September 26, 2002
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.