SD71 District Musical 2022/23
Role: Stage Manager
Every year all three high schools in my town combine efforts to produce a musical. This year we are hard at work on Matilda, a musical I hold a special place in my heart for because I saw it on a trip to London when I first discovered my love of theatre. I was honoured by the invitation to be the Stage Manager. This is especially exciting for me because traditionally “important” backstage roles go to the students at the home school, because they have an existing relationship with the director (drama teacher). However, after hearing about my work on SpongeBob last year, this year’s director went out of her way to bring me onto the backstage team.
This project is in progress. On top of school and other activities I have rehearsal at least twice a week. So far my responsibilities include checking in with actors as they arrive, tracking blocking decisions made during scene work, and generally keeping rehearsals moving on time with the schedule. Once we reach show week, it will be my responsibility to "call the show." Again, my technological background and organisational skills have already come in handy. I have successfully implemented a new efficient system using an Excel spreadsheet to track attendance and cross reference contact information to quickly notify parents if a student has not arrived at rehearsal. This safety protocol used to be paper based and required the stage manager to sift through a clip board of paper consent forms. What I am learning is that life is always going to be busy. I rely on my systems to keep everything going. It can feel overwhelming at times but in theatre, it always feels joyful.
Update from the future:
As this show progresses we have moved into blocking more complicated numbers. When you only have four characters onstage, keeping track of blocking and props seems relatively easy.. But larger group numbers have presented a challenge I hadn't considered.
There are too many people onstage to keep track of everyone.
My solution has been to take lots of pictures, and videos of the choreography. I find little diagrams with abbreviated character or group names to be easier than notes made of words. Eventually I'll convert them to have both, but it helps me in the moment because I find it faster and easier to understand.
I also created a shorthand list that I shared with the rest of the tech and crew so that we are all using the same language when we make notes.
