One Man management talks passion for theater

Beginning next week, I will be embarking on six weeks of shadowing technical crews to understand how various parts of One Man, Two Guvnors will come together. Over the past week, though, I decided to delve into production management—to describe the roles, and the students, who will make sure communication between technicians stays open and that all gaps in production get filled. Shows at Fossil Ridge High School have a similar leadership structure year-to-year, but as Thomas Woolner, a junior and Assistant Stage Manager (ASM) for the show explained, directors are trying to further spread out responsibilities among leadership this show. For example, the stage manager will be focusing more intently on organization and communication, while the directors are “relying more on the ASMs and the crew leads to have a lot of technical knowledge.”

This spring’s stage manager is freshman Caroline Sears, and her busyness with the show was already apparent when I arrived to interview her. Sears requested that we talk while she made several runs to check in with directors and technicians, and she was stopped several times in the hallway by students with questions about paperwork and ticket sales. Sears explained that the role of the stage manager is, “to record all blocking, lines, and basically just help out the director in any way he or she needs, and carry out their artistic vision.”

Meanwhile, the ASMs for the show include Woolner, junior Nikky Haabestad, and senior Garrick Bateman. Woolner explained that ASM roles change frequently depending on the needs of the show, but a central responsibility of the job is facilitating communication between technical crews. Additionally, he described “helping out the stage manager with organizational tasks—there’s surprising amount of paperwork to do if you’re stage manager, and sometimes it’s just easier to delegate it to us.” Because ASMs tend to have experience in several areas of tech, they can also jump in and help any crew that needs it.

Bateman described the position as a type of “middle management.” He also emphasized the importance of communication between crews, as well as leadership. Each ASM was given three tech crews to oversee, and Bateman clarified that that “doesn’t mean that we’re leading them or directing them, but we’re kind of the project management, saying ‘here’s what our schedule looks like,’ ‘here’s how we’re tackling each problem.’”

Senior Katie Plese, meanwhile, is the assistant technical director for the show. In the same way the ASMs aid Sears in whatever she needs, Plese reports directly to John Garner, the technical director for the show. Having never served in the role, she explained that, “I don’t know specifics because roles and responsibilities change from show to show.” However, her experience with stage managing two shows at Fossil gives her the communication skills and all-around knowledge needed to navigate any tasks thrown her way.

While the five students span grades, skills, and experience with production, all have several central facts in common. The most important seems to be that all have a passion for theater, summed up by Sear’s words when she said, “even if this is people’s fourth year, they’re still so driven and they’re working so hard to put this beautiful show together. The magic never ends.” The following answers provide a bit of context to where that passion, drive, and even love for the arts comes from.

What roles have you had in past productions?

Sears: So I was an ASM for Rent, but even before that, I came to every single show since Honk, which is a long time. I loved and admired every actor, every set change, so much. And now I’ve seen all the beauty, and all the hard work, and I’m so grateful to be a part of this family and to make it all happen.

Bateman: It was sophomore year, and it was Addams Family. [My friend] was like ‘you should do tech,’ so I did, and I signed up for lights because it sounded interesting. I was on lights for Addams Family, and I was a spotlight operator for that, and then I moved to sound for the next three shows. That was a lot of fun. I had a good time with sound, and then I just decided, ‘you know, it’s my last one, I wanted to at least go for something a little different.’ So I was like ‘I think ASM would be fun. So I interviewed for it.’

Plese:  I joined Technical Theater sophomore year because I needed arts credits! Little did I know I would love it so much! My first show was Frankenstein, during which I was set lead. The next show, Addams Family, I tried out for stage manager, which became a very rewarding experience. I didn’t go to Fossil for my junior year, so I took a small break from theater. Senior year, I came back and was the stage manager for Rent.

What is your favorite production you have ever been a part of? Why?

Woolner: I’m gonna say the show I feel the best about what I did during it was Big Fish. Because, while I’ve never not had a good time with any of the shows I’ve done, a lot of the shows in the past I’ve felt like I wasn’t really set up in a situation where I could do my best work except in that one. Because, in that show, I was a lead for lights, and I’d already been lights lead before… I had the best crew that I’ve ever had for that show.

