PERSONNEL

Question: Who is the director? Have you worked with this person before? Has the theatre?

Question: Who are the designers? Have you worked with any of these people before? Have they worked together? For this theatre? With this director?

If you are new to this company or department, it will be helpful to be aware of existing relationships. If your director is familiar with the company’s procedures, you will be able to focus on communicating reminders of deadlines rather than explaining why they exist. If they have worked in the theatre before, blocking in a rehearsal room can be developed with a better understanding of available backstage space. Designers who are resident to the theatre or are frequent guests will also have expectations about what is possible, what exists in stock, or other considerations.

But in addition to pre-existing knowledge about the logistics, prior working relationships will affect how the players communicate with one another and, therefore, how you can best facilitate this dialogue. Team members with many successful shows together may have developed shortcuts in their pattern of information exchange—nicknames for people or units, and discussions filled with references to past shows. If you are the newcomer, it will be important to do some homework so that you can better understand this vernacular. This might mean looking at photos or paperwork of these past productions, getting background from a third party, or at times asking specifically for clarification. You won’t want to assume you know what someone means and then transmit this information to someone else, only to find you’ve misunderstood a reference. Conversely, team members may feel they worked together so well in the past that they know what one another is thinking and do not need to convey details or ask as many questions. The stage manager needs to remain the conduit for consistent, clear information, despite this familiarity, to help avoid problems later on.

These prior relationships, however, may not necessarily have been positive ones. Negative past experiences, if allowed to fester, can easily taint this new production. Without engaging in gossip, see what you can learn. A designer who missed many of the deadlines set by the theatre in the past may have been given earlier due dates for drawings or paperwork this time around to build in a buffer. And while this might seem unimportant to you, if meeting those deadlines requires seeing a run-through of the show prior to a certain date, for example, it will be helpful to know this at the beginning so the rehearsal schedule can accommodate this need. If your director was unhappy with the execution of a design element in the past, he or she may make comments during rehearsal and ask that these dictates be included in a rehearsal report in a very specific way. As the stage manager, you will need to focus on separating information from the tone in which you received it.

LOCATION

Question: Where will the show perform? Where will it rehearse? If these are two different locations, will there be rehearsals on the set prior to tech?

If you are unfamiliar with your rehearsal space or the theatre itself, go see them! If the rehearsal space is smaller than the theatre, you may have to make some compromises when marking the groundplan of the set in tape on the rehearsal room floor. You will want to ask the director about this before you begin, so that you don’t find yourself re-taping the set at the end of the first rehearsal. It will also be important to know if the SM team can leave tables and furniture set up overnight, if there is a sound system in place for rehearsal cues, if there is a green-room space for actors, and other such details.

Once you have some basics under your belt, turn your focus to the show itself. This will have two parts—dates and details related to the production, and information contained in the script.

THE PRODUCTION CALENDAR VERSUS THE ACTOR CALENDAR

Take a look at the page from a season calendar presented in Figure 3.1. It contains production information for two overlapping shows in two different theatres. As the stage manager for Twelfth Night, you are most concerned with the details for that show. But if you share personnel with the production of Galoshes running at the beginning of the month, you can identify this as a time when those designers and technicians will have a decidedly split focus—and your show is probably not the priority. You do not need to do anything with this information now, but will want to remember it as that time approaches. (Note: Galoshes refers to a children’s production of Galoshes of Fortune performed in the theatre’s other performance space.)

The calendar outlines for you many important production details in your direct purview: deadlines for adding props and sound cues, crew meetings, and pre-scheduled runs of the show. If everyone on your production team has this general calendar, you may not need to recreate one for them. But make a note of these details so that you can help your team meet these deadlines.

Even if you could get access to the original file and delete the items not specific to your show, this would not be a good version of the calendar to distribute to your cast, however. It does not contain specifics about rehearsal. And simply replacing the Galoshes details with your rehearsal schedule will not create a usable document. You would end up with a calendar so overloaded with information that it would be difficult to navigate. It may be possible to make your font size small enough to fit everything in, but at what cost? If the calendar is too difficult to read, many won’t invest time to do so. Instead, take the relevant details from this production calendar and create a version better suited for the actors.

