Happy Birthday Tina

~ Julia Jones ~ Leave a comment

I sat down to write something for Tina for her birthday & I decided to recycle a piece I wrote for her on our Broadway Opening of SpongeBob… because it defines so much of what Tina means to me as a creative light.

Tina, Tina, the goddess Xena,

How does your garden grow?

With magic bubbles and love that doubles

And a journey that takes us to and fro.

This garden of Eden grows wild, a weed that is a bloom of creation put in motion to push the independent boundaries handed down from the flash of imagination into a world that is not really ours.

Yet we are issued our papers to live in and embody this strange garden with her curves, slopes and towers of majestic trash.

The colors of this world go beyond the spectrum of our expectations we are not one but all colors and sizes real and robust.

Our Eve a tactical genius planting creative temptations in our paths making sure each small petal has a deep winding root of truth.

We trust that we are not going to be exiled from this place

when we dig deep into her fruit filled with music

but rather celebrated for our exploration into joy.

We are surrounded by a sturdy fence of dedicated hands that welcome anyone who wants to share in this beauty that we call Bikini Bottom.

A Few Thoughts for Young Stage Managers

~ Julia Jones ~ Leave a comment

What would happen if we put down the screens in rehearsal
If our young stage managers were able to absorb “the room”
soak up its magic… energy… urgency?

Try, the masters of our future, to let your
imagination dance among the interest of others
as they live and as they reveal.
Take a step back from building and bettering.

What would happen if the line weren’t always perfect
if the column didn’t add up but you knew the why of it?
What if Instead of dotting the “i” you watched a flower grow?

What would happen if you let go of perfection
and let respect guide your decisions?
What would happen if the power went dim
and only your light was available to hold the room?

I am inspired to write this blog not as a chastisement to our future stage managers and certainly not as an affront to all of my friends and colleagues grooming these very efficient managers in Universities across the country. I am writing it as a reminder to young stage managers that our business allows us to be a unique part of a creative process through the support of actors, directors, designers and a production team. In this age of technology: computers, instant communication, instant information and beautiful paperwork so many young stage managers have become machines and don’t recognize that they are a part of a magical journey.  Don’t get me wrong, I love good paperwork and when I have a choice I love working with a certain Stage Manager who does some of the best paperwork I’ve ever seen. My question to these flashlight clad knights of the future is beyond the paperwork do you know how to communicate with a stage hand with as much respect for their knowledge as you do with  a director or an actor? Do you take the time to understand why the same step, song or moment is worked and re-worked beyond comprehension? Are you okay with being seen and seeing everything and not being involved with the decision, but still willing to understand and uphold that decision? Ours is a curious part of the artistic process but no less a part and if you burrow behind your smart this and i-that you miss so much of what is happening. Lift your eyes and see how an actor digests information, how the story is being told, how the blocking evolves. See what a designer sees so you can maintain their vision, see how a prop is being used so you can make sure the right item is manufactured, see how a costume, that is yet to be worn, could change what is being asked of the person wearing it. I promise you this information will change how you write that report, how you communicate that need, how you enjoy your day.

Please note: I am authoring this blog as a working Stage Manager for the past 27 years and while I work in a commercial theatre setting now and so much of what I do day-to-day is completely mechanical I do try to practice these principles whenever possible. I am  using as my inspiration young stage managers that I have worked with over the last ten years or so, many of which have wildly successful careers, so I am not trying to be an arbiter for what will bring you success. I am suggesting that as you start working in this business don’t forget that it is an ART and you are an artists.

Beauty in a bunch of different people doing one thing together.

~ Julia Jones ~ Leave a comment

(photo “acquired” from the internet and taken by the amazing Joan Marcus)

The following writing, poem for lack of a better word, is inspired by the Company (by company I mean Creatives, Cast, Crew, Producers, Musicians, Managers) of The SpongeBob Musical headed up by Tina Landau and her Viewpoints!

