’scuse?

subject: The Musical Theatre Dictionary

what is this?

We here at The MT Dictionary thought that it was about time someone collected all of the lingo that is used in theatrical communities into one place. Ergo, what we have done is provided loose definitions of the best/silliest/fiercest words into our unofficial quasi-alphabetized dictionary. The world of musical theatre is ever evolving, and we don’t claim to have gotten it right on the first try–so please check up with us weekly to see what fun words we have come up with! Also, if you have any words you’d like to contribute or define feel free to drop us a comment here or at our official e-mail address

preface to my comment: I see where the fun could be in this website.

example to my preface:

Annie- noun- Any actor under the age of 14 in a production with you. This term applies to both boys and girls.
Actor: Hey, Annie!
Child Actor: My name’s Joe and I’m playing the Artful Dodger.
Actor: I don’t give a fuck what your name is, just don’t step on my LaDucas again.

Peanut Butter Tone- adjective- When a singer, usually female, sounds as if she has peanut butter spread on the roof of her soft pallet. This can be from vocal damage, strained voice, and improper technique. Peanut Butter Tone usually leads to tinfoil mixing.
I appreciate a unique voice, but I couldn’t get past Heather Headley’s peanut butter tone during the Dreamgirls Actor’s Fund Recording.

comment:

As someone who is:  young, put a lot of regretable comments on the internet, a young theatre patron, a… stage manager, a… person with a soul, I would just like to say a big WTF on behalf of all the stage managers of the world.

reader directions: read this:

Stage Manager-n- Angry women (usually lesbian) who were heavily involved in high school theatre. Their exorbitant passion combined with their minimal theatre skill make them cranky bitches guilty of LaDuca Envy. Pleasant Stage Managers may be found, but are extremely rare.

“Brenda is such a nice person, I can hardly believe she’s a Stage Manager!”

Real cute guys, real cute. Wait you guys have more!

ASM-noun- Abbreviation: assistant stage manager. Otherwise known as “Baby Lesbians in a Power Struggle.”

Yes. Why even bring up the obvious?

And luckily production assistants have remained unscathed by these  wordage devils.

This dictionary is a cute and is hilarious, yes, yet it only perpetuates youthful personality setting stereotypes in theatre. Frankly, my 22 year old ass has grown old of that sort, what can ya do?

One can only hope that the authors of such a website are young. Given there author’s note (see below) I would expect them to be, among other things.

Author’s Note: If the names Elaine Stritch, William Finn, and Lillias White mean nothing to you, please leave immediately. Furthermore if you have never belted–leave now, this is NOT THE PLACE FOR YOU. If you have never watched the Tony Awards, this screen will close immediately. (Okay, we aren’t smart enough to do that but we WILL be getting some techies very soon. Ooooh, we should probably put “techie” into our dictionary.)

Anyway, the purpose of this post is written in hopes to be found by MTDictionary’s authors and for them to know based on my New York experience thus far, the majority of stage managers are A. Men B. Gay C. Very pleasant. Essentially… the opposite of their given definition!

Even if those stereotypes hold true to given definition to define us all in such a negative matter is just immature, lackluster and frankly less funny than there other definitions. And I know funny. And I also know that video link on funny is only funny to three people.

Hope is stage managing this show directed by a good friend of ours. It’s going to a festival in DC. I’m just sorta helping out and looking forward to being on a mini vacation in DC! What theatre should I see in DC/what should I do in DC? Note I grew up in Williamsburg, Va so I’ve definitely done most of the touristy stuff.

I’m Curious– “The Producer shall…”

Right now I, if you hadn’t already figured out, am reading the Actor’s Equity Association Agreement and Rules Governing Employment Under the Off Broadway Agreement. You see, my last PSM on an Off Broadway show handed me this and basically suggests that for someone with a BFA in Stage Management I don’t know enough about the different contracts. To which my response is like, I know right. Need I say more about why I graduated college in 3 years?

Now I’m only on page 22 of reading this agreement and I find I have a lot of questions about these rules that I don’t really have someone to ask without feeling like a total clueless douchebag. So here goes internet lurkers, please take a shot at my questions if you feel so inclined to share your wealth of knowledge.

