JACQUELINE LAWTON: How long have you lived and worked as a stage manager in DC? What brought you here? Why have you stayed?
OUIDA MAEDEL: DC is my home town. I feel very fortunate to have grown up here because I’ve always had terrific access to the performing arts, to an incredibly diverse community of mentors and friends from all fields and backgrounds, to national and international news and events, and to an understanding of the complexities and social inequalities that are so often amplified in urban environments. I went to college in New York and worked as a stage manager and as an actor there for a while, and I’m sure many would have said that I was on a successful and upwardly mobile path as a theatre professional in NYC. But, I became deeply disillusioned with the theatre business – I think because of the pervasive commercialism of the industry in New York, because I felt powerless and like an object of use for the agendas of others, because I felt like I was not living my life in service of humanity and making the world a better place, and because I was sick of living on ramen and struggling to pay the rent. So, I decided to leave the theatre and go to graduate school for and pursue a career in international development. I came back to DC in 2008 as a graduate fellow at American University. My foray into international affairs was a welcome detour that taught me a lot about myself and my areas of interest – but about my areas of interest as an artist. I discovered that I’m a theatre person and that I will always be a theatre person. Instead of walking away, I needed to transform my relationship to the theatre and figure out how I could put myself in a place of power to cultivate opportunities not only for myself, but for my fellow artists. So, I added on a graduate certificate in Arts Management, and threw my hat into every ring I could find regarding DC theatre internship, fellowship, and employment opportunities that I could work into my graduate school schedule. I quickly discovered that I would not be able to rest on the laurels of my NYC reputation in DC, because I think the relationship between NYC and DC theatre professionals is quite a bit contentious. I landed a position at Capital Fringe, working on the programming team of the 2010 festival, and I fell in love with the theatre again. I fell so in love that I would stay there for 24 hours at a time cleaning, painting flats and stages, carrying equipment, and doing everything that needed to be done in addition to programming. The Producing Artistic Director handed me the opportunity to stage manage the press preview, and the combination of my duties at Fringe was eye opening – I was able to create opportunities for and cultivate relationships with a diverse community of artists, work as a member of a strong production team, and program the arc of the festival. I was able to be of service and promote issue-driven, experimental theatre that needed to be seen. This was a different world than non-union chorus auditions and stage managing for directors who were more concerned with which NYC theatre glitterati would come to opening night than with the rehearsal process. After grad school, I intended to move straight back to NYC, but the economy crashed and almost everyone I knew in the city lost their jobs, and I began to have all of these opportunities in DC, so I stayed. I am currently the Partnerships and Production Manager at Dance Exchange, where I stage manage as well. JL: What excites you most about being a stage manager? What do you feel your greatest challenges are? OM: Well, I think what excites me most about stage management stems from the fact that I consider stage management to be deeply artistic. I am excited by the relationships that emerge from my investment in every aspect of the process, the imperative to foster clear communication between all parties to ensure an artistically cohesive and spectacular outcome, and the skill to anticipate and meet the needs of others. A lot of people talk about how much they hate tech week, but I love tech week. Everyone finally puts their heads together and leverages all of their talents to ensure that every detail is executed to serve the arc of the story and the emotional journey the audience may expect, or not expect. And the audience is coming, whether you are ready or not. I love the feeling I get when I walk into a theatre. The sense of possibility, transformation, desire to succeed, and love for the craft embodied by the people who were there before you and will be there after you is palpable. It is humbling to be a part of that, and it is a privilege. As I change, grow, and learn as a stage manager and as a performing arts professional in general, the challenges also shift. When I was younger, I found it challenging to give instructions to and feel respected by members of the creative team, cast, and crew, or to say “no” to the director. Granted, I was often in situations where I would be a decade or two younger than anyone else on the project, and/or the only woman, and/or the only person of color, and I was greeted with a lot of surprise that I was really the one who was so highly recommended. That is often still the case, but it doesn’t get to me anymore. Right now, I am at Dance Exchange full time. I love working in contemporary dance, but shifting from a mindset of stage managing a straight play that has already been written to a modern dance work that is being created in the room is very different. It took me a long time to figure out how to take blocking notes effectively and why everything needed to be filmed, and why the set design process wasn’t complete before the first rehearsals. In general, theatre is much more production oriented than dance. I am the only full time production person at Dance Exchange, and I also hold a lot of other non-production related responsibilities. I am the only production manager, the only stage manager, the only company manager, the only vocal coach, one of the grant writers, and on and on. This is an enormous challenge because I love working as a member of a large production team, and that is the way I was trained and have worked before. In situations where a stage manager would consult with an ASM or their PM, I am left consulting myself. I have to make sure I take very good care of myself, and I’ve had to figure out how I can do two or three person jobs – like taping out a floor in the rehearsal room – alone. In some ways, these challenges have been liberating because I cannot indulge my perfectionist side. I have to mindfully let go of some of the things I would do as a stage manager as part of a larger production team, I have to prioritize and delegate. That said, I love where I work and I love what I do, so these are welcome challenges. I think these challenges are recognizable across the performing arts – many theatres have laid off permanent full time production positions in recent years in favor of seasonal positions or combining and eliminating jobs. JL: What traits do you feel a successful Stage Manager should have to support the health and growth of a production? OM: I think a successful stage manager has to be an incredible, selfless listener, who is inquisitive, straight forward, and a strong advocate and partner. A successful stage manager is obliged to take care of her director, designers, crew, and her performers, whether or not they are returning the favor. It is best if she loves taking care of other people, and hates being taken care of herself. To support the health and growth of a production, you have to understand the balance between putting your own artistic proclivities and opinions aside, but making them known when necessary. There is a fine balance between holding your tongue and serving the artistic needs of a production – regardless of whether or not you are interested in the content or aesthetic of a work – and speaking up when a suggestion or idea from any involved party will undermine the health and growth of a production – whether that is from an artistic