My Unique Stage Management Path

In my years of working in theatre, I’ve noticed a climate among American theatre makers that pushes a narrow idea of what makes a “good” theatre artist. This narrative often involves participating in your community theatre from a young age or attending a performing arts high school, only to go on to get a BFA in whatever your area of interest is. This narrative also seems to hold living in New York City or Chicago, as well as your union status, as standards from which you can measure your success in the theatre industry. While I don’t think this narrative is truly held by the majority of American theatre makers, I do believe it is one fed to young theatre artists and an idea that lingers within the professional theatre industry. I often compared my own path to parts of this narrative: I felt self conscious every time prospective employers asked about my degree (a B.A. in Theatre & English), and I even felt guilty(?) that I had no intentions of moving to New York and working towards a Broadway production contract, or even joining the Actors’ Equity Association. None of the ideas I was fed about being “successful” in theatre appealed to me, but I knew I wanted to have a career in the theatre industry.

I’m writing this post because I feel that I myself have lead a successful early career as a stage manager (pre-COVID-19), and I did not always follow the idealistic path laid out above. I hope to inspire and comfort other young stage managers who may not have the opportunity to follow this path to “success”, and who may not even want to!

My love for theatre began in a low-income public high school in rural North Carolina. I had signed up for the class on a whim, not knowing that it would lay out the path for the rest of my life. This theatre department was anything but a functioning high-school theatre program. The theatre we created was handmade, grungy, budget-friendly, and raw. Looking back, now having experience in professional theatre, I would describe my high-school’s production process as utterly chaotic. It was always one high school drama teacher trying to wrangle 40 teenagers into a cohesive piece of theatre (sometimes with the help of gracious and over-involved parents). There was absolutely no budget for our shows, so students were in charge of either bringing their own costumes and props, or picking them out of the garage with donated junk piled literally to the ceiling. We rotated out the same set pieces for each show, so all of our productions had the same old, rotting aesthetic to them; basically, we couldn’t do any shows set outside of the late 19th/early 20th century. We may not have learned what a proscenium is, or the difference between additive and subtractive color mixing in light, but we did learn about producing theatre in its barest form, the form it took at its earliest inceptions. We learned about the invisible contract between performer and audience, and the necessity for theatre to not only entertain, but to teach. I was hooked.

Now, despite the chaos, we did always have a stage manager present. As a freshman, I really only saw this person as professional note-taker and backup babysitter for when the teacher had to be out of the room (in all honesty, this is not a false assessment of the stage manager’s duties). It wasn’t until we were sitting in the classroom, gearing up for the next show, that my teacher decided to talk about the array of career paths in the theatre industry. She described the job of the stage manager more in depth, and I knew that’s the part I wanted to play. I signed up to be the stage manager for the next show, and started my stage management education through the books and websites that were available to me. The resources I could remember using the most were the SMNetwork and The Stage Management Handbook. Having no contact with a professional stage manager who could teach me, these resources became important while I taught myself everything I could.

Related: Resources for Stage Managers

I went on to stage manage almost every show my senior year of high school, taking one of them to two separate competitions, and winning awards for my work at both. It wasn’t until the second state competition that I really considered making stage management my career. Unfortunately, I made this realization well into the spring semester: I had already applied to college and was at the crossroads of making a decision. In the end, financial aid was the deciding factor, and I went to the school that offered the most scholarship money. Luckily, this liberal arts college had an established theatre department, so I could continue on my path and get a degree in Theatre. My university offered a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre; the program included a general overview of theatre arts with opportunities for deeper study in my own areas of interest. To complete my degree, I had to take two acting classes, two design classes, and a handful of theatre history and literature classes. I was able to take independent studies in lighting and sound electrics, and I worked in the costume shop all four years. Interestingly, I only took one stage management class throughout my college career. A lot of my stage management education came from production experience and learning from my peers. I started out by assistant stage managing two shows my freshman year; by the end of the spring semester I was the stage manager for our student-choreographed dance concert. At the conclusion of my college career, I had stage managed and assisted on 13 shows, including 4 shows at a local professional theatre company.

In the summer after my freshman year, I was lucky to have gotten a job with RhinoLeap, a brand new theatre company in the area. If I’m being honest, my first show with RhinoLeap was rough, to put it nicely. I had become a stage manager for a touring (t o u r i n g?!?!) show at a professional theatre company with minimal experience, much less working knowledge about typical practices and Equity rules. That being said, I look back on that show with fondness because I learned a lot more about stage management and theatre in two months than I had in my whole freshman year of college. Luckily, they liked me enough to hire me back and I worked with this company over the next four years. While working for RhinoLeap, I learned more about Equity guidelines, working with artists of different backgrounds, and interacting with professional directors and designers. RhinoLeap was the source I needed to supplement my college training. Working with a brand new theatre company came with many challenges, and working through those obstacles ultimately made me a better theatre maker. Much like my college experience, my learning came from diving head-first into the environment rather than being lectured and trained before assuming the position of stage manager.

