The Stage Manager's Toolkit: Templates and Communication Techniques to Guide Your Theatre Production from First Meeting to Final Performance

by Laurie Kincman

As a Stage Manager, you are responsible for organizing rehearsals, running performances, and keeping everyone and everything on track and in sync. To do the job well, you need to be a communication wizard―able to collect a wide range of details and share them as effectively as possible. The Stage Manger’s Toolkit is more than another overview book which generalizes how to be a Stage Manager. It presents the day-to-day duties in detail―discussing not only what to do but also why. Focusing on communication best practices, the book explores objectives, paperwork, and the questions that need to be asked in order to ensure a smooth production whether on Broadway, at a university, or somewhere in between. Other Organized based on the chronology of a typical theatre pre-production work, rehearsals, the tech period, performances, and post-production duties. In each section, the book outlines the objectives for the stage manager and the communication techniques that will ensure success. Provides examples of paperwork a stage manager commonly works with, including variations for plays and musicals, shortcuts for shows on an abbreviated time table, and strategies for maintaining consistency and legibility. The book highlights differences the stage manager may encounter when working on professional and academic productions.

Genres: Teaching, Theatre, Textbooks, Nonfiction

240 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2013

Reviews

[Mayson Pu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Provids a lot of background for someone new to the field.

[Raine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great textbook that allowed me to learn so much about the ins and outs of Stage Management!

[jessie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Handy and informative. Some methods cant be really applicable in Indonesia, though.
I just knew from this book that the opening night of a show is also the departure of the director, and the rest of the show will then be the responsibility of the Stage Manager.

[Anna Shields]

I skimmed through it and definitely interesting and v helpful, some good ideas for how to organize information and cues for Music Man.