Essentials of Stage Management

Essentials of Stage Management provides a step-by-step guide to a little-seen but essential role in theater. As Nicholas Hytner writes in the foreword to this volume, nobody in the theatre has to know more about everyone else's job than the stage manager. Peter Maccoy draws upon his extensive experience as a stage manager and as a teacher to lay out the functions and responsibilities of this key theatrical profession. Chapters cover the role of stage management, stage manager as manager, research and preparation, preparing for rehearsal, the rehearsal period, the production period, the performance and beyond, stage properties, safe practice, and contemporary practice. Includes a bibliography, six appendixes, and index.

Peter Maccoy is a Lecturer at the Central School of Speech and Drama and an experienced stage manager. He has worked at the National Theatre and the Chichester Festival Theatre, and has toured with the Peter Hall Company and the Almeida Theatre Company. He has also worked as a pyrotechnician on large scale outdoor events, and as a stage manager on a number of industrial theatre events.