Thinking Inside the Box

            At Playhouse Square we will be performing in the Helen Lab Theatre. This is an intimate little black box, which can be set up in any multitude of configurations. For SNF, the audience will be on three sides creating a narrow thrust stage. The stage is an open dance floor, with a checkered design, with a three or four foot diameter mirror ball hanging above. All the furniture will be simplistic and on casters so it can easily roll in and roll out. Here is a photo of our groundplan: 

This week we started blocking rehearsals. We are rehearsing at BW in the Kleist Dance Studio, where I taped out the floor grid to scale. Since the stage is so narrow, it became clear that stage left and stage right might get confusion. Instead, I am going to be utilizing the grid and to block the show as if it were a chessboard. So I have the width numbered and the length lettered, creating a simple plot. Instead of saying “Tony crosses Center from SL” I’d say: “Tony crosses from A1 to E4” like it was wizarding chess from Harry Potter. It’s this creative thinking outside the box (or rather inside) that makes stage management fun.

As stage manager, one of my primary jobs is to record all the blocking for the show into the prompt book. This is to be used as a guide to look back upon, in case an actor needs to check where they enter from, or when they make a certain cross. In professional theatre, it is also the basis of teaching the show to new actors when they are replacements in a long running show. So it is paramount that blocking be as detailed and thorough as possible. The trick with early staging rehearsals is to know that it can and will change as the process goes on. That’s why you always write in pencil. I’ve actually started using erasable colored pencils and my primary tool. Along with writing the notation, I also have Groundplan on which I show the character’s movement’s with arrows. I assign each character a color and an abbreviation (Tony = Red To) to help keep things clear when I have a large crowd scene. Blocking can be difficult initially, because it’s more intuitive than stated when you should start recording things. Some directors immediately set where they want things to occur, while others simply have the actors jump up there and start trying things. I tend to always write everything, even if I know it’s going to change two minutes later, because it’s better to be safe than sorry.

What’s made these first few staging rehearsals difficult for me is the fact that I don’t have an ASM in the room. It was surprisingly difficult to find an ASM for SNF, and I didn’t get one sign on until about two weeks before the start of rehearsals. My ASM, Jessy, is currently running our yearly dance concert which goes up 3/19. So until then, I am flying solo in the rehearsal room. Since I am an experienced SM, it’s not that big of a deal to run rehearsal entirely by myself. But through doing so, it makes it clear why an ASM is needed and how such a division of labor is helpful. Another big job for stage management is being “on-book”, which is following along in the script with the actors, and being ready to prompt them if they forget their line. Being on-book demands intense concentration and focus. So it is extremely difficult to be writing down blocking and to be on book at the same time. I’ll be looking at where the actors are standing on stage, and  when suddenly they will call ‘line’ I have to instantly find where they are on the page and give the correct pick up. So I will be relieved when I do have an ASM who can focus on being on book, that way my attention is not divided.