Results of the 2019 Stage Manager Survey (Video)

It has been way too long since I have written a blog post.

In a way, I’ve had more free time due to the pandemic – as all entertainment gatherings have ceased, and thus my employment – but I’ve also been incredibly busy. As the Forums/Webinar Chair for the Stage Managers’ Association, I’ve really helped ramp up our online offerings during the “Stay at Home,” as early as March 16th. As the world was turning scary, we decided to turn “scary” on its ear and hosted a night of sharing Theatrical Ghost Stories. As of today’s date (in less than eight weeks), I’ve been personally involved as a panelist, host, or moderator for eight webinars for the SMA, two for USITT, was a host or moderator for eight virtual gatherings of stage managers, ran four Fridays worth of Portfolio Reviews & Interview Materials Prep for USITT, and was interviewed by Chelsea Janke for a Tipsy Tuesday Talk. I’ve also enjoyed many other webinars held by others in my field.

One discussion for which I was a panelist was a joint venture with the Broadway Stage Management Symposium, Year of the Stage Manager, Stage Managers’ Association and USITT (which I represented, as a Vice Commissioner in Management), to celebrate and dig into the recently-announced results of the Stage Manager Survey, the brainchild of my good friend David J. McGraw. I have been involved since the first survey in 2006, and was happy to be able to support his ongoing project. (I’d also held a webinar back in 2019 as the survey was launching, to help drum up participants.) Here’s a replay of the recent results webinar. Be sure to check out the survey results for yourself.

Stage Manager Survey 2019: Unpacked from Broadway Symposium on Vimeo.

I have a ton of blogs to write percolating in my head. Some time I’ll come up for air and share some of them!

Sidebar: It looks like it’s going to be a while until I’ll be back to stage managing “as before.” The opera/choral world is reeling with this week’s news from a NATS expert panel:

In a presentation that sent shockwaves through the singing community, Dr. Lucinda Halstead, the president of the Performing Arts Medical Association and the Medical Director of the Department of Otolaryngology at the University of South Carolina, concluded that there is no safe way for singers to rehearse together until there is a COVID-19 vaccine and a 95% effective treatment in place, in her estimates at least 18-24 months away.

That said, I can’t believe it, but I’ve started to put “experience managing Zoom breakout rooms of up to 100 people” on my resume. Perhaps that’s how entertainment careers will return first. I’m available and have a track record!