perspective, or because it is not feasible from a financial or production perspective. Another way I think of this is as if I am being the container for the work, and holding a nurturing space in which it develops. Defining what is outside of the container is as important as defining what is inside. You always have to know what time it is. You should be able to sense the duration of a minute, five minutes, and fifteen minutes in your body, without looking at a clock. Watch everything very carefully and take a lot of notes. You constantly have to work on cultivating the ability to pay attention deeply to the details of a lot of things happening at the same time, and the ability to entertain all questions and concerns, from the ridiculous to the very serious. Have a cordial relationship with everyone, regardless of how you feel about them personally. In that way, it is kind of like being a server at a fine dining restaurant. Most importantly – be honest. When you don’t know the answer to a question or don’t know how to solve a problem, say so, and call someone who does. And, carve out “alone time” for yourself (with a glass of wine), personal practices outside of the theatre (I do a lot of yoga), and develop friendships with people who have “normal” jobs (not hard to do in DC, where everyone works for the government). All of that keeps me grounded, and being grounded serves my professional life. JL: Does your work as a Stage Manager pay the bills? If not, what other work do you do and how do you find a balance? OM: Well, my full time job at Dance Exchange pays some of the bills. I think anyone who works in the performing arts these days who has a full time job with a salary and benefits, even if it doesn’t exactly cover all costs of living, is very fortunate. And it is too bad that we have to feel so fortunate, but that is just how things are in this industry because of the international political, economic, and social priorities the wealthy and the powerful dictate. Dance Exchange is currently my primary employment, but I’ve also been a freelance grant writer, stage manager, actor, teaching artist, teaching assistant in international affairs, waitress, bartender. I have recently developed an interest in directing, which I am excited to explore further. I had the opportunity to work as a co-director for “The Parlour” (an immersive environment for the audience) as part of Pinky Swear Productions’ Bondage at Anacostia Playhouse in November, and that was really awesome. I will say – and this may be a vestige from my NYC life – that I really do take a business-minded approach to my work in the performing arts. I think everyone should, though it is challenging because so much of the work is deeply personal, and we’re all in it for the love. This isn’t the kind of work anyone gets in to for the money. But since we’re in it for the love, we have to be all the more ambitious and strategic. I always have upwardly mobile career goals, and a strategy in mind to maximize my earning potential in this field. I think everyone in the arts has to constantly evaluate their personal goals, the goals of their organization, and how that relates to work-life balance and their personal long-term financial planning. It is important to develop the ability to say “no” when something does not serve you, or to walk away when you have gotten all you’re going to get from an opportunity. I know tons of performing arts professionals who are in their forties and fifties, have no insurance, no retirement plan, no assets to speak of, and no idea what they are going to do aside from hope that they might still make it big. Going that way is not an option for me, even if it means modifying dreams to achieve the ultimate goal of gainful employment in the professional performing arts. I hate that we live in such a capitalist society, but we do, and I can’t change that. What I can do is transform my relationship to capitalism, and think and plan like an investment banker or a CEO of a major company so that I can come out on top – and maybe even buy a house one day, or at least pay off my medical bills and student loan debt. Life is expensive – and the ability to work very crazy schedules for very little money, and do hard labor on production after production – no matter how much you love it – is fleeting. Figure out how you can sustain yourself and climb the ladder. Cutthroat and cold? Maybe. But that’s the business if you want to make a lifelong profession out of it that pays. JL: Looking at your body of work as a stage manager in this community, how conscious are you of selecting plays by women or people of color when deciding your season? OM: Since I’m not doing so much freelancing, currently, and am working more in devised contemporary dance than in theatre at the moment, I don’t really have so much of a say regarding the arc of a season of shows I work on. In the production management side of my job, I do try to consider the diversity of my design team and I try to push my artistic director to consider that in casting. I am deeply conscious of how plays by women and/or people of color are produced around town, as well as how plays by anyone are cast, and who is on stage management and design teams, who holds crew positions, and what the leadership of arts organizations look like. And frankly, I am quite dissatisfied. I believe in theatre because of its power to shed light on stories that are unseen and unheard, and its power to gather groups of diverse people from all backgrounds in the same room for a similar transformation and purpose. I think a lot of organizations are trying, but no one is really doing enough, and that is very close to doing nothing. I would add that not just the inclusion, but the equity of plays by women and people of color when compared to plays by the usual suspects is vital, and that we also need to consider physical and mental ability, sexual orientation, religious and spiritual diversity, ethnicity, age, and on and on. Good plays are specific and yet universal, and speak to everyone on some level. The development of a season arc must take the specific and the universal into account, and I want to see many different kinds of people – from the artistic director to the business manager to the overhire carpenter to the stagehand apprentice – represented. In whatever I do, I strive to embody that ethic. JL: How do you feel the DC theatre community has addressed the issues of race and gender parity? How has this particular issue impacted you and your ability to work? OM: From a production perspective, I think gender and racial parity in the theatre community are in a dire state of affairs, not just in DC, but on a national and perhaps international level. Over the course of my lifetime, I have stage managed, acted in, or otherwise worked on a multitude of productions at the academic, community, and professional levels across budget sizes and across artistic disciplines in DC and in NYC. I have only met two other female stage managers of color. I have never met any set designers, lighting designers, or costume designers who are women of color. I can count the number of white female set or lighting designers I’ve met on one hand. I have never met a sound designer who is not a white male. And I haven’t even covered property designers, choreographers, board ops, stagehands, stitchers and dressers, carpenters, painters, electricians, fly personnel, production managers, producers, company mangers, tour managers, and everybody else yet. I think there is a little bit more parity and awareness of diversity on the artistic and administrative end, but I don’t know of any women of color who are artistic or managing directors of any of the LORT theatres nationwide. I would love to find one. How can anyone consider that and say, “Isn’t that terrible and shouldn’t we do something about it?” But the fact is, very little is being done about it. There are a few programs here and there promoting people of color and women in the arts, but nothing so significant that it can tackle the