I am a stage manager. You may not know what that is, which may mean I am doing my job well. You should only notice me if I do my job incorrectly, which does happen on occasion. I work in live theatre after all. I essentially facilitate the show and rehearsals, organizing people, calling cues and making sure things happen. However, there are some habits I've developed as a stage manager that I've noticed I apply to other areas of life; and many of my stage manager friends do the same.
1. I am always prepared.
It's actually a bit over the top. I mean, I keep a complete stage manager kit - that at last weigh-in came up to just under 15 pounds - of tape, screws, hand sanitizer and Sharpies, but this has translated to the rest of my life as well. My purse always has a makeshift emergency kit, and my car is clogged with energy bars, water, blankets, chapstick, pens and anything else that may seem excessive at first glance, but be truly helpful upon further thought. Even my school backpack has rope in it. I'm not a doomsday prepper, no, I am a stage manager.
2. You will almost always find a pencil in my hair.
I have really curly hair, but never the time to put my hair up, especially at rehearsals. I just never want to take my eyes off my chart to dig for a small piece of rubber, but I always have an array of pencils...one behind my ear, one in my mouth, one in my hand and eight on my desk. Because of this, I almost always put my hair up with a pencil. I just wrap my bun and spear it. It does make for odd looks when I walk through my school hallways like this as I almost always use a pencil, but it's just a habit I now can't lose.
3. I own, and wear, a lot of black.
I mean, yeah, I generally do like black. It's easy to wear and for someone who often goes straight from class to rehearsal or a show, I need to have black. That is the techie uniform, and I wear it proudly. This does mean that all of my peers think I'm either goth or colorblind. Half of my closet is black and almost all of my shoes are as well. I color code my closet and, seriously, half of it is black. I have every piece of clothing you can think of in plain black. Lucky for me, black is always in style.
4. You may not know me, but I totally know you.
No, I'm not stalking you, but chances are good I remember seeing you at an audition last year or hearing your name. Because of this, I probably saw your resume, heard the director talking about you and have since stored information about you unconsciously in my mind. Especially since theatre is such a small, tight community, nothing goes unnoticed. It's part of my job to know who you are even though you don't remember me.
5. I color code my entire life.
My school notes, my clothes, my thoughts are all in color. I just think in color and sort things as such. Because I spend so much of my life sorting deck and costume responsibilities to my crew and sort them in color, the rest of my life has followed - for better or worse.
6. Gaff tape is a god and I have it everywhere.
For those who don't know, gaff tape is an extremely strong tape used for everything. I have fixed split pants and shirts with it, shortened a hem, attached a mic and covered the mouths of talking techies with gaff tape. I have so much of it that it can be found all over my life - hanging posters, in place of paper clips, holding together a broken desk and so on. Gaff tape is everywhere.
7. I keep screws in my pocket.
I will be sitting in math class and reach into my jacket only to find screws. It's not purposeful but when you have to fix a door on the set in between light cues, you just shove excess screws in whatever available pocket there is. After each show, I take a mini walk of shame to the tool room to return the mass of screws I've accumulated.
8. The call board is my Bible.
The call board is where you find sign-in sheets, event calendars, notifications, announcements, show jokes and anything else necessary for fun and organization. I find myself checking it regularly and boxing out my planner notifications like a call board. Without a cute, organized call board, shows can get messy. It is necessary to have a nice call board, and I love finding cute ideas for them online or from friends.
9. In every spare moment I have, I am looking up SM jokes.
Memes are amazing and when they're for stage managers, they're even better. Usually all I can find is Ryan Gosling's face with some "smooth" comment about headset hair (which is so much worse than hat head). My techie friends and I are regularly sending each other anything we can find, no matter how cheesy. One of my friends dug as far into my obsession as to make a book of his own memes for me.
10. I may not be able to name every tool in a shed, but I can sure use it.
No, I can't tell you the difference between screw guns and staple guns and if you ask for one there's a good chance I'll bring you a wrench, but when it comes to using these tools, I got it. I mean, I'm accident-prone, but I can for sure use a tool successfully, even when my fellow technicians are wary of it. More than one occasion has seen me throwing a backup on headset to throw a screw in some broken wood. What I used to screw it in, however, I couldn't tell you.
