Now Our Tale is Set to Open
A stage manager is a leader, simple as that. Everyone on the SM team has his/her own leadership style, and they all complement each other beautifully. As a team, though, Eric’s calm method of leading reigns supreme. A stage manager must keep a cool head even when things get absolutely crazy, as they can in live theater. One of the lessons that I’ve learned from stage management is to accept any mistakes made, though sometimes they aren’t directly your fault. You simply have to take responsibility for it, fix whatever it was and how it got messed up, and move on. This career is all about living in the moment. You can’t dwell on a dropped cue, an incorrectly set prop, a slow quick change; your attention has to be forward. Eric exemplifies everything a stage manager can and should be: calm, prepared, and kind.
Marian (Ashley Park) and Robin (Nick Bailey) dance in Act 2 (Photo by Karen Almond)
Thursday was our first preview with a full house. They ADORED the show. Yesterday’s preview was full of technical difficulties. Mics shorted, zippers broke in catastrophic fashion, and fly cues got messed up. But because of the hard work of everyone involved in the show (stage management, wardrobe, the stage ops crew, the sound team, the cast), we picked it up with as few noticeable pauses as possible. The audience still gave us a standing ovation. Because it’s a new musical, we still rehearse during the day, making changes and tightening the old stuff. DTC hosts “Stay Late” after every performance, and those sessions have been incredible useful in this process in particular. The audience’s feedback improves the show every day. This is going to be a very different musical by the time it closes!
My job during previews: update the shift plot from SL
It breaks my heart to know that my time here ends in less than a week. Good thing I bought one of the custom Hood jackets that Cheyney designed for cast and crew. It will keep my body and my heart warm once I leave DTC for the summer.
P.S. This week’s title is a play on the lyrics “now our tale is set to go” from the opening song of Hood. I hope some of you readers are near Dallas so you can come experience this show!