lack of diversity I have encountered in my experience. I often walk into a production meeting and I am the only person there who is not a white male. It doesn’t bother me personally – some of my greatest advocates, mentors, friends, and people I love working with are white men. But I think as an international occupational field that claims to serve the human story, we should all be ashamed. Sometimes, I do wonder – when a lighting designer is really impressed that I expertly called a sequence of complex cues, or a set designer is astounded that I can use a scale ruler and tape out a set in a rehearsal room with complete accuracy and ease – what they expected. One of the things I love about stage management as opposed to performing is that the skills demonstrated speak for themselves. Being able to impress people easily and earn respect quickly isn’t such a bad thing, and it keeps you working. When I was avidly pursuing acting more than I am now, being a woman of color definitely effected my ability not only to work, but to be involved in work I was excited about and found compelling from an artistic perspective. The first time I encountered this was in college, when the chair of the theatre department called me in for a meeting in her office regarding a casting dilemma – one of the directors in the department wanted to cast me as one of the leads in a musical going up that season, and another director, who was a big deal in New York at the time, wanted to cast me in an experimental piece to be devised loosely connected to the Trojan War. He wanted a woman of color to play a Dido character, which would be somewhat of a peripheral role. She was honest and respectful, and I appreciated her consulting me. I was 18 or 19 at the time, and found the whole thing confusing – I still lived in a world where I thought I would be cast in roles because I was the best person for them. I told her I would do the musical, because it was a lead, had nothing to do with race, and because I love musicals and at the time wasn’t really interested in “experimental” theatre. I thought it was strange that this NYC bigshot couldn’t cast any one of the many 150 or so not black, very talented, actors in the department as a peripheral Dido. In NYC, I often found myself cast in roles that served the agenda of producers or directors. The only black person because we want to have a black person, or because we’re going to make a “statement” by having an all black cast for this play, or whatever. The last audition I went to in NYC was a non union chorus call for The Color Purple: The Musical. I remember feeling ill, sitting there, waiting to be seen. I wanted to perform, but at what cost? This was not living out my potential as a performer – the idea of playing a singing slave girl was artistic death. I walked out without being seen, and decided I was done with the theatre business. Honestly, I think it is a lot better in DC which is less driven by the commercial market or the off-Broadway prerogative to “make statements,” but I see a lot of actors of color playing racial stereotypes instead of rich, compelling characters. I see a lot of plays that are the “people of color” play for that season. That isn’t racial parity or very empowering either. JL: DC audiences are ... OM: People I spend a lot of time observing. Whenever I go to see a show, I love looking around and seeing who is in the audience and how audience members are reacting. I have a deep appreciation for DC audiences, because they honor my work and love what I love. We need to work on growing new audiences across all social strata. JL: DC actors, designers and directors are .. OM: Beautiful souls, hard working, friendly, willing to share their advice, experiences, and expertise and share opportunities. I think that theatres have a tendency though to favor certain actors, designers, and directors - which is incredible for those in favor – but it leaves a lot of very talented people who have immeasurable gifts to offer underemployed, underpaid, cynical, and likely to walk away from a field that needs their voices and their talents. JL: DC critics are ... OM: Seeing a lot and writing a lot without being too cynical, and are a vital part of the team and an important part of the conversation. I love good reviews and I love bad reviews. There is always an opportunity to learn, grow, and see what you are communicating and what you are not communicating to certain people. As long as a review is factually correct, I appreciate all opinions. Maybe it’s unfair of me to say something like that as a stage manager though – no one ever talks about us in reviews. JL: What advice do you have for an up and coming DC based stage manager? OM: I always hear that good stage managers are hard to find. I don’t know how true that is – I pride myself on being excellent no matter what and I demand excellence of the people I work with – or if they can’t be excellent, I work around them. But I would say it is important to identify what your strengths are as a stage manager and what your weaknesses are. Work on your weaknesses, and consider what kinds of shows you prefer working on, as well as what kind of support you need to have in place to do your best work. Never take anyone’s knowledge for granted. I’m still surprised when I have to explain to an arts professional what a stage manager does, but it happens. Show them that they’d be lost without you. Be brave and bold – work across disciplines, work at small theatres and large theatres, work in opera, dance, and performance art, immerse yourself in new technologies that you’re afraid of but make sure you hang on to your knowledge and experience of other technologies (I’ve seen the transition from lettered to numbered sound cues and the rise of QLab, the birth of projection as a design element, the death of the floppy disk to save light cues, and the shift from hand drawn blueprints to 3D computer modeling and I’m only 29 years old) and never think you’re too good to be someone’s ASM or to sweep and mop a floor or to hem an actor’s pants if you happen to have some costuming in your background. Do everything that needs to be done. The logistic success – and therefore the artistic success – of the show rests on your shoulders. Hone your multitasking skills, but know when too much is too much. Personally, I don’t do the best at identifying when too much is too much, but I have a few theatre and non-theatre friends who I ask to help me keep an eye out. Make sure someone has your back – it is especially great for this to be someone who knows the business but doesn’t work with you, so that they can offer insight and objectivity. Listen, learn, meet a lot of people, don’t let work come to you – go to it. Be kind to everyone, and be early and ready to leave late from every professional commitment. Those who know me well know that I make up for that by being late to and leaving early from most personal commitments. JL: What's next for you as a stage manager? Where can we keep up with your work? OM: Currently, I’m working on a 15 minute dance piece with Dance Exchange and Jacqueline E. Lawton, “From the Desk of Rachel Carson,” that will have its world premiere at Dance Place’s Modern Moves Festival at Atlas Performance Arts Center on January 5, 2014. We have a lot of projects cooking at Dance Exchange right now, so I’m not taking on a ton of other artistic or stage management work at the moment. Upcoming Dance Exchange projects include a NEA ArtPlace grant to do work along New Hampshire Avenue in Takoma Park, MD, and a commission from the Embrey Family Foundation in Dallas, TX to design and lead artistic initiatives for Dallas Faces Race, which will culminate in November 2014. I also curate Dance Exchange’s HOME Series at our studios in Takoma Park, MD on the third Thursday of each month. Go to www.danceexchange.org for more information.
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JACQUELINE LAWTON: How long have you lived and worked as a stage manager in DC? What brought you here? Why have you stayed?
