Stage Managers: Holding the Show Together
by Russell Blackwood

From the first rehearsal to the end of the run the stage manager provides a constant through-line for a production. Along the way, the solution to every hiccup and every crisis will invariably involve the stage manager. On the surface a stage manager's duties may appear to be literally by the book; a closer look at the work of a professional manager, however, can inspire both awe and gratitude.

A vital part of the stage manager's job is recording details of the production in a prompt book using a (nearly) standardized format. The prompt book is an up-to-the-minute account for running a production. The familiar three-ring binder, includes a (usually single-sided) copy of the script where the stage manager records all of the actors' blocking, as well as the light and sound cues that the stage manager calls from the booth. The book also includes prop presets and run lists, charts of scenery's deck activity, lists of costume changes, schedules and contact sheets. With enough prep time, the information in the prompt book provides the framework for preparing an understudy or replacement for any position on the cast or crew. Therefore, it is possible that the stage manager provides the constant source of leadership and "memory" that a production needs.

Nearly every stage manager is a freelancer, not a full-time employee of the theatres where they work. Particularly in the case of professional stage managers who are members of AEA, producers need to be open to some creative staffing solutions during a production.

Stage manager Susan Reamy recently shared with Callboard the chain of staffing changes made in order to begin her second season with California Shakespeare Festival. Through the beginning of tech week of A Midsummer Night's Dream at Cal Shakes, Reamy was still on contract as stage manager for The Entertainer at the Aurora Theatre. So stage manager Marion Chapman was hired to oversee the entire Midsummer rehearsal process before handing the reins over to Reamy. The two had one week together in the booth to prepare for the handoff. Meanwhile, stage manager Shona Mitchell replaced Reamy for the last two weeks of The Entertainer at the Aurora. With Reamy safely at the helm of Midsummer, Chapman was free to cover for full-time production stage manager Michael Suenkel while he was on vacation from the long-running Homebody/Kabul at Berkeley Rep. The producers and stage managers involved all knew each other's work well enough so that, though not ideal, they could all feel secure during this dizzying domino effect of comings and goings.

Reamy, who has stage managed in the Bay Area for the past six years, began her career in theatre like many stage managers--doing something else altogether. "I started as an actor, but I have always enjoyed tech and design and how it supports an actor," she explains. "I'm also interested in how the needs of a production come together on a day-to-day basis, and of course, how a stage manager calls a show. When a stage manager calls a show for the board operators in the booth and the crew backstage during a performance, they are all performing, albeit in a more technical way, but performing nonetheless."

Stage managers at theatres using AEA contracts have another important role to play. Reamy points out, "You are a member of the company, but you are also a member of the union. One of the stage manager's jobs is to make sure that the Equity rules are followed by all of the parties involved, not just the producer and AEA members."

Depending on which contract the theatre is working under, AEA publishes a set of rules and guidelines that apply to that theatre's productions. "I try to establish a tone of mutual benefit with producers," says Reamy. "Sometimes the wording of a rule may seem ambiguous, in which case I check with the Equity deputy [an AEA company member elected by the other AEA members] and with the AEA business representative to help me clarify the intention behind it." Lessons learned from stage managers' practical usage of the rules help to resolve disputes and sometimes lead to amended and even new rules when the contract is renegotiated in the future.

When it comes to issues of safety, stage managers often need to look beyond the AEA rulebook and toward their own common sense, watchful eyes and empathetic ears. Reamy explains, "At Cal Shakes extremes of heat and cold are a big factor. The Friday before Midsummer closed, a thick fog moved in that made the stage so slippery that I met with the Equity deputy and cast and together we made the decision to adjust the blocking and fight choreography for safety reasons."

Of course, climate isn't a theatre's only safety concern. Any aspect of the production from the behavior of a company member to the theatre facility itself could present a hazard worth the stage manager's notice. This season Cal Shakes went so far as to cancel a performance of Macbeth because of safety issues regarding the set. A majority of the stage was covered in padding (made from five tons of recycled tires), and the adhesive was not holding it all in place under the weight of the performers, including one who made his entrance on horseback. The canceled performance allowed the adhesive to dry and the safety concerns to be addressed.

Reamy's second and final show of the Cal Shakes season was Chekhov's The Seagull. Though, like Reamy, many members of the cast and crew were hired on a per-show basis, there were still six actors that rehearsed The Seagull during the day and performed Macbeth at night. During the run of Macbeth, these six actors were available for rehearsal only five hours each day from Tuesday through Saturday and less on Sundays. The schedule needed to allow for the two-hour dinner break after rehearsals and before the call for each performance. Regarding the impact that had on scheduling the remaining three hours of rehearsal each day Reamy says, "It can be challenging sometimes. You end up rehearsing the same scenes a lot."

With two of Cal Shakes's non-Shakespeare productions now behind her (she also stage managed the 2001 production of Wilder's The Skin of Our Teeth) Reamy finds that there is less of a difference when producing modern plays at Cal Shakes's Bruns Amphitheatre than one might imagine. "The play is the play," she says. "The challenge is what you do with the scenery." Acts one and two of The Seagull are set outdoors, which worked beautifully in the theatre's outdoor setting. But during intermission, scene designer John Coyne's set shifted to a more contained indoor environment for the play's dining room setting in act three and then to a study in act four. The success of that production outdoors "was due in large part to the collaboration between the cast, designers and director," Reamy acknowledges.

Many Bay Area theatres work with actors and stage managers under an agreement with AEA, but that doesn't mean they are able to offer all AEA members the production support they hope for, or feel they need, in order to do their best work. "One thing that gets me and other stage managers down," says Reamy, "is that we can only do what we do when the rest of the elements of production are in place. If companies want to attract and retain stage managers, more emphasis needs to be put on production infrastructure."

Reamy has become adept at asking questions and quantifying their answers during an initial interview to find out if she is a "good fit" with the level of production support the theatre has to offer. Some questions to ask could include, What director and designers are involved? What venue(s) will we rehearse and perform in? What is the production budget? What is the marketing budget? What level of AEA contract is it? If the position is accepted, the scenario that evolves from this conversation continues to supply worthwhile information throughout the production. "The more we know," Reamy says of stage managers, "the more we are able to head things off at the pass and minimize the possibility of things going wrong."

Russell Blackwood is a regular Callboard contributor and artistic director of Thrillpeddlers, which presents Shocktoberfest this month.