Stage Managing my life

So because I am completely incapable of not stage managing the world around me, I am planning my Mom's surprise birthday party.  Now, because I like to teach people and I don't live at home anymore, I let my little sister figure out what day is best.
So we get everything all planned out, I make this pretty little e-card with all this marti-gras themed stuff since her birthday is on Ash Wednesday this year, and she wanted to actually GO to New Orleans, we figured it'd be a worthwhile endeavor.  I go on her computer, sneak through her contacts and find the emails of the people on our guest list, and send the e-card on it's merry little interweb way.
So I'm getting all these RSVPs and all these emails, and thinking everything is fine and dandy and getting underway.
But Mom is a stage manager too - came to it later in life, but still an SM.  And being this way, she has a giant calendar at home with everything that she's doing, that I'm doing, and that my brother and sister and any extended family have going on during any given month.  That being said, my sister looked at the calendar  and decided that a day when Mom is Stage Managing a show would be a GREAT day for a surprise party... While she's supposed to be calling a show.
Needless to say, I spent all last week trying to subtly figure out what day we could change it to without causing too much commotion.  Boy that was fun. Not.  It was worse than trying to schedule 17 actors for a scene, no joke.  At least actors conflicts are all written down and easy to find, you don't have to carefully word each question so as not to give away the fact that you're planning a frickin surprise party for the woman you're talking to.
I finally figured out how I could change it and to when, then let my Sister deal with telling Mom's best friend and co-planner about the whole shenanigan.
So now all I have to do is gather decorations, finish mom's present, make two different cakes and pretend that nothing is happening.

SM Venting

When a Stage Manager meets someone outside of theater and they ask "What does a Stage Manager do?" they don't expect the answer that they get.  "Well, I schedule 17 actors to be at certain places at certain times to run specific scenes and then take notes the whole time on what happens; while I simultaneously keep in mind that I have to sit through at least a four hour rehearsal every night during the week and usually during the weekend (so there goes my social life); while scheduling my 5-8 designers and my director to be at production meetings every week; schedule costume measurements and fittings for my 17 actors based of arbitrary times the costume designer gave to me; make sure the scenic shop, property collection, and costume creation process is going according to plan; and managing to eat, sleep, do my homework, go to class, and not go insane."  The image of the look on their face makes me giggle just thinking about it.

I've had my tough shows that left me crying in the back hallway where my director can't find me and I've had my easy shows that no matter how many cues they throw at me, i've got my highlighter and my sticky-note-tabs to keep up and organized.  My first show I ever Stage Managed at school though, was the toughest one I've ever been through.  Despite swearing off Stage Managing and promising to myself I would never torture myself like that again, I realized I missed it, like more than chocolate and the sun and well, you get the gist.  So I went back, and I realized that I was really good at what I did and that going through that first show was pretty much preparing me

Now imagine being an experienced Stage Manager, you've got a few shows under your belt, you know the lay of the land and how to do just what needs to be done, and you have to teach a little baby freshman all that you know in the span of about four weeks.  Now keep in mind, you've had your fill of ASMs - good ones, bad ones, dumb ones, ones that were basically five year olds - and this one is one of the smartest ones you've ever had.  They keep up with your tasks, they do what you tell them and understand why you do things the way you do just by observing, and when you pull something new out of your SM bag of tricks they take it in stride and learn from you.


Being a Stage Manager at college is tough, there aren't many students who know exactly what you do, or who are interested in learning to be an SM, and some who don't appreciate just what you have to do every day for your countless number of actors.

I have found that it's even harder to try and hand over a show to someone who, even though you trained them and you thought that they were ready to take on a show, is not as experienced as you are.
When I thought that that was the toughest thing ever, someone threw some liquid nails in and told you "hey, look over here" and you found yourself standing in a rehearsal and learning that your trainee is being taken advantage of because they're younger than everyone else involved in the process.

You know in Horton hears a Who, he says "A person's a person, no matter how small."?  I feel like what people in academia need to realize is that an SM is your SM no matter how young, and if you take advantage of anything that your Stage Manager does - from the most simple and stupid things to the most complex lies and plans imaginable - you face being called out for biting the hand that feeds you.  Especially if you know, for a fact, that your good friend was supposed to be the Stage Manager, but she had to step down due to conflicts and so she put her already trained ready-to-go former ASM in the spot instead; you should know that that good friend of yours will tell you how it's gonna be and that what's happening will be changing faster than a flip of a coin.

I think that the moral of this (very long) post is:

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Thanks to Backstage Badger Visit them!  http://fyeahbackstagebadger.tumblr.com/