A.) When the agreement says, “the producer shall…” does this sometimes mean this is something the stage manager should put on their checklist to make sure it gets done? ex. contract signing? The question arises mostly because I know stage managers are always up to date with the fillers about cast changes and costume measuring scheduling… but even those rules say, “the producer shall…”

B.) Having just come off of a Broadway show as a PA with a big name, I vaguely recall hearing the company manager mention how they hadn’t received a contract from (un)said big name(haha). I have a feeling the Broadway and Off Broadway rulings about contracts are pretty equal. Must sign before rehearsing or performing. With large names could such a thing go uncaught? I mean, it’s more than very likely that a contract had been signed and it is was just not part of the paperwork the CM had received but I still wonder.

C.) Do secret ballet votes for the need of new dance shoes really happen? Really? Do they happen? Really. I should really just ask someone on Billy Elliot but, hey internet you are here right now at my fingertips.

Please answer my questions!

Lastly, I respect the wording of the Blacklisting section.

The Geography of Off Broadway.

Tag: what you didn’t learn in school, and todes need to know.

Subject: Off Broadway Agreement — Off Broadway Area

Fact: The Off Broadway Agreement is only applicable to productions presented in the borough of Manhattan, so even though your theater is located in that alley way off of Broad St. in Richmond, Virginia you cannot call it Off Broadway (*cough *Firehouse *cough*).

For those of you who might be confused about the term “borough,” I’ll clarify. I live in Brooklyn. Brooklyn is one of 5 boroughs that give you the right to say, “I live in New York City.” A borough is essentially an administrative way to organize a city (because in America we don’t actually understand the real concept of a governing “state”).

The Actor’s Equity Association Off Broadway Agreement defines the geographical boundaries of Off Broadway. The Off Broadway Agreement states that it’s contract “may not be used in any theatre located in an area bounded by Fifth and Ninth Avenues from 34th Street to 56th Street and by Fifth Avenue and the Hudson River from 56th Street to 72 Street.” See map above.

Fact: Equity can give written permission to allow this contract otherwise, but it may not be used in any theatre having a capacity of more than 499.

Fact: Plays in development are not applicable within this agreement.

Next Post: My personal struggle of understanding  correctly the differences between Production and Special Production and other contracts….. and stuff….

How I get jobs.

I mingle.

I go where invited to go, always.

I talk to my friends about the places they work and if they like the people there, then I send them my information and a brief statement saying, I’m available, here is my resume, please hire me.  I love you.

I read the NYT and the Village Voice and Time Out to find out what plays are getting ready to be produced and I email or mail my resume to those theatres.

Talk about how to succeed in business without really trying.

We live, it’s true.

I must say this blog has fallen by the wayside. I’ve drafted a few posts, none of which ever amounted to anything that could successfully express the things Hope and I have experienced. I guess I will recap…

Hope and I worked together on The Debate Society’s newest piece, Cape Disappointment at P.S. 122. It was awesome and fun on the stage management side. Hope PSMed the show, and I ASMed the show. We have lots of fun stories, and met a lot of cool people during this time. On the being an adult real person side of things, I’m not so sure now how I’m still alive. Hope and I lived here in Brooklyn for nearly two months with nothing but our clothes. Hope had her laptop, which broke during tech of Cape Disappointment. We both were sleeping on air matresses. I had my iPod, moleskin, and a copy of The Bell Jar. Hope was working two jobs, which was obviously stressful and she obviously hated it.

When Cape was over Hope and I got jobs, if I remember correctly, on the same day. It was a rainy day which I was totally unprepared for, and we had dinner at her sister’s house that night. This was roughly a week after Cape closed I guess. My job was just a temperary stint on The American Plan. I got this job because of Facebook. That’s right, Facebook. I don’t remember what show Hope got hired for at this point. Hope’s done/worked on a lot of shows since we’ve been here. Anyway, after my stint at TAP I went home for the holidays, knowing I would return to an off off off broadway production.

