Date of Defense

4-7-2025

Date of Graduation

4-2025

Department

Theatre

First Advisor

Cheryl Bruey

Second Advisor

Patrick Niemi

Third Advisor

Evan Carlson

Abstract

The job of a stage manager is to not only run and organize the rehearsal and performance spaces, but to establish a culture of the company and maintain the physical, mental, and emotional safety of all members of the company. The stage manager has to collaborate with the cast, crew, and production team of the show, and encourage the collaboration between all of those areas. The stage manager does this through openly communicating with all members of the company, making efficient paperwork that informs everyone of everything they need to know, and running the show in a way that allows all members of the company to do their work and put on the best show possible. Every other member of the company focuses on their design, their job, or their performance, and it is up to the stage manager to supplement their work with all of the logistical details that allow them all to come together. This detailed archive includes the calling and blocking scripts from WMU Theatre’s production of Legally Blonde, the PowerPoint given at the thesis defense, and a supplementary paper detailing the different aspects of a stage manager’s role. The paper and PowerPoint include many documents that were a collaboration between not only the members of the stage management team, but the creative team as well. The included scripts could be used to remount this specific production of the show with the same blocking and cues. The paper and PowerPoint are structured in a timeline of the production that supplements the information in the scripts and when each part of the thesis was made, as well as the parts of the process and essential duties of the stage manager that are not displayed in the work shown by the two scripts. All paperwork and skills documented in this thesis are a credit to the stage managers I have worked with who have taught me how to do what I do well and have lifted me up in both educational and professional settings.

Access Setting

Honors Thesis-Restricted

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