ABSTRACT
A stage management team is normally employed by the producer and the production manager, possibly in conjunction with the company manager. They will usually try to put together a team of people they know who have worked well together before. While this is the ideal, in practice a team will often consist of some new members, and with a new company it is likely that no-one will have worked together before. The stage manager may well already know director, who may even have asked for them to work on production. Nevertheless it is important to meet up with the director as far in advance as possible. The opportunity can be used to find out about their vision for the production, whether they foresee any problems with the staging, with the cast, or anything else. Stage management will need to study ground plans and models in advance so that they have a clear idea of what the set will look like.
