They say behind every great man there’s a great woman.
Well, in the UNM production of “And Then They Came for Me,” behind a great cast are three great women.
Amy Bourque, Melissa Krause and Jeannine Nelson are the play’s stage managers, and they are expected to be the director’s living Blackberry.
Bourque said she takes notes, sets up cues, gets actors to rehearsal on time, communicates with the designer and everything else.
“It’s kind of like you’re a secretary and a mom,” she said. “It’s nice for people to be able to count on me, and so I don’t know. I don’t really know why I wanted to do it originally. I guess it just was a new experience.”
There are three stage managers in this production because it has a lot of technical elements. Krause is managing the multimedia projections. Nelson is working with sounds and lights, and Bourque is the backstage manager.
Director Susan Pearson said the stage manager is indispensable.
“I wouldn’t direct a production that doesn’t have one,” she said.
At first, this sort of talk seems hyperbolic. After all, it’s just three people among an entire cast. But watching their interaction with the director reveals another story.
Krause and Nelson rest in the sound booth above Theatre X, Pearson in the audience. They shout directions at one another, and Krause or Nelson periodically remind Pearson of things she missed, such as a sound cue for a rumbling truck.
Pearson listens, and then she says the truck sounds wrong. It’s supposed to be a convoy, and if they can, they should change it so it sounds more like that. Nelson agrees and readjusts the sound till the director’s happy.
“They’re just fabulous,” Pearson said. “Each one knows exactly what she’s doing.”
The question, then, is how they know what they are doing. At any given point, there are at least five people roaming around the theater, each trying to accomplish a task. The stage manager has to keep track of all this.
The key, Bourque said, is organization.
“If you weren’t organized as a stage manager, the show would start to fall apart I think,” she said.
Later, she showcases her bag, and in it, every pen and notebook has its own pocket. It’s a marvel of organization, and she waves her hand in front with pride.
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“See? This is my life,” Bourque said.
The job, besides organization, requires long hours. She drinks a 24-ounce Red Bull with a bright red straw during the interview. She came to campus at 11 a.m., and she said she probably won’t leave till 11 p.m.
The managers aren’t paid, and she doesn’t have a job, but she said that’s just how it is.
“It’s one of those things that you sacrifice either a job, sleep or homework because you can’t sacrifice the play,” Krause said. “Unfortunately, as my family is coming to realize, the play will always come first. That’s what the summer is for.”
That sentiment is shared among the managers.
Bourque said she works three jobs, one in the bookstore, one in the theater department, and another in a restaurant, like everyone in the theater.
Nelson might have the most on her plate. She has the most experience from previous stints as stage manager in the community theater, but she said moving to the University setting is challenging.
There’s interdepartmental communication that goes on, students schedules to keep in mind, and, of course, the looming specter of homework.
“This has been a whole new experience for me,’ she said. “When I wake up with my plate full, I have myself, my family, and my school, and then to run a production on top of that, plus your job and everything else, it’s a different system.”
She seems stressed, but she’s in control. She still shouts commands and maintains order. She’s said she’s getting through it.
So the stage managers give up their time, jobs and crank up their stress levels in the process, but their presence is never noted by the audience.
All their work is supposed to go unnoticed, Nelson said.
“You are creating a reality for the audience,” she said. “You want that to be as real as possible, and if there’s a glitch in the system, it pulls the audience out of that reality and back into their own reality.”
In a world where actors grab all the attention, the managers work, for the most part, goes unnoticed by the audience, but they said they are OK with it.
Krause said she was on stage for most of her life, and being a stage manager is just a change of pace. She likes it more now.
Nelson has experience in the acting and managing world. She said she doesn’t prefer one or the other, but they are unique worlds.
“It’s a different realm,” she said. “You are responsible for you and your character, and that’s it. As a stage manager, you’re responsible for everything. There are two completely different worlds, and both are very rewarding.”
Amid running about with lights, telling actors not to chew gum in their costumes and talking with the director, Bourque said, stage managing is her favorite part of theater.
“To go from focusing only on yourself and then go to focusing to having a hand in every aspect of the show was totally, totally different,” she said. “But (it) was way more rewarding.”
