# Stage Manager's Report



## macsound (Jan 28, 2020)

Back when I worked in theatre regularly, at your calltime you'd proceed to the call board to sign in and glance over the SM's report. 
They were duplicate or triplicate pages with the original going on the callboard, one dup going in the SM's binder and maybe the producer kept the 3rd?
The paperwork stated the time the show started, ended, intermission time, lead staff working the show including the house manager, what the weather was like, if there was a notable competing sports game, and house count. 
Below all the boring bullet pointed info was if someone missed a line, if a costume needed repair or if anything else went wrong.

There was one show I worked where this info was distributed by email at call time the following day (to not mess up equity call stuff) and with any actor's info redacted if they requested (equity again).

In today's rushing attitude about things and in an environment where this isn't currently being done, should it be started? And how? My motivation isn't entirely angelic. There's one house manager who consistently has excuses for closing the doors late for the top of the show and intermission. They're pushing their weight where it shouldn't be pushed but there's no record of this other than memory, so it's hard for the staff to have the conversation with someone who's somewhat a volunteer. 

1. So in general - current stage manager's reports are done or no?
2. How do you start doing a report without instantly offending those who you give notes since they're not used to it?

PS. I'm a 3rd party.


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## RonHebbard (Jan 28, 2020)

macsound said:


> Back when I worked in theatre regularly, at your calltime you'd proceed to the call board to sign in and glance over the SM's report.
> They were duplicate or triplicate pages with the original going on the callboard, one dup going in the SM's binder and maybe the producer kept the 3rd?
> The paperwork stated the time the show started, ended, intermission time, lead staff working the show including the house manager, what the weather was like, if there was a notable competing sports game, and house count.
> Below all the boring bullet pointed info was if someone missed a line, if a costume needed repair or if anything else went wrong.
> ...


 *@macsound* From experience with Stratford, Ontario, Canada's Stratford Shakespearean Festival from 1977 to 1998 with several gaps in between, SM's Show Reports are carried out RELIGIOUSLY. 

From experience as an installation sub-contractor installing a new Program Monitor Page system in Niagara-On-The-Lake, Ontario's Shaw Festival, SM's show reports were likewise carried out religiously with fervor. 

Let's use CB's 'Bat Call' to summon * @seanandkate* 's Kate, who's spent her life SM'ing in Canada's major Equity theatres. 
Toodleoo! 
Ron Hebbard


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## danTt (Jan 28, 2020)

I can't say that I've ever worked a professional production that didn't have rehearsal and performance reports. They're rarely distributed to the entire company, but emailed to the right collection of people depending on the show/company.


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## seanandkate (Jan 28, 2020)

Kate echos Ron: "RELIGIOUSLY." As to how to start the practice, maybe put a sign above the show report that quotes possibly Aristotle (and one of our own well known members in their signature line): "*We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.* "


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## Footer (Jan 28, 2020)

There is no reason not to do it. We do one for every show. I don't include the weather, sports, etc, but its a log of all labor that day, what in house rental gear was used, employee issues, etc. Lobby, house, start, intermission, 2nd set, end, loading dock in, loading dock out, etc. times are all recorded. If you aren't doing these you should be.


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## josh88 (Jan 29, 2020)

Everything I've worked on in the last year and a half has had rehearsal/show reports unless for some reason we ask to be excluded because they don't pertain to us. We're a venue and aren't involved in the production of every show that comes through but for the rehearsals we are involved in, the TD, ATD/Sound (myself), lighting etc get reports for changes and to log the rehearsals that happen in the space. We occasionally get reports from our broadway tours as well, but that usually only happens if there is a thank you or a commentary on the experience they had with us. Most have timings included so that we can better prep our front of house staff for when intermissions will occur, when load outs or load ins/sound checks etc occurred. For the shows that involve union crew it helps the steward double check the timings for billing and the actual calls.


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## almorton (Jan 29, 2020)

Every show we do, with all the gory details - curtain up time, interval times, when we came down, incidents, prompts, technical and other issues etc.


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## MRW Lights (Jan 29, 2020)

Like many here I have worked with a range of SM's for better and worse. A favorite that will always stick out was an SM with a Kudos's section. These were either submitted by the SM, Director, Actors or crew about another member of the team and highlights were posted in an addendum. In the final report a compilation of all of them including a copy of our backstage quote board was added. Make it fun and an incentive and there won't be any negatives to take away. 

Not the same production, but on a different tour we would play Trivia during mic check. The questions were random and the points didn't matter, but it did help on those rough load ins and I might have learned a thing or two.


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## derekleffew (Jan 29, 2020)

I once asked the SM of a long-running AEA production about Show Reports. Her response?

> When the show opened, I sent them to the producers daily. Then I went to weekly. Now [two years later] I send them monthly. I'm considering not sending them at all, but I'll always do them just for my own records.


YMMV.


