At the center of almost every live performance is a single human being who quite literally runs the show: the stage manager. This course will explore the stage manager’s role as both an artist and an administrator, using the SM’s wide-ranging responsibilities as a roadmap to understanding the production process and all the people involved in it. Through readings, discussions, and projects students will learn the basic skills of stage management: scheduling, technical breakdowns, blocking notation, understanding design drawings, managing rehearsals, creating a prompt book, calling cues, and running a show. Special attention will be paid to communication and collaboration, as well as the stage manager’s unique ability to influence the culture of a production in terms of ethics, equity, and inclusion. This course is recommended for anyone interested in understanding all that goes into making a performance happen, and will be especially useful for directors, choreographers, designers, technicians, and managers for dance and theater.
Learning Outcomes:
•Become familiar with the production process and the roles of the people involved in creating a performance
•Understand the responsibilities of the stage manager and the value of effective service and leadership in collaborative art-making
•Design and generate paperwork to organize artistic work flow and communicate complex information
•Verbally call a sequence of lighting, sound, and/or video cues in the context of a performance
Delivery Method: Fully in-person
Course Level: 2000-level
Credits: 2
W 10:00AM - 11:50AM (Full-term)
Maximum Enrollment: 20
Course Frequency: Once a year
Categories: 2000 , All courses , Dance , Drama , Fully In-Person , Two Credit
Tags: arts administration , backstage , collaboration , dance , drama , management , performance , production