"It's a thrill to know that everything that happens on stage has happened because you've said, 'Go,'" comments veteran stage manager Roy Harris, describing the joy of his profession. "When the lights go out in the theatre, it's because the stage manager has said, 'House to half. Lights one. Go. House out. Lights two. Go.' Then the sound comes on. Again, it's because the stage manager said so. 'Sound one. Go. Sound two. Go.'"
But to many outsiders, stage-managing may not come to mind as a profession for which one might actually plan. And it's true, not many youngsters grow up dreaming about a career as a stage manager, certainly not the way they may fantasize about acting or directing. Indeed, a fair number of stage managers (especially those over 40) fell into their stage-managing jobs almost accidentally.
Harris, for example, was an actor before switching gears. While performing on stage, he helped out backstage as a stage manager; he was quite good at it, and one stage-managing gig led to another. Finally, Harris, who has now worked for decades as a stage manager on Broadway and elsewhere, came to the conclusion that he was more suited for -- and happier doing -- a behind-the-scenes job. The lower rate of unemployment among stage managers (at least compared to actors) was further incentive.
Stage-managing is taken quite seriously as a profession: Stage managers are members of Actors' Equity Association and you can't just "help out" as a stage manager on a union show simply because you're available. And working as a stage manager is certainly more complex than it used to be, thanks to evolving technology, special effects, and large backstage crews.
Theatre schools now offer courses in stage management and it's no longer uncommon for someone in his late teens or early 20s to choose to be a stage manager, and not just as a stopgap measure or a steppingstone to something else, like directing or acting.
Consider stage manager Kimberly Russell, who has been a Broadway, Off-Broadway, and regional theatre stage manager for close to 16 years. She says she's never had any desire to act, although she's always loved theatre and wanted to be a part of it. "It just never occurred to me that I could make a living at it," she says. "In college, I majored in math and theatre while taking a minor in education. I thought I'd have to teach. But when I found out that you could make a living as a stage manager, I knew that's what I wanted. I love to see things running smoothly: the orderliness and figuring out the big picture. Working as a stage manager is fitting together the pieces of a puzzle."
All agree that stage managers need to love details (and remember them) and have great people skills. "You have to enjoy artists," says Harris, "and not be irritated by eccentricity." It is, after all, the stage manager who has to negotiate between the temperamental star and his or her dresser, for example. Harris remembers one star who went through eight dressers: "We just had to keep bringing him new ones."
So what exactly do stage managers do? They are responsible for virtually everything that occurs behind the curtain, in the pit, and, to some extent, in the house. Remember, it's the stage manager who says, "House to half."
Who are stage managers and how do they get where they are? What are their day-to-day experiences like? What are their war stories? And do the job requirements vary from Broadway to Off-Broadway, musical to straight play?
War Stories
The answer to the latter is yes and no. Certainly, a big complicated production (with lots of hydraulics and automation) is more work for the stage manager than a play with more-modest sets, and musicals are more demanding than straight plays. On the other hand, pricey productions -- like those on Broadway -- hire more staff. There is the top stage manager (called the production stage manager, or PSM) and there are assistant stage managers, who, as the title suggests, serve as assistants. Every Broadway show has one production stage manager and at least one assistant stage manager. Musicals -- and bigger Broadway plays -- may have more than one assistant stage manager to help the PSM, who is responsible for seeing that all the parties work in sync and making it all flow seamlessly.
A production stage manager delegates chores. The bigger the production, and the larger the crew, the more delegation that takes place. In a small production -- at a summer stock theatre, for example -- it may very well be the stage manager who cleans up the stage following a rehearsal or after the show.
Regardless of the size of the production, the stage manager calls all rehearsals, before and after the opening, and rehearses replacements and understudies. The stage manager assembles and maintains the prompt book, cue sheets, plots, and daily records necessary for the technical and artistic operation of the production.
"The stage manager is at hand at all technical rehearsals and makes notes of all the blocking," points out 25-year-old Pamela Salling, who has just become a member of Equity, having worked as a stage manager at Cain Park, a summer stock theatre outside Cleveland. "If the set or lighting designer is not there that day, it's the stage manager who's responsible for letting him know about the blocking, so he's familiar with the mechanics of where the scene is going."
The stage manager is on the prompt book, cuing everyone else backstage, including the lighting, scenery, prop, and sound crew during the performance. For a musical, the stage manager -- who is probably better served if he or she reads music -- may cue the conductor or musical director. Throughout, the stage manager, on headphones, is in constant communication with all the other behind-the-scenes players.
In addition, if an actor gets sick during the performance and an understudy has to go on, it is the stage manager who sets the wheels in motion, and who often announces the cast change to the audience.
And if the production is taking place in an outdoor theatre -- with inclement weather being the biggest challenge -- it's the stage manager who decides whether the show will be canceled or continue after the rain stops. He also has to make sure that somebody mops up the moistened stage.
The stage manager is responsible for maintaining both order at each rehearsal and performance and the integrity of the director's vision. He does not impose his own vision. If, for example, an understudy, replacement, or even the original performer starts to reinterpret the role, it's the stage manager's job to bring the actor back on track.
