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If someone else is needed at rehearsal, like a fight choreographer, please contact them wayyyyy in advance. Fight choreographers need to be there to rehearse every fight, and they come back once more during tech week to oversee a fight call. For more on fight choreographers, reference this document The Fight Captain and Other Fight Notes.pdf.
Auditions:
Assist director with running auditions (the producer will also help with this). Directions are written assuming the producer is in the audition room and you are in the waiting room. If the producer is unavailable or auditioning themselves, you should be in the audition room and someone else (an ASM, a non-auditioning officer, etc.) should be in the waiting room.
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- Show up at least 15 minutes before auditions start. Bring spare audition contracts, along with slides and anything else the director requests!
- Set up the room. Push all tables and chairs to one side, leaving one in the center of the wall on the clear side. This is where the director and producer will sit.
- Make sure the director knows that they should introduce themself to each actor, and do their best to create a welcoming environment in the audition room.
- Take pictures of the auditioners. This may be useful for the director later, since faces are easier to remember than names.
- Be in contact with the producer during auditions, via instant messaging like text or Messenger
- The producer should let you know when to send people in. Basically, after someone leaves, the director will tell the producer when they are ready for the next person. They should relay this to you in the waiting room to send the next person in. Attempt to stick to the schedule as much as possible.
- At the end of auditions, put all tables back.
- Talk with the director and producer about callbacks at the end of auditions.
- Send out emails about callback times.
Casting:
Everything that happens in the casting room stays in the casting room. Do not share casting details with anyone. No one wants to accidentally hear that they were second choice for something.
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- Participate in Put-In/Strike, as per their membership requirements
- Memorize lines and blocking by tech week
- Participate in scheduled understudy run throughs (Suggest at least 2, even if only those scenes in which understudies participate are run). Acting notes (from director/AD) and blocking notes (from SM) will be given.
- If the Director so desires, they may request an additional rehearsal with the understudies. Rehearsal of this type may not take up more than 3 hours a week unless the understudy explicitly approves of it and doing so does not detract from the on-campus performance.
- Attend one full run/show they do not participate in to get a sense of the show
- Shadow at least 1 rehearsal for each scene they will be a part of
- Depending on when the Understudy is selected, prod hours can be waived
- Depending on the size of the role, dirstaff may choose to conduct one dress rehearsal with the Understudy filling in for the main actor, or simply run the few scenes the Understudy is in utilizing the tech that will be present on the night of the show
Read-Through
You are in charge of printing scripts for read-through, unless you can get the producer or actors to do it. Printing scripts takes longer than you think! Make sure the scripts have page numbers! Give yourself more than an hour! Have the scripts ready to be printed beforehand so you don't have to deal with formatting while trying to print everything. Use the Athena cluster on the 5th floor of the student center, 'cause it has lots of printers. Print on all the printers simultaneously (or some subset of them). Print in small batches (2 to 5 scripts) so that other people don't hate you. Keep an eye out for running out of ink or paper so that you don't waste time and trees. You'll want scripts for all the actors, the director, yourself, plus a few extras for people like lights or sound who may want them. It's a good idea to also send out a digital version of the script in case people loose theirs or would rather work off an iPad or smaller pages or something.
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Create a cast Google Drive within the show folder. Add the script, Ensemble Guidelines, 9 Ways to Be a Better Actor, and anything else you think might be useful to this Drive.
Things you should make sure you tell people at Read-Through (basically read through the Ensemble Guidelines)
- Ensemble's DEI policy
- Equiette policy (9 ways to be a better actor)
- Conflict policy: You must notify the SM of your conflicts before they make the schedule.
- Tech week conflicts are not a thing. You should be at all tech week rehearsals. You should be skipping classes. You should be getting out of tests. If this is an issue, you should make it clear now. Make sure this is emphasized, and applies to night classes. Tell them to contact dirstaff if they need help getting excused.