Now evaluate actor calendar in Figure 3.2. You will notice several differences right from the start. First, this calendar has been set up to include the entire rehearsal and performance period on a single page, from mid-October to mid-December. Second, each rehearsal has a specific time. Items such as the Senior Shows, seemingly unrelated to Twelfth Night on the production calendar, do in fact impact rehearsal times. You will be scheduling around them. So they are worth including. The designer run on November 15 is an important landmark for the actors because it will be the first full run of the show, so it is transferred, as are notations of holidays and daylight-savings time. But you also want to include dates not appropriate for the general production calendar such as the off-book deadlines on November 16 and 18, which you learned from the director.

This is an ideal amount of information to provide actors at the beginning of the process, starting at auditions. Obviously, it does not have enough specifics to guide the work for individual nights of rehearsal. It is not attempting to do so. Once rehearsals begin, the stage manager will create subsequent weekly or daily rehearsal calls to communicate those specifics. Even if you have them at this point, they are not necessary inclusions.

FORMATTING THE CALENDAR

It may seem obvious, but the most important formatting consideration for a calendar is that it looks like a calendar! This means clearly identified months, weeks, and days. Whether you are creating a single page for each month or a multi-month calendar for your entire production process, both calendars make this information available and clear. To help denote that our sample actor calendar contains multiple months, simple shading has been used.

A typical Equity work week is six days, traditionally Tuesday through Sunday, with Monday as the day off. It may be tempting to move the Monday column to the far left so that each row of the calendar is a single work week for your show. But what happens when an actor takes your calendar and compares it to a work calendar or even a personal calendar? Ultimately this will create more confusion than you intend. Visually the two will not line up, and the difference between an activity happening on a Tuesday versus a Wednesday could be quite problematic if misread.

Another visual aid is at play in the actor calendar, particularly during the performance weeks. Activities occur during two major blocks of time—during the day and at night. Evening performances are lined up lower in the cells than matinee performances, with the morning high school matinee placed above them all. Deadlines are listed above call times to keep them separate, also distinguished by one of the few uses of all capital letters. Italics are also used for other things of note that are important but not about the production.

The stage manager will find that the calendar is one of the most frequently needed items. You will print or copy it often. And because of this, color is often a poor formatting choice. At the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, the production calendar is primarily distributed electronically and is uploaded to two different theatre websites. It is printed and officially posted in only two locations. The calendar contains information for seven different productions as well as department events and holidays. The volume of information, and the fact that it is not routinely sent through a copier, makes the use of color appropriate to help differentiate the categories. Were this document primarily duplicated and distributed in hard copy, the color distinctions would be less effective. The department would either make different choices to separate individual categories of information or reluctantly accept that the printed version will always be less accessible than the electronic copy. In contrast, the actor calendar—almost exclusively shared in printed form—utilizes font style for emphasis. This is appropriate based on its distribution method.

CONTENT CONSIDERATIONS

Much like the full production calendar, the character/scene breakdown is a detailed document. It is intended to present a comprehensive look at when the actors will appear on stage. Your key challenge as a stage manager is to make the breakdown easy to navigate, since you will intentionally include a great deal of information.

The breakdown is best organized as a chart. The use of defined rows and columns will enable you to be consistent in how you enter the specifics. This is not a case where you are striving for someone to quickly glance at the paperwork and learn what they need to know—here you are trying to consolidate many facts in a single location.

Scenes Versus Pages

It would, of course, save you both time and paper to include only columns for the individual scenes rather than a page-by-page listing. But as was true for listing only character names, this would require you to omit some information.

Observe the detail provided in the Twelfth Night breakdown for the five male ensemble cast members excerpted in Figure 3.5. All five appear in Scene One, Scene Two, or both. A breakdown organized by scene would provide the bare minimum of information. The stage manager might guess that fast costume changes would be required but would not know exactly when.

The page-by-page listing shows us that Austin and Luke are on stage at the end of Scene One, entering late into Scene Two after a potential costume change. In contrast, Brian exits early from the first scene and appears at the top of Scene Two. We can now tell that any costume changes will take place very close to one another as well as very quickly (a single page each) but not all simultaneously. The stage management team can see it will need to spend time asking questions about this part of the show early in the rehearsal process and work with the costume shop to prepare the actors and backstage areas.