"In one play, there was an actress who just loved to cry on stage and she could do it very easily," recalls Harris. "The director had warned her not to cry in a particular scene, but every two weeks the tears would come back. So finally I called the director to let him know about the ongoing problem. He gave me a direction to give her, I did, and for a couple of weeks it worked. But then, once again, the tears crept back in. Finally I gave up and said, 'Don't do it.' " He laughs. "And yes, that worked." He adds, "If there is a problem with actors that a stage manager can't resolve, he calls the director. If there is a problem with a member of the crew that he can't resolve, he calls the producer."
The stage manager keeps records for the producer -- on attendance and health benefits -- and informs Equity of any infractions of union rules. He also reports accidents or injuries, an increasingly common occurrence due to today's large casts and crews and technologically layered productions.
But "in a show with a IATSE crew on hand" -- the presence of the stagehands' union depends on the size of the house and the contract involved -- "the stage manager is not allowed to touch a broken rig," Salling emphasizes. "Stage-managing is a very specific job." The demands are weighty and so are the restrictions.
Harris recalls, " 'The Heidi Chronicles' was an especially difficult show. There were 14 sets with lots of flying scenery. 'Sight Unseen,' which I stage-managed last season, was very challenging, too. There was a turntable bringing furniture on and off the set and flying scenery, which had to fly out of the way completely before the turntable started moving. Otherwise, there could be a crash."
At a performance of "Wonderful Town," there was indeed a crash backstage -- one Russell is sure the audience heard loud and clear -- when a bureau running on a track was somehow knocked over and the mirror smashed to the floor. "The crew was on it and we just kept going," Russell recalls. "It's all about getting on with the show."
Russell details a humorous mishap on "The Will Rogers Follies" when she had to step in to play a role: "We had a [voiceover] recording of Gregory Peck playing Ziegfeld, which was used at different points throughout the show. At one performance, the record malfunctioned. So I got on the mike and read Gregory Peck's lines. Suddenly there was a female voice playing Ziegfeld, but the audience loved it, really laughed, and the show went on."
Harris has a striking war story of his own. He describes one playwright, whom he will not name, "who would not allow me to incorporate his script changes -- additions or deletions -- on the computer so that everyone could have a new, clean script. Instead, he wanted all the actors to write the changes by hand into their own scripts as a series of inserts: insert A, insert B, and insert C. He didn't want me to make the changes on the computer because he felt stage managers revise the script to reflect what the actors do, not what the playwright has written.
"In my experience, stage managers do nothing of the sort," Harris continues. "But I couldn't convince him of that. I finally incorporated all of his changes on the sly, which meant we had to spend time retyping the whole play on the computer. In the normal course of events, the playwright will give you a disk and you can make the changes on that. This playwright refused to do it. I will never work with this person again."
One of the job's pitfalls is that the stage manager's overwhelming sense of responsibility may turn into a misplaced sense of culpability. Ira Mont, a veteran Broadway stage manager and the 3rd vice president of Actors' Equity Association, still feels a twinge of guilt when he remembers a summer theatre production he stage-managed many years ago. It was an Alan Ayckbourn play, "Intimate Exchanges," featuring Gene Saks and Elaine May.
"A lot of the play takes place on a golf course with the characters playing golf," Mont recalls. "At one point, Gene had to hit the ball so that it landed in the hole. There was an awful lot involved in setting it up right, getting the ball in the right place. But sometimes things would go wrong and he was not able to get the ball into the hole. Another challenge in that same play was Elaine falling into a sand pit and then getting out of it. On some performances, that didn't work either, especially getting her out of the sand pit."
Most of the time, however, the biggest problem a stage manager faces, especially in a long run, he says, "is tedium. You have to learn to work around it." Mont would certainly know something about tedium: He has been a production stage manager with "The Producers" for four and a half years. "Each production comes with its baggage," he notes. "But it's the little crises that come up that keep you going."
Some Numbers to Ponder
So do the salaries, which are not half bad. A stage manager working on a Broadway musical makes a minimum of $2,270 per week (starting June 27, the weekly wage will be $2,338). A stage manager on a Broadway play makes a minimum of $1,951 (starting June 27, it'll be $2,010). At resident theatres, a stage manager's salary can range from $654 to $1,158 in a non-repertory house to $740 to $1,158 in a repertory house. A new contract has been negotiated and is now in the process of being ratified.
Equity's Off-Broadway contract is more complicated, involving the number of seats in the theatre and the box office gross. In the simplest terms, a stage manager (without understudy responsibilities) for an Off-Broadway show can make $989 in the highest category (a 351- to 499-seat theatre) and $581 in the lowest category (a 100- to 199-seat theatre).
Most stage managers are freelancers; they're hired on a per-production basis. In some instances, a theatre will employ a stage manager for a season of shows; other theatres (but few in New York) employ permanent in-house stage managers.
It's hard to track down precisely how many bona fide stage managers there are, since Equity does not break down its membership into actors and stage managers. Harris speculates, however, that approximately 5% of the union's 46,000 members are stage managers, although a fair number of them may also work as actors.
What is known is that stage managers based on the East Coast have more work than their counterparts in other regions.
