Festival Stage Management
This project-oriented course surveys the job of the stage manager and the work "behind the scenes" of live performance with the emphasis on theatrical production. Our goal will be to become competent in the area of stage management, which will be realized through study, discussion, and (most of all) hands on experiential learning.
Summer 2017 - John Ore
One Man, Two Guvnors by Richard Bean
Role: Rehearsal Stage Manager
Over the summer of 2017 I took Festival Stage Management where I was rehearsal stage manager for a 50 minute one-act cut of One Man, Two Guvnors. At the festival, I was able to work with directors and designers across the state. During the class and through the process of the show, I was able to learn about the stress and format of a theatre festival with the differences of working on a single show.
Sample Production Analysis
Sample Character/Page Breakdown
Production Stage Management
An introduction to stage management for academic and professional theatre. This project-oriented course provides students with a survey of techniques and strategies aimed at modeling successful stage management. Students will gain hands-on experience by working in stage management in the Departments performance spaces.
Moon Over Buffalo
This work is from a non-realized production of Moon Over Buffalo for the Stage Management for Theatre class at Southwestern University. For this mock-production, I created a production analysis and character/page breakdown. To show a sample of blocking notation, we wrote the blocking from a Southwestern performance from 2015 shown at the bottom of this page.Sample Production Analysis
| Act Sc., P. | Cast/Costume | Set | Lights | Props | Sound | Special Effects | Special Notes |
| I/p.1 | George, 50s- Cyrano Small company members playing the other parts in 1640 battle costumes | Seige of Arras in 1640 in a battle | Lights come up with actors in silhouette | Tattered flags Musket and cannons Swords | Musket and cannon sounds Cries of a battle | Smoke | |
| 1/p.2 | Works lights on, then back to battle lights | Battle music stops, then resumes Horse and Carriage from offstage | |||||
| I/p.3 | Charlotte, 50s, enters as Roxane, she exits Ethel, 70s, enters in 1950's clothes | Basket of fruit, break, wine, chicken | Horse Whinnies | ||||
| I/p.4 | All exit but Ethel | Scene shifts to the green room, has chaise, large pouffe, esay chair, door to street, 3 doors to backstage, and utility closet | Shift to green room lighting | Theatre posters and other theatre things | battle sounds stop | ||
| I/p.5 | Roz, 30's, enters from street, modern 50s clothes | Roz suitcase | |||||
| I/p.8 | Ethel exits Howard, 20s, enters from street, modern 50s clothes | Knock at door | |||||
| I/p.12 | Roz exits | Cyrano hat in room | |||||
| I/p.13 | George enters, still in Cyrano costume Charlotte enters, also in Cyrano costume | Cyrano nose Two swords | May need sword training |
Sample Character/Page Breakdown
| Page | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 |
| George | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | ||||||||
| Charlotte | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | |||||||||||
| Roz | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | ||||||||||||||
| Howard | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | |||||||||||||||
| Paul | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ethel | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | ||||||||||||||||
| Richard | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Eileen |
Sample of Blocking Notation and Cue Calling Script
I did not create blocking notes for Moon Over Buffalo as there was no show to record blocking on. Instead, the class recorded the blocking for a performance done by the Mask and Wig organization for the annual Sing! competition. Below are some pages from the performance showing my notes for blocking and cues.
