Being a Stage Manager

What is a stage manager? A stage manager is someone who supervises the physical aspects in a production of a show and who is in charge of the stage when the show is being performed. The stage manager's job is to be organized and able to handle anything and everything.

Currently, I am the stage manager for Little Shop of Horrors. It is a challenging but rewarding job. I get to deal with all aspects of the play including: lights, sounds, stage, costume, and script. Itis my job to keep the integrity of the play from opening night until the show closes.

September 23rd-28th,the Helfaer Theatre went through an exhausting tech week. Tech week is where the show goes through a transformation. The actors have been rehearsing for a month and tech week is the week were all of the designs get integrated into to the production. The lights and sound are the first aspects to be perfected. It I'd my job to call the a light cues and make sure the are to the designer's liking. This took us two days to get right and up until opening night to prefect. Calling light cues for a musical is a difficult process for the stage manager because cues are often called off of music. It is very important for the stage manager to have the script, music, and staging memorized for this reason. Next, I had to figure out how I was going to call fly cues. Often times, light, sound, fly, follow spot, and scene change cues overlap. That is were it gets difficult. I like to think that I am a Hobert organized person and none of this seemed to be too big of a challenge for me.

It is crucial for a stage manager to be organized so that once it comes to tech week and performances, there is not much to worry about. I love my job. It is a challenge most of the time to make sure everything is in order at all times, but it is also very rewarding. It is awesome to see the productions come to life and without the stage manager, it could not possibly be what it has become.

Little Shop of Horrors opened on Thursday the 29th and will be closing Sunday, October 9th. It really is a well done and professional production done created by Marquette University.