About Me
In brief, I am a New York-based professional stage manager and computer geek, and this is my site about both those things, and in particular how technology can be used to assist in stage managing.
This is a picture of me eating a leek that was used as a prop, while calling Henry V at the New Victory Theatre in New York.
I have written a more extensive biography on each of the three main topics the site covers.
theatre | computers | gaming
In my spare time, I am also an amateur graphic designer. I was once paid in Starbucks cards for my work. Does that make me a professional? I have a little informal portfolio.
About the Site
This site began as a blog called The Go Button - where theatre and technology converge. The blog began in 2007 and all posts are available on this site.
The transition from blog to full website came about in May of 2009, when I had two weeks between jobs, and determined to learn to hand code websites. I created the site using Espresso, and today use Coda, both one-window website editors for the Mac.
Contact
Email: mail@headsetchatter.com
Twitter: @headsetchatter
AIM: headsetchatter
Frequently Asked Questions
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What's the point of this website?
I began writing the blog The Go Button mostly because I wanted to find something to blog about. I didn't want it to be a random blog about what I had for breakfast, it had to be something that people would actually want to read. So I searched my mind for something that I liked to write about, that I knew something about, and that wasn't adequately covered by larger and better blogs out there. I have a great love for theatre, and also a great love for technology, and while they are often separate and contradictory interests (I have $120 -- do I see a Broadway show or upgrade the power supply on my gaming rig?), the opportunities I find to combine the two have made me a more successful stage manager. My blog became a place for me to share my practices and discoveries about theatre and technology as separate topics, and in combination. My hope for my readers is that it will allow other geeky or non-geeky theatre people (or anyone, really) to get ideas about new things they can do themselves.
I also have had a lot of opportunities in my career to work with, train and teach new stage managers and stage management students. I enjoy being able to provide guidance and tips for people who come after me, because I received the same kind of help when I was starting out, and also have had to figure out a lot of things for myself over the years and it might have been easier if someone had just told me! And I'm still learning new things all the time, and enjoy passing them on. I'm pleased that the material on the site has been suggested by some theatre teachers to educate their future stage managers, and because of that I created the education tag on the blog to narrow down to the posts that seem most useful for someone wanting to know what it's like to be a stage manager.
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What is a stage manager?
This is not a question that can be answered adequately in one sentence. The stage manager is many things to many people, and the nature of the job changes as a show goes from its initial planning stages into rehearsal, tech, and finally performance. Throughout the process, the basic duty of the stage manager is to ensure that all the other people involved with the production have what they need to do their jobs, and that information gets around to everyone who needs it.
This Wikipedia article does a pretty good job of summing it up in a little more detail, although it would take a much longer time to list every little thing that falls under the stage manager's job. It may seem a little simplistic, but in essence the stage manager does manage the stage -- not the physical building, but perhaps more appropriately, what's on the stage, and how it got there and continues to get there every night through the run of a show.
I have begun a page entitled Stage Manager Duties, which lists some of the most common things that are and are not the job of a stage manager. It's still a work in progress.
Earlier this year, a production assistant I had worked with was taking a stage management class as part of her theatre major and needed to interview a working professional. I have provided that interview to give some more detail on the job of a stage manager and my personal background.