How do you facilitate the transition from rehearsal to performance in stage management?

For me, I make sure that all my notes from rehearsals and all my notes from the designers are in place. I double check the hours we can be in the space for Tech Week, make sure that breaks are scheduled in and make sure that we've got needed things available like water and snacks, the bathrooms are good to go and there isn't anything that will waste our valuable time. For myself, I go over my Prompt Book. Cues will be important and I'm an old-fashioned gal: my prompt book is paper and I use pencil for Tech Week.

When working on complex shows, I used to rehearse certain steps without the cast present, where possible. For example, if there were multiple cues at the same time which included Stage, SFX and LX, Flys, Wardrobe and so on. If needs be, we would focus on things such as timing cues with music (for the DSM - or "SM on Book" as some people call it), precise staging placement in show blackouts (or blues). We'd spend this time working out problem areas or errors in our plans. For example, I once found ASM3 had to get from SR to SL in 1 second. Oops. It also helps to pre-empt what I called "BS Traffic" - ASMs and cast moving around out of site. Also useful to mark creaky floor sections, and white-tape for safety areas.

Was this written by AI? It’s strangely unspecific. It’s the director’s job to make artistic decisions and work with the actors to make them happen. The SM is not involved in creative decisions at all except to inform the director if actors are diverging in any substantial way from what’s agreed and to support/remind actors of what’s been set as needed.

If I can sit with the director either before we go into Tech Week or during that Monday or Tuesday, I take the time and sit with the Director on anything that they may see now that we're totally in the space with all the elements. Even if there are actor concerns, I can bring those up or vice versa.

A while ago I had 5 ASMs on a show and before we went into Tech Week I met altogether with them on their assignments. We made sure that everyone knew where they needed to be and only my ASM's knew where my SM kit was backstage as needed. And, oddly enough, during one performance later, that SM kit was immediately needed and my backstage ASMs knew where it was and didn't waste time helping an actor.

The Stage Management team are often in the rehearsal room from start to finish and many of the other show workers will be joining the production in the theatre. It is vital that all the relevant information such as script changes, scene breakdowns, entrances and exits, changes to roles, potential quick changes and potential problems are all logged and passed forward to the other technical departments before tech begins.

This has always been a challenge with new designers who don't have a lot of experience with Tech Week. I've had new designers want to take over the calling of their cues and not paying attention that other cues needed to be considered at the same time. That's what the SM is for. I have my eyes on the whole, not just the one.

The above description of backstage sounds like amateur theatre where the stage manager may be the only one who's worked backstage before. That's fine - everyone has to start somewhere. In a professional situation, you have people whose livelihood depends on setting up and organizing backstage. If the stage manager does that s(he) is, as the union guys say,"taking food out my babies' mout (sic)", which is, by definition, bad. BTW, I earned my first IA card in 1976.

The SM does manage the backstage, but by working with wardrobe, electricians and stagehands. Many large companies have very active unions whose jobs and expertise help make the productions work. Communication and working together are paramount.

One thing that I have found helpful is holding department heads accountable for having well-organized and well-documented environments. Examples include having the props team cleanly label and organize props tables, and generate easy-to-read checklists for prop pre-sets. Another example is to have the Audio and Lighting departments cleanly cable and organize patch bays, amps, and dimmer racks, while supplementing the spaces with cleanly designed documentation. Keeping the space organized and documenting everything will allow for easier training for subs and replacements, while also expediting maintenance and repair fixes.

There should be conversations with all the technical departments to see what they all require from the stage area. Space is often short once the set is in so there has to be delicate conversations had between Stage, LX, Sound, Costume, WHAM and Stage Management departments to make sure there is a sensible layout that is safe and works well. Often a Production Manager will be the person who co-ordinates this as they will be responsible for installation of the show and will be in the theatre before Stage Management.

If you ever get time, playing "What If" in your head is always a good thing. Murphy's law and the jelly side down theory think theatres are playgrounds.

I learnt Tech in the Analogue-moving-into-Digital age. I remember being on LX and SFX with 2 desks, 3 MD players and 2 laptops - one for each projector in a production of Closer (if you know the show, you'll understand why I needed 2!). In some sections of the show there were stand-by and go cues coming through every few seconds. Extremely nerve-wracking. People often forget the crew care just as much about achieving the best show and get just as nervous before curtain up as any good actor does. My easiest Job was operating tabs on an Agatha Christie show. 2.5 hours and about 5 cues. So boring I wrote one of my essays for my degree whilst doing it! (NB, it was in a small theatre where Tabs weren't in the Fly.