Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Hi, This is Me

My name's Kaylee, I graduated from college in June and currently am trying to make my way in the real world.

By profession I am a stage manager, which is, in part, why this blog exists.  A stage manager works in theatre and frankly no one outside of theatre knows what they do.  When someone asks me what a stage manager does, and they inevitably do, my first (mental) response is well they manage the stage.  But, unfortunately, that's not really helpful.

A stage manager is hired at the beginning of a performance and attends all rehearsals along with the actors and director.  They keep track of things like schedules, notes about technical choices, notes about where and how the actors move on stage, and when an actor needs to be fed a line, it is the stage manager who does it.  Those are just scattered responsibilities during rehearsals.  When the show gets to tech (which is, as the name states, when technical aspects start getting added (sorry if this is obvious, I have no actual idea of what people outside of theatre know)) it is the stage manager, rather than the director, who is in charge.  They are in charge of calling the various cues (lights, sound, set changes, projections, etc) for their show.  All in all, being a stage manager means that you are a laid-back, empathetic, organized, prompt person.

I am certain that I will get more into what a stage manager does later, because it is complex and I really do want to share in depth what my job entails.

And before I wrap this up, because I don't want to write a novel here, I will share a few more things about my personally and my goals with this blog.

I am a heterosexual, cisgendered, outrageously socially liberal, twenty-something woman with very slight bisexual leanings, who is madly in love with  her boyfriend of almost four years.  The majority of my friends are gay, lesbian, and bi, so if you're uncomfortable with non-heteronormative people, this is probably not the blog for you.  While not a compulsive journaler, I am a compulsive writer (helps with stage managing), which is ultimately why I decided to write this blog.

In regard to this blog, my goal is to be completely honest and completely open.  I am an open person by nature, but putting my thoughts and feelings in writing have always helped me, so here we are.

Hopefully that wasn't to rambling and my explanation of what a stage manager does was comprehensible.  I will probably post another entry after I get back from rehearsals, so I start getting in the habit.

PS. A prompt book is a binder that a stage manager keeps, which holds a record of the paperwork for an entire show, and this blog is intended to be a prompt book for my life.

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