An article that I found helpful in completing my independent component is http://www.stagespot.com/comm.html because it talks about how to communicate with a stage manager when you have problems and how to fix those problems.
For my independent component I ran part of the fly system for Cal Poly Pomona's play Avenue Q. This was a good investment of my time because in order to be a good SM, you should know what it is like to be a part of crew and know the struggles that comes along with it. This way when a crew member is having an issue you can relate and try to solve that problem. An example of this for me is when it was hard to hear the SM over the com. I told her multiple times that it was hard to hear my cues and asked her to speak up, but she didn't really change anything that helped me. This did not help the show run smoothly because my cue might have been a little bit off, causing the flow of the show to be a little bit off.
For the second part of my independent component I am stage managing a play written and directed by my classmate and friend Jordan Partida. This will be completed in a matter of weeks, but I still have learned a lot about how to communicate with actors who are showing up to rehearsal late. I even had to keep them in for 30 minutes extra because they were so late and we weren't going to be able to complete the task by the end of the rehearsal. This is a good investment of my time because I will also be training a freshman on how to be a stage manager for a small play like this one.
All of this together made for a total of 114 hours of work. Most of this being Avenue Q because that was a college level production that a lot of work went into completing. Any production someone puts on that big is going to require more than 30 hours of work to complete. I think that is why I like theatre so much. You really get to see how a production evolves through time and get to see the final product.
My independent component helped me with my EQ because actually being backstage at at show gives me an idea of how a SM should treat their crew. Our SM was really great at giving warnings as to when a cue was coming up, which really helped some of the crew prepare for a costume quick change. Yet, when it came to calling the fly cues, the SM could have spoken louder because most of our cues were during songs when it gets really loud. This helps me to know that when a crew member needs something from me as a SM, I really need to listen and maybe write down a note to remind me to speak louder during songs than regular scenes.
My experence working with Jordan and her play has helped me learn how to communicate with a director that is easy to work with, but also easy to get off topic with. Jordan and I are good friends, so it isn't terribly easy to stay on task when we are trying to schedule rehearsals or talk about a problem we are having with the blocking.
Both parts of my independent component have helped me learn something new about the different components that go into making a show run smoothly. I could not have asked for better experiences for my independent component.
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| Yes, they spelled my name wrong in the Avenue Q program. |
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| This was the SM for Avenue Q. She took my phone before a rehearsal and took a picture in front of my fly system. |
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