Stage Management

Peter Sargent
Stage Management
sargenpe@webster.edu

One person backstage sees a production through from beginning to end: the Stage Manager. Long before opening night, the Stage Manager has been at work, and by show time, there is no single person who knows the workings of a production, inside and out, as well as the Stage Manager.

In the professional theatre, the Stage Manager does more than call cues. Duties include: carefully notating stage movement and scene tempos, organizing a master schedule and keeping the director up-to-date, providing daily communication lines between the director and designers, and making sure that each production area is running on schedule. The Stage Manager must also know all Equity rules, and therefore, looks after the best interests of the actors. The Stage Manager is always the first to arrive and the last to leave the rehearsal, because the Stage Manager runs the show. Good Stage Managers are not frustrated actors or directors, but highly skilled and disciplined theatre specialists
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The Conservatory of Theatre Arts has created a special curriculum to prepare the aspiring Stage Manger for a career in this highly demanding area. The program blends classroom experience with the practical problems commonly found in rehearsal and performance.

The Stage Management Program is unique to the Conservatory, and no more than five students will be accepted into the first year. The program boasts an exceptionally high placement record with 100% of its graduates placed upon graduation.