Stage Management Process
Course Description
Summary
At the center of almost every live performance is a single human being who quite literally runs the show: the stage manager. This course will explore the stage manager鈥檚 role as both an artist and an administrator, using the SM鈥檚 wide-ranging responsibilities as a roadmap to understanding the production process and all the people involved in it. Through readings, discussions, and projects students will learn the basic skills of stage management: scheduling, script breakdowns, blocking notation, understanding design drawings, managing rehearsals, creating a prompt book, calling cues, and running a show. Special attention will be paid to communication and collaboration, as well as the stage manager鈥檚 unique ability to influence the culture of a production in terms of ethics and inclusion. This course is recommended for anyone interested in understanding all that goes into making a performance happen, and will be especially useful for directors, choreographers, designers, technicians, and managers for dance and theater.
Please note this course will meet on Saturday September 20th in addition to regular class meeting times on Wednesdays.
Learning Outcomes
- Become familiar with the production process and the roles of the people involved in creating a performance
- Understand the responsibilities of the stage manager and the value of effective service and leadership in collaborative art-making
- Design and generate paperwork to organize artistic work flow and communicate complex information
- Ability to verbally call a sequence of lighting, sound, and/or video cues in the context of a performance
Cross List
- Dance