Photo: Harrison Keely (CC BY 4.0)
Job description
Before opening night, stage managers schedule and run rehearsals, track actor availability and blocking notes for the director, and maintain a prompt book documenting every cue and technical detail of the show. Once it's running, they call cues for lighting, sound, and set changes during live performances, oversee backstage operations like prop placement and quick costume changes, and communicate nightly reports on any technical issues or injuries to the creative team. The role carries ultimate responsibility for the show running smoothly, so tech week in particular brings long, exacting hours in cramped backstage spaces.
Pros
- Central creative and organizational role, running the entire show once it opens
- Entry is achievable through hands-on production experience, not only a theater degree
- Every performance is different, keeping the work engaging rather than repetitive
Cons
- Tech week before opening brings especially long hours on top of an already 40-60 hour week
- The role carries ultimate responsibility for the show, leaving little tolerance for mistakes
- Pay tops out around $100k, modest for the level of responsibility carried night after night
A typical day
The day begins with preset at 5pm for an 8pm curtain: walking the deck, checking every prop table against photos, testing headsets with lighting and sound. The half-hour call goes out to actors at 7:30 exactly, because the stage manager is the production's clock. During the show, she sits at the prompt desk calling upward of 300 cues -- "LX 47 go" -- each one landing on a precise beat of music or dialogue. After curtain, the performance report gets written and emailed to the whole creative team: what ran long, what broke, and which understudy might be needed Thursday.
Tasks at the job
- Call cues for lighting, sound, and set changes during live performances to keep the show running on time.
- Schedule and run rehearsals, tracking actor availability and blocking notes for the director.
- Maintain the prompt book documenting blocking, cues, and technical notes for the production.
- Coordinate between the director, designers, and crew to resolve scheduling or logistical conflicts.
- Oversee backstage operations during performances, including prop placement and quick costume changes.
- Communicate nightly performance reports covering technical issues, injuries, or notes for the creative team.
Workplace & working conditions
Work is split between rehearsal rooms and backstage areas of theaters, often in cramped, dark wing spaces while wearing a headset during live shows.
The role carries ultimate responsibility for a live show running smoothly, so the pace is exacting and unforgiving of mistakes, with long tech-week hours common before opening night.
Education necessary or common
Bachelor's degree in theater is common, though many enter through hands-on production experience
Common college majors
Career path
Related fields
Courses to take
- Theater and stagecraft -- the craft itself, learned by doing
- English or AP Literature -- script analysis drives every cue
- Music -- reading a score helps call musical cues
- Business or organizational electives -- scheduling and paperwork are half the job
- Physics -- basic comfort with lighting, sound, and rigging
Clubs, activities & competitions
- Stage manage school productions -- the actual job, available right now
- Thespian Society (ITS) troupe and festival competition
- Run crew for community theater -- more shows, more reps
- Student council event planning -- logistics practice
First steps you can take now
- Volunteer to assistant stage manage your school's next production
- Learn to make a prompt book: get a script and mark cues for a scene
- Shadow the stage manager at a community or professional theater
- Master a scheduling tool and build the rehearsal calendar for any club event