KRISTY MATERO: I have been in DC since the summer of 2007. I moved here after an internship ended because my boyfriend (now my husband) was working at Arena Stage. I’d heard from a few people that DC was a great theatre town. I’ve stayed because I love the people here. JL: What excites you most about being a stage manager? What do you feel your greatest challenges are? KM: Every day you are wearing so many hats from office manager to psychologist to mom to artistic collaborator. That’s what makes it fun. Tech is my favorite. During that week everyone is finally in the room together and you can see how it all fits to make a beautiful whole. And I am in the privileged position of pulling the strings in that moment when all of the puzzle pieces come together. The biggest challenge for me right now is balancing motherhood and work, which is a clichéd challenge but very real. I have a 7 month old son and going back to work this fall was tough. I’ve learned that it is ok to cut myself some slack. I don’t need to feel guilty for taking my lunch break to eat and nap instead of having a sandwich over the copier or resetting the rehearsal room. It’s a balancing act for sure. JL: What traits do you feel a successful Stage Manager should have to support the health and growth of a production? KM: Every stage manager is a bit different in their approach to the job, just as every director, designer and actor comes into a production with their own process. There are plenty of tangibles that make a good stage manager such as organizational skills, tact, ability to multitask and great communication skills. One of the hardest and most important things for me is being able to keep the big picture in your mind while dealing with all of the hundreds of details that are thrown your way. There are also the intangibles which are just as important. Being able to read the room and know whether it’s time to be tough and push a little or sit back and let the magic happen is something that is learned over time and that I am still working on. JL: Does your work as a Stage Manager pay the bills? If not, what other work do you do and how do you find a balance? KM: In the past I have held all of the typical day jobs from cashier to server to a memorable 6 months as a dog walker. Right now, I am stage managing full time and it pays the bills if I’m very frugal. The rest of my time right now is spent with the baby. JL: Looking at your body of work as a stage manager in this community, how conscious are you of selecting plays by women or people of color when deciding your season? KM: Unfortunately, at this point in my career I am not yet in a position where I can accept or reject a job based on the script. Looking back through my productions, I do tend to return to companies who have a commitment to new work which more and more often includes that of women and people of color. JL: How do you feel the DC theatre community has addressed the issues of race and gender parity? How has this particular issue impacted you and your ability to work? KM: I think that the DC theatre community has become much more aware of race and gender in theatre even in the six years that I have been here. I do believe that DC audiences want to see a diversity of plays and some theatres are recognizing and meeting that need. I have been fortunate to work with many companies who have the flexibility in their mission statement to address those issues, but it’s certainly a work in progress. JL: DC audiences are ... KM: Loyal, enthusiastic, intelligent to a fault. JL: DC actors, designers and directors are... KM: Some of the most creative, driven, and fun people that I have had the privilege to work with. JL: DC critics are ... KM: A small part of the whole. I think that it’s a shame that they have the power to make or break a play that may be very good but not necessarily to one person’s taste. My relationship with reviews is mostly to keep them out of sight and out of mind. Most theaters have a no discussing reviews policy in the building or with the actors so we enforce that. JL: What advice do you have for an up and coming DC based stage managers? KM: Go see everything you can and talk to people. I have gotten most of my jobs in DC from word of mouth so don’t be afraid to approach other SMs, directors, designers and actors and tell them what you do. I can’t tell you the number of times that I have been asked if I know someone who could do this or that production. If you have another technical skill, use it. There are plenty of people who have moved into stage management from being a dresser, stage hand, house manager, or spot op. Also, send out your resume to everyone. You never know when your material will land on someone’s desk at just the moment when they are looking for someone to fill that empty slot in their season. JL: What's next for you as a stage manager? Where can we keep up with your work? KM: Although I mostly do plays, I actually have two operas coming up with the Washington National Opera at The Kennedy Center. I will be ASMing Moby Dick in February and The Magic Flute in May. JACQUELINE LAWTON: How long have you lived and worked as a stage manager in DC? What brought you here? Why have you stayed?
MARLEY GIGGEY: I have been working here for three and a half years. I grew up in Chantilly, Virginia and returned to the area after I finished college. I love the wide variety of theatres in DC and the range of shows that are produced. My husband is a wardrobe technician and we have both been very fortunate to work with many theatres here and have some really great experiences. JL: What excites you most about being a stage manager? What do you feel your greatest challenges are? MG: I love being able to be a part of a show from the first rehearsal until the final performance. Seeing the growth and evolution of a piece is really special. It’s one of the main things that drew me to stage management rather than other aspects of theatre where opening night is a finishing line of sorts. One of the greatest challenges is knowing when to delegate and let go of certain things and when to hold on to something and do it yourself. If you try to hold on to all the information and be the only person with answers you’re setting yourself up to burn out pretty quickly. Trusting other people and not micromanaging is crucial. JL: What traits do you feel a successful Stage Manager should have to support the health and growth of a production? MG: Positive attitude, great communication, and organization are all vital skills to possess. I have also found that a good sense of humor will go a long way. JL: Does your work as a Stage Manager pay the bills? If not, what other work do you do and how do you find a balance? MG: That tends to vary season to season or even production to production. I am certified to substitute teach in both Fairfax County and the District of Columbia and work mainly in high schools when I’m in between shows or need to supplement my paychecks. Finding balance is crucial. My husband and I will sit down with several calendars each spring and help each other plan out our seasons as best we can. We try to find the great harmony of jobs that are going to give us financial stability and gigs that are artistically fulfilling and exciting. JL: Looking at your body of work as a stage manager in this community, how conscious are you of selecting plays by women or people of color when deciding your season? MG: I do not have a direct impact on show selection for theatres as I am hired on for productions after seasons have been announced. Ideally I can spread around my season so that I can work on diverse shows, but I can only work on jobs that have been offered to me. JL: How do you feel the DC theatre community has addressed the issues of race and gender parity? How has this particular issue impacted you and your ability to work? MG: The fact that there has been so much discussion about these issues as of late is a solid step in the right direction, but there is still a ways to go. I have encountered several directors and production managers who will say they prefer working with one gender SM over another and whenever I hear that I always try to press for their reasoning. I typically find it’s an opinion based off of one negative past experience. We can have a conversation about it and then there’s not much else I can do other than do my job to the very best of my ability. JL: DC audiences are ... MG: More willing to take chances than they are sometimes given credit for. JL: DC actors, designers and directors are .. MG: A wonderfully creative and fun group of artists! JL: DC critics are ... MG: Necessary so we can reach a wider audience. JL: What advice do you have for an up and coming DC based stage managers? MG: See shows whenever and wherever you can! It can be challenging to find the time, but there is so much great work being produced in this town. JL: What's next for you as a stage manager? Where can we keep up with your work? MG: I am getting ready to open Twelfth Night at Synetic Theater on January 9th. After that I have two projects with Synetic I am very excited about, a remount of Hamlet… the rest is silence and Three Men in a Boat. JACQUELINE LAWTON: How long have you lived and worked as a stage manager in DC? What brought you here? Why have you stayed?
