Last night at dinner the woman next to me asked me about my work. I told her I had been a stage manager and she was Amazed. In her words - so totally out of her range of experience, she couldn’t even imagine. I haven’t had that kind of reaction in a long time. I told her - when you go to the theatre, if we do our jobs well, you aren’t even aware we are there. She just kept shaking her head in amazement. And No, I didn’t succumb to the temptation to tell stories.
I went file-searching to find a picture to illustrate and because we aren't there, this is the only one I could find, taken by someone who was more interested in the T-shirt than the job. You can tell by the open mouth that I am still doing the job - talking to someone on that headset while trying to oblige the photographer. It must have been before curtain - I never would have allowed it otherwise.
4 comments:
And a fine stage manager you were, too!
Thanks, Nelson! It's nice to be remembered. :)
I *love* this picture of you in charge and in control. Your comment on the stage manager's role makes me think of the Tao te Ching: "...but with the greatest leader, the people said, 'We did it ourselves.'"
Wow, Mike, thank you!! And the director could not do it without the cast and crew and the stage manager couldn't do it without crew ~ and a cast to do it for. When I said "we" I meant it.
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