Back to Monday. They’re always the hardest day to make it through, so to brighten up your day is an interview with Melissa, or better known as Mel. She blogs about topics such as personal finance, stage management and travel on BrokeGirlRich. After reading interesting posts about her day job as a stage manager, I knew she would be a great fit for the series.
1. What kind of education is needed to become a stage manager?
I guess if you could get your foot in the door with some theater to get experience, you might not even need a college education, but I have B.A. in Theatre Production. To get my B.A. I took classes like theatre crafts, lighting design, scenic design, costume design, computer aided drafting, music, performance and theatre literature and history. All of those classes gave me a solid foundation for what I’ve encountered throughout my career. A lot of stage managers also choose to continue on for an M.F.A. in Stage Management, but I did not and it’s not necessary. If you wanted to teach stage management classes later in life or be a professor, you’d want to have that M.F.A.
2. Can you describe your career path to becoming a stage manager? Were you a stage assistant prior to this?
I think my career path wound up being a little untraditional. During the school year while I was an undergrad, I worked in the scene shop building sets and hanging lights for school shows and eventually graduated to working in the large performing arts center on campus. I worked in a small theater on the beach during the summers as a sound and lighting technician. After getting my B.A., I actually went to grad school to study theology. I wound up working for a small theater group that toured on weekends as their stage manager and sound technician to make a little money. After I finished grad school, I applied for a stage management job with a cruise line and the timing just worked out well. They needed someone who could start immediately with a valid passport and I was both of those things. Stage management isn’t exactly a linear career, so while I mostly skipped ever being an assistant stage manager (ASM), I am actually about to spend a month working as an ASM. Often times if you switched to a different type of theater that you’re unfamiliar with, you might work as an ASM for a little while even if you’ve been a stage manager for years.
3. What is the process when applying for gigs?
Well the first step is to find the gigs. I usually follow Playbill.com and Offstagejobs.com and also put it out there on my social media that I’m looking for a job. Then I’ll submit a cover letter and resume, like any other job. I think it’s kind of difficult to get a feel for what stage managers have done from just a resume or even an interview, so I try to keep my website up to date with pictures or even videos (when allowed) of previous performances, as well as copies of my paperwork. I think that’s been helpful.
4. Can you describe a typical day? What are the stage manager’s main responsibilities?
I actually really like writing posts about a typical day in my life. I have one for a day with the circus, cruise line and children’s theater. On a typical day though you make sure your show is set up – props and set pieces where they belong, etc. – that everyone is present when they need to be, that everyone is rehearsed and up to speed for the show happening that night, that the theater is safe and ready for an audience, that the show runs smoothly and that a report about the day goes back to your producers at the end of it. And along the way, you solve any problem that crops up that would stop those things from occurring.
5. What are some of the challenges you encounter in your job?
I think work/life balance can be pretty difficult. My job tends to completely eat my life. The way my career has worked out between ships and touring is that I often work for weeks or months at a time without a day off and then I go home for a month or two to recuperate and then I repeat. I miss a lot of family events while I’m on the road and while having a month straight off sounds kind of fun, it actually gets boring pretty quickly.
As far as the job itself goes, you deal with a wide variety of personality types as a stage manager. Since you’re the hub of communication for any production, you want to make sure you remain approachable and that people feel comfortable talking to you, but you also have to maintain control over everything – some people have personalities that make your relationship with them easy and some do not. You also really need to be a jack of all trades to be a good stage manager. You need to know a little about lighting to talk competently with the lighting designer and their technical team and you need to know a little about directing so you can make sure you can maintain the director’s vision once the show is handed over to you, that sort of thing. You just have to be constantly learning.
6. You’ve had several different stage manager jobs such as circus stage manager, cruise ship stage manager and touring children’s theatre stage manager. Out of all the positions you’ve held, what has been your favourite thus far and why?