June 19, 2016

An Opening thought for The Best Day Ever…

We have been guided to shape a world with seemingly no rules
so full of joy and colors that it could make a rainbow blush.
We are made stronger by a group gesture of kindness
when the world has delivered pain that has broken through our make-believe.
Our environment is the architecture of mad genius
its slopes and angles offering a comfort that we call home.
There is a spatial relationship between new friends that we quickly call family
this family is there to support us at our most vulnerable moments.
We move at a tempo set for us by the moment we are in
then in the speed of light we are delivered to the moment we live in now.
We remain uncertain of the duration of this beauty we create
but strive to continue with strength and conviction to bring happiness.
All of our senses are alive in a kinesthetic response with the audience
living in the energy that only human response can bring to our art.
Our foundation is built on repetition of action
but within that repetition blows the nuance that leads to change.
Using our soft focus we take in this magical journey with all of its twists and turns
landing in this time, that we’ve come to today, which we all embrace
As. Something. Special.

My viewpoints have been wrapped in a whirl of joy surrounded by beautiful spirits
The familiar who is always ready with a quip full of heart
The one who tries anything and everything beyond comprehension
The professional who wraps us all up into being better
The little engine who could and has done and done and done
The trodder who brings a base of history with their every move
The youth who are still growing into their very talented paws
The creative who have a light in their eyes that cannot be extinguished
The steadfast that offer a calm in the creative storm

I learn and I learn and I learn and I learn and I learn and I learn
you all make me better and for that I remain forever grateful.

How I was “brought up”: A Stage Manager’s musings

~ Julia Jones ~ Leave a comment

“That’s the way I was brought up.” This was a quote from a friend and fellow Stage Manager, Kenny McGee, referring to coming up as a young stage manager in the professional theatre. This statement has stuck with me; “That’s the way I was brought up.” Assistants like Kenny and I, people of a certain age you might say, had the opportunity to work with the Stage Managers of the Golden Age of Stage Managing in this business. They had such specific styles and were all so wildly diverse and elegant in their own way. Masters of the craft like Steven Zweigbaum who had experiences that resulted in many a new rule in the Equity Agreement after his time with David Merrick on the original 42nd Street. Working with Steven came with an amazing array of theatre stories; I could sit and listen for hours. He was a stage manager before the British invasion (the big one in the 80’s) when Stage Managers really managed the entire show. There weren’t teams of residents and associates that did this and maintained that. You had a dance captain or two and had to develop a fierce relationship with the director. Beverley Randolph was another major force in the Stage Manager kingdom, she was the broad of the boards, and insisted in being the boss in the room. Talk about the Golden Age of Broadway; know a guy called Jerome Robbins? Bev did, as well as Hal Prince & James Lapine. You look down her resume and you see many directors who frequented her Stage Manager styling. As Bev’s assistant you did things her way, period, full stop. She had her own elegance and style as a stage manager that was irrefutable and she did it all in pumps and pearls! So hold off on that bra burning…its not at all necessary. Peter Lawrence, this is a fella that has done them big and small. Everyone who has had the good fortune to work with Peter from Assistants to Producers know they are in good hands; he’s a man of the theatre. When you worked for these Stage Managers you made sure your T’s were crossed and the bathrooms were clean, even if you had to do them yourself. It was a matter of respect and hard work. You weren’t positioning yourself to be the next Production Stage Manager for X, Y and Z, you didn’t dare. The director may not even realize you were part of the team because we were just there to do our job for the PSM.

When Kenny made this statement about how he was brought up he was specifically talking about him being raised that if a stage manager has to stand up during a rehearsal you as an assistant are not doing your job. I have never heard this in my life, but it makes sense. I was always there for the PSM and always felt awkward if the director addressed me personally with a question. For those of you who know me, this might be hard to believe. I have a big personality, but even with my personality and humor in tact I always defaulted to the Stage Manager and what he or she needed me to do to get a production up and running. In fact over the years I worked for a few PSM’s on Summer Stock productions, short Tours and Regionally that I couldn’t even tell you who the director was off the top of my head, but be sure I could tell you how that PSM liked a room to run.

