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It can be hard to find reliable and up-to-date information for young and early-career stage managers. Many books that are on the market are very outdated or aren’t targeted to those who may be in a school or smaller theatre setting. I put together this page to share the resources that I found helpful on my journey and that I still use today. Many of them are well-recognized resources while others are things I’ve only recently come across. Either way, these are valuable resources for any stage manager and will help you develop your unique craft.
Websites & Forums
The Stage Managers’ Association
The SMA provides a network of great connections to all of its members. Through the SMA, you can have access to operation observations (think shadowing a stage manager on your favorite broadway tour!) as well as countless workshops and social events. With a membership, you also get access to their job board (which I use all the time) and a database of uploaded paperwork samples, so you can see what industry professionals from across the country are using to document their shows. The SMA in the United States offers 3 levels of membership: student, associate, and professional. To get a membership, you just have to apply and pay a one-time fee ranging from $37 to $70, and then a yearly renewal fee ranging from $20 to $40. To me, these prices are worth their value, and you can gift a membership to your favorite stage manager! If you are from the UK, there is an SMA for you too! They offer very similar benefits and membership levels. You can check out their website here.
The SMNetwork
I would be in shock if you hadn’t heard of the SMNetwork before coming to this page. This is an online forum made just for stage managers! There is already a massive amount of information discussed in threads on the website, but if you can’t find the information you’re looking for, you can always start a new thread. In addition, if you sign up for a (FREE) membership, you get access to their own paperwork database. I love the SMNetwork because it has the answers to all of my questions, and they are always answered by real industry professionals of all levels of experience.
Backstage.com
This is a great place to search for jobs if you live in or near a big city. However, it is a job search forum for all areas of performing arts, so you’ll have to sift through a few irrelevant job postings to find the stage management jobs. I know several people who have found their next gig on Backstage.com.
Rocky Mountain USITT
I like this page because it has a great collection of paperwork samples for stage managers in theatre and opera. I used a lot of these samples to build my own paperwork templates.
Social Media
Stage Managers Facebook Group
This is a great online community that you should join whether or not you are pursuing stage management as a career or a hobby! This Facebook group is very active with new posts every day. Most of the posts are discussion questions or requests for help from other stage managers, but I have seen and responded to several job postings via this group. As a plus, this is an international group, so you get perspectives from across the globe!
Backstage Theatre Jobs Facebook Group
This is a Facebook Group dedicated to helping you find backstage jobs! It is a more general job-search forum in that it includes job postings for carpenters, lighting techs, etc. in addition to stage management jobs. Be aware, too, that his page originated in the UK theatre community and has migrated to the US, so there are job posting from across the world!
The Young Stage Managers Blog & Facebook Group
This is a brand new blog and Facebook Group dedicated to young stage managers! These two spaces are great for stage managers who are still in school or recently graduated, as you can get advice directly from your peers! The Facebook group is also a great networking tool to get to know people in the upcoming generation of stage managers.
Half-Hour Call
This is a brand new YouTube channel dedicated to making stage management education more accessible to everyone! Half Hour Call’s stage management video course takes you through each step of the stage manager’s process and teaches viewers the fundamentals of stage management with tips a tricks for success in the industry. This channel also features theatre news segments and interviews with professionals and students from across the country, and from a wide range of experience levels.
Nicholas Acciani
This is another YouTube channel dedicated to tech theatre. They have several videos on stage management that I used to watch when I was still a student. This channel is also good for learning about other areas of tech theatre, which I think is important for stage managers to do, as we have to communicate with a diverse group of people who have different skills and knowledge. It helps if we also share some of that knowledge.
Books!
These are the books I have read and recommend to anyone wishing to learn more about stage management on their own. Much of my own knowledge on stage management came from reading books, and I highly recommend reading as much as you can so you can gain a diverse set of tools to use. This list will be updated as I read more books. I also talk about the first three books more in depth here.
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