In case the title "Stage Manager's Rhapsody" was too subtle, this blog will center around my experiences and discoveries as a stage manager. It's not a gossip blog or personal-gripe blog, though I will sometimes share not-so-positive experiences - and how I cope or what I learn from them. I'll only use names in positive contexts; I'm not here for drama. I'll try to update weekly*, whether I write on a current production or delve back into the past fifteen-or-so years.
I started stage managing in college, having discovered as a dance/theatre major that I had a lot of fun working backstage, and in fact it came to me more easily than performing (I'm very introverted). I doubt many people look at all the available roles in production and say "Hey, there's one with a lot of responsibility, not much creative voice, all kinds of people making demands, and being the one who tells people to be quiet when they're having fun... that's the job for me!" On the other hand, I like meeting challenges. I like making things work smoothly for talented, good-hearted people. I like playing the mother hen. I like feeling needed and appreciated.
After college, I was an ASM in professional opera, and a stage manager, designer, or general techie for as many other shows as I could find the time for - paid or not. Usually not. I produced a couple independent shows, and helped start a magazine about the theatre scene in Kansas City. I was getting interested in directing, too. That all lasted about five years. If I didn't stop to think about it, I felt like I was living the dream, but inside I burned myself out, big and bad. I left the performing arts almost entirely at the end of 2001, and worked in bookstores.
The one link I kept to the performing world was improv. I had been the techie for a comedy troupe called the Hypothetical 7 since '94 or so (minus a couple too-busy years), and I could honestly say at the time that they were the only company with whom I always had fun and always felt respected. They only had a few shows a year, so working with them was a rare treat rather than a constant obligation. In 2007 (when I was ready to move on from bookstores, but didn't know in which direction), Hype 7's founder/director moved away, and I took on some administrative duties so the remaining troupe members could keep playing.
I was soon immersed in improv. It's a much broader artistic discipline than I had ever realized. Hype 7 stepped up the production schedule, and I started making friends in Kansas City's improv scene. I also took a huge leap outside my comfort zone, and started playing and taking classes. It looked so fun, I couldn't stay on the sidelines any longer! I felt like part of a team, when I'm used to being the functional outsider.
I happen to be extremely good at being the functional outsider, though. Improv is fun for me on a small, personal level. The periodic chance to play keeps me sane through the times I have to approach more seriously. When it comes to something high-profile like a festival, I'd much rather stage-manage. I'm doing what I love and am good at, with people who do something else I love and they're outstanding at. Everybody wins!
Now we get to the part where my worlds intersected. In the summer of 2009, friends from the opera days were in town - not merely friends, but my stage management mentor and big sister Lisa, and her husband Ben, a tenor and certified sommelier. We went to a restaurant where an improv friend I admire, Ed, works as a server. It was half-price wine bottle night. Somewhere in the middle of the second bottle, Lisa said that her friend Kathleen needed a stage manager and props person. The job was in Lawrence. I live very near Lawrence. The wine was removing any trepidation I might have had about picking up an old career where I left it, especially as I had left it (in my memory) unpleasantly. I realized I was ready for opera to be part of my life again.
Perhaps what I learned in those years off was to seek balance. Balance between work and play, balance between serving greater needs and meeting my own. Balance between the spontaneity of improv and the precision of opera. I also learned that any job is only worthwhile if I can find joy in it. I took the job in Lawrence, with KU's opera program, and returned this year to work on more shows.
The funny thing is, doing improv has altered how I look at stage management. It used to feel like a battle. I was constantly terrified of fucking up, and of letting anyone else fuck up. Now it's easier for me to accept that imperfections will happen no matter what I do - it's live theatre. Yes, I try to avoid them, but I understand now that the world does not end over a misplaced prop! It's also easier for me to trust the people I work with to do what's needed of them. So I mostly just follow my checklist, call cues, and direct traffic. I keep my eyes open for disasters (on a good day, I spot them before they happen), but with a sense of excitement rather than dread. It's a hell of a lot less stressful.
Next installation: Jenifer's Guide to Stress-Free Stage Management, and How That Doesn't Always Work.
*Um, weekly. Yes. That's why I started this 9/18 and published it 10/5.
