being a stage manager

[timmiddleton]

hi

 

I've seen several topics on here about how annoying it is when SMs don't express things sensibly when cueing departments on cans.

 

so far my experience of tech theatre is through my school, and we have never had a "proper" stage manager cueing LX, sound, spot etc. this is something I would like to rectify in september when I get a full time technician job there for my gap year.

 

how do I go about training a SM in how to cue people? is there an accepted standard in what to say down the cans or is it just common sense?

 

tim

[Tom]

"Stand By please LX Cue 1, Sound Cue 2 and Flys cues 2, 3 and 4"

 

" LX Cue 1, Sound Cue 2 and Fly Cue 2 (Short Pause) Go"

 

The important thing is to start a Stand-By with the words "Stand-By", and to make "Go" the last thing you say when giving the actual cue.

 

After that, as long as your operators know what you mean then that's fine. With fly and stage cues, or when the lighting or sound cue is slightly out of the ordinary then it can help to add things to the standby:

 

"Standby LX cue 1 and house lights, Sound cue 2 and follow on and fly cue 1 which is the gauze"

[paulears]

when you have a fast sequence coming up, you can group the standbys as in "standby lx cues 22 to 27"

 

always make sure you get an response back "lx standing by" is good practice to encourage - you know they are there, and waiting.

 

If cues are fired by the operator rather than you, as in the actor walking to a light switch - this type of cue is best left for the lx op to run for his/herself. If you try to do it, you have to predict the cue and say GO before the actor hits the switch to allow for the delay in the op responding to your GO. Even if the op does it every performance you still say "standby LX cue 32, take as a visual please" - every time.

 

One other tip - when talking about cueing over cans, refer to GO as G - O. As in, I'm going to delay cue 45 a bit tonight so don't worry when the G - O comes a bit late"

 

If you don't do this, somebody on a standby may assume the word GO is actually for them.

 

Oh yes, ans once after having days of grief with a particularly dozy spot op, he got it right and the snap blackout went in just the right place. "Spot-on" I said with relief, and it did!

[sam.henderson]

Sorry to drag this off topic slightly but how many of you say: "" LX Cue 1 Go"?? Whenever I cue and I have found this the standard on lots of shows I just say: "LX 1 GO" etc. etc. without the cue, I find it so much easier.

 

If you don't have a SM at the moment I would look into their other duties as well as cueing, you may find someone doing these as well could also be very useful. Have a read of the following books, they all provide helpful info (although beware because some are american and are slightly different from British Stage Management):

 

Backstage Guide to Stage Management: Running a Show from First Rehearsal to Last Performance

http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/0823088103.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg

 

Stage Management: The Essential Handbook

http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/1854597345.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg

 

Sam

[timpman19]

I have stage management:the essential guide and would recommend it to every budding SM. its quite funny in places and you just wont be able to put it down.

its not page after page of information but small amounts spilt up with comedy theatre scenes. a really good read including some sample layouts for risk assessments, prop borrowing forms etc :)

[Dominicg]

Sorry to drag this off topic slightly but how many of you say: "" LX Cue 1 Go"?? Whenever I cue and I have found this the standard on lots of shows I just say: "LX 1 GO" etc. etc. without the cue, I find it so much easier.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I must say whenever I stage manage I always use "cue" in any cues, however I do have problems saying "SFX Cue" when I find "Sound Cue...." works better.

[paulears]

As the person who calls the show gets beaten around the head for every ####-up under the sun, despite some phrases being a little long, they do work. Some receiving houses are VERY intollerant of dsm's who stray from the standard method of working. In pratice you can call it how you like, as long as you make your method clear - but, stray too far from how crews normally get talked to and you're in for trouble.

 

Sound cue is fine, probably more common than sfx in the uk.

 

etiquette is very important. pc'ism makes things awkward sometimes. Someone the other day was talking about the practice of Mr and Miss for calls - my dsm agonised over a pc method of calling dwarfs to the stage. In the end she called "the magnificent 7" after talking it over with them.

[andy_s]

Sorry to drag this off topic slightly but how many of you say: "" LX Cue 1 Go"?? Whenever I cue and I have found this the standard on lots of shows I just say: "LX 1 GO" etc. etc. without the cue, I find it so much easier.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I must say whenever I stage manage I always use "cue" in any cues, however I do have problems saying "SFX Cue" when I find "Sound Cue...." works better.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

I think it's good practice to avoid "soundalike" names for cue categories, (the aural equivalent of colour coding the promptcopy) therefore I would always avoid "SFX" on the grounds that it sounds quite a lot like "LX", and possibly leaves room for confusion. If I was opping a show where sound was being called I would ask the DSM to change to "SoundQ"if necessary. Use of "Cue" when calling I'd say comes down to personal comfort - so long as consistancy is maintained and the operators always hear what they are expecting to hear from any particular DSM / showcaller.

