The Stage

Propped up

Published Tuesday 29 May 2007 at 12:00

Further to Barbara Eifler’s column on the complexities of UK stage managers working in the US (May 17, page 47), in America they have a props department that assumes many of the responsibilities that UK stage managers undertake. If the theatre being visited is a union theatre, then the props department is represented by the local branch of The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, and union regulations do not permit non-union members to undertake a union job. Here is the anomaly, for while US Equity might allow UK stage managers into the country to work, IATSE does not acknowledge props wrangling as a stage management job, so it will not permit them to work.

This aside, in my experience, there is rarely a problem with DSMs calling shows, even though this task is usually undertaken in the US by the production stage manager, who will often also run the fit up.

A large part of the problem is that what we perceive the scope of stage management’s work to be is not the same as the perception in the US. With the massively strong IATSE union not acknowledging a large area of UK stage managers’ responsibility, it will be a long time before this situation can be sorted out.

David Evans

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