My experience as an assistant stage manager on Loyola’s production of Into the Woods was an exceptionally formative time spent on a production team. I learned skills such as time management, document design, and communication styles to help move the production along. Overall, this production was an exciting first step into stage management for me.

 

My first goal was to improve my organization and creation abilities for stage management paperwork and turn in all paperwork in a timely manner, which I believe I achieved. I now know how to design documents for master tracking, timing, run sheets, daily calls, rehearsal or performance reports, and any other paperwork that the position requires. Being an assistant, I got to learn the formatting of all of these documents from a learning perspective as I was not expected to produce all of them on my own. This was helpful for future projects because I now have templates of all of these documents from other professionals that I have worked with to build off. I believe that my newfound skills in document design will be extremely helpful going forward.

 

My second goal was to learn which communication styles work best for this production’s creative and technical teams. I achieved this goal mostly by taking cues from my stage manager, Jake Snell, as he had a handle on most of the communication to both the cast and creative teams. My duties with communication were mostly for line notes, music rehearsals, and distributing messages Jake may have not had time to put together. Getting to sit in on production meetings was an interesting experience, as I have not worked on the technical side of things with these designers before. I learned how communication and time management work with different artists, as every designer has a different working style for their respective department. Watching Jake deal with each designer’s style and get what was needed out of each of them shows how communication styles need to mold to the production, not the other way around. Communication was a seamless part of this production.

 

My third goal was to perform the expected duties of an Assistant Stage Manager as I am new to this position. This one was quite easy in comparison to the other goals because the role of an assistant stage manager is mostly to cover any jobs the stage manager cannot complete - which is not a definitive set of duties. My job was mostly to complete any tasks given to me by the stage manager or split up between me and my other ASM, Alex Umekubo, which was overall an easy process since our stage management team was so big. This was not a goal I struggled with, which was a relief because of my newness to the position.

 

My fourth and final goal was to bridge the divide between creative and technical teams in an effective way. This goal was covered mostly in my second goal, but this one just adds some nuance to it. My job was mostly to bridge the divide between orchestra and cast and I got to learn a lot about the soundboard for this. This is helpful going forward, as not a lot of people have the need to deal with the soundboard this skill will make me a valuable asset to a creative team in future rehearsals. Overall, my skills were improved because of my connections to both the cast and the crew.

 

My experience in Into the Woods was not one I will soon forget. It rounded out my skills as an artist, improved my technical skills, and showed me how I can be valuable on both sides of a creative team. I am glad I got to experience filling the role of assistant stage manager.