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Characteristics of a Good Stage Manager

 

The ability to speak several languages is an asset, but the ability to keep your mouth shut in one is truly impressive.

—Anonymous

 

 

What makes a good stage manager? Efficiency, organizational ability, congeniality, unflappability, knowledge of technical aspects of theater, energy and devotion, calmness under fire, and an effortless ability to announce “Ladies and Gentlemen, it’s half-hour—half-hour—to curtain” on the backstage monitor, night after night after night.

What makes a great stage manager? All of the above plus a love of theater and, most especially, a love of actors. Roy Harris is a great stage manager.*

Playwright Wendy Wasserstein (The Heidi Chronicles, 1989 Tony Award and 1989 Pulitzer ...

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