In this production, the actors helped to transform the stage by moving scenic pieces on and off the stage. The breakdown also facilitates identifying the most logical actor to help strike scenery (Don) or bring on new pieces (Jacob). Although both actors play multiple roles, neither will be involved in a costume change during this shift. And while it is not your job to dictate these decisions to the production team, you need to be prepared to answer questions about available actors when the director or scenic designer asks.

The stage manager virtually never has input into the crew hired for a show, but is sometimes asked about the production’s needs while that crew is assembled by the technical director or production manager. If we continue to follow the rows across the page, we can see that three of the ensemble men will need to change back before reappearing on stage in Scene Four. But unlike the first change, they now have an entire scene five pages long to do so. The costume crew will need to efficiently reset the costumes after the fast changes, but may not need to provide assistance this time—freeing them for other duties that may be required and impacting the potential number of technicians.

Key

Organizing the breakdown by page means that the stage manager can detail not only who is in a scene but also when they enter and exit, if they appear on stage but do not speak, if they sing from the wings, and other specific details. The character/scene breakdown can be thought of as a map of the script and, as such, needs a key (Figure 3.6). This ensures that everyone reading the document can understand it.

A simple X will suffice for making entries for principal characters playing a single role—we need to know only if the character is present. Our multi-role ensemble members need a bit more detail. The simplest way to achieve this is to replace the X with a role-specific letter abbreviation (one that should coordinate with your blocking key).

Why note something like “hiding”? To ensure that no one is omitted from a rehearsal call. When flipping quickly through the script, it might be possible to forget that someone is onstage if the character has not spoken for several pages. That character may, however, still have an important function in the scene. By noting the actor is present but silent, the stage manager is prepared to ask the director if the actor should be called for a particular rehearsal. The focus of that day—blocking versus text work, for example—may prompt different answers from the director.

As you gain experience, you will develop a method to transition with you from show to show, but be ready to address each production’s new requirements, and be willing to add or adapt your previous documentation.

FORMATTING THE BREAKDOWN

As mentioned earlier, this breakdown is best formatted as a chart. Depending on the stage manager’s software savvy, it can be done in either a spreadsheet or word-processing table. Both provide the separation into rows and columns necessary to navigate the details.

This chart is laid out in landscape format, providing the stage manager sufficient room for the scene details, the two-column cast listing, and a reasonable number of script pages to be laid out horizontally. There is also room for the key, page numbers, and version information while still maintaining enough white space so the document is not overwhelming.

Look at the difference were the document to be set up in portrait format as seen in Figure 3.7. By the time the chart heading information is repeated, the page has become crowded and more difficult to read. It might be possible to squeeze a few more individual pages of the script onto this page of the chart, but the stage manager does so at the expense of accessibility.

To make enough room for the necessary number of rows, their height has been decreased, crowding the text. In order to maintain minimal margins on right and left, Scene Five no longer fits on a single page. This would mean either repeating the scene heading information on the next page or paginating the document such that all of Scene Five falls on page two, leaving a large empty space at the bottom of page one. For shows with cast sizes similar to ours, there is little benefit to choosing the portrait orientation.

That does not mean that the portrait-oriented breakdown will never be the best choice. For a show with a much larger cast like the musical Big Fish, maintaining landscape orientation would mean that you could not fit all of the characters on a single page. Remember what we saw with our calendar—if the information is not accessible, it is like you haven’t provided it at all.

Guiding the Eye

Whenever you are creating a document intentionally filled with detail, it is essential to help the reader navigate it. An unshaded chart is devoid of focus, and people receiving this breakdown will have to work to find the information they are looking for. Simply by introducing shading, you help focus the reader’s eye.

This breakdown uses vertical shading to help distinguish individual scenes. The reader can easily find the relevant scene and then locate the actor in question. You can now see why we repeated the page numbers. Because the duplicates fall into different shading zones, it is not distracting. But we have avoided having to do one more formatting step by splitting those cells and trying to line up the outside margins.