Absolutely no disrespect intended to my contemporaries who are several years my junior, but I wonder if they think about how they were “brought up”.  They zipped through the process; they went from theatre school or Master’s programs to Production Assistant to Production Stage Manager in what seems to be a blink of an eye. They are often reputed to be very good Stage Managers, but I wonder if they realize what those Golden Age Stage Managers did without the benefit of internet, computers, cell phones and swarms of Residents and Associates.

Now as I am a PSM I get a little frustrated that I cannot run a room like these masters of the stage did… every director knows everyone on my team and their contributions. Maybe I spent too many years assisting or maybe not… maybe this is my style, my pumps and pearls as it were. I’m not really sure, but I do know one thing I am proud of “the way I was brought up”; an observer, a proud assistant, a support system. Granted I was never the best assistant, almost every PSM has given me a talking to, but I listen and I learn. That’s the way I was “brought up”!

Millennials of Management

~ Julia Jones ~ Leave a comment

Ambition is a crafty enemy that can leave who you truly are behind.
Creating a craft doesn’t align with her values, she wants results.
Time to grow is lost in her web of beliefs with their twisted urgency.
Why take the train across the country, by the time you arrive I will be done

You can’t catch me, I’m the gingerbread man

I often write about Stage Managing from the point of view I know best, which not surprisingly is my own. A stage manager of a certain age who has been raised in a variety of theatrical environments. I would like to take a departure from the familiar and try to see life from a very different point of view, the point of view of a generation that is “the new frontier”, the Millennials of management. A talented group of driven managers who definitely threaten we heirs to the throne. With there facile minds and often tone bodies the “say no to drugs” generation is taking broadway by storm.  They are brought to broadway direct from Stage Management programs everywhere. These lads and lassies have some pretty powerful traits; they are young, bright and super ambitious.

“Here I am, ready to go. Last year I was the teacher’s pet and my teacher knows this person who can get me in with a person who I think will put me in touch with this other person they met having drinks with another friend of hers and now I have an interview to be a PA for a new Broadway Musical. Here I am working with this broadway stage manager wowing him with my hard work and powers of excel. This is amazing and the director totally values my contributions & the choreographer said I was “the best”. Here I am in tech, the PA on headset. I have done so much paperwork on this show the ASM’s “couldn’t have done it without me.” To the cast I am part of the team, they told me so at drinks the other night. Previews & Opening Night of my show. There I am in the program, my show. I was so good as the PA, “my PSM” recommended me for another PA job… I start in two weeks, just enough time to fly home and see my folks. Day one of rehearsal for my new Broadway show. The other PA has done some Off Broadway & Regional work but this is her first Broadway show… I guess I’m the voice of experience and I am the script PA so the Bookwriter has been coming directly to me. I’m actually “invaluable to this process.” The other PA’s can run for lunch because I have to be in the scene work rehearsal with the PSM and the director. To the writers I am a part of the team. Previews & Openiong NIght, my show. Two broadway shows on my resume and I have been trained as a sub. Another PA interview in two weeks, just enough time to go to Fire Island with some of the folks from my last show and do the Broadway Cares benefit in the Pines, 1K likes on my last Instagram post, yes. While I was on Fire Island I found out that this new show may be adding an ASM and I am the only one of the PA’s with… broadway experience…

Are we doing a disservice to these powerhouse individuals by promoting their youth and myoptic experience? Or is this actually the future of our business on Broadway? They have cut their teeth on the grizzle of Broadway politics. They are not intimidated by Producers, General Managers & many are friendly with directors & choreographers since they are not bound by the convention of showing deference. It’s a new generation of folks who are proud members of Actor’s Equity Association, they completely missed the generation of stage managers who thought we should be part of the IATSE. Maybe this pride and vibrato is a thing that should be embraced. They are paying their dues as Production Assistants, maybe they don’t need to know how it works in Summer Stock or Tour, Regionally or Off Broadway. I remain true to my upbringing in the business as it has shaped me into the manager and human I am at work, but I will try to keep this new generations legitimacy in mind while I am interviewing to assist them in the future.

