Could You Manage A Career In Theater?

'The show must go on' is an old theatrical dictum, but when the curtain falls and the cast takes the applause, the person most responsible for the success of the production usually stays behind the scenes, unknown and unthanked. Stage managers may carry a huge amount of responsibility, but their contribution to the show always remains unseen by the theater's audience. The specific duties of a stage manager vary from job to job and director to director, but according to the theatrical union Equity, responsibilities will always include calling rehearsals, assembling the prompt book and maintaining discipline. "A stage manager is artist, technician, bookkeeper, timekeeper, schedule keeper, counselor, advisor and diplomat," says Jack Morones, Production Manager at the Saddleback Civic Light Opera in California. "He or she wears many hats and is the single person who deals with all artistic, technical and production staff." With duties that range from pointing out errors to the cast, to cueing the special effects during a performance, stage managers need both technical and diplomatic skills. They may not have the ability to ensure a show's success, but they do have the power to ensure its failure. Lights can go on at the wrong time and in the wrong place, set pieces can move the wrong way and props can disappear when they're most needed. According to Paul Skirzyk, a stage manager with ten years' experience, "it can cancel a performance if you do it bad enough."  There are essentially two ways to begin a career as stage manager: either through education or through experience, and debates rage over which is better. Paul Skirzyk worked his way up slowly, spending three years as an apprentice and another three years as an assistant, before finally stage managing a production by himself. "That's the ideal route," he says. "You can go right from one year of apprenticing to being the stage manager of a small production, but I think you're setting yourself up for disaster - you just haven't learnt enough." Jack Morones, on the other hand, advocates a mixture of training and experience and says he looks for both when choosing stage managers for his theater. "I feel a balance of both is important," he explains. "I look very favorably upon persons who have a solid education background and a good practical background in theater. There are many colleges and universities offering excellent programs in theater which include stage management." Whichever route you choose, the pay will be based on the size of the theater and your experience, and can vary from as little as $400 a week to as much as $2500. The real problem is that the availability of work is unpredictable and insecure. Every spring, stage managers will send out their resumes to theaters and start making phone calls in order to ensure that they have a job the following winter. According to Paul Skirzyk you could be offered five jobs for September, but nothing for December. That lack of stability can be off-putting for many would-be stage managers. Scott Monsos, a young stage manager from Washington, is considering hanging up his headset in favor of a more stable career path.  "Like all careers associated with the theater, once the show's finished, you're out of a job," he explains. "I'm questioning whether I want to continue living from show to show, or get another more stable source of employment." But for those who love the smell of the greasepaint without the glare of the spotlight, the lack of security is all part of life in the theater. And while the audience may never see them, stage managers are happy to take their share of the applause. "I think that when they love the show, I had something to do with it," says Paul Skirzyk. "I just accept the applause that the cast gets because I know I helped the whole performance."