Consider the alternative offered by the chart in Figure 3.8. In this case, the shading separates individual actors. And while it may be simpler to follow the rows across the page, it is more difficult to find where scenes begin and end. And overall, the “striped” version is busier. We haven’t helped the reader’s eye—we have added a layer of distraction.

The scene distinction is further reinforced by merging cells at the top of the page. Notice that the cells above pages three through five are merged into one. This instantly identifies them as a single scene, and, as a bonus, gives you a bit of extra room for your text.

EXTRA CONSIDERATIONS FOR THE MUSICAL

When stage managing a musical, the stage manager will have two “scripts” to consider—the libretto and the score. No matter what form the script in your prompt book takes, it is essential that you are able to communicate with everyone. You will need to know both scenes and songs, and page numbers in both of these books.

The Big Fish character/scene breakdown shows you how to incorporate this additional information. It will affect both content and format. Because the actors and director work primarily from the libretto, those page numbers are located on the top. And because this musical has defined scenes, they are clearly delineated with the same cell merging and shading we saw in the play breakdown.

Music-specific information is found at the bottom of the chart. Just as we did for scene details, cells are merged to help distinguish individual songs, identified both by song number and title. Score pages are included, and, by placing them below the song titles, they are easy to read and not lost in the chart.

Notice what happens when a song is short. A single cell is far too small to say “#3A I Know What You Want Reprise.” Rather than repeating the libretto page numbers or increasing the width of the column solely for the sake of making room for the full title, the stage manager has opted to include only the song number. It is short enough to fit, and logical because the composer’s numbering automatically implies a relationship to the previous song.

Not all musicals have the traditional book format. Consider a musical like Rent with no formal scenes within the acts. In this case, the script divisions—and likely the rehearsal schedule—will be based on songs. The Rent example in Figure 3.10 shows the songs now in a place of prominence at the top of the chart.

Because there is only one row devoted to text-based subdivisions of the play, the page numbers in libretto and score have also been placed closer together. Separating them at the top and bottom of the page isn’t necessary in this instance. But there are formatting tricks still at work. The score page line is in italics, giving it visual distinction from the libretto page line. And further clarity comes from centering the page numbers so that they are not directly in line with the row below.

DISTRIBUTION

The character/scene breakdown is a document you are likely to distribute both electronically and in hard copy. This means you will need to keep both sets of distribution rules in mind.

Production team members are overrun with paper, and, while the breakdown will be a useful document, it is not something they will look at every day. Sending it out via email or posting it on a show website will help ensure they can find it when they need it. So remember the electronic rules and consider the following:

The PDF is the best choice for this document. You can guarantee that everyone will receive the information as you intend. And as a bonus, it doesn’t matter if the computer is Mac or PC, new or old.

A third factor supporting the PDF is its usability. The character/scene breakdown is not an interactive document. You don’t actually want anyone other than the SM team to make changes on their own. It’s too complex a document to have multiple versions being independently edited. The PDF (with version number and date) creates a snapshot of what you know on the day it is created. Once changes have happened in rehearsal, you can update the document and email or post a new version.

But remember that your actors are much more likely to read something you put in their hands. They will want a printed version. This makes it much easier for them to study it in conjunction with their script. So once you are done with the chart and think you have found a good font at a good size, appropriate shading, and well-balanced rows and columns, print out a page and send it through the copier. If it still communicates the information as effectively as the original, you have found a winning combination.

SHOW INFORMATION

General thoughts. Before launching into your list of questions, allow the director to talk about the show in general terms. The focus of the director’s comments can tell you which characters, scenic elements, or moments in the play they consider the most important. This can guide you later on as you schedule time for rehearsing that scene or consider how to word a note in a report.

Specific details. Get clarification about the questions in your production analysis. Now is when you can discover if the gunshot should be live or recorded, and if that has been discussed with the production team yet. Are there aspects of the show that will be different from other productions and necessitate rehearsal time, or items not immediately clear when reading the script? Do you need information to help you complete your character/scene breakdown? Do you need information about audition materials?