Rumble in the Theatrical Jungle

~ Julia Jones ~ 1 Comment

Armed with a crystal ball of instinct you may be the last to know the masters that you serve are serving it up to their own demons, ones much bigger than your own. You enter a day like any other but quickly realize that you, the solver…cannot solve. You cannot collaborate; you are left only to take the blow.

“I cannot believe it, she’s down, she’s not getting up, I never even saw the punch. Ladies and gentlemen this match is over as soon as it began”

You may have to throw the fight because it is not your fight to begin with.

He said…

She said…

I don’t care but why…

They told me…

These words are solid hits to the solar plexus in The World Wide Federation of Communication Champions. The lethal blow to a stage manager is when you are told you are not communicating, you think to yourself but I have communicated so many other things… excuses rush through your veins… the heat of defensiveness roils in your gut… You’ve lost that fight so now pick yourself off the mat dizzy and unsure and prepare for the next match.

DEFENSIVE VS LISTENER

Oh the victories that have been lost being on the defensive, I’ve been through more than my fair share matches on the losing end. We, as stage managers, are often being pushed to defend ourselves especially when it comes to effective communication. I often wonder if you can ever do enough communicating without saying more than people want to hear. I will likely never know the answer to this question but I do know this, if you toss a defensive person in the ring with a listener there is no competition. A listener can take in all the information, gathering strength of knowledge and precision that comes with time for thinking. It takes a lot of bobbing and weaving to be a listener the defensive person may take some big swings and jabs trying to get you to fight back before you are ready, but trust if you clearly understand and respond to the situation there is no fight. The results may not be what you want or what you feel is best, but it will help if you understand the entire situation so you are able to share, dare I say accurately communicate, the information.

taking stress off your “to do” list!

~ Julia Jones ~ Leave a comment

 

We, as stage managers, absorb a lot of different energy throughout a rehearsal day. Sometimes it is super fantastic creative moments that you almost can’t believe that you get to be a part of. I mean come on, even the most buttoned up among us has to admit when you see true talent and craftsmanship at work it makes you want to put down your Dixon Ticonderoga and let all your senses soak that shit in! Other times, its business as usual, hours spent on details that may or may not  come across in the final product. Then there are the times the room is a pressure filled environment where creative people are taxed and they generously share that tension with you or better take it out on you. Here’s the best part, if you are super lucky you get another group of artists, the design team, that are not in the rehearsal room, but equally as stressed coming at you about their needs. Its pretty fantastic shit and no amount of Calgon is going to take you away (please note this is a late 1980’s reference, but I don’t know a new millennial version). You my friend are right in the middle of a creative process midlife crisis and it is real! A show goes from infancy, childhood, puberty & wild youth before we are really a part of the process.  By the time we are deeply involved you typically have a mature piece of theatre going through a divorce, working out, loosing weight and buying a Maserati convertible. Its about high stakes time, money and public attention.

“By letting go it all gets done.” — Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

This quote by Lao Tzu couldn’t be more wrong, right? We can’t “let it all go”, that’s nuts. We need to take every detail on and manage it. That’s our job, we manage the stage and the stage is created by these often emotional minds coming together? I’m not too sure Mr Tzu is so wrong. I don’t think he is saying throw your hands up and quit. I believe we as Stage Managers have to let all that negative energy go. Strip away all the side eye and exasperation and do the task on hand. Imagine if you didn’t contribute to the tension at all. If you could actually let it go and focus on what needs to be done. This is not an easy ask! We managers are human beings, several of us are artists in our hearts and not “Management” performing our task without humanity. I struggle with this every day, but I find when I really am able to rise above and keep what needs to be done in focus it makes every task more doable and allows things to actually get done. “Letting go” is a practice, a discipline you must work every day. You might do it by writing a list with all the emotion attached and then cross through anything that isn’t a doable task. Make real the things that you need to let go in order to actually let them go. Maybe you need to walk away and breath for a moment and then take a look at the real task. If you are able to master this, bless you, if you are like me you will need to constantly remind yourself but the results are worth it. We can get it all done.