Stage Manager

The stage manager's paperwork in one place: line notes during the run, a sheet for each actor by the end of notes, then reports, sign-in, production meetings, the contact sheet and the prop and shift lists.

1. Getting started
2. Taking a note
3. Kinds of note
4. Giving notes to actors
5. Rehearsals and performances
6. Reports
7. Sign-in
8. Production meetings
9. Props and shifts
10. Contacts and email
11. Dark, for the booth
12. Your files and sharing
13. Keyboard shortcuts

Getting started

1. Choose New show or Open a show folder, and pick the folder your show lives in. If it already has a breakdown from Worklight Breakdown, the app knows who's onstage on each page and offers them first.
2. Open Production. Under Cast and staff, check each character and say who plays them.
3. The app opens on today, on whatever Rehearsal Planner's calendar has on now or next: at 4:30 the 4 o'clock production meeting, at 7:15 the evening's rehearsal.
4. Take notes during the run. After notes, choose Print line notes for a sheet for each actor.
5. Choose Save when you're done. Your notes are kept with the show.

Taking a note

A note goes in with a page, two clicks and a few words.

1. Type the page from the acting edition. It stays for the next note, since you're usually still on the same page. The − and + buttons move one page.
2. Click who it's for. With a breakdown, the people onstage on that page come first, and everyone else is under Everyone else.
3. Click the kind of note: Dropped, Wrong words, Called for line, Added words or Out of order, unless you've changed them.
4. Type a few words of the line, enough for the actor to find it. What was said is optional; fill it in when it helps the actor.
5. Click Add note. The note appears in the list below, and everything but the page clears for the next one.

Changing a note

• Click any note in the list to change it, then click Update note.
• Delete takes a note out, and Undo brings it back.
• A character nobody plays yet can still have notes. They're left out of the printed sheets until someone is cast, and Print says so.

Kinds of note

Change these…, at the end of the row of kinds, opens the Kinds of note page.

• Rename a kind, change its letter, hide the ones you don't use, or Add a kind of your own, such as Late on cue.
• Sheet says is the shorter name printed in the key on the actor's sheet. The letter is printed too, and is the kind's keyboard shortcut. Any letter but P will do, and no two kinds can share one.
• A kind that has notes can be hidden but not removed, so no note loses its kind.
• Back to the standard set brings back the five kinds as they first were. Copy from another show takes another show's kinds, never its notes.
• The kinds are saved with the show, so whoever opens it next sees the same ones.

Giving notes to actors

Getting notes to actors takes one button. Worklight never sends anything itself.

1. Choose Print line notes. You'll see each actor's sheet as it will print, with the actors listed beside it and how many notes each has.
2. Choose Print for one PDF with a page for each actor who has notes, ready to print and hand out after the director's notes. Choose Only for just the actor shown.
3. The PDF starts in a Line notes folder inside the show's folder, named for the date and the rehearsal or performance.

What the sheet looks like

• Notes are in page order, with a check mark under the kind's letter, like a paper line-notes form, and a key underneath.
• An actor who plays two parts gets one sheet, with the character beside each note.
• Black and white on Letter, so it photocopies well.

Sending notes instead

• Copy this actor's notes as text puts them on your clipboard, to paste into an email or a text message.
• Email, beside each actor, opens your own email program with the notes filled in and addressed to that actor. You press Send. A ✓ shows who you've emailed. See Contacts and email for setting up addresses.

Rehearsals and performances

Notes and reports belong to one rehearsal, dress rehearsal, performance or production meeting, on one date. When the show has a calendar in Rehearsal Planner, that calendar says what's on each day, so you just choose a date and start.

Choosing a day

• Click the date at the top to open a small month. Each day with something on it is marked: a thin square for a rehearsal, a dashed circle for a production meeting, a heavy square for a dress rehearsal, a filled square for a performance. Today is ringed in amber. Click a day to go to it.
• The arrows ‹ › beside the date step through everything on the calendar, one at a time, and any day you've kept only here. Days off are skipped.
• On this day, under the date, lists what the day has, in the order it starts: "4:00 PM · Production meeting · Green room", "7:00 PM · Rehearsal · Act II, Scenes 1–2 · Studio B". Click one to go to it. Each has its own line notes, report or meeting notes.
• A date opens on what's on now or next up, and once the day is over, on its rehearsal or performance rather than its meeting, since that's where the evening's notes are.
• Looking changes nothing. A day is saved here once you add its first note or write in its report.
• Coming from Rehearsal Planner with a day open, Stage Manager opens on that day. It works the other way too.

Something not on the schedule

• A date with nothing on the calendar still takes notes: the first one makes it a rehearsal kept just for your notes.
• To add something on purpose, choose Add something not on the schedule…, in the month or in the menu at the right of the bar. Open Rehearsal Planner takes you there to put it on everyone's calendar; Just for my notes adds a day kept only in Stage Manager, such as an extra brush-up, choosing what it is and its name.
• A day kept only in Stage Manager is marked Not on the schedule, and Change this day… in the menu changes what it is, its name, its date and its call.
• If you later add that day in Rehearsal Planner, Stage Manager offers to join them: "Rehearsal Planner now has a rehearsal on this day. Move these notes to it?" Move them puts the notes and report on the scheduled one, and Undo takes it back. A day meant to stay apart, such as an extra brush-up, can simply be left.

