involved was part of our team.

However, as a young actor, who had not directed, or designed, or run lights, or plotted sound- I had NO CLUE. I was ignorant.

Now, having been blessed several times with good stage managers (and blighted a few times with poor ones), I cannot sing their praises loudly enough.

Stage managers are superheroes.

They have super powers- like super hearing. A stage manager will overhear an actor muttering about fumbling and stumbling during a scene transition, and suddenly there is glow tape on the problematic corner or an additional blue light backstage.

They have stamina and unbelievable endurance. They are with the production from the first production meeting or read through on to closing night.

They are masters of multi-tasking. They are monitoring lines from the actors, cues for the lights and the sound, tracking the props.

They are flexible and adaptable beyond belief, working with last minute blocking changes from directors or finding solutions to scenic or costume change fails during last tech rehearsals or even (Heaven FORBID) during performance.

I've directed for many years now, and I've designed, and I've crewed. I am no longer without a clue.

I know.

All praise to you, stage managers. You are the glue that keeps a production together through the battering of tech and the wear and tear of performance.

As the old joke goes:
- How many stage managers does it take to change a ligh-
DONE!

building community through blogs

I have had two responses to my post soliciting questions and conversation on theater. One asked for- all of it! All the topics suggested and then some. That will take some time. As a first step, I will be putting live links from previous thoughts up on the topics listed.

The other request was to talk about casting in small communities. I have started that post and will be publishing in the future.

Keep the questions and conversation coming! I have been active in many different theater communities and I want to start building synergy among those of us who believe in the art of ensemble.

My life in Theater Art

My Life in Theater Art

I fell in love with the theater when my sixth grade teacher read Taming of the Shrew aloud to the class. I went to the Stratford Festival and saw great theater- and not so great. I started acting in high school and from that day to this I have performed in, produced, written and directed hundreds of shows.

I love the transformational power of theater. Theater saved my life, giving an awkward, introverted girl a community and a shared experience of power and energy and connection. I have seen this magic work again and again on actors, crew, designers, directors, -everyone, as Stanislavsky would say, including the hat check girl. I love the power of ensemble: the very real experience that together, our whole is far greater than the sum of our individual parts.

I hate theater that despises its audience. Without the audience, there is no theater. We, as theater artists, must develop our audience, tease, tempt, teach our audience. I don't advocate a "comfortable" theater or a safe theater; I do advocate a theater that seeks and engages the audience.

I have many goals for theater. One personal goal: I would like to see theater artists who are teens- or who work with teens and youth - recognized as (potentially) valid theater artists. Also, expanding on my comment #2 above, I would like to see the work of amateurs- those who do this work for the love of it- to be recognized for the important work that it often has been.

Standing Room Only for Intro to Theater

This week, I am exceedingly busy.

On Monday, I taught the first class for my Monday night section of Intro to Theater.

Tonight, I teach the first class for my Tuesday night section of Intro to Theater.

Tomorrow night, I teach a workshop on using Process Drama to teach Bible stories in Jewish Education.

Thursday night, I will be leading a rehearsal of my youth theater club to prepare them for leading a theater workshop next Tuesday (while I am teaching). After that meeting, I am off to meet with a subcommittee of my teen youth theater troupe regarding our "brand" identity.

Friday, in theory, I have off.

Last night, the class went quite well. However, the room was too small for the class. The class is capped at 45 students; I have permitted overrides that brought the number to 47. However, my overrides were not the reason we were at Standing Room Only last night. The room only had seating for about 25, and there was not enough room to bring in 20 more desks! I told my students I would look into finding another space for the class (which, with the help of the departmental secretary, I have accomplished today).

As always, the first part of the first class was taken up with going over the syllabus and establishing ground rules and priorities. Then, to introduce small group work and peer evaluation, both of which will be elements of future work in the class, I had the class break into groups of 5 students. Each group sent up one of their number to fetch the assignment sheet. Each student of the group took on one of the tasks: reader, facilitator, recorder, reader 2, presenter. The students then discussed a "think" question about theater-- each group had a different question.

Then, the groups reassembled in our (too small) room. Each group presented their question and the results of their discussion. The larger group was then invited to add additional comments.

Following a lively discussion, each student then evaluated the different members of their group on their contributions to the discussion and on their fulfillment of their task. These evaluations were then handed in.

Class went well; I think it will be a good group.