The Unspoken

The production and my role:

The Unspoken was produced by the Dark Slate Theatre Company and put on at York's Theatre@41 Venue. Its run lasted from June 11th-13th, 2024.

As stage manager, I was the key contact backstage and responsible for keeping track of cast members (especially with costume changes), the numerous props on stage, and organizing scene transitions. In addition to this, I was a line of communication between actors and the Dark Slate company. This was especially the case in advocating for actors in times of stress/tensions, specifically going into our dress run.

This production proved a fun challenge, as it differed to the process I had grown custom to within Drama Society and exposed me to more professional practices that I later applied to other projects. This included development into the way I laid out prop tracking documents, staging notes and set transition documents. With shorter time to prepare in the venue, it was necessary to have a concrete plan of attack before. All scene transitions were done by the actors, and stage management were never on stage due to the immersive premise of the show, therefore additional planning on presetting before the house was open, and communication with actors during the interval reset was key in aiding the show's smooth-runnings. That being said, I was still able to do things backstage in preparation for transitions, such as presetting tables that got brought onstage and standing-by entrances/exits to quickly grab/give props as needed to actors. After each show, me and the props manager worked together to reset the stage ahead of the new show (this primarily was in regards to reorganizing and refilling the various bottles of alcohol that lined the bar on set).