 

however, I don't op many shows these days, so really I don't care so long as the show reports don't show too many errors that can be put down to not giving or hearing cues accurately. At the end of the day, it's down to the DSM and the technical staff to reach an understanding as to how to ensure an error free show.

 

 

Also SFX is the name of a proprietry sound effects management system, do we really want it to become a "generic" like "Hoover" or "tippex"?

 

(OK I do realise that use of the term predates the software.....)

 

(Oh and I do remember an older stage manager years ago who insisted on using "pan cues" for sound)

[Gilly]

Another one I'd add, coming from an operator's point of view is to keep the sequence the same for every cueing sequence. For example if the first sequence is

 

LXQ 1 and Sound Q 1 GO

 

Then don't make the next one

 

Sound Q 2 and LX Q 2 GO.....

 

make it LX Q 2 and Sound Q 2 GO.

 

It just makes it easier for the hard of thinking :unsure:

[Tomo]

I've always liked the reply to a standby to be "Ready" rather than "Standing by", because it prevents anyone else on cans from thinking another standby has been called.

 

Other than that, avoiding sound-a-likes, ensuring that GO is the last thing in the cue and that the GO is stated when the cue should actually move means that you can't go wrong.

 

Cuelights help a lot as well, as you can run them to places you can't send cans.

[GridGirl]

In regards to what Tomo said about replying to a standby with "Ready", I've often found that people reply by saying "Lights" "Flys" "Spot 1" or whatever their job happens to be...this works well if you've got a new DSM who can't always recognise individual voices over cans if a multiple standby has been called!

[Just Some Bloke]

One thing that hasn't been pointed out so far is that the "standing by" responses (or "readies" or pushing the button on the Q lights) are there for a reason: they confirm that the operator has heard the stand-by. Therefore if the DSM doesn't hear the confirmation they should give the stand-by again.

 

E.g.

 

"Stand by LXQ10, Sound Q2 and FlyQ3"

"Sound standing by"

"Flys standing by"

(Pause)

"Stand by LXQ10?"

"LX standing by - sorry I wasn't sure if you'd mentioned me or not"

 

Also, if a load of (normally LX) cues all come together, for instance on adjacent beats of the music, there may not be time to give the Q numbers for each. In this case it is acceptable to call as follows:

 

"Stand by LXQs 31-40. I'll just be giving the G-Os which will all be for LX"

"LX standing by"

"LX GO...GO...GO...GO...GO..."etc.

[sam.henderson]

Something that JSB's post reminded me of is that it is so annoying when you get DSMs who calls the S/B and then if the dept. doesn't respond they don't bother chasing it up. Thats the whole point of the Standing By thing!!

 

Sam

[w/robe]

All good advice from some very experienced people, but until you have heard it live you really won't appreciate how it all works. See if your local theatre will let you sit in the auditorium on cans on a tec. and dress for a fairly complex show so that you can see and hear how it goes together.

 

The only problem with this is that one of the few certainties in life is that, however many or few are required, there will not be enough sets of working cans to go round.

[mac.calder]

My standard Calls.

 

(nb - Caps = pronouced letter by letter - ie Esss Deee Que)

LXQ - Lighting

SDQ - Sound

EFQ - Effects

Fly - Fly

Pyro - Pyro

AVQ - Audio Visual

Dome - Spot light

Trap - Trap Doors

Table - Any turn tables

Special - Things that are unusual and do not fit into another category

 

Just a few notes:

 

LX - short for electrics, which is commonly known as lights

 

Dome - Aussie term for spotlights, refering to the position that the spots were in older theatres. Spot Ops are called DomeOps.

 

With Specials, I will often say pre call "<Object> is Special. Special stand-bye. ... Special .... Go."

 

With complex sequences with say 15 different ques in 5 places, I will often pre-call "<QUE's> to stand-by, with count 5. <QUE's x y z> on 1, <QUE's a b c> on 2 etc.... All stand bye. Go 1...2...3...4...5" or if there is no time, tell pre-show, "Mass 1 is .... " as above, then "<LX,SD,AV etc> Standbye for Mass1, count 5. 1...2..3...4..5"

 

Visuals - ie Sound on an action - "<QUE x> Standbye for visual."

 

I also make sure that all my ops know a few basic global commands, like "All up" - which applies to sound and lights, brining the sound off and the lights up - used for those situations which we all hope never occur.

 

And of course the last q of the night "Stand down guy's, good work. Party at <Insert the name of the tightest person>'s house straight after!"