One of the trickier things to explain among the list of what a stage manager does is blocking notation. First of all, blocking is how we refer to the movements of the actors as choreographed by the director. Whenever the director says, “You, go over there”, or “Pick up that book and examine it when [...]
So, on Monday I had the first of my interviews of professional stage managers. I met Whitney, currently Artistic Administrator for one of the smaller theater companies in Philly, in a corner café near South Street and talked for about an hour. I was supposed to go tomorrow to observe that company’s stage manager during [...]
This semester, I’m working on a three part project. Part one is a history of stage management, which is what I was researching tonight. It’s really amazing how little is known about the history of stage management. It’s a fairly modern job; it appears to have its roots around the turn of the century (1900s). [...]