Live Interaction

This past Friday night, I went to Samford University's production of Thoroughly Modern Millie. There, I shadowed their stage manager during the opening performance. The first thing we did when I got there was check to make sure all props and set pieces were in the correct place for the top of the show. After we finished a general tour of the theatre, it was time to do a lengthy mic check which took approximately 25 minutes. At this point, we were about 45 minutes until the places call. We made a quick run up to the booth, where the stage manager called the cues, to make sure everything was in perfect running order. After we checked the booth, we hung out backstage, talking and meeting everyone on the tech crew, and occasionally calling the 30, 15, 10, and 5 minute calls. At this point, we headed up to the booth, where the stage manager and I put on out headset and started cueing the show. Throughout the performance, many mics malfunctioned, a problem an experienced stage manager knows all too well. Besides having to call standby cues and the "go" cues, the stage manager had to constantly troubleshoot mic problem with the sound board engineer. After the performance, we made our way backstage to shift the set to the opening positions.
All in all, my experience shadowing the stage manager of Thoroughly Modern Millie was very educational. I experienced a totally new technique of stage managing that I had previously only read about in stage management books. I also liked the attitude that everyone in the cast and on the crew had towards the stage manager. Everyone seemed to respect and value the stage managers knowledge of the show, something that our theatre hasn't seen in a while at the high school level. As a whole, my experience shadowing Thoroughly Modern Millie was exceptionally valuable, not to mention, the tips I picked up on will help me call the same show next year when we perform it at the high school level!