BACK STAGE WEST

           

September 26, 2002

     

 

THE WICKED STAGE

 

by Rob Kendt

           

 

What is it about stage managers (the good ones, anyway)? Do they all have some secret stash of chill pills, or have they all taken a master class on Keeping Your Cool Among Needy, Crazy Diva Artists Who All Have Special Prop Needs? I've been in productions that stumbled through their paces without an officially designated stage managerÑwelcome to small L.A. theatreÑbut every show I've worked on that had the good fortune of a bona fide binder-toting stage manager was infinitely smoother and more professional, at least behind the scenes. I asked Anna Belle Gilbert, who's doing the honors for An Appalachian Twelfth Night at the Globe Playhouse (through Nov. 10Ñend of plug), if there's a unique personality type that marks all stage managers from birth. For her part, Anna Belle has one of the most serene, no-b.s. temperaments of anyone I've met in the theatre; she came late to the rehearsal process, with a show that felt like it was never going to find its feet, andÑwell, the thing about stage managers is that you can't necessarily point to any one thing they do that makes everything all right, but there's no denying that their presence at the helm of a production staff has an undeniably soothing, sobering effect. They're like the substitute teacher who's actually cool, heeded and admired by even the most unruly students. Anna Belle told me she's become aware of her "special temperament" only because others have pointed it out, and because it seems to get her gigs outright; she marvels that many of her job interviews have been frighteningly quick, with producers seeming to hire her based more on their impression of her personality than on her resumŽ (is there a lesson here for actors?). If she wasn't aware how suited she was to the job, how did she gravitate toward itÑand why has she stayed in L.A., not exactly the capital of paying work for Equity stage managers? She was aware of her tendency to be well-organized, and she loves the theatreÑyou have to love the job of stage manager or you won't last, she said. What's more, she finds that the relative scarcity of competition makes jobs easy to land: She's worked repeatedly at the Matrix and Pasadena Playhouse, enough to stay afloat.

 

Talking to her made me think of Cornerstone Theater Company's heroic twosome, Paula Donnelly and Bridget Kirkpatrick, who have saved (and gently but firmly kicked) many a theatrical butt over the years. I first met Bridget when I was doing a story on Cornerstone's and Actors' Gang's co-production of Medea/Macbeth/Cinderella, an impossibly ambitious show that was her first in L.A. And I give propsÑliterallyÑto James Tupper, whose "seven-minute" calls were a backstage highlight of this year's Uncle Vanya at the Met Theatre and Pacific Resident Theatre.

 

Finally, I recall bittersweetly Dave Wieken, the stage manager Anthony Heald called the "best in the business," who manned the controls at Oregon Shakespeare Festival for years until his untimely death in a hiking accident in 2000. Kibitzing with Dave after a particularly good show was as thrilling as talking to any actor high on a roleÑDave was clearly "on," performing at his job as much as anyone onstage, just out of our view.

 

And so: a toast to the invisible, unreviewed, un-awarded, unsung heroes and heroines of the wicked stage. Now, about that Friday call time, Anna BelleÉ.

 

¥ Heard from former Back Stage West reporter, former Groundling, and former welterweight champion Scott Chernoff last week: He was calling to catch upÑand to tell me that the company he's part of, ComedySportz, now has a permanent home at the old HBO Workspace on Seward off Melrose, which now has the portentous marquee The National Comedy Theatre. This is a big deal for the formerly peripatetic troupe, run by the tireless James Bailey, whose Friday night improv show has been running since 1988Ñwhich would make it the longest-running show in L.A. (Don Shirley, you wanna weigh in on this?). A new edition of the competitive ComedySportz show opens Oct. 4, followed by a late-night improvised musical show called U-sical. In other long-running improv news, the Groundlings' Thursday night all-improv Cooking With Gas celebrates 10 years on the boards next month. And Tony Sepulveda's parody of bad L.A. theatre, Beverly Winwood Presents the Actors Showcase, which has been running for months at the Groundling Theatre, will move to the mid-sized Canon Theatre on Oct. 14. I found the tone of the showÑwhich features such alumni as Paul Reubens, Phil LaMarr, and Mindy SterlingÑa little cheap and mean, although Jennifer Coolidge's matronly Laura Wingfield is worth the price of admission.