LYNN KRYNICKI: 14 years ago, then called, The Washington Opera had a job opening in their Stage Management Staff. I applied and have been with the company ever since. I get to work with a fantastic group of people, be at a Company that runs like a well-oiled machine and work on great quality products. Also, being at a Company that offers almost half a year of employment is rather enticing. Not may Opera Companies offer long contracts. I would not have stayed for 14 seasons if I did not love with whom I was working and at where I was working. JL: What excites you most about being a stage manager? What do you feel your greatest challenges are? LK: Calling a Show is the icing on the cake. Making the art actually happen is the great payoff after the weeks of hard work. Sometimes Shows are complicated, sometimes they are easy, but Calling perfect cues and hearing the audience response at the end is quite thrilling. The biggest challenges in the job are different with each production. There may be personality conflicts preventing people from working together. A production can be technically difficult or the dream for the production may be unatainable. Each time you try to facilitate the channels of communitcation to help the Team reach its goals. JL: What traits do you feel a successful Stage Manager should have to support the health and growth of a production? LK: A successful Stage Manager has strong organizational skills, people skills, communication skills, flexibility, time management skills, scheduling skills, the ability to read music (for Opera Stage Managing), creativity, leadership, empathy and compassion. JL: Does your work as a Stage Manager pay the bills? If not, what other work do you do and how do you find a balance? LK: My Stage Management work does pay the bills, however in order to make life more comfortable, I started to work as an Overhire Dresser for Local 772, the DC Chapter of the Wardrobe Union. This work keeps me in Theater and is flexible enough to work on my schedule when I am off contract. I can use my Stage Management Skills in my Dresser duties. JL: Looking at your body of work as a stage manager in this community, how conscious are you of selecting plays by women or people of color when deciding your season? LK: I am not involved with the selection of Works that Companies produce. Those decision are made before I am offered a contract. Fortunately, at my main place of employment, I am often asked what my preferences are for the coming season, but beyond that, I have no input. JL: How do you feel the DC theatre community has addressed the issues of race and gender parity? How has this particular issue impacted you and your ability to work? LK: The DC contracts under which I work are Union contracts, which specify the minimum wages for different possitions. Parity exists because the Union contract is blind to race and gender. Each possition has a specified value which is given to the person filling that possition. I am repeatedly hired due to my capabilities and excellence at my job, not because of my demographics. JL: DC audiences are ... LK: often unpredictable, but usually quite appreciative. JL: DC actors, designers and directors are .. LK: very talented and should be used more locally. JL: DC critics are ... LK: predictable. They need to put personal bias aside and focus on the impartial examination of a production. Tell a brief description of the plot, but then explore the concepts of a production, the history of a piece, and the talents of the performers, designers and director. Realize that this is live theater, not a well edited movie. The performance that you see only happens once and in the moment after it happens it lives only as a memory. Do not chastise for every little flaw, for that little flaw is lost in all the beautiful perfect memories retained after every performance. JL: What advice do you have for an up and coming DC based stage managers? LK: Get as much experience in as many different places. Don’t be afraid to take jobs in other cities. The more diverse your experience, the more valuable you are to a company. More importantly, you have to really love the job. JL: What's next for you as a stage manager? Where can we keep up with your work? LK: You can see me next at the Stage Manager’s console for Washington National Opera’s production of Elisir d’Amore at the Kennedy Center Opera House, March 20-29, 2014. www.kennedy-center.org/wno or in the Summers at Bard SummerScape fishercenter.bard.edu. JACQUELINE LAWTON: How long have you lived and worked as a stage manager in DC? What brought you here? Why have you stayed?