- Lateness policy: Tell people what your lateness policy is, and then stick to it.
- The ensemble runs on real time. Call at 8pm means that you're there and ready to go at 8pm, not that you're walking in the door at 8:05.
- Notify the SM of the day if you're running late
- give everyone the web address for Callboard
- give everyone the e-mail address for the SM list (emphasize that this should be the address they e-mail, not the SM's personal e-mail)
- the 15 hour per week policy: Make sure to tell the SM if you've been scheduled for more than this limit
- remind people when off book date is and encourage them to work on lines before then
Things you should do at Read-Through
- Make all the actors and the Director fill out the Contact Sheet with their email and phone number
- Keep track of scene length
- Have a timer going and note down how long it takes to read each scene/subscene
Rehearsal period:
While the director is in charge of the creative aspects of rehearsals, you are in charge of making sure rehearsals run smoothly. To make this happen, you should do the following:
- Help run rehearsals.
- Keep track of scheduling
- Take down blocking in SM script copy. Always take down in pencil as everything has a tendency to change.
- Unless the director does not want the set to be taped out for a specific rehearsal exercise, tape out the set after it's finalized. Make sure actors have access to the set design in the drive.
- Keep track of props/set/costumes- note any new changes or director notes
- Be on-book for actors. (when they say "line" give them their line)
- After rehearsal, put things away as necessary. The SM is responsible for securing all rehearsal items and the rehearsal room.
- Write a rehearsal report. An example is attached. This helps the prod staff keep updated on new items they need or constraints on items they know about.
- Check in with ASMs often, especially if they are running rehearsals on their own, and/or are new to SMing.
- Attend Production meetings
Scheduling:
Scheduling is by far the worst, but most important, part about stage managing. No two SMs schedule the same, so there is not a preferred way to do it. In general, though, here are the things you need to know:
- The first one to two weeks of rehearsal will be table work. You can probably schedule all of these at your first scheduling session. Make sure every scene/subscene gets scheduled at least once.
- The rest of the rehearsal time will be for blocking. Again, try to schedule each scene at least once before scheduling the same scene again (unless requested to by your director).
- You are in charge of scheduling, meaning you are in charge of what the director gets to do each day. Make sure you communicate with the director to see what they want to do.
- If the director can give you their preferences in a timely manner, take them into account. However, you should try to get the schedule out at least 3 days in advance, and prioritize that over a director's last-minute preferences.
- Ask the producer if they can find you a scheduling assistant, especially if you are SMing alone. They will make your life so much easier.
Setting up rehearsal:
- Arrive early to rehearsal.
- Set up the room as needed.If it's locked, call CAC to get it unlocked. (617-253-1500: ask to speak to the CAC manager on duty. Program this into your phone NOW. Do it. Go.
- Tape down the set lines (once we have a set). Start doing this as soon as you have a set layout. It will help the actors a lot later
- Set rehearsal props/costumes.
- For table reads, make sure you have enough chairs and tables.
Making sure people are on time:
One of your tasks it to make sure actors arrive on time to rehearsals, and track them down if they don't. Some tips for making sure people arrive, and arrive on time:
Scheduling goes a lot smoother if you have a master spreadsheet, or something else to organize all of the information you're going to need to keep track of. Everyone organizes theirs differently, but it's good to keep track of:
- Actor's conflicts
- Which characters/actors are in which scenes
- This includes both speaking roles (who will need to be at tablework rehearsals) and non-speaking roles (who will need to be at blocking rehearsals)
- How long each scene is and how long the director wants to rehearse a scene
- How much each scene has been rehearsed
- If the director has requested more rehearsal for a specific scene
Setting up rehearsal:
Make sure you and your ASMs are on the same page about how rehearsals should be set up.
- Arrive early to rehearsal, at least 15 minutes.
- Set up the room as needed.If it's locked, call CAC to get it unlocked. (617-253-1500: ask to speak to the CAC manager on duty. Program this into your phone NOW. Do it. Go.
