The Musical
A course devoted to improving techniques for recording blocking and calling cues on a musical is a project-based semester. For each assignment, students are asked to create prompt book pages and work with them as if they were in rehearsal. Assignments begin with the libretto, move to the score, address dance, and then encourage the creation of hybrid pages. The scenarios repeat for cueing, with each scene called by each stage manager in class. Toward the end of the semester, I bring the cue light box into the classroom and ask students to trigger scenic cues nonverbally. As your script choice permits, it is helpful to select songs which can facilitate both blocking and cue calling assignments, mirroring the repeat encounters the stage manager will have with the material in a realized production.
A look at the syllabus calendar for a musical-focused semester can be found HERE.
Assignment Specifics
The course is constructed with lecture and discussion time related to a specific skill, followed by assignments to explore it. I bring many of my own past prompt books and video excerpts to class for demonstration and look to create low-stakes activities in class for students to begin developing their abilities.
Because recording blocking and cues can be time consuming, and students will always have questions, I build many in-class work days into the semester. This reduces at least part of the homework time, and provides a chance for students to ask questions of me and each other.
In an attempt to recreate the time pressure of rehearsal, I created a pair of “watch and write” blocking assignments. On these days, students will prepare their scripts in advance, but annotate all movement in class while watching the scene on DVD. After running the selection a few times, scripts are collected at the end of the class period, and students are not allowed to take them home and fill in things they missed. Below you can find an example of such assignment.
Because students have the flexibility to adapt their backing page and to change it throughout the semester, class time is devoted to allowing each stage manager to share the specifics of their script—why they made particular choices about margin sizes or the number of lines on the backing page, and how they might adjust the pages were they to do this again. I find that students start with “safe” choices, but as the semester progresses, they feel more confident in their skills and begin to try new options.
The final project is a complex scene for which they will record blocking, annotate cues, and call them. If the schedule permits, class moves into the theatre for the final, with the video projected on a large screen, and the SM and “operators” wearing headsets. (The operators are simply fellow classmates who reply to the standbys.)
Several options exist for show material. DVDs, streaming video, and scripts are widely available for a range of shows including Sweeney Todd, Sunday in the Park with George, Legally Blonde, She Loves Me, Rent, and Shrek. My current class text is Memphis. I create cue lists myself—documenting what I see on screen and occasionally adding cues based on the musicality of a particular song. (If I did not see a cue at the top of the refrain, for example, I might add one. This would be a reasonable location for a designer to place a cue in the real world.) A sample example of a cueing assignment is provided here.
This type of a semester could also be adapted to provide similar skill-building for plays with large or small casts. Streaming platforms in particular currently feature a range of classic and contemporary plays, and many more play scripts are available than the (growing) collection of musicals.
Leadership And Management
My semester devoted to leadership and management techniques is an opportunity for students to evaluate their own traits, to learn how to assess the needs of others, and to utilize these observations for effective problem solving. As opposed to the musicals semester with a series of projects, this self-identified “psychology semester” manifests in self-reflection and discussion.
Topics progress from personality to body language and emotional intelligence, and end with team building and a set of case studies. The course material is drawn from a range of books and articles, many of which are unrelated to theatre. This is on purpose. Students can then talk and write about how these ideas fit into their worlds as stage managers and theatre artists, and develop the skill to think outside the box when approaching a team or a problem. The course also incorporates TED talks such as “The Power of Vulnerability” by Brené Brown, “On Being Wrong” by Kathryn Schulz, or “Listen, Learn . . . then Lead” by General Stanley McChrystal.
Advanced SM Leadership Outline
Discussions and class activities springboard from a series of written prompts: one-page responses to the materials we see and read. One of my favorite discussions is the result of a spying mission. During the section of the course devoted to body language, students are asked to go to a public place such as a coffee shop or student center and observe a group—reporting what they can about the dynamics at play and perceived group leader simply from what they see. Samples of a few of the discussion prompts are provided below.
Advanced SM Leadership Response Samples
The final project for this type of semester is a longer written analysis, typically asking students to read and evaluate a management theory and describe how this could be incorporated into a specific part of the stage manager’s work in response to a hypothetical scenario I provide.
Production Management
My most recent new topic was a semester focused on understanding the work of a production manager and undertaking big-picture activities related to that role. The semester was divided essentially in half. The first several weeks were devoted to exploring a production manager’s specific duties including analysis, budgeting, and scheduling. Some of the course assignments related to a common text chosen for the semester, but others sought to ground the principles in the production experiences here on campus. While exploring unions and budgeting, students were asked to determine the cost of actors for one of our productions based on our existing calendar, and to explore how to fit it under a specific monetary cap. The second half of the semester provided time for all-class project to develop a comprehensive safety website which collected department guidelines, university policies, and expert best practices into a single location. Students presented their work to faculty and staff during the final exam time.
Advanced SM Production Management Outline
Other Possibilities
These examples are only some of the directions which advanced study in stage management can go. Other ideas for formalized classes or independent studies could include:
- History and Operations of Actors’ Equity Association
- Stage Combat for the Stage Manager
- Working with an Intimacy Director
- Company Management
- Touring
- Working Internationally
- Stage Management in Dance or Opera