TARYN FRIEND: I have been in stage management in DC for about 9 years (eek) now. I grew up about an hour out of the DC area and went to college at Mary Washington in Fredericksburg and from college I got an internship in production management at The Shakespeare Theatre and made the connections to continue on into a successful career in stage management. I’ve always loved DC the city and the theatre community is fantastic with a good deal of employment opportunities at a wide variety of theatres. JL: What excites you most about being a stage manager? What do you feel your greatest challenges are? TF: As we often say in the “biz” our jobs are weird. Every show brings new excitement and new challenges. There’s a never ending variety to your work day every day…its definitely not boring. For me, the biggest challenges usually come from the bigger shows, making all the pieces of a show fit together is like a gigantic puzzle often times with the challenges of having 40 seconds to complete a big scene change or trying to make large set pieces fit in extremely small backstage spaces. JL: What traits do you feel a successful Stage Manager should have to support the health and growth of a production? TF: I believe (stealing a phrase from Mickey Berra) that “fun and flexibility” is key to a successful, healthy and happy run. JL: Does your work as a Stage Manager pay the bills? If not, what other work do you do and how do you find a balance? TF: Currently, I have been lucky enough to have consistent enough work that stage managing is able to pay the bills but that was not always the case. When I was a production assistant (just starting out in stage management) I think I had about 4 jobs at once. I would be a PA, worked at the Box Office, House Managed at Shakespeare and had an unofficial pet sitting service. Times were definitely hard back then but as I progressed I was able to subtract job by job and now I have a bit more sanity. JL: Looking at your body of work as a stage manager in this community, how conscious are you of selecting plays by women or people of color when deciding your season? TF: Unfortunately due to the tricky game of getting offers from theatres and aligning schedules that I don’t often have much of a choice in which shows I do and basically have to take whatever is offered! JL: How do you feel the DC theatre community has addressed the issues of race and gender parity? How has this particular issue impacted you and your ability to work? TF: I think that it very much depends on the theatre. I know Ford’s Theatre tries to do color blind casting when the can (you can see it every year with A Christmas Carol) and I fully support it. Obviously it doesn’t work for every show, for example in Miss Saigon it would be little strange if the refugees were color blind casting but I am happy to see more theatres starting to take that approach. In Stage Management I feel that it is less of an issue than with actors. There are a good number of female stage managers (I think just due to the nature of the job) but I have heard on at least one occasion of a theatre that insisted on hiring a male ASM simply because they wanted a guy on the team. I was not up for that position so it didn’t directly affect me but the statement made me cringe. JL: DC audiences are ... TF: A very loyal fan base. I’m often surprised at how often you see the same faces at different theatres, at different shows and sometimes even multiple times per show! JL: DC actors, designers and directors are … TF: the cream of the crop! DC based folks tend to be my favorites to work with (But I feel are often over looked if they are up against someone with a New York zip code) JL: DC critics are ... TF: Are a little too powerful. If people read a negative review in the Post or one of the other papers then a lot of times people will just write the show off and not go see it. There have been a lot of fantastic shows that have gotten negative reviews (primarily because the reviewer didn’t like the script and didn’t necessarily review the production as a whole) and no one goes to see them! Folks are missing out on some fantastic productions because of blind faith in someone else’s opinion. JL: What advice do you have for an up and coming DC based stage managers? TF: Don’t burn bridges and try not to get burnt out. We are putting on plays for a living not doing brain surgery. You have to remember to have a life outside of theatre and try not to get too caught up in it all (although that’s sometimes easier than said) JL: What's next for you as a stage manager? Where can we keep up with your work? TF: I just closed A Christmas Carol and will be working on The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, both at the Ford’s Theatre. JACQUELINE LAWTON: How long have you lived and worked as a Stage Manager in DC? What brought you here? Why have you stayed?
JENN CARLSON: I have been working as a Stage Manager in the DC metro area since 2001. After graduating from Norwich University: the Military College of Vermont in 2000 and spending a few brief months as a vacuum cleaner salesperson and a substitute Debate teacher for my high school district, I packed my car and drove from Layton, UT to New Orleans, LA. At that point I flipped a coin to decide to stay or to keep driving. I lost the toss and kept driving to DC. I’ve stayed because this is one of my three favorite places in the United States. You have a vibrant theater community, more history than you can shake a stick at, and all of my military friends eventually transfer through here. Also, I married a local rock musician in 2004 who grounds this former military brat more than anything ever has. JL: What excites you most about being a Stage Manager? What do you feel your greatest challenges are? JC: I live for the accomplishment, the opening night, the long string of cues balanced precariously upon another going off without a hitch and transparently to an enthralled audience. When the work is hard and the hours are long what keeps me going is the process by which actors, designers, directors and crew start as strangers and end as friends and fellow artists. Sometimes it is hard to balance camaraderie with professionalism. As a Stage Manager I almost never go out and socialize with my cast until the production is over. I feel that I need that distance to ensure that I am treating everyone fairly and professionally and that I can effectively manage the drama on and off stage. It is a choice and I know other Stage Managers have closer relationships with their artists. JL: What traits do you feel a successful Stage Manager should have to support the health and growth of a production? JC: I learned a lot from my alma mater about what traits an individual needs to succeed. Two quotes from the Norwich University Cadet’s Creed always stick with me when working on a production. They are: “I believe that the cardinal virtues of the individual are courage, honesty, temperance and wisdom; and that the true measure of success is service rendered...” “I believe that real education presupposes a sense of proportion in physical, mental, and moral development; and that he alone is educated who has learned the lessons of self-control and open-mindedness.” I have never gone wrong following that advice. As a professional I never ask an actor, stage hand, or company member to do something I would not do myself. A Stage Manager needs a healthy dose of humor, patience, and the ability to exude calm when there is a storm inside you. It also doesn’t hurt if you are a control freak with a side of organizational anal retention. JL: Does your work as a Stage Manager pay the bills? If not, what other work do you do and how do you find a balance? JC: Unfortunately no. Mostly because I have chosen to stay non-union and stage manage with smaller companies and assistant stage manage with union theaters. I have been lucky to work as an IT project manager with an NGO since I first moved to DC and they have been very accommodating of my theater habit, even to the point of donating rehearsal and meeting space for quite a few of the productions I have helmed. Most recently I have opened my own birth services business, Prodigious Birth Services, to serve the DC area as a trained birth doula. It may not seem obvious but IT, stage management, and doula work are all the same set of skills. You have to make people who all speak different languages communicate and come together for the culmination of the project. I think that the change of environment for each job keeps me fresh and allows one to wear away the stress of the other. When I do have free time I have my husband Eddie and my smart and impish daughters, Moira and Ari, who help me gain much needed perspective. JL: Looking at your body of work as a Stage Manager in this community, how conscious are you of selecting plays by women or people of color when deciding your season? JC: It is a measure of how far I have come in this community and this profession that I can pick and choose projects now instead of taking everything that comes to my door. As a mother of two girls I am very conscious of the disparity between roles for men and those for women and do tend to gravitate toward projects that are more inclusive. In my career I have been proud to work at Horizons Theater which was composed of all women and projects based on women’s issues. I am currently a company member of both Forum and the Hub Theatres who do a good job of balancing their season and giving strong voices to women and people of color. JL: How do you feel the DC theatre community has addressed the issues of race and gender parity? How has this particular issue impacted you and your ability to work? JC: I love the inclusivity of the DC Theater. I love that there are so many companies bringing so much work to the stage. I love how many female directors and stage managers and artistic directors I have worked with. Honestly, I don’t feel I have ever been hired or not hired due to my gender in this profession and that is not something I can say for my work in the NGO arena. There are still many issues that need to be addressed with regard to what audiences we need to serve in the DC community and selecting projects that promote race parity but I believe DC is on the right track. JL: DC audiences are ... JC: What keeps this ship afloat. Without them we are just workshops who shout into the rain. JL: DC actors, designers and directors are .. JC: Pretty amazing as a group. Every time I walk into a rehearsal space I know that I am going to learn something new. These artists have a lot to teach me and our audience about their backgrounds and life experiences. DC is a crossroads. Some artists are born here and some are just visiting but they all have a good deal to teach us. JL: DC critics are ... JC: Usually not allowed backstage on my shows. I believe very much in the professional critic (my husband is a professional film critic) but I do know how powerfully a good, bad, or indifferent review can affect my actors so my rule is, read them on your own time and do not bring reviews backstage. I love how diverse our pool of critics have become and the multitude of venues that have blossomed to showcase their love of our theater and their message. I think this diversity only benefits our audiences but reviews are still outlawed backstage. JL: What advice do you have for an up and coming DC based stage managers? JC: Learn by doing. Jump in. Volunteer. Respect your fellow artists. Be kind but firm. Be professional but fun. Learn that you aren’t born knowing everything and gather the knowledge that each project brings you. JL: What's next for you as a stage manager? Where can we keep up with your work? JC: I have two shows this season. I will be stage managing the remount of The Last Days of Judas Iscariot with Forum Theatre and Abominable at the Hub Theatre. You can find my work online at www.jenncarlson.com JACQUELINE LAWTON: How long have you lived and worked as a stage manager in DC? What brought you here? Why have you stayed?
