Bringing it all together
Stage managers talk about what it takes to prep, rehearse and run Tuacahn’s shows

By Lisa Larson

While the audience is enjoying the spectacular stories unfolding this season at Tuacahn, a multitude of people are working on stage and behind the scenes to ensure that everything that’s supposed to happen, actually does. From lighting cues to flooding the stage, set changes, entrances and more, there is one voice responsible for making it all run smoothly: the stage manager.

“We do a little bit of everything,” AJ Sullivan, stage management team supervisor, said, trying to whittle down the complexities of the job into a nutshell. “We help to facilitate the director’s vision so that whatever the director wants, that’s what is brought to the stage.”

The process of bringing that vision to life begins long before the show opens. In fact, by the time the actors arrive on Tuacahn’s campus, the director and designers have already been working for months and that process needs to be communicated to the rest of the teams, which is another place where the stage manager steps in.

“We are a conduit of information,” said Jeff Norman, stage manager for Disney & Pixar’s Finding Nemo: a 70-minute Family Musical. “We are in touch with every department. Our job is to maintain the show from opening to closing night, so the audience always sees a quality product.”

That means maintaining the director’s vision, even after the director is gone. Those outside the theater world may not know this, but once the show opens, directors move on to other projects — generally in other geographic areas — and the reigns are passed to the stage manager, along with a dance captain to maintain the choreography in the show.

“It is an odd little job in some ways,” Sullivan said. “You have to put aside any sentiment or your own feelings about the show and push whatever the director wants; making their vision and ideas the most important.”

Stage managers are responsible for ensuring understudies are ready to go on when needed, running extra rehearsals, and thinking on their feet when the unexpected inevitably happens. After all it is live theater, and you just never know what might come up.

“Our nature as stage managers is to foresee problems and hopefully avoid them,” Norman said. “I play the ‘what if’ game a lot. ‘What if the wind picks up?’ ‘What if an actor is out?’ We’re not psychic, but we try to plan for things before they happen.”

It sounds like a lot, and it is. Luckily there is a team of three stage managers, each assigned to one of the three outdoor musicals, as well as an assistant stage manager and two production assistants to get the job done.

A typical day for a stage manager varies depending on where the production is in the process. For example, once the actors arrive and rehearsals are in session, the day generally starts an hour before rehearsals, setting up the room, making sure props are on hand, distributing schedules, facilitating fittings and more. Then, during rehearsal, the stage manager takes notes on specific director decisions with regards to blocking, set changes and other cues. For example, if during rehearsal the director tells the actor playing Eponine to cross left and sit on a chair, the stage manager will write that down. Then, when the cast revisits the scene in a later rehearsal, there is no question as to what is supposed to happen.

Once the show opens, the stage manager is invisible to the audience, but their presence is felt in everything from when the pyrotechnics are set off, to what happens when a problem occurs.

Thinking back to one of last year’s performances of Disney’s The Little Mermaid, Sullivan said, “You think you’re prepared for everything until the stage is wet and the boat can’t move and you have to decide whether to hold the show or not.”

It’s the type of hiccup stage managers are highly skilled and handling. Both Norman and Sullivan agree this will be an epic season with plenty of potential challenges — oversize puppets, real classic cars, wild weather changes, and much more. However, it’s going to be a great opportunity to show just what they, and the rest of the teams both backstage and on stage, can do.

“My job changes every day, and I love the interaction I have with all the actors and technicians,” Norman said. “We have to be a cohesive unit to keep everything working together, making sure everyone gets the resources they need to do the job they need to do.”

“It can be overwhelming at times, but it’s really rewarding when you hear 2,000 people applauding your work, even though they don’t know you’re there,” Sullivan said. “I have really found a home here at Tuacahn and I couldn’t be happier with the product we give our audience. It is so rewarding when we open the show and hear the enthusiasm of the audience. It’s really exciting.”

Come see all the excitement happening in the Tuacahn Outdoor Amphitheatre beginning May 1 featuring Les Misérables, Disney & Pixar’s Finding Nemo: a 70-minute Family Musical and Grease. Tickets are on sale now at www.tuacahn.org, or call the box office at 435-652-3300.