When I came back I rented a truck and brought all of my belongings and picked up Hope’s stuff from Richmond. Hope was working, and got several job offers, quit her second non-theatre job, and now has been working on the same pretty bombass project. I had a month off before my off off off broadway production started. I was freaking out about money, but because I bought groceries in bulk before I came back I was actually okay. I did that show. Immediately following I started the Frigid festival which Hope also worked on, while doing her other shows. During this festival I had three interviews.

Now, here lies the most important lesson about growing up. Say yes to every job you get when you first move here, but be cautious and always carry a calendar. Of the three interviews I had during the festival, I BOMBED one due to late running trains and me showing up 20 minutes late. And scored on the other two.

I was offered a long run PSM position on Galileo, I turned this down. They were only offering 500 dollars and no EMC points, though this is show I want to do, it was a PSM position, and everyone seems cool and the company was legit. I REALLY wanted to do this job, but following the off off off Broadway show I did for not enough money, I could NOT bring myself to say yes.

The other job I was offered, I actually took. This job seemed to be with a cool company. I had a great time at the interview. They were offering EMC points. They knew famous people. It still wasn’t a lot of money, but it was more money. It was also as an ASM with a PSM who seemed legit. The same day I took this job, I got a call from a stage manager on Broadway that I had wanted to have drinks with. He said his PA quit because he got a promotion on Guys and Dolls. He asked if I wanted to meet and interview. OBVS. I called the other company and told them a job had come up, then I suggested they contact Hope. They told me to have Hope email them if she was interested. She did, and it looks like she is going to be their ASM. I hope it works out to be worth it and cool. They seemed so nice, and the company seemed put together. I went to the meeting and was hired on the spot to be the PA for The Philanthropist.

Whew. A job with stability.

There is the recap.

Things are crazy. Stage managing in New York City is harder than anywhere else, and it’s all because of things you can’t control, like the weather, or transportation. Living in Brooklyn does not help your work, but it does help the wallet. I really feel like Hope and I are ahead of the game for having just graduated. We’ve done some pretty cool stuff.

I can’t believe we’ve lived here 4 months.

Why two strong-willed girls can move to NYC with no money or fear

Last year I stage managed Volume of Smoke and it was one of the most important events of my life. I met Clay and Isaac, and through them Shelley and I got internships at the Crown Point Festival. We left school for a month – I had $140 to my name – and slept on people’s floors.

On the chinatown bus from DC to NY, Shelley and I laughed about how leaving the safety of school with no money and no place to sleep was probably a horrible decision. We were busted and broke the whole time. I lived off of my sister’s diet coke and the one provided meal a day. We did all right, we made it to the end, and came back to Richmond a different version of ourselves.

Shelley and I talk a lot about ideals-is it better to hate your show but do legit stage management (as we were trained) or make cool theatre and live with makeshift, ghetto stage managing?

We don’t know, but we plan on spending a significant portion of the future finding out.

So I took a job working with the Debate Society and we are moving in 1 month. Just like last October, we are taking a scary leap and hoping that it pays off.

As much as we want to plan our plans, organize our thoughts, and keep putting it off as we are wont to do, we both know that this is the right time. It’s now or never!!

And if we can’t get jobs, and we crawl back to Va with our tails between our legs, well I bet we had a great time failing. Lucky for me and Shel, we always have each other.

-Hope

Me and Shelley backstage at CPF

A First…

So, as I previously talked about… I did get a stage management job, and it’s keeping me in my hometown–living with my parents (blurgh) for a little while. I am making BANK! though.

Anyway, Sunday, when I went in to set up for the day I uncovered the sound board to find a mouse and it’s nest made out of park napkins/paper. GROSS. Anyway, that’s a first… haha.

A Code to Stage Manage By.

Keep interested in your own career however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time. Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full of heroism.

 

– DESIDERATA — Max Ehrmann –

What are your strongest stage management traits?

I think they can be a plethora of things, since SMing requires so. many. skills.

Personally, I think that my instincts and personality are my best SM qualities. My brain isn’t as hyper-organized as I would like it to be, so I’m blessed that Shelley and I are teamed up. I also create mad awesome paperwork.

What about you guys?

Remember, no stage manager is perfect. That’s why we have chocolate.