theater Step Lights
Stage Manager?
I am a college student who has been involved in theatre all his life and has had experiences stage managing shows over the past few years in my spare time. Recently I have been wanting to change direction and start to look toward a profession in stage management (preferably with musical theatre and opera productions, but straight theatre is also an option).
Do you have any suggestions about what my next step should be? At the moment I am leaning toward stepping away from college and taking an internship for a semester to see what happens. I know I really should finish up college first, but school has been very suffocating this past year and I need to try something different. I am not very good with set construction or lights (if you explain it first then I'm fine, but I'm no expert). Although I do sew and as stage manager I have tended to end up defacto props person. I don't know where to start looking for an internship, or what type of internship I should persue.
Any ideas?
Nearly all stage managers have diplomas and degrees from accreditted colleges and universities to prove their worth. I work as a freelance ASM and DSM but I only have very basic knowledge of LX where I'm only capable of running a small studio theatre. But I also happen to be an all-rounder where I do costumes as well. You don't need to be really clued up if you're just starting out in this industry, you just learn on the job as long as you're willing and enthusiastic about it.
Taking an internship is a good idea as this means you'll gain experience, and it is likely they will keep you on their books for the future employment. I actually started by asking at stage door of provincial (or receiving house) theatres about casual work. Its not regular work, but I got to work on big musicals from large touring companies. (My Fair Lady, Cats, Grease, Marriage of Figaro, La Rondine, and etc) And through the theatre I got to make friends with people on the tour who are willing to share their experiences of how they got to where they are, and point you in the right direction.
I only know companies based in the UK otherwise I could easily write more if you just drop me an email. But if you're in the US, Live Nation are a global organisation that produce a lot of theatre work and concert tours. Network Presentations are quite big the US too for musical theatre productions.
Internship for stage managers are available at most large theatre venues. Tours tend not to take people due to expense in travelling and accommodation. But the window of opportunity is short since they are very popular, and only get offered once a year. However, if you are interested going down this path, contact them and ask if they offer internships, and when do they take on applicants. Many companies don't accept speculative applications. Remember that it is likely you won't be paid on internship, so don't be too overambitious.
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Celebrity Status - Marianas Trench - Masterpiece Theatre
Lighting Emergency and the Role Played by the LED
You simply cannot predict when you need to face an emergency situation. When you are enjoying a TV show if the power fails it is an emergency situation. You have your emergency light to help you. Until power is restored you can tide off with your emergency lamp. There are many options available for you to negotiate a lighting emergency.
In a house the most often occurring emergency is the power failure. As a remedy for it you have the possibility to install an emergency light that switches on automatically when the power fails. Normally these are lights that use incandescent bulbs. They have a rechargeable battery to power them. The battery is charging throughout the time the power supply is available. These conventional emergency lights could be improved by replacing their incandescent bulbs with LED units. If the holders do not match you can use CFL bulbs, which will always match. By doing so you have the possibility to reduce power consumption by a big margin and thereby get the battery to go for a long time. In such a situation you can withstand a longer lighting emergency.
Another option you have to face a lighting emergency is to have one of those manual portable lights. They too are no equipped with rechargeable batteries most often. What you need to do is to have the new batteries all the time. Unless you check the batteries often they could leak and damage your emergency light. Since you have two little fluorescent bulbs in them the batteries will last longer but you can run a still longer time with the battery if you buy one with LED lights. Since LEDs use up only very little power you can tide over a lengthy power failure.
A lighting emergency could happen in a public place such as a theater or an office in which case the people need to be shown the way to the stairs unless it is the ground floor. When there is no power having a set of LED lights to show the way to the stairs is a good idea. This is more useful in an occasion where a fire breaks out. In a fire the first thing that happens is the power failure hence it is very important to have such a system to show the way to the steps.
Light emitting diodes could do a lot to help you negotiate a lighting emergency. As they consume very little power if you have an ordinary torchlight you can easily manage a situation that arises due to a power failure. Only thing you need to remember is to keep the torch light in a place where you can access easily in the darkness. Also have the batteries removed and leave them near the torchlight to prevent the torch from getting spoilt due to a leaking battery. In time to come the benefits that could be derived from the use of LEDs will be immense.
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