Stage Management, 11th Edition

10 Department Management and Property Management

The quickest way to do many things is to do only one thing at a time.—Anonymous

 

One of my first professional assignments was as SM for the Sacramento Music Circus, a summer tent theatre. The producers, who had done several shows on Broadway, tasked the production stage manager, Jack Welles, with supervising the work of the scene shop and costume shop. The shops, run by the technical director and the costume designer, worked during the days to prepare the next week’s show. It got very hot during the afternoons, so the shops worked during the morning hours. We all worked split shifts, calling and running the shows at night.

Jack was my on-the-job mentor. I followed him around as he made the ...