This summer I was fortunate enough to stage manage Flat River Community Players production of "The Great American Trailer Park Musical" I had never stage managed before but I am slated to stage manage a student-directed production of "Gone Missing" when I get back to school this year so I decided to take the gig to game some experience.
The first thing I learned was that FRCP has a very different idea of the stage managers job then we have at CMU. I attended as many rehearsals as I could with my work schedule before we moved into the performance space. I was told I did not need to attend until we moved into the theater but I decided to do so one because I wanted to know the show as well as I possibly could, two because I wanted to get to know the cast so that when control was handed over to me I would have a good relationship with them.
As always with doing theater at the community level people have multiple jobs and help out wherever they can to get the show going. Aside from stage managing I helped with set building, props, run crew, weapons wrangling and I even made a cameo appearance onstage. It was a lot of time consuming work and most nights I was exhausted but I couldn't have cared less. Theater is my love and I enjoy every minute I put into every show that I do and this show reinforced that.
Over the entire summer I was able to get to know many wonderful cast and crew members. It was a learning experience that allowed me to get used to running the show once we got into production mode. Managing my crew and delegating tasks to them. Keeping track of the cast (calling places etc...) It will be of much help to me in a few weeks when we have our first production meetings for "Gone Missing"
I would personally like to thank the entire cast and crew for a successful show that thrilled audiences that turned out in record numbers.
"Honey this here's White Castle not white trash."- Bad Ass Betty
Until next time,
Matt
Expect a post this weekend about the Jegs/CRA All-Star Race.
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