Current needs. Is the director waiting for information from any member of the production team that you can help acquire? Which pieces of your preliminary paperwork would the director like to see? To see before distributed to others?

Rehearsal hours. In an academic setting, this would be the general rehearsal hours (if not standardized) and any planned deviations from that schedule. In an Equity setting, this would include preferences for the short or long day, if allowed under your contract.

Overall plan for rehearsals. Will the director begin with a read-through of the show? Will there be any days devoted to table work? How does the director approach blocking—putting a show quickly up on its feet or taking time for exploration before setting the movement? When should the actors be off-book? When does the director hope to see actors working with props? If this is a musical, how will the need for music, staging, and choreography rehearsal time be balanced?

Breaks and time. Will the director create a detailed schedule for the process or communicate priorities and let you work out the details? Does the director have a preference for five- or ten-minute breaks? How should you notify him or her when the break is due: a reminder slightly in advance or stopping rehearsal and calling it on your own? If a scheduled rehearsal is running past its allotted time, should you let the rehearsal continue or alert the director?

The room. Does the director have preferences for how the room is set up? If the complete groundplan cannot be taped on the floor, is there an area best omitted or condensed?

Guests and visitors. Are rehearsals closed? Are there any specific periods of time when even production team members might be asked not to stop by?

Special needs. Are there specific items the director likes to have in rehearsal? This could range from dramaturgical reference materials to a favorite snack food on stressful days.

Allow yourself sufficient time for the meeting and choose a location free from distraction. You hope to receive the director’s full attention as you ask questions, and you certainly don’t want to be distracted yourself by the surroundings. At the end of the meeting, be clear about your next steps. If you promise to get information for the director or provide copies of your paperwork, do so promptly. If the director needs to provide things for you, determine if a reminder is warranted. Some directors may request a call or email—especially if they are working on multiple shows. Others may find this just a bit too micromanaging. And if you cannot tell what is needed, there is never harm in sending a quick email after the meeting to thank the director for making time for you and reiterating how much you are looking forward to the show. Even without listing the things you are waiting for, this may be enough of a reminder!

WORKING WITH THE PROP LIST

The samples here are preliminary versions of a prop list, prepared before rehearsals begin. Given the range of personnel who will need a copy, neutral choices in font and layout are made to maximize readability on any computer. But because this is also an interactive document, it is not shared in PDF form. Doing so would preserve the formatting details as this technique did for the character/scene breakdown, but it would make it more difficult for others to update it. As mentioned in Chapter 1, the prop list is one of the best candidates for a Google Doc, or to live in a Dropbox folder.

THE AUDITION FORM

The stage manager’s primary tool for capturing information about the potential cast is the audition form. Like the prop list, many theatres have specific documents they prefer to use. In an academic setting, this is often standardized paperwork that may include releases you are required by the university to collect. In a professional setting, actors represented by agents who schedule auditions for them may not fill out a form at all but simply provide a resume and headshot.

If you are creating the audition form, focus on collecting several necessary types of information: basic contact and descriptive information about the actor, answers to show-specific questions, and details about schedule and potential conflicts. Figures 3.14 and 3.15 demonstrate a way to capture the necessary facts in a two-sided form. The stage manager may not have much time to review the forms during the audition day, but, if possible, you should get them back from the director prior to callbacks. That way you can determine if any of the information provided was unclear—or omitted—and get a second chance to obtain those details before casting begins and missing information is problematic.

The formatting needs of the audition form are simple: present the information requests clearly and provide sufficient room for the replies. Actors should know what is being asked, and the director should easily find the answers. The concept of white space is perhaps the most important formatting principle in this situation. Take a second look at the section of the sample form where show-specific details for Big Fish are sought. The two questions to be answered may be in bold, but the space around the questions contributes to the legibility as well. Reducing the white space might make room for the résumé information at the bottom of the front side, leaving a larger area on the back for the director’s comment box. That could seem like a useful choice. But consider the importance of those show-specific questions. One is related to the start date of rehearsals, and the other to a remount of the show. The answers to both of these questions will impact many more people than just you and the director, and obtaining clear and accurate information up front is a priority.