I think the cruise ship stage manager for the first two years I did it was my favorite. There are a lot of things about cruise ship life the wear you down over a couple of years, but initially, it’s kind of amazing. I was getting paid to do something I loved and I got to travel the entire world doing it. I got to work with people from all over the world too, which was really cool. And honestly, some of the parties we had onboard were legendary and I was just the right age back then to fully appreciate it. On a professional side, the ships had a lot of sophisticated technology that I hadn’t had a chance to work with in school, so I got to learn moving lights and automation. Familiarity with automation in particular is a great resume skill to have, since the majority of large productions use it and want stage managers who understand the dangers and safety precautions you need to take with moving stages.
7. How have you managed having a variable income?
With a lot of prayer? Just kidding. I think I’m naturally a saver. The larger my emergency fund gets, the more comfortable I feel, but even before I really knew what an emergency fund was, I felt like I should save for a rainy day. Nowadays, I look at what my bills and savings goals are for the year, prioritize them and make sure to take care of them first before spending on fun things like vacations or clothes. I think a lot of us who work in the arts know that sacrifice is a part of the job choice, but I think it’s easy to overlook that it’s also good for your sacrifice to be not hitting the bar this month until you’ve added to your emergency savings or put away a little for retirement. I try to make sure I keep that mentality.
8. What kind of skills and qualities do you feel are necessary to become a successful stage manager?
I think you need to have a solid foundation of knowledge – music, set, lighting, costumes, props, directing, computer programs – and you need to be really organized. You also need to be a calm person and you need to know how to react in emergencies. You also need to be good at working with other people and communicating clearly. Mostly though, I think you need to be responsible. Everything related to the production is your responsibility when you’re the stage manager and you need to be ok with that. I also think it’s a good idea to get take every first aid and safety related course you can find.
9. Since you’re always behind the scenes, have you ever wanted to be on stage, in the spotlight? Why or why not?
No. I don’t really like being the center of attention. I had to take Acting I as an undergrad and it was pretty miserable. When I got my Masters degree, I had to act in several things and I hated almost every second of it. The only time I was comfortable was one show we wrote had a band in it and I wound up playing trumpet. I grew up as a band kid and it turned out that when I was playing trumpet onstage, I was actually comfortable. I’m definitely happiest behind the scenes though.
10. What advice would you give to people who are interested in becoming a stage manager?
If they’re 100% set on making it to Broadway, I’d recommend getting their B.A. or B.F.A from a really well known school, like NYU, Yale, Mason Gross, or North Carolina School of Arts. If they just want their whole career to be in theater and they don’t particularly care about Broadway, I’d actually recommend a tiny school. I went to a small liberal arts college and had hands on experience immediately and stage managed my first show as a sophomore. In the bigger schools, it’s difficult to get that much hands on time, you don’t usually get to stage manage until your senior year, and you usually leave with less actual experience.
After college, I recommend that they get a passport and be willing to travel. Cruise ships, theme parks, Feld Entertainment and lots of small tours will often hire beginning stage managers and technicians, even when they don’t have much experience yet. Most of the jobs you can get right out of school are going to involve travel. Even if you eventually want to make it to NYC, you should consider doing these for a few years and saving up a decent nest egg first.
Consider your Equity card carefully. Right after college, I was on fire to join the union, only to find that it actually doesn’t suit what I do. I’ve worked outside it’s jurisdiction on cruise ships and in circus most of my career and am only now, 10 years in, getting to a point where maybe I’ll start to look into it again. Make sure if you’re getting your Equity card, that you have enough connections to keep getting union work after whatever gig offers you your card. If all your connections are non-union, now you’ll be unable to work for any of those places.
I’ve found most of my success comes from being prepared and then just being in the right place at the right time.
Thanks so much for including me in your series! It’s always fun for me to talk about stage management!
No problem! Thank YOU for taking the time to provide the responses. Stage management does sound like a lot of fun!
Great! Your series are so interesting. Your writing has a unique style. Hope to see your new post soon.