What I’m trying to illustrate is that my time in college was less about following a track to get credits and earn a degree, and more about seeking out opportunities that would give me the experience I needed to be successful (my definition of successful). While my B.A. Theatre program was less focused and regimented as a typical BFA program, it worked for me because I am a self-motivated person and and I was determined to get the most out of the program. It also gave me a sense of self-worth knowing that the credits on my resume were earned and not assigned: I had to appeal to the program directors each year to get a spot as an ASM or PSM. Only 3 out of the 18 productions I participated in counted as credit hours towards my degree, the rest were voluntary hours I devoted to learning what I could about theatre production. I relied heavily on immersion rather than learning in a classroom, even in my independent studies. And because my program was so small, I was able to take on leadership positions in my freshman year, which I’m not confident I would have been able to do in most other programs.

Most importantly, my Bachelor’s of Arts program fit my needs because I was interested in much more than stage management and theatre production. As I mentioned before, I double majored in Theatre and English, and I loved being an English major just as much as I loved being a Theatre major. Moreover, attending a liberal arts college allowed me to study subjects that interested me outside of a typical theatre degree track, such as philosophy, psychology, and even computer science. I won’t lecture you about how all of these subjects can actually tie into theatre somehow, and you actually should seek out a liberal arts degree as a theatre artist because it will give you an “edge” and make you a more “well-rounded” artist. I really never bought that recruitment tactic nor did I ever care: I didn’t need these other subjects to be “valuable” to my theatre degree. At my heart I am an academic, and I love learning for the sake of acquiring knowledge, and that’s all it took for me to love my Bachelor of Arts degree.

But of course, the journey to becoming a professional stage manager doesn’t stop at getting a degree: I needed an internship, preferably unpaid to show I was truly dedicated to the craft. [edit: these following sentiments come more from the pressures I felt when I was about to graduate, not from true beliefs I hold today. There are so many successful stage managers that never take an unpaid internship! If you are one of those stage managers, or if you’ve felt these same pressures, join the discussion in the comments!] I knew that being on the stage management team for 9 university shows, 4 professional productions, and working in other capacities on countless others wouldn’t convince employers that I knew how to be a stage manager; no, I had to become a slave an intern at a recognized professional company, preferably one associated with LORT. Many students are able to start attending summer internships after their freshman year of college. I couldn’t do that because I was already working with a professional theatre company who was giving me a real life paycheck, and I couldn’t afford to take an unpaid or low-paid internship (if you’ve read this far, you deserve to know that I am dirt poor). So I had to wait until after I graduated. I became a stage management intern for Berkshire Theatre Festival’s 2019 Mainstage season. This magical summer in Western Massachusetts became a defining moment in my journey not because of all the new skills I learned (although there was plenty of that happening), but because of the confidence I gained in my stage management abilities. For someone who has always suffered imposter syndrome, being able to keep up with industry professionals and have them treat me as a collaborator instead of a student really showed me that I was ready to fully step into this career.

Related: The Best Theatres in London

What happened after my summer internship will be confusing for most people, so I’m going to have to take a detour back to the Spring semester of 2017, when I studied abroad in London. I truly could not talk about my theatre journey without talking about the city that would change my career’s entire trajectory. My study abroad program brought me to a mansion in Northwest London where we were given private lectures in Art, History, and (you guessed it) Theatre. For three months I was immersed in the city’s dense culture, going on historical walks, visiting its many (free) art museums, and attending a theatrical performance every week. Not only did I fall in love with London that spring, but I also fell in love with its theatre culture. I discovered what theatre could be when it wasn’t propelled by a capitalist obligation to generate profits (I’m looking at you, American theatre). I soon determined to return permanently.

Flash forward to my senior year and I am accepting a job offer to work for that same study abroad program as the international program assistant, a sort of hybrid teaching assistant and resident assistant position. So, after my internship at Berkshire Theatre Festival, I packed my bags for a second semester in London. This time around, I used my time to volunteer with the Stage Management Association, attend training programs, and generally meet people in the field to ask questions. Equally as important, I used my time in the UK to tour grad schools. I knew getting a graduate degree would be a stepping stone on my stage management journey, especially if I wanted to live and work in the UK. I have always known that I would move abroad ever since my first trip to Europe at age 14, and a Tier 4 student visa is my best shot at achieving that dream. I should also take this time to note that when I graduated, I had an entire year and half’s worth of contracts lined up: after London, I was supposed to work as a stage manager on cruise ships — yet another way I fused my love of theatre with my love of traveling. Now, having been out of freelance work due to the pandemic, the prospect of graduate school gives me something to work towards. I also just look forward to being in school again (is it possible to just be a professional student my whole life?). I’m choosing to get a graduate degree in stage management or something adjacent because I do want more specialized training for my own sake. Maybe some part of me really wants to know what I missed out on from a conservatory program. I’ll be sure to report back.