All role cheat sheets

Cheat sheet: assistant stage manager

Your first week as an ASM

Mirror the book, own the room, stay on book.

What the job is, in the glossary

If you're new

  • You are the stage manager's second pair of hands: room setup, props, lines and a copy of everything.
  • When an actor calls "line", you answer. Fast.Colby

If you're a pro

  • A common split: first ASM on props, second ASM on costumes and script changes.EmersonIU South Bend
  • On a Broadway contract, ASMs cue actors and check presets but do not move props or scenery; that is union crew work.Equity (US)IATSE

Talk to these people first

  • Your stage manager, in prep week. Agree on blocking shorthand, daily setup, what you cover in an emergency and which departments you look after.EmersonIU South Bend
  • The props master and costume shop, if you are their contact. Pick-up, check-in and storage for rehearsal props and pieces.EmersonDavidson
  • The technical director. With the SM, find the props and costume storage, the fire extinguishers and how the building locks up.Langham CourtUNI

Do

  • Keep a script that matches the stage manager's book exactly, and learn the show's blocking symbols.IU South BendDavidson
  • Arrive 15 to 30 minutes early: unlock, sweep, set furniture and props, and leave the day's schedule and last night's report on the tables.EmersonIU South Bend
  • Turn the medical forms into a private allergy and health chart for the book.Emerson
  • Help tape the floor, sit on book, reset during notes, and track script changes. Keep the old pages.EmersonIU South BendColby
  • Stay until everything is locked away and the room is back the way you found it.IU South BendDavidson

Don't

  • Do not send any report, schedule or line notes before the stage manager has checked them.
  • Never throw away replaced script pages. Cuts get reversed.Emerson
  • Do not mix rehearsal stand-ins with real show props. Label the storage.EmersonUNI
  • Do not let messages from the SM, director or designers sit.Davidson

What to bring

  • Your matching script, the blocking key, line note sheets and a clipboard.IU South BendDavidson
  • Pencils, erasers, spike and gaff tape, dark markers, a small torch and a stopwatch.DavidsonEmerson
  • Comfortable clothes now. Blacks and quiet closed shoes from tech on.DavidsonUNI

Other roles

How-tos for the same show

Tech week, hour by hourPaper tech to previews: who comes, what gets done, how long, and when to move on.Build a prompt bookWhat goes in the book, in what order, and how it runs tech and every show.School, community, pro and UK theatreWho calls the show, what the rules are and what everything is called, side by side.

Sources

Written in my own words from handbooks, guides and rulebooks I read for this suite. Tags beside each point show where it comes from.

Made by Kate Makrigiannis, a theatre-trained product manager who directs and teaches.

Photos: Pexels