Day in the life of a Conant Theatre Stage Manager

As the curtain closes and the lights fade, you may wonder what goes into the making of a musical or what an average day of tech week looks like. As a stage manager, I have an inside perspective of everything that happens backstage. With Conant’s production of Mary Poppins currently taking the stage, here is a glimpse into the rehearsal process. This is a day in my life as a Conant Theatre Stage Manager!

Today is the second day of our third week of tech, where we stay until 7pm or later to fix any final issues and run the show, so we’re ready to open. At the beginning of rehearsal, the cast and crew split up to have two separate team meetings. The technical director, Dave Torpe, physics teacher and Head of the Science Department, gave the crew a quick pep talk and encouraged us to keep working hard as we neared the final days of rehearsal. 

Jessica Pfeifer | Conant Crier

Example of a light cue from the song “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.”

Once our meeting broke, I ran up to the booth where I met our Lights Coordinator, Jay Kloss ‘25. Together, we reviewed the lights notes from yesterday, and Kloss edited cues. We also looked through the script to find places where we could add additional cues.

Jessica Pfeifer | Conant Crier

This is Todd, our fly system. Typically, our theater doesn’t have a fly system, but since we’re doing Mary Poppins, the directorial team decided to rent one.

Every day, I have to check the system to make sure it’s safe to fly. After my checks, the fly team also has to inspect the harnesses of our two flyers, Maya Cronfel, ‘25, and Dylan Carlyon, ‘25, who play Mary Poppins and Bert, respectively. Then, we clip them in and lift them just about a foot off the ground to make sure everything and everyone is safe.

While we’re doing our fly call, the cast is onstage working through any fights, lifts, and intimacy moments that occur during the show. We practice these at the beginning of every show to ensure performer safety and comfort.

As soon as all the checks are finished, I put on my headset to check in with the spotlight operators, sound, and backstage. While sound crew and the actors go through mic checks, Kloss and I cycle through the cues of the show and make any necessary adjustments from the notes we took during the previous run of the show.

Once the crew and actors are ready backstage, Kloss lowers the house lights, the pit begins the overture and I stand at the ready to open the grand, the main curtain covering the stage.

Jessica Pfeifer | Conant Crier

Example of a light cue from the song “Feed the Birds.”

During the show, I control the curtains and call lighting cues by issuing a standby to Kloss a few lines before the lights need to change. Then, just before the cue line, I say “Go,” so Kloss can hit the button and the lights can change just in time.

As soon as Act One ended, we broke for our snack break. The director Katie Apperson-Skobel, the Student Technical Director Norah Bott, ‘25, and I discussed plans for the second half of rehearsal. After some discussion, we decided to run the second act.

In order to prepare for Act Two, I grabbed a quick snack and went to the booth where I added cast members to the list of run crew to ensure we had enough people helping with our scene changes. 

Jessica Pfeifer | Conant Crier

Throughout our run of the second act, we worked to simplify scene changes using the traveler, our middle curtain. We also spiked (mark where set pieces go with tape) a few set pieces.

Jessica Pfeifer | Conant Crier

After rehearsal ended, Bott and I stayed late to assist Torpe as he used the lift to refocus a few of our LED light fixtures to ensure there wouldn’t be any dark spots on the stage.

Then, I finally went home and worked on the day’s rehearsal report where I laid out what everyone accomplished, what still needs to be done, and any notes for members of the production. Once I posted the report, I headed to bed, ready for another day of rehearsal.

This has been a day in my life as a Conant Theatre Stage Manager! Want to see the production in action? Come see “Mary Poppins,” running from October 24-26 at 7pm with an additional 2pm show on October 26!

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