Changing Your Scene

“OK Cast that’s 10!”

“Huh?”

“10… that’s 10 minutes.”

“…We get another break?”

“Huh?”

As a Stage Manager when you find yourself lost in translation your job can become hilariously frustrating. In Britain, I have always announced the end of every break by using the same declaration:

“That’s X”

a.k.a.:

“That’s X amount of minutes over and I would now like you to return to rehearsal.”

It is an announcement that is in my muscle memory and has always registered with Scottish Actors. When I called out the same phrase in my first American rehearsal the cast thought I had been gracious enough to give them more break time. I am now frequently learning to adjust tried and tested methods of going about a job that I have been doing the same way for a long time.

I’m from a beautiful city in Scotland called Dundee, but I have always been a bit of a traveller. Not a particularly nonchalant one because I am also a Stage Manager. I have never donned a backpack and set off into the unknown with nothing but my compass to guide me. No, I need logistics. A calendar. A schedule. A budget. Stage Managers tend to approach things like Vulcans— to venture into the unknown without a plan would be highly illogical.

I moved to New York City for a few months at the beginning of 2013 after finding myself between gigs and with an itch to leave my hometown. My steady string of freelance work had suddenly gone dry. I could either take a job that had nothing to do with my career path, or I could move and try to find work elsewhere.

I picked New York because, to a girl growing up in Scotland, it stands as the world capital of theatre. Feel free to disagree with me. I would love to hear from Green Room readers about other Theatre Capitals I can add to my bucket list.

There are advantages and disadvantages to “upping sticks” and relocating in this profession though and the following should be carefully considered if you are thinking of moving around:

So far, New York has been a wonderfully productive and worthwhile change of scene. Give or take a couple of blunders with British-English and American-English. I had no idea, for example, that “homely” over here means unattractive!?? In Britain it means the same as “homey,” so I accidentally told an actress that her dressing room made me think she was quite unattractive.

I would love hear from you about what big career risks (or moves) you have chosen and if they have paid off! I’m looking forward to having “a wee bit of a blether” (Scottish words of the week, let me know the translation!) about traveling, stage-management and everything that comes with it!