- Tape down the set lines (once we have a set). Start doing this as soon as you have a set layout. It will help the actors a lot later
- Set rehearsal props/costumes.
- For table reads, make sure you have enough chairs and tables.
Making sure people are on time:
One of your tasks it to make sure actors arrive on time to rehearsals, and track them down if they don't. Some tips for making sure people arrive, and arrive on time:
- Send out a reminder e-mail daily. If you don't want to send out daily reminders, send out reminders for any rehearsal that's been changed recently, or is at an abnormal time/day. (This is also a good duty for an ASM to take over)
- Call actors who are more than 5 minutes late (or late at all, if you want). Leave messages even if they aren't there (guilt trips).
- Keep a spreadsheet of how often people have been late or their total amount of lateness. This makes for great guilt trips (especially if you send out weekly e-mails declaring who's the latest person overall, or give some other punishment). (Make sure the ASMs are using it too: google docs are great for this)
- Put actor's phone numbers in your phone. It will save time in the long run.
- If someone is chronically late, it's okay to call or text them before rehearsal starts to make sure they're on their way
- If someone is really late, send someone
- Send out a reminder e-mail daily. If you don't want to send out daily reminders, send out reminders for any rehearsal that's been changed recently, or is at an abnormal time/day. (This is also a good duty for an ASM to take over)
- Call actors who are more than 5 minutes late (or late at all, if you want). Leave messages even if they aren't there (guilt trips).
- Keep a spreadsheet of how often people have been late or their total amount of lateness. This makes for great guilt trips (especially if you send out weekly e-mails declaring who's the latest person overall, or give some other punishment). (Make sure the ASMs are using it too: google docs are great for this)
- Put actor's phone numbers in your phone. It will save time in the long run.
- If someone is chronically late, it's okay to call or text them before rehearsal starts to make sure they're on their way If someone is really late, send someone
- looking for them. A good way to start with this is to call someone you know if their dorm, and have them knock on their door. Have someone check lounges, friend's dorms, boy/girlfriend's room, the student center, and anywhere else they might be.
The Props Cart
You likely won't have props until a couple weeks into the production, but as soon as you have rehearsal props you should start using them.
- Use a shopping cart to carry props to rehearsals
- Make sure you know why each thing in the cart is there. If there's a prop in the cart and no one's using it, figure out who should be
- Put small items in a box so that they don't fall out of the large holes in the cart
- If you have a lot of props, make a separate box/bag with stuff that the SM needs (tape, pencils, tape measure, SM binder, etc) so you can find it all without digging through props
Line notes
Line notes are essential for actors who are making mistake on their lines to fix them without derailing a rehearsal. Use a spreadsheet with conditional formatting set up to color-code the lines; ask an officer or past SM to share with you line notes from a previous show to use as a template.
- Start taking line notes as soon as the actors go off book
- Make sure two people (2 ASMs or you and an ASM)
- -Start taking line notes a week or so after the actors go off book -Get an ASM to
- come to rehearsal so one
of you - person can take line notes while one focuses on rehearsal
-write - Write down as many notes as you have time for
-- If someone is making the same mistake over and over, tell them (in case they don't read the notes *gasp*)
-- Try underlining everything that people mess up, and showing them after the rehearsal is over, so they get instant feedback as well as detailed feedback
-Send - Send out the notes as soon after rehearsal as possible
Before Production week:
Ask your director for input on set transitions. If the director has no artistic input, ask the set designer for an outline of transitions. Assign these to actors.
Assign run-time jobs. Things that need to be assigned include:
- Clean the stage - Sweep the stage before each run and make sure there are no wet or slippery spots. If there is blood in the show, wipe the blood splatters off the stage immediately after the run/perfomance to avoid stains.
- Clean the audience - Make sure the audience is clean before house opens each night. This means all cast/crew belongings, trash, old programs, etc. should be cleared.
