美国国家公共电台 NPR Stage Managers: You Can't See Them, But Couldn't See A Show Without Them

 

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

Time now for a bit of our summer series Backstage Pass, and perfect timing¹ because the Tonys are tonight, the 71st annual Tony Awards, Broadway's highest honor. This evening at Radio City Music Hall, the marquee names will collect their awards as well as lots of people who work behind the scenes - writers, directors, designers. But it takes scores to put on a show, and there are many key players who aren't even eligible² for Tonys like stage managers. Jeff Lunden talked to some of them about what they do.

JEFF LUNDEN, BYLINE³: They're usually in the wings, sitting at a desk covered with video monitors and lots of buttons and switches. And they're wearing a headset to communicate with the cast and crew.

IRA MONT: Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome back from dinner. The call is half hour, half hour please. This is your half-hour call.

LUNDEN: There's a reason the stage manager speaks into what's called the God mic. Ira Mont has it now at "Cats."

MONT: I like to think of a stage manager as the chief operations officer of the corporation that is the show.

LUNDEN: Donald Fried is behind the God mic for the Tony-nominated play "Sweat."

DONALD FRIED: I also like to think of the stage manager as the captain of the Enterprise.

LUNDEN: And Karyn Meek⁴ is production stage manager for another Tony-nominated work, the musical "Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet Of 1812."

KARYN MEEK: I would call us the hub of the wheel. We are the person in charge of communication across all departments and management and to the cast as well. During the show, we are in charge of making sure the lights happen, the set moves, sound happens. We are the person who's controlling all of that.

(SOUNDBITE OF PLAY, "NATASHA, PIERRE AND THE GREAT COMET OF 1812")

JOSH GROBAN: (As Pierre) There's a war going on out there somewhere and Andrey isn't here.

LUNDEN: Long before a show starts its run, the stage manager is an integral part of the rehearsal⁵ process says Donald Fried with Lynn Nottage’s "Sweat."

FRIED: Everything begins and ends with the script. I got to read the script, read it several times, once just to read it as a person, not as a stage manager or an artist or anything, just to have an initial emotional feeling for it. Then I go back in and I read Lynn's stage direction so that I know what's happening light-wise, how she envisions the props⁶, how she envisions the set moving, people entering and exiting, whether or not they're changing costumes.

LUNDEN: Once a show is up and running, Karyn Meek says stage managers and their teams put in long hours.

MEEK: My day started today at 9:30 with cast beginning to tell me that they were going to in or out of the show based on injuries or sicknesses or things like that. And then depending on the day, I will either go to a matinee performance and be here at about 12:30 or to rehearsal and be here about 12:30. Matinee or rehearsal ends at about 5, 5:30, have a dinner break and then come back and do it again.

LUNDEN: Shows that feature complicated choreography or simulated fight scenes require daily rehearsals⁷.

FRIED: We'll do a fight call before every show because there's a big fight. We want to make sure everyone is safe and limber and that the props are working.

LUNDEN: Over at "Sweat," Donald Fried is supervising one of them.

FRIED: Here we go, folks. Whenever you're ready, Jimmy.

LUNDEN: The half hour before each performance, the stage manager walks through a beehive of activity making sure everyone's ready for curtain.

MEEK: Five minutes till the top of the show. Five minutes, please.

LUNDEN: Karyn Meek climbs a ladder to her perch⁸ high above stage left at "Great Comet." Actors perform throughout the theater, and Meek can keep an eye on them all.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: (Over radio) Stage managers, lobby is clear. House is yours, over.

MEEK: Copy that. Thank you.

LUNDEN: Once the show starts, she follows a musical score with Post-It notes showing all of the lighting⁹ and tech cues.

MEEK: Warning on the chains. Warning on the deck - 115 on red, 120 on green.

LUNDEN: Through one of her video monitors, she can see Josh Groban, who plays Pierre, standing¹⁰ at the back of the stage.

MEEK: Alex (ph), 25 - go. And we're off.

LUNDEN: And by the time the opening number really gets going, Meek is calling cues to the lighting technician every other beat.

MEEK: Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Alex, 68. Go.

LUNDEN: Meek literally¹¹ calls hundreds of sound and tech cues for each performance.

MEEK: And that's the end of the act.

LUNDEN: All the stage managers I spoke¹² with started out doing other things. Karyn Meek was a costume designer, Donald Fried a dancer, Ira Mont an actor, so he was used to getting applause. Even though he doesn't get any now, he wouldn't want to do anything else.

MONT: I am here to support the shows I work on and the actors who do them. And that's what gives me the joy. And I'm very fortunate to have had a 30-year career in a profession that is not easy to get into and is not easy to stay in. I'm a lucky guy.

LUNDEN: And so are his co-workers, especially when the COO remembers their birthday.

MONT: And it's Jessica Hendy’s birthday, so gather for Jessica Hendy’s birthday toast at the end of the show.

LUNDEN: For NPR News, I'm Jeff Lunden in New York.

1 timing   

n.时间安排，时间选择

参考例句：

• The timing of the meeting is not convenient.会议的时间安排不合适。
• The timing of our statement is very opportune.我们发表声明选择的时机很恰当。

2 eligible   

adj.有条件被选中的；(尤指婚姻等)合适(意)的

参考例句：

• He is an eligible young man.他是一个合格的年轻人。
• Helen married an eligible bachelor.海伦嫁给了一个中意的单身汉。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 meek   

adj.温顺的，逆来顺受的

参考例句：

• He expects his wife to be meek and submissive.他期望妻子温顺而且听他摆布。
• The little girl is as meek as a lamb.那个小姑娘像羔羊一般温顺。

5 rehearsal   

n.排练，排演；练习

参考例句：

• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。
• You can sharpen your skills with rehearsal.排练可以让技巧更加纯熟。

6 props   

小道具； 支柱( prop的名词复数 )； 支持者； 道具； （橄榄球中的）支柱前锋

参考例句：

• Rescuers used props to stop the roof of the tunnel collapsing. 救援人员用支柱防止隧道顶塌陷。
• The government props up the prices of farm products to support farmers' incomes. 政府保持农产品价格不变以保障农民们的收入。

7 rehearsals   

n.练习( rehearsal的名词复数 )；排练；复述；重复

参考例句：

• The earlier protests had just been dress rehearsals for full-scale revolution. 早期的抗议仅仅是大革命开始前的预演。
• She worked like a demon all through rehearsals. 她每次排演时始终精力过人。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 perch   

n.栖木，高位，杆；v.栖息，就位，位于

参考例句：

• The bird took its perch.鸟停歇在栖木上。
• Little birds perch themselves on the branches.小鸟儿栖歇在树枝上。

9 lighting   

n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光

参考例句：

• The gas lamp gradually lost ground to electric lighting.煤气灯逐渐为电灯所代替。
• The lighting in that restaurant is soft and romantic.那个餐馆照明柔和而且浪漫。

10 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

11 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

12 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。