The Perfect Stage Crew: The Compleat Technical Guide for High School, College, and Community Theater

by John Kaluta

Here is an indispensable, nuts-and-bolts guide to putting on a stunning, low-budget show in less than 40 days! The Perfect Stage Crew explains the pitfalls to avoid and provides solutions to the most common as well as most complex stage performance problems. Readers without Broadway-size budgets and resources will learn the low-cost, low-tech approaches to painting scenery, building sets, hanging lights, setting cues, and operating sound. They’ll also find crucial guidance for generating publicity, preparing tickets, technical rehearsals, and more. • Written in a clear, direct, and jargon-free style • Features 45 lively anecdotes from the author’s own experience working in virtually every backstage capacity

Genres: Theatre, Nonfiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2003

Reviews

[Mr. B · Rating 4 out of 5]

An easygoing and whimsical walk through the process. Not for everyone, but it's good for what it does. Could use some updating...the technology has changed significantly even if the processes haven't.

[Melvin Marsh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been doing theater forever (stage manager alone for 26 years), this is a great book for the future drama teachers or even novice technicians.

[Sophia M · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little dated, but the information in this book is invaluable.

[Bobby Claude · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent book providing an in depth primer into the world of Theatre backstage. John Kaluta does a great job of presenting the information without getting too bogged down in the details. He put in the details that needed to be there, but he left out the more advanced details that would just confuse the beginner. This book taught me many things that I have always wanted to learn about regarding the theatre, but have not gotten around to. This book is an excellent resource for any one who works backstage at a theatre. This will be my GI to book as questions and problems come up.

[Kristen Hair · Rating 5 out of 5]

I very much loved the perfect stage crew. As a fairly amateur techie, it was very helpful for me. It laid out and covered all sorts of problems you're likely to expect in a theatre, such as:
-Broken Lights
-Bad Audio
-Pissy Directors
-Tools

It was great and informative, as well as funny and ironic. Will recommend to every tech theatre geek.
Much Love,
Kristen

[JR Simons · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Ideas

This book is full of great ideas, many of which I've always done, others I've since adopted, and some I respectfully disagree with and won't adopt.