Have you had a scene shift or cueing sequence where it really wasn’t ideal to hold your cue sheet? Or a time as assistant stage manager you could have used a checklist mid-shift, but your hands were full during some part of it? Several years ago my friend and fellow stage manager Rivka Kelly introduced me to a pretty smart handsfree way to do theatre….utilizing the arm sleeves that football quarterbacks and others wear to remind them of play calls. We also call plays, so let’s use the same!
Rivka and her fellow crew members used them during the summer at American Players Theatre to keep track of their scene shift needs, and I thought it was a pretty brilliant idea. Here’s a photo of their group shot.
Well, I tucked that knowledge away, and even bought myself a sleeve at a local sports store…but I don’t think I actually used it until just this week.
I’ve just finished training to call the Denver production of The Empire Strips Back, in a role that’s pretty active during shifts backstage. When I called for the first time this week, I didn’t trust my memorization skills of what came next, especially for a section where I had to hold a curtain closed as well as something else in my other hand. Enter the football quarterback’s sleeve. The particular one I have can hold essentially a 3″x5″ index card or printing of my choice. It also has the main outside window, but that also has a Velcro closure that can open up to reveal two more windows. I may see if I can rig up a way to hold those windows open, but for now I put the trickiest part on the outside. For the inside section, I placed a second section that I could look at quickly on the opposite side of the stage, but not have to drag my bigger cue sheet clipboard over there, before returning to stage again between scene shifts.
You’ll also note, the previous folks oriented theirs vertically, I typed mine horizontally. You do what works for you.
Let me tell you, it was so liberating to have done this! We had plenty of shift light behind the curtain, and I was able to have both hands busy, but turn and look at my next cue. And look again to be sure. And again. (It was my first time doing the cues, so of course the nerves were there…especially as I was much shorter than the other person and these moves would not be as easy for me to accomplish.) These sleeves would also be great to print diagrams for scene shifts or a preshow/mid-scene checklist too. You can have up to three sheets ready to go, and swap them out as needed, moving each scene shift to the top window when it’s time. Now, I do come from a background where we tried to wear as all-black as possible, even being asked to remove a shiny belt buckle once…in that case, this is not ideal. But you could cover up that Nike swoosh with Sharpie, and put a black card in the top window, and only open up the window briefly to review, too.
Note that there are both youth sizes and adult sizes, a variety of numbers of windows available, and they can be bought in multipacks as well. Here’s a link searching on Amazon for “football wrist playbook.”* I hope you find something that works for you!
I just noticed that Rivka’s website says “After all, Stage Management is all about stealing borrowing and learning from other people’s skills and paperwork.” So true! Go check out several tips she has for Excel and Google Sheets, and a handful of “theatrical beverages” recipes.
EDIT/UPDATE: Look at NASA’s Version!
My friend Carl Sage pointed out to me that the Apollo astronauts used a version of a wrist checklist, too! Check out the images of the astronaut cuff checklist from when it was about to be auctioned. Additional info here as well.
BONUS: Handsfree flashlight needs
Bite-lights be gone – especially if you have to talk, or are wearing a mask! I am loving my necklight, which I’ve had several years. Here’s the link of my exact one*, currently unavailable on Amazon, but similar styles are listed below it. Mine has two individual lights, which operate separately, and each one has three brightness levels. There’s also a button at the back of the neck to change color temperature. Each light is bright enough that I covered one of them with blue gel and can choose which version to use. I especially find this useful to wear as I step into and out of dark front-of-house lighting booths and stairwells, just keeping on my neck as I travel around the theatre. Mine is rechargeable by USB and lasts up to 80 hours according to the manufacturer. It’s also great to use when crocheting SMeeps in the evening. 🙂
*I’m registered as an Amazon Associate, and may get a slight kickback if you order anything on Amazon (if even not the exact item I linked) after going through my website.