Stage manager
The Stage Management Association, says:
Stage management is essentially a “people management” job. A Stage Manager must have the temperament and ability to get along with people in both the artistic and technical sides of theatre, and to understand what they do.
During rehearsal and production period, the SM (stage manager) coordinates technical departments and makes sure all elements of the production are in the right place at the right time and correct according to the director’s and designer’s requirements.
During the run, the SM has overall responsibility for keeping every performance in line with the director’s original production. The SM should avoid having specific performance duties, so as to remain free to watch scenes from in front, liaise with the front of house staff and deal with emergencies.
Most SMs have access to a computer. Most producing managements, directors and others on the creative team now expect show information, such as nightly performance reports, via fax, or more usually email. Box office figures to the management, if part of the duties, are transmitted in the same fashion.
“Go into stage management with your eyes wide open”
Rachel Hartland, 33, stage manager at the Northcott Theatre, Exeter said: "Despite my dyslexia, I got a BTEC national diploma in performing arts and went on to do a two year stage management course.
“Go into stage management with your eyes wide open. It’s hard work and anti-social, but I don’t think anything beats the feeling of achievement that you get when you find the prop you never thought you’d find, or at the end of the first night when three days before you thought the tech would never end!”
