The Facets Of A Stage Manager: The Intersection Of Relationships And Responsibilities Of A Stage Manager

Abstract

A stage manager’s job comes with numerous responsibilities that all require a working relationship with so many other positions within production to make everything run smoothly. How do these responsibilities and relationships intersect? This project aims to discover how the responsibilities of a stage manager change according to the relationship to the position they are working with in the present moment. To discover how a stage manager's work may differ between relationships, I will be conducting interviews with different positions and disciplines in a production process, for example, directors, actors, multiple types of designers, props masters and technical directors, to learn what their relationship with a stage manager looks like and what types of responsibilities a stage manager has that pertains to their job. Additionally, a survey will be sent out for theatre professionals across different disciplines to take regarding their experiences in their relationships with stage managers based on their job position, as well as a survey to understand the stage manager’s perspective too. The surveys and interviews will be used to analyze stage manager responsibilities from both their own perspectives and the perspectives of others involved in the theatre making process. The conclusions drawn from the surveys and interviews will aid stage managers in understanding the complexities of their relationships within a production and the ways that their job intersects with those relationships.