One of the things I love about going to school at Krannert is the opportunity to work event calls as an 'Events Stage Manager.' This translates mostly to artist relations and front of house communication from backstage. Every once in a while there are lights to turn on and off, and a preshow announcement to make. Yet, more often than not, once the artist is onstage, it's time to enjoy the show from the wings.
Some of my favorite event calls have included the Reduced Shakespeare Company's 'The Complete World of Sports (abridged)', Nick Offerman's 'American Ham Tour,' and Compagnia TPO's 'Bleu.'
Yet, the funniest story by far comes from last week's Opera Studio event call. I was brought on to event SM their rendition of 'Love Games,' a new musical by Joseph Turrin. This call was different, however, to the tune of 70 light cues on a 7 slider system (no GO button for this backstage). It certainly was a fun challenge to be brought in the last dress rehearsal before opening night.
The funniest moment of the night came because there were multiple cues where I had to see the action downstage in order to call, yet I had neither a monitor nor x-ray vision to see through the proscenium arch. This meant a performer on the opposite side of the stage had to cue me from the wings - another difficult sight conundrum. So, I handed over my Life Gear 4 in 1 LED Glow Stick (which I may be incredibly fond of) so the blue glow stick could be used to cue me.
This would have been fine.....except the performer cuing me had a quick change, and the person she handed the cuing task off to decided raving with the glow stick was the best way to cue me.
Once we got past the confusion, laughter, and guess of cue placement, I looked over to the lighting designer who was keeping me company and simply asked, 'so where in the rave do I take the cue?'
Some of my favorite event calls have included the Reduced Shakespeare Company's 'The Complete World of Sports (abridged)', Nick Offerman's 'American Ham Tour,' and Compagnia TPO's 'Bleu.'
Yet, the funniest story by far comes from last week's Opera Studio event call. I was brought on to event SM their rendition of 'Love Games,' a new musical by Joseph Turrin. This call was different, however, to the tune of 70 light cues on a 7 slider system (no GO button for this backstage). It certainly was a fun challenge to be brought in the last dress rehearsal before opening night.
The funniest moment of the night came because there were multiple cues where I had to see the action downstage in order to call, yet I had neither a monitor nor x-ray vision to see through the proscenium arch. This meant a performer on the opposite side of the stage had to cue me from the wings - another difficult sight conundrum. So, I handed over my Life Gear 4 in 1 LED Glow Stick (which I may be incredibly fond of) so the blue glow stick could be used to cue me.
This would have been fine.....except the performer cuing me had a quick change, and the person she handed the cuing task off to decided raving with the glow stick was the best way to cue me.
Once we got past the confusion, laughter, and guess of cue placement, I looked over to the lighting designer who was keeping me company and simply asked, 'so where in the rave do I take the cue?'
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