Week 10:
The Concept of Free Time

July 25, 2016

Something very strange happened for me this week in the tiny town of Creede, Colorado: I found myself having free time. You see, for the first time since the day I started here, I am no longer in a rehearsal process.  Between Watson, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and Rodeo and Juliet, I was spending my days at rehearsals, with shows and changeovers thrown in there too. This often meant I would start work early in the morning, have some short breaks throughout the day, and then continue to work until around 10:30 at night.

Well, my schedule has definitely adjusted. With Rodeo and Juliet over, that just leaves me running performances of Watson and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and working at changeovers.

This free time presented itself on Tuesday. I had a changeover in the morning, and then didn’t work again until the evening performance of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels!

So what have I done with all this time on my hands? I would say mostly I have been taking care of myself. I have taken many naps; I have relaxed and watched loads of obscure movies on Netflix; I have cooked meals that aren’t frozen!

On Wednesday, I basically didn’t work at all. I had a stage management meeting in the morning, but that was it. So I took advantage of the day. After the meeting, I walked to the Mining Museum – the land of the chipmunks – with a quarter in hand to buy some chipmunk food. I hung out there with the chipmunks for about an hour.

That night, I went to the performance of Kind of Red so I could observe the stage manager Jean while she called the show in the booth. One thing is for sure: I cannot wait until the next time I get to stage manage. I will be stage managing Cornell’s production of Greek this upcoming school year and I am so excited. While I have loved my time here as a production assistant and assistant stage manager, I have missed calling shows.

It was exciting to see Jean call the show. Every stage manager has their own way of doing things and I probably have something to learn from each of them. I got to peak through Jean’s calling script and see how she organizes it. I talked to her about calling standbys – does she write them in her script or do them organically? (A standby is given before a cue so the board op is prepared when the cue is called).

I noticed there were some switches that Jean would flip throughout the show. At intermission I asked about them and learned they are backstage cue lights. I have never used a cue light, so I thought about how I would approach that as a stage manager. I think I would write the cues into my script to ensure I never forgot, and so that if someone had to call the show in an emergency they would still have those cues.

Kind of Red uses a TV on stage that actually plays a clip of Lucille Ball at one point in the play, and then plays a clip of the actress playing Saint Lucia. From shadowing in the booth, I learned that these cues were programmed through the sound board and called as sound cues. I thought that was really fascinating since they are obviously visual cues, but can be programmed through the sound computer.

Another thing I got to observe was Jean taking notes to put in the performance report.  One thing I will definitely keep with me from CRT is the format of rehearsal/performance reports. In college, I half taught myself my own format for writing reports based on previous shows from Cornell. One thing I have never included in a performance report, that I think is really cool that they do here, is general performance remarks. Throughout the show, Jean kept notes on the audience reaction so she could put which parts of the show the audience really enjoyed in the report.

In addition to these type of notes, the stage manager is responsible for taking notes for the actors, notes for the crew, and notes for the different production departments. It is a stage manager’s job to know the show so well that they can notice if the lights seem off or if a set piece is in the wrong place.

Throughout the week, I had multiple performances of Watson and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels – many of the Dirty Rotten Scoundrels performances were sold out, which was exciting. Both shows have been going really well and I love working on them.

In addition to shadowing at Kind of Red, I got to enjoy being an audience member a couple of times this week. On Friday night, I went to Boomtown. It was sold out again, but they managed to find a place for me to sit on the stairs. The show was so funny,  I forgot I wasn’t even on a real seat. On Saturday night, I decided to go see History Room again. I saw it on preview night, but hadn’t seen it since then.

It is a really powerful show and I’m glad I got to see it again. I think before I leave, I am going to try to shadow Jean in the booth at this show too. After the show there was a quick talk back. It was cool to listen to audience feedback and hear the actors’ takes on the show.

One aspect of repertory theatre that I really love is that I truly feel that I am a part of everything. Although I have not worked on History Room during rehearsals or performances, I have been on changeover teams tearing the set down and putting it back up. The set is extremely familiar to me. I was able to sit in the audience and think: I helped install that carpet, I helped move those ridiculously heavy walls. I am an important member of this company, and that is an incredible feeling.

The amazing feeling that I am a part of something bigger than myself, reminds me why I do theatre.