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## JChenault (Jan 29, 2020)

I’m seeing some good responses to #1. Not so many for #2

Seems to me you need to figure out a problem you are trying to solve with the report, sell it to everyone that it is a problem that needs to be solved, and a report would solve it


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## RonHebbard (Jan 29, 2020)

MRW Lights said:


> Like many here I have worked with a range of SM's for better and worse. A favorite that will always stick out was an SM with a Kudos's section. These were either submitted by the SM, Director, Actors or crew about another member of the team and highlights were posted in an addendum. In the final report a compilation of all of them including a copy of our backstage quote board was added. Make it fun and an incentive and there won't be any negatives to take away.
> 
> Not the same production, but on a different tour we would play Trivia during mic check. The questions were random and the points didn't matter, but it did help on those rough load ins and I might have learned a thing or two.


 *@MRW Lights* Could you win Silver stars and Gold stars*? *

One of my favorite com's games was playing 'Name That Ture' with the SM hosting, the two ASM's and all on headset playing. 
HARD & fast, carved in GRANITE, rule: *ZERO chatter between 'Standby' and 'Go!' *

I once won by bidding down to one note: The SM said: "Buh" and I said: "Barbara Anne, The Beach Boys, 1964 or '65." Fun times during your 64th performance of 'Henry the 4th part 2'. When you're in rotating rep' even the busy shows become familiar.
I've nothing but respect for crew who can work the same long running show 8 performances per week for years on end. Dealing with the boredom has got to be difficult. 
*EDIT:* Your backstage quotes reminded me of two, quoted from the same lady SM / PSM. 
"Never put too much faith in a fart." Uttered while seated at a production table in a dark auditorium setting LX cues with Gil' Wechsler, Head of LX Design on one side of her and Robin Phillips, Artistic Director on her other: Maggie Palmer was wearing *white bell bottoms at the time.

Quote #2*, same lady a year later as PSM in Stratford's Avon prosc' venue; 
Three minutes to 10:00 a.m. delivering Equity cast and company daily morning announcements building wide; lobby, offices, shops, dressing rooms, wash rooms, green room, hallways and corridors alike: "In closing ladies and gentlemen I'd like to end with this little poem just handed to me: Hurray, hurray, the first of May; outdoor phuquing starts today! Thankew!" 

This was 9:57 a.m.; by morning coffee you couldn't call anyone in any of the then three theatres or any of the shops, nor any of the several church basements housing extra seamstresses or wiggies scattered about the city that hadn't heard of Maggie Palmer's morning announcement. 
Toodleoo! 
Ron Hebbard


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## Dionysus (Feb 1, 2020)

All Grand Theatre shows have a SM and a HM report. BOTH have times for top of show and house open.

IMO if you are getting paid to SM or HM you should be putting together such a report. The SM report is also a pretty standard Equity thing to this day, however sometimes distrubution is limited due to the possible sensitive information in the document.

The reports serve a number of important functions including accountability I do feel. And its a great way to make sure people know what the heck has been going on!

Edit: (now that I am done preshow)

The SM and HM reports are extremely useful for archival purposes, not to mention tracking. On my current show we have a wagon thats had a finicky caster, I can ask the SM to check the reports and she can tell me exactly what problems have been reported and at which performances. Did the fix work? etc. Oh it skidded on performance #3, you repaired it before #4, and it acted up on performance #5.
Its also important for us as the director, designers, etc have gone away, and keeps them in the loop of how things are going with the show at the theatre.
We had a recent show go away on tour and the reports were extremely useful to those back at home base to continue to support the show from afar.

Such a simple thing that can really help keep things working well, its well worth the small amount of time post show the SM and HM take to prepare the report.

If you would like templates let me know.


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## Jay Ashworth (Feb 2, 2020)

MRW Lights said:


> Not the same production, but on a different tour we would play Trivia during mic check. The questions were random and the points didn't matter, but it did help on those rough load ins and I might have learned a thing or two.



I am *so* friggin stealing that.


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## Darin (Feb 2, 2020)

I teach my students to do them daily. Our department has developed a pretty good template so all of our productions have a uniformity to the reports.


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## macsound (Feb 3, 2020)

Darin said:


> I teach my students to do them daily. Our department has developed a pretty good template so all of our productions have a uniformity to the reports.


Would you be able to share your template?
If you were bringing it up to a production team, what positive qualities would you say it gives them that dance around the possible detriments?

Thinking of that house manager that always closes the house late, she would obviously be opposed to implementing the procedure. What positive thing would help convince her?


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## RonHebbard (Feb 3, 2020)

macsound said:


> Would you be able to share your template?
> If you were bringing it up to a production team, what positive qualities would you say it gives them that dance around the possible detriments?
> 
> Thinking of that house manager that always closes the house late, she would obviously be opposed to implementing the procedure. What positive thing would help convince her?


