Stage Management: Communication Design as Scenography (Readings in Theatre Practice) - Softcover

Michael Smalley

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1350360546 ISBN 13: 9781350360549

Publisher: Methuen Drama, 2024

Synopsis

Drawing on interview material from more than 20 leading stage managers from the UK, USA and Australia, this book situates the contemporary practice of stage management within its historical and social contexts. Questioning the notions of the invisible stage manager and a linear production process, it argues for a broader conception of stage management lying at the intersections of administration, management and artistry.

Michael Smalley places stage management practice within key theories drawn from the diverse fields of performance studies, semiotics, phenomenology, distributed cognition, management and scenography. By comparing stage management practice with other technical theatre disciplines, this volume champions the creative agency of stage management. Instead of prescriptive templates and processes, it offers a detailed account of the properties of communication which stage managers manipulate and the objectives they set out to achieve as a guide for decision making. While it considers the different approaches necessitated by productions from different cultures, genres, scales, and so on, it offers a view of stage management which is not bound by these differences.

About this title

About the Author

Michael Smalley is a theatre maker and researcher. His professional practice includes stage managing many productions in Australia, the UK, and Canada. As an academic, he has lectured in stage management, technical theatre, and scenography and is a member of the Scenography Working Group of the International Federation of Theatre Research.

Edition details

• Publisher: Methuen Drama
• Publication date: 2024
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1350360546
• ISBN 13: 9781350360549
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 240