"Clearly, the East Coast offers the most employment because there is a cluster of theatres here," notes Equity spokesperson Maria Somma. "There are Broadway and Off-Broadway theatres in addition to resident theatres. And New York is also the point of origin for national tours."
At all levels -- from the beginner on up -- stage-managing jobs are obtained largely on the basis of who you know, recommendations, and past experience. If a director or general management team has worked well with a stage manager in the past, odds are that stage manager will be hired for the team's next show. Harris, for example, has worked on 18 plays with director Daniel Sullivan and is currently stage-managing Sullivan's production of the new Elaine May play, "After the Night and the Music."
Over the years, Harris has been identified with straight plays, not that he wouldn't love to do a musical. "It's just that you get known for a certain kind of thing," he says. "If I were a producer of a musical, I'm not sure I'd hire me either."
Harris is one of the very fortunate few, having worked steadily for decades. On occasion, he says, the director will even ask for his opinion on creative matters. He is also in the rare position of being able to turn down work that doesn't interest him and to attempt to get those projects that do speak to him produced. Having been an actor, he says, he approaches the work artistically, unlike stage managers who see it from a technical viewpoint. Indeed, many stage managers like that their authoritative roles come without the risk of creative failure.
For most stage managers, however, landing jobs is not easy and they have to find other work between stage-managing assignments, in areas such as consulting or computer programming. "They do whatever actors do between jobs," says Somma.
Mont points out that stage managers can also make extra money stage-managing corporate events and political conventions. And if they're very lucky, they could find work as stage managers for ballets or operas, working under the jurisdiction of Equity's sister union, the American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA).
How to Get Started
There are three ways to join Equity and get started as a professional union stage manager. The first is to be hired by an Equity production to serve as its stage manager, which is unlikely for someone without experience or contacts. Another entrĂŠe is through Equity's Membership Candidate Program.
"These are internship programs offered in Equity theatres -- resident and TYA [theatre for young audiences] -- throughout the country, excluding Broadway and Off-Broadway theatres," explains Somma. "If you're accepted into the program, you have to accrue 50 weeks of experience as a stage manager at one or more of the theatres, at which point you can become an Equity member. This program, which now has approximately 3,000 people in it, is a particularly good way to gain experience in an Equity house, work with Equity people, and build relationships.
"The third way to become a union member," Somma continues, "is to be a stage manager in good standing with one of our sister unions -- AGMA, SAG, or AFTRA -- for at least one year."
Whatever route a stage manager takes, the key is to make contacts.
Russell, a former theatre major at James Madison University, made her stage-management contacts as an intern in the general management office of the Broadway production of "Meet Me in St. Louis." She got to know the backstage crew and spent time with them, expressing interest in what they did and letting it be known she had her sights set on a career as a stage manager. Her contacts served her well. Within three years, she had stage-managed a number of productions -- with one contact leading to another -- and finally earned her Equity card when she replaced the stage manager on the Roundabout Theatre Company production of "The Price" in 1992.
Russell is currently stage-managing the Broadway show "Brooklyn: The Musical." "It's a small cast, which makes the challenges easier and more difficult," she asserts.
Today, close to 50% of stage managers are women. That was not always the case, and according to Russell, "It's still a boys' club, especially on the technical side. However, if you present yourself as confident and strong, they'll respect you. And if anyone has problems with you because you're a woman, they'll get over it if you communicate well."
At one time, people of color were also rare in the ranks of stage managers. That's no longer the case, although precise numbers are not available.
Alexis Shorter, an African American assistant stage manager with "The Producers," says that while she suspects she may have been discriminated against as a woman, she has not felt held back in her profession as a person of color. On the contrary, she says she has landed three stage-managing jobs because she is black: "These were African-American productions that were looking for one stage manager, at least, who was also African-American."
Her challenges, like everyone else's, are the rigorous job requirements, especially on "The Producers," thanks in part to its cinematic elements. The musical was, after all, inspired by the movie, thus placing added demands on the stage manager.
"It was staged cinematically," notes Shorter. "The subject lends itself to fade in, fade out, close-up. As a result, the stage manager has to shift his thinking a little, and the margin for error is subtle. For example, one of the things we do is equivalent to a cross fade, with one scene starting as another fades out." She adds that plays are becoming more cinematic, too.
Alan Hall, a stage manager who has worked both in theatre and on television -- he served as stage manager for the Tony Awards for 16 years and has now been promoted to production supervisor -- does not dispute the notion that stage productions may be more cinematic today. But he maintains that the stage manager's job is fundamentally different in theatre and television, and always will be. "The lines will not be blurred," he says.
In fact, he likens the stage manager's role in theatre to that of an actor: "On television, it's about timing. On television, the actors have to say their lines and the stage managers have to do what they do, all in time for the commercial. It's done once and that's it.
"In theatre," he continues, "it's about emotion. It differs every night and it's the stage manager's job to respond to what's happening on stage and in the audience. The actor says something, the audience responds, and the stage manager responds. At the end of the show, when the audience applauds -- yes, of course they're applauding the actors, but they're also applauding everyone backstage who made the production possible."