There are five phases of production for the stage manager. They are:
1) Preproduction
2) Rehearsal/Build
3) Tech/Dress
4) Run/Maintenance
5) Strike or Stow Away
The important thing to remember is that the paper work and attention to detail required in one phase of the production is the preparation for the next phase of production.* You cannot take short cuts. If you omit or ignore the information in one phase of the production you will find yourself lacking in preparation for the next phase. For example: if you ignore thinking about and preparing scene shifts until you reach the technical phase you wont have adequately prepared your running sheets in time for the technical rehearsals. The result will be loss of time, respect, and organization necessary for you to succeed in that phase of the production.
The five phases follow a linear time line with the exception that the Rehearsal/Build phase in most University productions runs concurrently. In each theatre the build and rehearsal phase will have some variation. The more money used to produce a show the more bifurcated the separation between rehearsal and build can become. Certainly when they are shopping the designs to professional shops the time line can become more skewed.
Preproduction
Preproduction is where the stage manager gets prepared for first rehearsal. Most union contracts allow only one or two weeks for this phase. Student stage managers, especially new stage managers, should be given a longer time to get prepared. On some shows there is quite a bit more to prepare than others.
There is sometimes the notion that stage managers are ‘on the clock’ the minute they are assigned to a show. In many cases months before rehearsal begins. Young stage managers should be limited in the amount of time a director can have access to them so that the stage manager doesn’t become the gopher/assistant director/dramaturg, etc for the director weeks and months before it is necessary for their involvement. Most Universities should establish procedures to cover the time period between assignment of stage managers and their involvement with production. Sure there is much to be covered and completed. The Production Manager or Production Stage Manager is usually in charge of overall calender, deadlines, etc. while the Business Manager/General Manager is responsible for attaining rights, royalties, scripts. The student stage manager who has had multiple opportunities to stage manage might be assigned oversight of a season but a young stage manager should be spared this responsibility until they have proven themselves capable of such detailed foresight.
Rehearsal/Build
This is obvious but a very important part of the process for the stage manager. Most University theatres are going to have the rehearsal and the build phase (building the sets/props/costumes for the show) going on simultaneously and the stage manager must monitor what is going on in rehearsal with what is going on in the shop. One of their primary responsibilities is translating what is happening in rehearsal to the physical reality of the show. It is important that each facet of the production as it is rehearsed be synchronous with the set, costumes, etc, that make up the production. When inconsistencies occur it is the stage manager who must insure that proper channels and procedures are opened and communicated to resolve these inconsistencies. Poor communications of foresight can cost countless people hours of their time and energies.
Tech/Dress
Otherwise known as the technical rehearsals, this phase is the blending or marriage of the technical aspects of the show (i.e. lights, sound, costumes, scenery, projections, etc.) to the artistic show as rehearsed. Dress rehearsals are included as part of the technical phase as a dress rehearsal is the technical addition of the costume and wardrobe staff. Previews are considered First Paid Public Performances and are covered later in this text. FPPP’s, as I like to shorten them, bring a significant change in the rule books and as such I group them under the Run/Maintenance phase of production
Run/Maintenance
Previews, opening nights, run of show; all of these are covered in the Run/Maintenance phase of production. This is the time when the stage managers solidifies all the changes made within the technical phase and begins the process of maintaining the artistic intention of the production. This includes brush up rehearsals, understudy rehearsals, and put in rehearsals. It is the time when all the paperwork is solidified and made up to date and the business of running the show becomes the day to day responsibility.
Strike or Stow Away
It may seem odd to people that I group the notion of stowing a show along with strike but in reality, while most of us throw away the show immediately upon completion of the run, there are productions that come back on a yearly basis. This is especially true for holiday productions that prove a big money maker for the theatre. So a detailed plan for storage of the scenery, props, costumes, etc is an essential learning tool.
For striking the show plans still need to be made for dumpsters, hauling, etc. Costumes are rarely thrown away as are props. Most of the time costumes and props are loaded back into storage so plans must be made to coordinate transportation and trucking issues.
* I consider this the SECOND RULE of stage management.
The Life Cycle of the Play.
Lately I have been talking about the Life Cycle of the Play (or production really, any production). I generally don't dive into the planning part as that is implied through the five phases. But in particular the part when the artistic element joins the design and technical element. For my students I teach them the mantra, "you have to hang it before you load it, you have to load it before you focus it, you have to focus it before you level it, you have to level it before you cue it, you have to cue it before you tech it, you have to tech it before you dress it, you have to dress it before you open it." Repeat ad nauseum.
This probably one of the most important things a stage manager can learn. It does not matter whether you have ten days or two you had better follow that order or have a darn good reason not to. This order remains a constant. There are two other factors that are variables and in some cases can change the constant but not often. They are the show itself and the theatre you are going in to. For example; Irma Vep is a show all about costume changes. Two men play somewhere around 15 roles and at one point one of the men plays two characters talking to each other between two french doors upstage. It's hysterical. It's also about quick changes. With that play we 'teched' the costume changes before we bothered teching the lights and sound. If they couldn't make the changes we couldn't do the show and the timing of the changes was critical to the cueing on stage. Therefore our constant was tweaked. But that is the exception and not the rule.
In calendaring you learn that you have to set the trims on the drops before you tech the drops but if your theatre doesn't have a fly loft it's probably not going to have fly cues. You can skip that part. So the theatre itself can help you define the life cycle in the same way the production can. Understanding how all the parts are connected to that life cycle is a very important part of being a stage manager.