Stage Management Week

Each day with Evaluation. End of Year evaluation at the end.

Monday - 15/05/17
We began by marking out the designs onto the flats using masking tape, a ruler and pencil. This process was incredibly time consuming and we eventually decided to cut off into smaller groups in order to cover more ground. The design would go all round the flat and up along any windows it may pass. This was fine for all windowed flats except for the outermost flats on the stage left and right, which had the design alter course while on the window rather than just run straight along it.
We used rollers to base coat the set in greenish brown colour that I initially didn't like at all as I found it a bleak, depressing colour that didn't represent what we were trying to create. I did end up eating my words as the project progressed and the marbling effect was applied as the mix of colours did go well together. However, I still maintain that the final version looked more a church than shopping centre.

Tuesday - 16/05/17
Tuesday was largely focused on the marbling of the flats, with the frosting being applied to the windows later on in the night.
In order to achieve the marbling we experimented with three different ways of approaching the task. The first one involved us spraying the flats with coats of paint before sponging them in and then adding more specific line marks. This didn't work incredibly well as more often than not the paint dried before we had a chance to sponge. The second method involved more deliberate strikes of paint, which I found made the flat appear much more barren in places. To the right is an example of the texture we were going for. The third method is something I in part came up with but was not listened or unheard the first two times I suggested it. This method involved incorporating both the earlier ways and involved coating the flat in paint, sponging them in before going back and adding in the more detailed lines. I think that this was the ideal way of achieving the effect as we ensured that every part of the flat was painted but did not lost out on any of the additional detail.

Wednesday - 17/05/17
Get in / Fit-up plan
All flats except the centre pieces were stacked vertically in the van. The first time we attempted to stack the pieces we had them stacked too diagonally and they all had to be re positioned to allow the rest of the pieces in. We stacked them back to back, and front to front, which hopefully ensured that scratching to both the marbling and the polycarbon was minimised.
The centre pieces were too large to be placed in the van and had to be carried manually from the workshop to the theatre. Due to the shortest route containing an alarming number of cars, we decided to take the pieces around the reception and up the road before coming down on the Haliwell. This was a slightly longer journey but had the added benefit of being much more open and car free.
When carrying the flats we had initially held them vertically and found we struggled this approach. Once we were free from the road we were able to hold them horizontally and found this to be the far superior method as the weight was more evenly distributed and we had a better group.

Once all pieces had been gathered at the Haliwell we all banded together to get the centre back piece up before we could branch out into our individual groups

Thursday - 18/05/17

Friday - 19/05/17
9 am - 4 pm
9 am - 12 am
9 am - 2:00 am
Rehearsals
Line work
Frosting the glass
Patterns
I was primarily focused on the adding on of the patterns to the smaller flats. This was an incredible pain to do as I had no idea of how to go about it. My first attempt ended in absolute failure with gradual improvement as we went along. My final approach was to stick lines of masking tape onto the tape on which I could mark out the correct distances and locations for the patterns. I would then join up all the dots before using a scalpel to cut away all of the excess tape.

Redoing of props table
My initial marking out of the props table was a very rough interpretation of what it should be so that I could get all the props down in one place. I tried to do it alphabetically so that each actor would know immediately roughly where their prop would lie. While I worked on the patterns, Iona went and redid parts of the prop table so that everything appeared much more neat while still adhering to the same structure I had. I think that she did a much better job of it than I had and will be forever grateful that she did the job without me admitting defeat and asking.

Dog lead
The dog lead was initially the cause of some distress because I had thought that the entire think needed to be rigid and I was not sure how to accomplish this without it all looking a bit silly. My nerves were calmed after I was informed that only the collar section needed to be firm and the rest could still be loose. I achieved this by crudely stitching in armature wire that I had coloured in black around the inside of the collar. Although this worked quite well, the actors were not the most light handed and certain sections kept coming undone. This was all put to an end after I used the rest of my black thread to make certain that the wire was going no where.

Saturday - 19/05/17

Shoe box
The shoe box was relatively simple. I drew out a base design on a piece of paper before marking out the location of the letters and adding them in lightly with pencil. I then base coated the entire thing with 'burnt umber' Rosco paint. I used two coats of a 'pure, brilliant' white to colour in the letters and left the area immediately surrounding them orange in order to give all the paint some time to dry. Once completely dry I went back to the letters to fill in the gaps I had missed. However, much to my dismay I had failed to colour match the browns despite being certain that I had used two of the same colours. I got round this problem by creating a bubble like effect around the writing and added the new colour to key locations. I think that this worked out extremely well as it gave the box an added depth as well as looking intentional.
Posters
We needed additional missing posters to add to the set as well as the immediate area surrounding the theatre. I would have done this using the A3 printer in the 24 hour computer room, but our head lecturer graciously allowed me to send her the picture so that she could print the images free of charge.
Newspaper
The newspaper was reserved the night before and collected in the morning.