- Clean the dressing room - Make sure stray personal belongings (especially food and non-water drinks!) don't get left behind in dressing rooms after runs. Help make-up clean up supplies and help costumes tidy the laundry piles.
- Laundry (assign multiple people if play involves blood) - Not all costume pieces get washed: there should be a specific laundry pile in the dressing room(s) and you should only wash those. Wash laundry-specific costume items three times: after final dress, after the first weekend of shows, and after closing night - if the show has blood, laundry should be done between every run/performance. You can get reimbursed for this, ask the dirstaff (request@) for help!
- Props (as necessary) - Make sure props are clean and not breaking after every run. Ask the props designer for instructions on what they want you to do, because props can be very fragile. If there is blood and swords in the show, wash the blood off the swords (including the handle if needed) immediately after every run. If you notice anything is broken, email the props mailing list.
- Candy for dressing rooms - Buy a lot; actors are hungry. You can get reimbursed for this, ask the dirstaff (request@) for help! The only rules are:
- ask for allergies in the cast
- don't buy chocolate!
- Water for dressing rooms - Buy a lot (1 bottle per actor, and a jug for refills); actors are thirsty. The PJ-Way is to buy bottles and number each bottle cap so actors can place the bottles wherever they want, and they only have to remember what number is theirs. You can get reimbursed for this, ask the dirstaff (request@) for help!
- Silence doors - Using tape, attach wads of newspaper over the latches of a door so it can't click/lock and so that the door closes as silently as possible. Do this to all the doors leading from backstage to the dressing rooms(s) and/or bathrooms, or similar doorways. After the run/performance, take these off so we can secure the premises. Ask the SM/ASM if you need help understanding how, or if you don't know which doors to silence.
- Warm ups - Get people warmed up for the show: nice and toasty! Ask previous morale people for institutional memory, and you can always email dirstaff for help. We usually start with syllables, tongue twisters, and resonators. Projection exercises are also very good. Then we move on to games focused on getting comfortable on the stage and thinking on the spot, such as free play, 5 things, I'm a tree, improv scenes, etc.
- Start on time, every time! You are in charge of showing up and shepherding the flock of actors into getting ready.
- Morale - Get people hyped up and focused for the show! Ask previous morale people for institutional memory, and you can always email dirstaff for help. We play games, common ones are: five things, bunny bunny, wa!, category tag, counting games, etc. and we always end in "take pains."
- Be flexible! If something goes over time, morale is the section that gets shortened to compensate.
- Fight captain - You should have fight experience, but shouldn't be in too many fights yourself. Attend some fight rehearsals before tech week. Make a list of every fight and which actors are in it, and run the list in whatever order is best/optimal before every show. You are in charge of fight call (which is right after warm-ups) and you should run every fight in the show. For small fights, you can run them just once; for more complicated fight choreo, run through each fight in increasing speed percentages (50%, then 75%, then 95% or something similar). The most important thing is making sure everything is done safely and that every actor involved feels comfortable. Never do a fight at 100% speed during fight call, because actors will always do it faster during a real performance than during practice!
(More jobs can be added as necessary to make the number of jobs equal the number of actors).
Ask for job preferences, and assign in order of seniority, with Ensemble members first. Ties are decided by who has done the most shows with Ensemble.
Run Crew: Get some. More details here.
Ushers: Get some. At least one per night. 2 or more if seating is mildly complicated or confusing. . Work with the producer to get these (along with getting run crew).
Production week:
The show now belongs to you. Oh, the power...
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See "Webmaster" (Term Jobs) for details.
Scheduling is by far the worst part about stage managing. No two SMs schedule the same, so there is not a preferred way to do it. In general, though, here are the things you need to know:
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- If the director can give you their preferences in a timely manner, take them into account. However, you should try to get the schedule out at least 3 days in advance, and prioritize that over a director's last-minute preferences.
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