Interview: Tech Talk with Stage Manager Rachel Dendy

Stage Manager... it is one of those credits in your theatre program that you take for granted without ever really thinking about just what that title entails. Stage management, at the core, is the organizing and coordinating of a theatrical production. The words organizing and coordinating encompass a wide variety of activities between director, crew, actors and management. In short, Stage Managers coordinate every aspect of a production, ensuring a successful performance. In our continuing series of interviews with Austin Technical Theatre people, we sat down recently with Stage Manager Rachel Dendy to give our readers a look backstage into a world most audiences never see.

BWW: Can you give our readers a little background on you?

RD: Sure! I started theater when I was in high school back in the tiny north-central Texas town where I grew up. After that I did community theater & college shows until I moved to Austin in 2004 to go to St. Edward's. Since then I've moved up the ranks from stage hand and board op to stage and tour management, performing in plays and musicals all the while.

BWW: Why did you get into stage management?

RD: I had been working backstage almost every show for a while with a local theater, slowly getting more responsibility. It seemed like the next step, and suddenly I was in demand in the community in a way I hadn't been as an actor. It was something I didn't think I could do, so it was exhilarating to just get in there and do it.

BWW: Where in Austin have you stage managed? Outside of Austin?

RD: Oh, wow. Memory lane. I started here in Austin, and most everything I've done has been here. First show was at Austin Playhouse, then branched out to Trouble Puppet, paper chairs, Physical Plant, Glass Half Full, Hidden Room, and lately I've been stage and tour managing for The Intergalactic Nemesis. There have been black boxes, wood shops and Masonic halls along the way.

BWW: What is your training?

RD: My degree is in Arts Administration - I never got the chance to take a stage management class. Mainly, I watched and listened to the stage managers I worked under, and once I was managing, talked to my directors about what they wanted and expected from their manager.

BWW: Do you have mentors or influences?

RD: Barry Miller! He's amazing. That man is so capable, so easy to be around, and handles difficult or stressy situations with so much grace. Also Dani Pruitt, who is almost spooky in her ability to anticipate the needs of people and shows.

BWW: When you sign on to stage manage for a show, where do you start?

RD: If it's your first time working with a group, it's a good idea to sit down with the director and learn exactly what they're looking for in a manager, and how they like the process to go. Some folks really just want somebody to write down the blocking and get everybody to rehearsal on time. Other folks want more or different things. Find their wavelength, and the rest of the job gets MUCH easier.

BWW: What resource, if any, do you consider your bible? Do you have a template that you use show to show?

RD: I've got rehearsal and show reports I use, and when I'm advancing a show for tour I have a series of templates for emails and phone call outlines I use. Most of these are awesome hand-me-downs I've gotten from other people and adapted them for my own use.

BWW: How much do your duties change from production to production? I know some directors like the stage manager to call all the cues for a show and some don't... what do you find to be the norm for most?

RD: Like I said earlier, everybody's got their own vibe, their own way of doing things. Pretty much across the board, you're going to be coordinating between director, designers, and performers; informing everyone of and enforcing schedules; calling breaks and taking notes at rehearsal; setting up, keeping folks abreast of time, working with box office, and generally running the backstage world on show days. Also, being a general hub for knowledge & answering questions. You're kind of the Communication/Information/Time Czar of the show.

BWW: Do you usually schedule and run rehearsals for a production?

RD: The directors I've worked with typically schedule rehearsals themselves, so they know they've got time to accomplish everything they need to. Then it's my job in rehearsal to eliminate obstacles to accomplishing everything they set out to do.

BWW: How often do you find yourself as the liaison between director and designer?

RD: Austin theater is a small town, so much of the time the directing team and the design team are already friends and those wheels are greased, so it's just about getting them in the room together to make it happen. I haven't had to deal with much in the way of folks on each side not cooperating. If there is mistrust or miscommunication, you just have to make sure each side gets heard and come to a solution that everybody can live with.

BWW: What is your basic schedule, from being signed onto a show through opening night?

RD: For a scripted show, it typically goes:

- Get a schedule together.

- Get the creative team together.

- Start rehearsals, involving the whole team along the way.

- Tech rehearsals and cue-to-cue, usually getting into the space you'll use around this time. This is when your design elements come together. It is a magical and ridiculous time.

- Rehearse as many times as you can with all of the elements together until you need to start showing it to people.

BWW: What does your schedule run like for a performance from cast call through the entire show?

RD: For an average performance:

- Get there, unlock everything & start setting up, usually about an hour and a half before showtime.

- Performers, crew and box office/house management arrive usually an hour before showtime. Make sure everybody's ok and have what they need to get to work.

- Keep everybody posted on how long until the show starts. Get the theater ready for folks to start coming in by 15 'til or so. Coordinate with the box office folks and/or house manager on opening the house.

- After house opens, finish anything backstage that needs doing, and check in often with the box office or house manager so you know when the audience is all there and you can start the show.

- Once the attendees are there, accounted for, or given up on, things move really fast - tell everybody you're starting, and get the show on the road!

- Sometimes I run all video/lights/sound myself for the show. If not, I would let my operators know when to hit each cue. Make note of anything that goes wrong or breaks.

- After the show, make sure the audience gets out ok, and check in with the performers to make sure everything is alright. Clean up to the specifications of the space you're in and maybe start setting up for the next show. Lock up once everybody else is out. If that company is into it, fill out a performance report and send it.

BWW: When is your schedule the busiest?

RD: Starting at tech/load-in, up to opening night. Every time, no exceptions.

BWW: Most audience members aren't even aware of what a stage manager does. Do you often participate in production meetings and/or design meetings? How do you prepare for meetings? What do you bring to the team at the start?

RD: I usually am there for design and production meetings, but mostly to take notes, and to find ways to help out and better coordinate between people. I make sure to have the schedule on hand, since we often end up scheduling more meetings any time we have a meeting. At the start, I'm really a coordinator; basically making sure everybody knows what's going on.

BWW: What are the biggest challenges you find in being a stage manager?

RD: Relentless organization and keeping on top of everything can be tricky when you get really busy. It's also hard to miss everybody else's work while you're doing your own!

BWW: What are your three favorite productions you've stage managed and why are they your favorites?

RD: In Nemesis, the show I'm touring, I actually run the light board and run video from the stage! It's really fun, and the only show I've heard of that is built like that, so I'm enjoying it immensely. I also really loved managing Adam Sultan, this really beautiful love letter to the community. (Remember all those jars you put meaningful theater items in a while back? That show.) I got to see it through the workshop into a full production, which I'd never gotten to do before. Don't make me choose a third - Art Show/Model Show was my first time working with folks to devise a show, which was tough and amazing. Dug Up was so beautifully and thoughtfully written, executed and directed that most of the time I was just glad to be in the room. Woodwork was in an active millworks! I'll stop.

BWW: Is there anything else you'd like to share with the readers of Broadway World?

RD: The next time you're at a show and everybody motions up to the booth at curtain call, now you know why! Maybe clap for them, and then buy them a beer.

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