ABSTRACT
The stage managers role begins before a production starts to be rehearsed. The degree of involvement and when it begins can depend on a number of factors: contract, budget, type of company, scale of production. It is useful for a stage manager to know a bit about the play they are going to work on in advance. This enables them to put it into the context of the production and to manage expectations. Many stage managers will do some research even before they accept a contract, sometimes even before being interviewed for a job. The stage manager should also try to find out a bit about the theatre company, the director and designer who they will be working with. Many theatre companies have informative websites and information can also be gleaned from reviews of previous productions and from articles in newspapers and magazines. For a scripted piece, the text can be ‘analysed’ on several levels.