If a single show is holding auditions, then the stage manager is done thinking about the form at this point. But if multiple shows will audition at once—common in academic settings—then the participating stage managers should consider the best way to get forms to all directors involved. Each will want to review the actor’s details, and record notes on the form. It is impractical for them to share, or to wait until the end of the night to receive paperwork. One choice would be to photocopy each form as it is turned in to create a set for each show. Alternately, you could consider multiple forms. This is a bit more work for the actors as they will fill out information twice, but might be the most feasible option if copier access is limited. In the case of multiple forms, it is advisable to make only one set on plain white paper. By using colored paper for the other show, the SM teams can easily sort forms and lessen the chance of having two copies of Actor B’s information end up in one pile and none in the other. If the theatre is working with a digital audition form submitted by the actors, the SM team may be able to set up the collection folder to be accessible to multiple directors simultaneously.

WHAT THE STAGE MANAGER CAN LEARN

Over the course of the auditions, the stage manager will learn a great deal. Of course you will meet the potential cast, but you will discover not just who they might be but also how they work. Actors who are early, prepared, and specific with their questions will strike a contrast to those who arrive late, forget their sides or music, or ask the same question multiple times. This does not tell you anything about the quality of their performance but may be an indicator of necessary strategies for assisting those actors with memorizing lines or remembering rehearsal call times.

The stage manager can also learn about the director. If you have not worked together before, this is perhaps even more valuable information than you acquire about the actors. Does the director hold to the set schedule? What is the response to a gentle reminder that the day is running behind? Did you receive very little information up front and are now asked to prepare multiple sides on the spot? What happens if you are running ahead?

If the SM is continuing with the production, then this information will be key to your future planning. If the SM is involved for these auditions only, the information can still be valuable, and you may be able to relay it to the theatre’s company manger or production manager—whoever sent you the packet of audition information.

ANOTHER FIRST IMPRESSION

The stage manager should recognize that auditions also provide the actors and director with their first opportunity to see stage management in action. Your ability to organize the day will be seen as an indicator of how rehearsals will go. And while it is important to be friendly and helpful, it is equally important to be neutral and professional. Can you answer questions while still maintaining confidentiality about details not yet released? Can you respond effectively to schedule changes, whether prompted by whimsy or genuine necessity? Can you troubleshoot unanticipated problems? Can you display empathy for a disappointed performer without taking sides?

Particularly as a new student stage manager, it can be easy to get pulled into the chaos of a large cattle call or to let your excitement about being “in the know” affect your comments. Your efforts to set the right tone now will pay off throughout the production.

If the stage management team is assembled, the audition process is a great opportunity for the stage manager and assistant stage managers to begin working together. If the director requests the SM’s presence inside the audition room, you will need someone outside to handle the crowd. And even if you are not in the room, having someone to help set up, locate an actor who has wandered away, or make an emergency run to the photocopier if you are running low on sides or forms can be invaluable. If the ASM is new to you, then any lulls in the day’s activities will give you time to get acquainted with your new teammate and to discover how they will best fit into the mix.

ORGANIZING THE AUDITIONS

The stage management team will need an organized table for the auditions. You will need blank audition forms, basic supplies including pens, highlighters, blank notepads, and a stapler to attach headshots to the forms; a work space for writing down who has arrived and what time they will be seen; and space for laying out other show information. This might include a very preliminary version of the actor calendar and descriptions of the characters. Individual schools or theatres might have additional release forms or standard documentation which need to be available as well.

If your audition process extends over multiple sessions, the initial day of introductory auditions, which could be either monologues/songs actors prepare in advance or cold readings from the script, will be followed by sessions for the director to call back specific actors for specific roles. Particularly in an academic or community-based setting, more actors will be called for this evening than will end up in the cast, and actors may be under consideration for more than one part in the show. Figure 3.16 shows a typical callback list. (Important note: If the stage manager is given the information and asked to prepare the callback list, it is very useful to organize the individual actors for a role in alphabetical order. It will make it quicker to check them in at the callback session, and removes any perception that there is a “ranking” from the initial night. There are no politics in the alphabet!)

