A Preview — Paradox, Colorado — Day 25

And so we had an audience tonight.  And it was a packed house.  And for the most part the show went okay.  And the audience applauded in all the right places.  And there were a couple of moments they found really funny.  And the actors were all where they were supposed to be, even if they were drawing attention to themselves when they shouldn’t.  And the crew for the most part was spot on.

For the most part.

I guess the thing that gives me pause is the Stage Manager.  She’s the assistant to Kelly.  She’s being allowed to call the first show because there is less that happens in this show and it was a way to let her get experience.  This occurred last year and it was not all that successful.  And well, this year I’m not so sure it’s a good idea either.

She’s okay.  And she’s nice and all.  But I don’t really think she gets what a stage manager’s role is once the production is in tech and then open.  She has some really strange ideas of how to do things that kind of perplex me.

First of all, she doesn’t give any warnings or stand-bys.  She just calls the cue.  And for the most part this works.  For the most part.  But since the light board op was not told that a cue was coming his finger might not be poised on the “GO” button to take the cue when it’s supposed go.  In the world of stage management there are a set of standards that for the most part are followed by everyone.  Of course every one has their way of doing things but some things are just a given.  For example:  About 30 seconds before a cue is called, whether it’s a sound cue, light cue, fly cue, projection cue there is a warning or stand by given.  Like such.

Standby Light Q 105, Sound Q 23, Spot 1 to pick up Mabel down center, Spot 2 to pick up Freddie down left, And for the panels to open on a 12 count to position 1.

After this is said, everyone responds by saying, “Lights”, “Sound”, “Spot 1″, “Spot 2″, and “Panels”.

This lets the stage manager know that her standby has been heard by everyone and they are ready for the cue.

About 30 seconds or less later the stage manager will say

“Lights 105, sound 23, And panels…go”

And what would you know, it all happens as it should.

But the person calling show #1 doesn’t do the standby thing.  She just calls the cue.  And you just have to hope that everyone is ready when she calls it.  If not, then too bad.  They should have been ready.  She’s not really an ass about it, but there really should be warnings.  It lets everyone know what the next thing they need to do is.  There were a number of times that the cues were late because the board op either didn’t hear her, or wasn’t ready when she said go.  And for a lighting designer it’s the worst thing ever because you trust this person to call the cues where the go because the look of your show depends on it.

The other thing this stage manager does is call the cue exactly where I say to call it.  When I said this to Kelly she almost fell on the floor laughing.  And before you get all confused, yes she’s supposed to call it where I say to call it.  But there’s more to it than that.  As a lighting designer we talk about cues landing.  Does the change in the lighting happen as the music builds or is it a quick cue that signifies the end of the song (called a button cue).  Is it a cue that changes the lighting as someone walks across the stage or as they enter.  And because theatre is a living breathing creature you can’t just say the cue goes on the sentence, “Get your ass out of here.”  You can’t just say the cue goes as the girl steps off the platform.  You can’t just say the cue goes on the button of the song.  And you can’t just say the cue goes with the music.

You must feel these things.  You must know exactly what the cue does.  You must know what the intent of the designer is.  You must understand how fast the cue is and how long it takes to complete.  You must understand that the spot has to be on AS the person enters.  Not after the person enters.  You must know that spot has to go out AS the person exits not after the person has exited.  You have to know that the spot has to swap from one character to another as they pass each other.

And I can’t stop to talk about each cue.  I tell you where it’s called and I assume that you’ll do your homework and figure it out.  If you are unsure then ask me after the rehearsal where Q95 goes.  But you HAVE to be able to look at what I’m doing and know what I want from the cue.  So if the cue is called as the girl steps off the platform the thing you have to know is:  Does the cue need to be complete as the girl steps off the platform?  Is it building a light she walks into?  Is it taking a light out as she walks away?  Is it drawing attention to the girl or drawing the attention away from her?

And believe it or not, all of those questions above can change where the cue is called that I say to call “As the girl steps off the platform.”  If the cue needs to be complete as the girl steps off the platform then you must call it before she gets there.  If the cue is building light for her downstage then the question is “Does it build as she walks?”  If it’s taking a light away then don’t call the cue until she’s finished speaking and the action is no longer about her.  If it’s about someone else on the other side of the stage you have to make sure the cue is called so that the light comes up and goes out on the exact moment or it will look weird.

There are a million examples and all I said was call the cue as the girl walks off the platform.  In a musical it’s even worse.  Does the cue go on the downbeat of the conductor’s baton.  Is it a cue on every 7th beat ina counts of 8?  Is it a cue that brings up a light for the solo but also has to happen within the context of the musical.

By now you get what I’m saying.  So the stage manager calls the cues exactly where I say to call them.  Which is why she took the follow spot out on someone who was talking because the cue to take it out is actually called as someone else walks downstage.  The person walking was early and unfortunately the stage manager didn’t adjust and so the girl who was talking was no longer in a follow spot.  There were a number of cues that were supposed to land (I think I might have skipped over exactly what this means which is where the majority of the cue is complete enough to have made the impact you were looking for) as someone walks across the stage.  But instead of bring up light as they walked, she let them walk into the dark and then brought up the light.  Every follow spot cue was late because she waited till the last moment to call the cue because all I said was this cue brings up Ruth’s follow spot.  But what that means is moments before Ruth appears the cue has to be called so that the spot is coming up as she enters.

And so for me it was a long night.  I wanted the show to look as great as it could, but I felt like the stage manager was working against me.  There were a couple of times tonight that I just called the cue myself because it was clear that it was going to be late.  I could do that tonight because it was a preview and technically I can still make changes.  However, tomorrow it’s a different story.  Tomorrow the show is her’s for better or for worse.  And all I can do is sit in the audience and cringe every time a cue is late or early or “Doesn’t land where I want it to.”

On a good note.  For the next two shows I get Kelly and based on my experience last year I won’t have that problem on the next two shows.  She really is the best stage manager I’ve ever worked with.  She gets the rehearsal side of the job and the organizational part of the job and for me she gets the most important part of the show, the calling of the cues.  And so I know what ever I design in the next two weeks will be called as I want it.

Paradox, Colorado. Population 245.  It’s another conservative white community.  I need to start traveling to nicer places.