Sign
The sign was probably my greatest struggle over the course of the production as it took a long time to source as we required it from the third year show, which only ended on Saturday. I then failed to find the correct sign but managed to locate some others I thought would be suitable. I did find a stand in sign until the correct one could be obtained but I did not know how to fix it to the stage and it kept coming apart so did not use it until requested.
Once the sign had been found I base coated it with white paint at least five times in order to cover up the previous design. I then experimented with a stencil to come up with a style I was happy with before transferring the original design from paper to sign. A big shout out to Jordane who took over from me after I was called away to attend other matters. I could not have done it without her.m


Sunday - Pre technical technical rehearsal
Beginning and end of each scene to plot lights

General Tasks for the rest of the week:

Before each morning and afternoon rehearsal I would

Clean and replace the cheese for the cheese board

Clean the whiskey bottle and make a fresh batch

Reclaim the shoe box and newspaper from backstage to reset the props table

Ensure that everything was in its right place on the table

During the show

• Cut and place the cheese on paper towel for the cheese board. Add in cocktail sticks for added effect.
• Meet Katyana after the second scene to collect props for prop table
• Act as stage hand to place and take away the sign for two scenes. Despite popular belief, it was only two scenes that the sign was wanted there and I did not miss any cues.
• Fix say cheese badge
• Maintain the dog lead
• Work on poster for the final show

After the show

• I would usually just throw out the old cheese and make sure the props table was neat and tidy for the next day's use

Stage Crew and Scene Change Protocol 
Etiquette
Before the show
Mark out any and all sudden drops or hazards that could affect the safety of crew or the movement of trucks.
If possible make call out that you are moving any trucks so that people in the affected area know what's happening and have a chance to move out of harms way.
Only move large set pieces with the appropriate number of people so that nobody puts any unnecessary strain on them self.
Ensure that all backstage crew only move when the lights have gone down and music is playing. This distracts the audience and gives them something to enjoy.
Ensure that all necessary crew have a copy of the scene breakdown and a completed cue list for each need they are required.
All crew are to be in blacks so that they do not stand out on stage. It is better to be wearing long sleeved shirts if the crew member is to be visible at any time.

Evaluation
I would say that Stage Management is one of the few modules where I am satisfied with my performance during it, disregarding the 6 weeks or so where I really let myself down. It is the module that I think ties everything else together. Whereas some skills are only relevant to their own specific discipline, Stage Management encapsulates them all and takes elements from all other areas. A good stage manager is required to be a Jack of all trades, master of none. Over the course of their career as they progress through the ranks of assistant stage manager, deputy stage manager and eventually stage manager, may be tasked with assisting the get in, repairing clothing, maintaining scenic art and sourcing props. In this area I think that this has been an incredibly successful year as I have picked up on so many new skills and areas for improvement.
Stop
Stressing so much about everything. I
Putting everything off until last minute
Start
I would like to start taking a more active role on the productions I work on. Whereas before this year I was too hesitant to take up any major responsibilities (like cueing a show) I now find myself in a position where although I am not yet ready to jump at the chance, I am much more likely to grab every opportunity that comes my way. I am more confident in both myself and my abilities to get the job done. This is most evident in how I had previously worked on 'You Me Bum Bum Train', where although I was given the chance to cue, I was much too hesitant and let the opportunity pass me by.
Continue
Learning the trades of the different disciplines and applying them to a Stage Management role. For example, the work that we did in costume came in use during the final show where I had to construct the fixed dog lead.


What I will be taking forward
All of the skills I have learnt throughout this module and all of the others, from basic construction and costume maintenance, to improvements in scenic art and prop sourcing.
What went well
Smaller group work. One of the greatest strengths of our year as a whole is how well we all get on and work together. There is nobody within our year group that I wouldn't want to work with or that I feel wouldn't pull their weight. When working in smaller groups I know I am able to depend on my partner/s and we are able to properly communicate our thoughts and ideas. One of my favourite moments from the module was working into the night with Jamie, Iona and Autumn in order to get the set finished before the pre tech because I knew that I could depend on each one of them and that we were all in it together. Although I didn't get to stay until the end because I would have been locked outside all night had I tried, I still thoroughly enjoyed the experience and would have stayed had I been able.
What didn't go so well
Across the board I would say that my commitment to the process workbooks definitely lagged towards the end of the module and my main piece of advice to future first years is to keep on top of the study tasks as it is far easier to do them weekly than to try and fit them all in towards the end of the module.
I find that although I definitely learnt a lot from the module, I found it slightly more difficult than the other modules because it is more abstract and I found it much harder to write about.
In terms of the course as a whole I found that I was far more focused during the intensive work weeks and think that focusing on one module at a time would be a much better way of approaching the tasks as we are able to get so much more done and save a lot of time as opposed to spending every day focusing on different things. I think that the time we saved could be spent on weekly "production meetings" where we feedback on the study tasks and the lesson activities. This would not be dis-similar to working in an actual theatrical company where we would know we have to be at a certain standard on a week by week basis.