Haabestad: I want to say it’s a hard question, because I’ve loved them all so much, but I have to say Big Fish. It was such a fun show. I was the costume lead for that show, and we got a Bobby G nomination, which is like high school Tonys, and I spent so much time with my friends; I had a big role in it, it was just an awesome show for me.

Bateman: It’s hard not to say Big Fish. It was such a good community, and it was stressful—tech week was definitely one of the more anxiety-inducing tech weeks, but it was also really rewarding. And so seeing that show come together and seeing the public response to it, too, was awesome.

Plese: Rent was my favorite production, by far. The ideas we put on stage are both significant and relevant to our society today and it felt grand to be a part of something bigger than myself. The cast and crew were like family, and I enjoyed every second of it.

What are you most excited about for this production? What challenges do you anticipate?

Sears: Number one: the accents. I’m so excited for that. So excited for the humor, and for light-hearted comedy that everyone can just rest, and take their mind of all the drama in our world, and just see a funny show for once. And I’m so excited for the rotating set, it’s called periaktoi, and just to show people the funny side of Fossil theater.

Haabestad: I am really happy that this is a comedy, because I don’t even know if we’ve ever done a comedy before. I mean like just a pure British farce. This is unlike anything we’ve ever done, and people have been asking for straight comedy for so long, and I’m so happy that we’re finally doing one. I’m just hoping that we get good audience reactions—I mean we’re pulling some into the stage, so I hope that works—and I’m just hoping that it’s a good environment.

What do you want people to know before they walk into the theater to see this production?

Woolner: I think they should know that shows don’t just come together. They require a lot of effort, and they require every bit as much effort as things that they do that they wish people knew more about. Because everyone has one of those, and I think if they realize that in the end they’re all actually fairly similar in how you have to accomplish things, even if not the actual skills that you have to use to do it, that’ll give them new insight to what and why we do what we do. Also—don’t hate on sound crew. Every single person that I have talked to, if they have a complaint about the show, it’s usually about sound. But you guys forget that sound is the single hardest job to do during a show, and you never, ever know when it goes right, only when it goes wrong, so give them some credit for all the times it’s gone right.

Plese: For this show in particular, it would be awesome if people had a basic understanding of British humor! It sure would make understanding all the jokes easier! But it’s not fair for me to expect that. As entertainers, everyone in theater is responsible for telling stories to the best of their ability. And part of that challenge is expecting who will be seeing each performance – high school students unfamiliar with British humor and Cockney accents. Therefore, we must all tweak the story to make it more understandable to the audience. Actors will probably be focusing on delivery, lighting designers will highlight humorous motions, set designers will make each scene change seamless so the pace/tone of the show never strays from fast/humorous… Theater is unique because of audience participation. It is different each night depending on who purchases the tickets, which makes it an incredibly beautiful experience. I don’t think I can expect too much from the audience, and that’s not an insult. I actually view that as a good thing!

How has theater shaped you?

Haabestad: When I was middle school, I was honestly a little bit of a bully, which is a little strange, and I didn’t have a mohawk for most of it. But I was in eighth grade, and my friends convinced me to join the after-school drama class they had during the E.L.O. time. And I didn’t think much of it, but I decided to join, and I quickly became attached. Then I started, like, being happier, and I realized like, ‘hey, being mad all the time sucks.’ So I made a huge change, and I cut my hair, and I changed. I became happier, I loved more people, and I continued that into high school. I’ve made so many friends—I feel like I have a place. Sometimes I don’t, because ‘woo! Theater cliques!”, but I know there’s always a group of people I can come up to and talk with, and that’s really great

Bateman: It just gave me a lot of the friendships I have. So that’s what I think about. I don’t foresee myself going into theater, necessarily, but it’s given me a lot of the relationships I’ve needed and introduced me a very interesting, thriving, creative community that I can rely on.

Plese:  When I entered high school, my passion was engineering. My parents are both engineers, and I used to joke that I was bred for that profession. I never described myself as an artistic person – that wasn’t in the cards for me. However, recently, when I was writing one of my college essays, they asked me about my passion. And I told them – I am a person lucky enough to have not one passion, but two. My passion for engineering is a timeless love story and my passion for theatrical art is an epic love affair. Theater has changed the way I think about myself and the world around me. It has given me an outlet to express my emotions, which often aren’t easy to recognize, let alone voice. I owe much of who I am and what I aspire to be to theater (and all of the mentors that have guided me along the way).