CARY GILLETT: I graduated from the University of Maryland in 1998 and have been working as an SM ever since. I love the DC area and have no desire to leave. It is a wonderful place to live and work. JL: What excites you most about being a stage manager? What do you feel your greatest challenges are? CG: I love being in the room when it all happens. I love bringing my strength in organization to a group of artists and help them achieve their dreams. My greatest challenge has always been and will always be saying no. I always take on too much. JL: What traits do you feel a successful Stage Manager should have to support the health and growth of a production? CG: Organization, communication and a sense of humor. JL: Does your work as a Stage Manager pay the bills? If not, what other work do you do and how do you find a balance? CG: I used to be a full time free-lance SM but have sent the last 5 years as a full time production manager. I still dabble in stage management from time to time and now teach it at the University of Maryland. JL: Looking at your body of work as a stage manager in this community, how conscious are you of selecting plays by women or people of color when deciding your season? CG: I’m not sure how much the playwrights have influenced my decisions but I always enjoy working with female directors. JL: How do you feel the DC theatre community has addressed the issues of race and gender parity? How has this particular issue impacted you and your ability to work? CG: I feel we are growing as a community towards awareness and inclusion. We still have a long way to go but we are headed in the right direction. JL: DC audiences are ... CG: Fantastic and very smart JL: DC actors, designers and directors are … CG: Innovative and fearless JL: DC critics are ... CG: Don’t know. I never read reviews… JL: What advice do you have for an up and coming DC based stage managers? CG: Learn as much as you can about every aspect of theatre craft and work at as many theatres as you can until you find your perfect niche. JL: What's next for you as a stage manager? Where can we keep up with your work? CG: Currently teaching an intro the stage management class and mentoring a group of 12 SMs and ASMS on 5 shows this semester. Exhausting but exhilarating work. JACQUELINE LAWTON: How long have you lived and worked as a stage manager in DC? What brought you here? Why have you stayed?
KERRY EPSTEIN: I’ve been stage manager for almost 15 years, 8 of them in the DC area. In 2005, my husband, Robbie Hayes, got a fantastic job opportunity at Georgetown University and we decided to make the move from Chicago to DC. I was in the process of sending my resume to the local theaters when I got a phone call from the director of one of Signature Theatre's upcoming shows. A mutual friend had told him I was moving to the area and he requested me as his stage manager. After the show closed, I was asked to stay on for the season and beyond. Incredible luck. I adore working on musicals and Signature does them very well. JL: What excites you most about being a stage manager? What do you feel your greatest challenges are? KE: Magic happens when I say “go.” Plus there is immense personal satisfaction in calling a cue at just the right second to perfectly coincide with a cymbal crash. Part of the job is to solve problems before they occur but there are times when the best thing for the show is to be a silent observer while others find their solution. That can be frustrating to wait when you want to leap in for a quick save. JL: What traits do you feel a successful Stage Manager should have to support the health and growth of a production? KE: A sincere respect for the script and artists. A sense of fun and flexibility. The peripheral vision of an owl. A slightly unhealthy fascination with checklists and spreadsheets. JL: Does your work as a Stage Manager pay the bills? If not, what other work do you do and how do you find a balance? KE: I am extremely lucky to have a full season at Signature not to mention a supportive partner so I am living the dream. It is pretty much “all theater all the time,” which can be a double-edged sword. Again, I’m very lucky, not complaining! JL: Looking at your body of work as a stage manager in this community, how conscious are you of selecting plays by women or people of color when deciding your season? KE: I am not involved in play selection - Signature chooses its season and I am offered specific shows/timeslots. It’s something I notice but isn’t ultimately a deciding factor. This season does contain two world premiers with book and lyrics by women: Crossing by Grace Barnes and Beaches by Iris Rainer Dart. JL: How do you feel the DC theatre community has addressed the issues of race and gender parity? How has this particular issue impacted you and your ability to work? KE: It’s an ongoing conversation. Just when you think progress has been made, you overhear a passing “women aren’t strong enough to be on a crew” comment that is just patently untrue. So you shake your head, move the scenery, and keep going. JL: DC audiences are ... KE: … very smart and supportive. Not afraid to share what they think, good or bad. JL: DC actors, designers and directors are .. KE: …adventurous, dedicated to their craft and each other. JL: DC critics are ... KE: …part of the show-audience-critic trifecta. Each one needs the other two. JL: What advice do you have for an up and coming DC based stage managers? KE: There are so many good companies in DC, all doing different kinds of work. Find the ones doing shows that match your artistic sensibilities and talents and make them your home. Also, never run out of pencils. JL: What's next for you as a stage manager? Where can we keep up with your work? KE: You can find me in the booth at Signature Theatre for Gypsy (through January 26), Beaches (February 18 - March 30), and Threepenny Opera (April 22 - June 30). JACQUELINE LAWTON: How long have you lived and worked as a stage manager in DC? What brought you here? Why have you stayed?
