BWW Blog: Tara Folio - Interrogating the Assassins: The Backstage Beyonce

Sometimes being a theater student can feel like I'm living a double life. I leave for school to be a student from about eight in the morning to five in the afternoon, and then almost immediately after school I arrive in the theater for rehearsal, which can last until about ten at night, or sometimes longer. Between school, rehearsal, my sorority, homework, and just trying to be a normal college student, it's fairly easy to feel overwhelmed a good ninety percent of the day. Most of the time I can never imagine my world as anything but chaotic, but then I remember one person that I know for a fact is always working longer and harder than I am: the Stage Manager of Assassins, Amanda Murphy. Amanda is the ninja that makes sure everything that needs to be done is taken care of, before anyone even realized there was a problem. Just imagine, one person in this cast is responsible for writing the schedules, communicating between the creative teams, taking notes for the director, keeping a eye on the actors, making sure everyone is where they need to be, and making sure everyone knows exactly what they're suppose to be doing. I know that she has about a million more jobs, but in order to actually write everything she's responsible for, I would have to fill up at least three more blog posts. This girl is responsible for all of these tasks in addition to her school work, and she pulls it off flawlessly; she is basically a behind the scenes Beyoncé. I know I can't even begin to fathom what a huge responsibility stage-managing is, so I wanted to hear it from Super Girl herself.

T: So what is your role in this production of Assassins?

A: "I'm the Stage Manager for Assassins, which basically means that I am in charge of everything that happens on stage and backstage. I make sure that everyone is where they're suppose to be, when they're suppose to be there, and that they're doing what they're suppose to be doing."

T: How did you find your knack for stage-managing?

A: "Hmm...let me think of a good answer to this. I did some theater in high school, and eventually I got involved in working backstage, and basically became an Assistant Stage Manager. Later on, I did a bit of directing and really fell in love with the idea of backstage. When I came to Auburn as a Political Science major, I wanted to be involved in the theater, but just kind of on the side. Well we all know theater, you can't do it on the side, it's really all or nothing. Not too long after that, I switch my major so that I could do what I really love to do."

T: What do you think your biggest challenge will be for this process?

A: "For Assassins specifically, it will just be the volume of the show. We have a very large cast and a ninety-minute show with no intermission; everything in the show is big and grand, but that definitely makes it more of a challenge. Everything is done thirty times over, instead of five times over."

T: What is the most rewarding aspect of your job?

A: "I really like the part of my job that involves bringing something to life. We start with just words on a page, and I get to see everyone put so much work into their characters. I see the actors bring everything to the space, and then I get to watch the director create scenes and pictures from scratch. Finally after all of that, we get to add in the technical aspects, which is definitely one of my favorite processes to watch. We create a show that really means something to the audience that is coming to see it."

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