Once the stage manager is in possession of that callback list, they can make that next round of auditions run much more smoothly by doing a bit of preparation. Callbacks are typically based on show-specific material. This is the time you will be using the sides you prepared. If multiple actors are under consideration for a role, then each will need to read that side. And the director will have an opinion about who reads with whom. In addition to general suitability for a role, a director will be looking for chemistry between actors. So it will not be up to you to decide on the pairings. You will need to communicate to the actors how the readings will progress and to ensure that everyone who has been called back is accounted for. Often you will not receive the specific pairing information until just before the session begins. Of course you have a notepad with you on which you can write down all the details, but can you be better prepared.

My personal strategy is to create a callback matrix. It requires very minimal formatting, and allows me to capture the director’s wishes much more clearly than scribbles on a notepad. Figure 3.17 is a brief example of how it works. The table format provides specific cells for writing. The number of columns is determined by the number of characters in a particular scene or song, and the number of rows is determined by the number of actors needed—always based on the maximum number of actors who will need to be seen for a given role. Each table is created independently so that it can be adjusted to the appropriate number or rows or columns for that portion of the audition. Because three actors have been called back for the role of Don Price, that side will be read three times. But because only two actors each are called for Zacky Price and the Witch, someone will read the scene twice. The matrix can easily capture all combinations of the scene, and in the order in which the director wishes them to enter the audition room. Even though an identical number of actors have been called back for the roles of Edward and Sandra, the director and musical director are likely to have preferred pairings. If you have more roles to consider, or more uneven numbers of actors called back for those roles, the pairings will get more complex. Because the matrix is simple itself, likely only a twenty- or thirty-minute project, I have found it to be one that pays off immensely.

If the stage manager receives information from the director in advance of the callbacks, they can invest the time to type up the matrix. But if not, then the completed hand-written matrix could be quickly run through a photocopier and posted, or at a minimum kept at the check-in table. Both the actors and the stage managers have legible information at their fingertips to make sure that each group is ready in the correct order and that an actor reading in multiple pairings is working with the right group at the right time.

FORMATTING THE CONTACT SHEET

As was true for the prop list, a simple chart or table format serves the contact sheet best. This keeps information organized and gives you control over individual cells. Similar to the callback list for auditions, it is this author’s preference to list personnel in alphabetical order by last name, thereby removing any implied hierarchy. (Why is the assistant lighting designer listed above the costume designer? Why is Ensemble Member C listed before Ensemble Member B?) I also prefer to order the columns so that name, role, phone number, and email address appear in that order.

Because you are less likely to update a contact sheet than other paperwork, take extra care to proofread it before distributing it to anyone. Make sure you have not transposed digits in phone numbers or listed an email address as a “.com” if it is a “.edu.” Double check the spelling of names. If an actor prefers to go by a nickname but needs his or her paycheck addressed to a given name, include both. If a cast or team member’s name is commonly mispronounced, consider how you might include that information. This might also be an ideal location to provide information on preferred gender pronouns. If this feels awkward to include on the contact sheet, be sure to identify a method to share that detail with your company or inquire how it has been previously handled in your department or theatre.

The sample contact sheet provides a basic layout and also identifies another specific formatting preference of this author. Although three of the four columns are left-justified, the phone number column is right-justified. Observing the two sample phone numbers demonstrates why. If only a few members of a company have an out-of-town area code, this formatting allows that area code to be slightly more prominent in this setup. This can be especially helpful if the stage manager’s office phone requires dialing a variety of access numbers. (My current office phone requires one method for internal calls, a second for off-campus and local cellular calls, and a third for long-distance numbers.) As a stage manager, if it is your preference to always include the area code, or if your phone is less convoluted than mine, this detail will be less essential for you.

Another important consideration is the need to include additional numbers beyond the cast or staff. The sample is a contact sheet distributed to the cast. For their convenience, the costume shop and box office phone numbers have been included at the bottom along with contact information for the director and SM team. On a production contact sheet, the stage manager might include shop numbers, fax numbers, or even the theatre’s mailing address if that will be necessary for nonresident staff arranging for equipment to be mailed or shipped.

Because this theatre maintains an online callboard, the web address is also included at the bottom. And as with all other paperwork, a version number and date can be found.