 * @macsound * Or the impatient FOH Manager who wants to get the audience out to the bars as soon as and for as long as possible and won't wait for the house lights to come up at the end of the first act, opens the doors and lets the bright lobby lights shine in REVEALING the dead body sprinting off stage. 
Arrrrrgh! *You learn to despise those sorts of eager beavers*. 
Toodleoo! 
Ron Hebbard


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## Darin (Feb 4, 2020)

macsound said:


> Would you be able to share your template?
> If you were bringing it up to a production team, what positive qualities would you say it gives them that dance around the possible detriments?
> 
> Thinking of that house manager that always closes the house late, she would obviously be opposed to implementing the procedure. What positive thing would help convince her?



I'll see if I can attach it here later


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## mistyty (Feb 5, 2020)

I am a new theatre teacher who is jumpstarting a tech and acting program at a high school. I am also an AEA SM. Rehearsal reports to me are the key to running a sound production. My stage managing students recently put our rehearsal reports in a google drive that I have shared with crew leads. Now crew can consult their google drives after rehearsal and get their tasks completed before the next rehearsal.


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## Ben Stiegler (Feb 5, 2020)

RonHebbard said:


> * @macsound * Or the impatient FOH Manager who wants to get the audience out to the bars as soon as and for as long as possible and won't wait for the house lights to come up at the end of the first act, opens the doors and lets the bright lobby lights shine in REVEALING the dead body sprinting off stage.
> Arrrrrgh! *You learn to despise those sorts of eager beavers*.
> Toodleoo!
> Ron Hebbard


Imagine a DMX-controlled door interlock (illegal, I know) or at least a cue light letting her know when it's ok to open the lobby. Couple this with a wirelessly controlled solenoid positioned to deflate a tire on said HM's vehicle, and you have the makings of a Skinnerian HM operant conditioning program!


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## RonHebbard (Feb 5, 2020)

Ben Stiegler said:


> Imagine a DMX-controlled door interlock (illegal, I know) or at least a cue light letting her know when it's ok to open the lobby. Couple this with a wirelessly controlled solenoid positioned to deflate a tire on said HM's vehicle, and you have the makings of a Skinnerian HM operant conditioning program!


 *@Ben Stiegler* The group, and the manager of their venue, tried: 
A cue light, a Clear Com handset the (type that's listen only 'til you squeeze the grip) AND stationing an experienced usher
(who'd been ush'ing the production for a week or more and all too well understood the importance of not opening the doors too soon)
immediately inside the double doors of the auditorium intent on keeping the doors closed until the house lights began their 3 second fade up. 

All to practically no avail; the instant the House Manager heard the first clap of applause she'd begin hauling on the doors like she was hauling a molester off her mother's back; it would've taken chains 'n locks cinched tightly around the crash bars to slow the HM down 'n ya gotta know the Fire Marshal'd frown at the sight. 
Some people are just too (dumb / bull-headed / ignorant) *to* (train / employ / trust / reason with) [Insert your choices of terms ) 
Toodleoo! Pavlov had better luck with his dogs. 
Ron Hebbard


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## TimMc (Feb 5, 2020)

RonHebbard said:


> *@Ben Stiegler* The group, and the manager of their venue, tried:
> A cue light, a Clear Com handset the (type that's listen only 'til you squeeze the grip) AND stationing an experienced usher
> (who'd been ush'ing the production for a week or more and all too well understood the importance of not opening the doors too soon)
> immediately inside the double doors of the auditorium intent on keeping the doors closed until the house lights began their 3 second fade up.
> ...



One only needed a bell to ring and some puppy kibble... but sometimes you just have to have the head usher take the HM off to the side with "a really important problem only YOU can fix..." Then ring the bell and toss them the dog treats.


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## AmazonAnnie (Feb 6, 2020)

I work in Community Theatre. I do Rehearsal Reports each show plus Performance Reports.  No one ever asks for them or is interested but they are handy for me (especially the Rehearsal ones!). I've made up my own template (that I continually adjust and refine) copied from those out in the wild (aka the interweb). I don't know of any other SM that does this in the area but I also do all sorts of other forms (script analysis, check lists, enter/exit, LX/FX sheets etc) that are offered to others but rarely taken. Do I get paid? Sometimes an honorarium but I do this for fun! 
~Anne


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## DGotlieb (Feb 6, 2020)

One thing that has streamline performance/rehearsal reports in my theatre where I have teens stage managing shows is I use google forms. I set up a form with all of the relevant fields so the kids can just bring it up on their phone at the end of rehearsal and put everything in and hit send. From there I have an add on (Form Publisher) that takes all the forms submitted and formats it into a traditional report layout and e-mails it to all the relevant staff.

Really easy for my kids. Kind of a pain in the butt for me simply because the add on isn't great and I have to manually redo a lot for each show. But once I do all the steps means it is very easy way to get info with very little training

(if anyone knows a really solid google form add-on to handle this let me know)


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## urban79 (Feb 7, 2020)

Ours is a Google sheet that gets left up through rehearsal so that any of the stage management team can enter things as necessary (we have both a student and adult stage manager). They are saved automatically into a shared google drive that the production staff has access to - granted it doesn't e-mail automatically but they always have access.


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