The Back Stage Guide to Stage Management

The person that holds together all of the production elements of theatre work is the stage manager. This is the person responsible for the form and discipline of rehearsal and performance, for maintaining working script, cue sheets and daily records. They are also responsible for the supervision of the technical and artistic aspects of production. In this book, an experienced stage manager discusses his craft from the standpoint of technical nuts and bolts information and insights drawn from his career in Broadway, Regional and Summer Stock. Various chapters discuss pre-production, the rehearsal period, technical rehearsals and mounting the show, maintaining a show, as well as offering detailed guidelines on how to get work. The text is supported by sample documents, diagrams, and charts showing the relationship of the stage manager to others in the theatrical chain of command.

Thomas Kelly has been a professional stage manager for more than thirty years, calling shows on Broadway and at Lincoln Center, at the Lyric Opera in Chicago and at the Houston Grand Opera, at the New York City and Milwaukee ballets, and at major media and cultural events around the country. He is the General/Production Manager for Center Line Studios, a production services company, and teaches stage management at Rutgers University. He lives in Croton-on-Hudson, New York.