BETH KRYNICKI: I have lived and worked in the DC area for 20 years. I moved here when I was offered a job as Assistant Stage Manager for Washington Opera. I’ve stayed as long as I have because of the great friends and colleagues I have been privileged to work with at both Washington National Opera and Wolf Trap Opera Company. Without their spirit and dedication I would have moved on long ago. JL: What excites you most about being a stage manager? What do you feel your greatest challenges are? BK: I love Piano Tech rehearsals. It’s the first time the cast meets the stage and all the elements start to come together; we rarely have enough time, there are deadlines with financial implications, anxiety is usually high, and when it all works because everyone pulled together and reached the common goal and knowing I had a hand in that, it is a very satisfying feeling. JL: What traits do you feel a successful Stage Manager should have to support the health and growth of a production? BK: A Stage Manager should be patient, calm, and organized, they should think ahead, plan for the worst, and listen. JL: Does your work as a Stage Manager pay the bills? If not, what other work do you do and how do you find a balance? BK: Yes, I have always been able to support myself as a stage manager. I once took a non-theatre job for a month between gigs, but that was just to try something different. JL: Looking at your body of work as a stage manager in this community, how conscious are you of selecting plays by women or people of color when deciding your season? BK: I don’t get to choose my shows, a company’s season is decided long before they offer me a contract, which could be for just one production, so I am just happy to be employed. Having said that, given my length of service at some companies they have been kind enough to ask my preferences in which case I’ll hope to be assigned to a show that is either unfamiliar to me or fits my travel dreams. However, I’d rather be employed than not. JL: How do you feel the DC theatre community has addressed the issues of race and gender parity? How has this particular issue impacted you and your ability to work? BK: As far as I know, I have never been negatively impacted by my race or gender. If I have benefited from them I wouldn’t know either, I prefer to think that my skills and my reputation speak for themselves. Opera, in general, tends to have racially diverse casts and the pool of local performers is a wonderful melting pot; in opera the musical score determines the genders for the roles, that’s hard to bend! JL: DC audiences are … BK: …loathe to turn off cell phones. JL: DC actors, designers and directors are .. BK: …some of the friendliest and most dedicated people to work with anywhere. JL: DC critics are … BK: …not doing enough to educate the audience about the piece and its value, or lack thereof. Anybody can write a product review, but critics are supposed to be the experts. Why is a certain piece important to be produced, or is it? What did it mean to the original audience? What was its purpose in being written, does this production uphold that, go beyond it or go in another direction entirely? And remember, it’s just an opera, not actual life and death. JL: What advice do you have for an up and coming DC based stage managers? BK: Enjoy what you are doing, otherwise the hours and personalities and rules will get to you. JL: What's next for you as a stage manager? Where can we keep up with your work? BK: My next stage management project is WNO’s “Magic Flute” this spring. Check the websites for Washington National Opera or Wolf Trap Opera Company, I am involved in body or in spirit with all of their productions. JACQUELINE LAWTON: How long have you lived and worked as a stage manager in DC? What brought you here? Why have you stayed?
KETA NEWBORN: More than half my life has been in DC. I have been a Stage Manager since 2005, but it wasn’t until 2007 – 2008 that things began to pick up for me, and that’s when I truly considered myself a SM. My family, friends, church is all here, this is where a lot of my roots are. JL: What excites you most about being a stage manager? What do you feel your greatest challenges are? KN: What excites me the most about being a stage manager is the creative process of seeing the show come alive from the moment I get the script; to the first reading with the actors; the directors overall vision of the play along with the designers; rehearsals; tech week; up to opening night and the run of the show. My greatest challenge, I feel is saying goodbye to everyone at the end of the each production run. JL: What traits do you feel a successful Stage Manager should have to support the health and growth of a production? KN: A successful SM should possess the following traits in order to maintain the health and growth of a production: 1 – Ability to maintain a professional attitude at all times; 2 – Remaining loyal and assuming responsibility for the entire run of the production (rehearsal and performance); 3 – Organized, Efficient, and Observant; 4 – Always ready for the unexpected, dependable, great energy, caring of other’s needs, reliable, a great communicator and listener. JL: Does your work as a Stage Manager pay the bills? If not, what other work do you do and how do you find a balance? KN: Being a Freelance SM is what pays the bills. I eat, sleep, and dream theatre gigs. I have been fortunate enough for the past 3 years to work the entire year non-stop SMs – overlapping gigs. I thank my Heavenly Father because it is only by His Grace & Mercy that is possible. JL: Looking at your body of work as a stage manager in this community, how conscious are you of selecting plays by women or people of color when deciding your season? KN: When I look at the body of work I have had the privilege to be apart of I cannot take any credit in deciding my season only being obedient to the Spirit of the Lord and allowing my steps to be ordered. JL: How do you feel the DC theatre community has addressed the issues of race and gender parity? How has this particular issue impacted you and your ability to work? KN: I feel that the DC theatre community is just now starting to address the issues of race and gender parity. These issues of race and gender have not impacted my ability to work. JL: DC audiences are ... KN: Invested in the arts, loyal, dedicated, and intelligent JL: DC actors, designers and directors are .. KN: Amazing, creative, lovable, fun and dedicated JL: DC critics are ... KN: Lackadaisical and complacent JL: What advice do you have for an up and coming DC based stage managers? KN: Network, Network, Network…Never leave home without a stack of business cards. Be willing to work as an ASM first. Always be willing to learn (teachable), and remain humble. JL: What's next for you as a stage manager? Where can we keep up with your work? KN: I am stage managing a production: The Flick by Annie Baker at Company One in Boston. |
My BlogI'm a playwright, dramaturg, and teaching artist. It is here where you'll find my queries and musings on life, theater and the world. My posts advocate for diversity, inclusion, and equity in the American Theatre and updates on my own work. Please enjoy!
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