The menu

• The menu at the right of the bar is named for what you're on (Rehearsal ▾, Meeting ▾, Performance ▾).
• For a day on the calendar, its date, times, place and call are changed in Rehearsal Planner: Change this in Rehearsal Planner… takes you there. If it moves to another date, its notes go with it.
• Delete this rehearsal's notes and report… deletes only what's kept here. The day stays on the calendar.
• If a day with notes is taken off the calendar, its notes are kept, marked No longer on the schedule.

A show without Rehearsal Planner

Without a calendar, Stage Manager keeps its own days. Add each with Add a rehearsal, performance or meeting… in the month or the menu, choosing what it is, and change one with Change this day…. A day with a matinee and an evening has two performances, each with its own notes and report. Earlier days are kept, and can be reopened, changed and printed again.

Reports

Each rehearsal and performance has a Report tab beside Line notes. Rehearsals, dress rehearsals and performances are each numbered on their own: Rehearsal report 4, Performance report 1.

Times

• Press a time button when it happens. For a rehearsal: Started, Break, Back and Ended. For a dress rehearsal or performance: House open, Curtain up, Intermission, Back and Curtain down.
• The amber button is the one that usually comes next.
• Pressed one late? Click the time to fix it, or × to take it out. The totals (time worked, breaks, each act and the running time) add up by themselves.
• A dress rehearsal or performance also has a House count box.

Who was there

• For a rehearsal, this lists everyone called today in Rehearsal Planner, or the whole company if there's no schedule.
• Everyone is Here unless you click Late (it fills in the time now, which you can change) or Absent.
• For a dress rehearsal or performance, it becomes Who's here; see Sign-in.

What was worked, departments and next

• What was worked (for a performance, How it went) and Next are filled in from Rehearsal Planner: Next is the next rehearsal, dress rehearsal or performance on its calendar, and a meeting's Next meeting the next meeting there. Type your own; Use Rehearsal Planner's again brings its words back.
• Notes by department has a box for each department. A department left blank prints "No notes today", so everyone can see it wasn't forgotten.
• Change these…, beside Notes by department, renames, hides and adds departments, the same way as kinds of note.

Sending the report

• Print report shows the page, then saves a PDF in a Reports folder inside the show's folder.
• Copy as text is for pasting into the body of an email.
• Email report opens your email program addressed to the people ticked Gets reports.

Sign-in

For dress rehearsals and performances, the company signs in on paper at the callboard, and you mark who's arrived.

Setting up the run

Dress rehearsals and performances, with their call times, are set up on Rehearsal Planner's calendar (its Set up performances…), and appear here by themselves. The call shows at the top of Who's here; Change it in Rehearsal Planner takes you there to change it.

A show without Rehearsal Planner sets up its own run here:

1. Choose Set up performances… in the menu at the right of the bar.
2. Check the dates from opening to closing (filled in from Production), the evening and matinee days, and their call times.
3. The app lists what it will add, then adds a performance for each. Run it again and it adds only what isn't there yet.
4. Add a dress rehearsal on its own, with Add a rehearsal, performance or meeting…, choosing Dress rehearsal. Its call is typed at the top of Who's here.

Who signs in

The cast always signs in. For the crew, tick Signs in beside each of them in Production, under Contacts: the board op, sound op, wardrobe and run crew, say. Directors, designers and stage managers usually don't.

The sign-in sheet

• On a dress rehearsal or performance's Report tab, Print sign-in sheet prints a page for the callboard, for this one or for every one still to come.
• It lists the cast, then the crew, each with a box to initial. Sheets save in a Sign-in sheets folder.

Who's here

• On the same tab, Who's here shows how many are here and, under Still to arrive, who isn't yet.
• Tap a name as you see their initials on the sheet; tap again to undo.
• Anyone tapped after the call shows as Late on the report, and anyone never tapped as Absent.

Production meetings

Record what the production team decided, and send it to them, never the actors.

1. Choose the meeting's date, and the meeting under On this day. Meetings come from Rehearsal Planner's calendar; without one, add a meeting with Add a rehearsal, performance or meeting…. Its one tab is Meeting notes.
2. Note when and where: Started, Ended and the Place.
3. Under Who was there, untick anyone who missed it. Only staff and crew are listed.
4. Write notes by department, as in a report.

To do

• To do lists what needs doing and who's doing it.
• Anything not ticked done carries on to every later meeting, marked with the meeting it came from, until it's done.

Sending the notes

Print meeting notes, Copy as text and Email meeting notes work as for a report. The email goes to the people ticked Gets reports, so the actors never get it.

Props and shifts

The Props and shifts tab, beside Line notes and Report, keeps the preset, the intermission reset, the scene shifts and the run sheet. Props come from Worklight Breakdown: they're added and changed there, in its Props panel, and Stage Manager never changes them. A switch at the top chooses Preset, Intermission, Shifts or Run sheet.

Preset

• For each prop, choose where it starts: Stage left table, Stage right table, Set onstage, or With the actor who uses it.
• A prop Breakdown sets onstage starts there; the rest say Choose… in red until you place them.

Intermission

• Most props stay where the act before leaves them.
• Choose a new place for any that move, or Strike for one that isn't used again.

Shifts

• Every scene change from Breakdown is listed for you, with At places first and each intermission.
• Add a move for each piece of scenery: what it is, On, Off or Moves (or Set, at places and intermission), where, and who moves it, from the staff and crew in Contacts. Who says Choose… in red until chosen.
• Each change is In the dark unless you choose In view. A change with no moves says No shift, which is fine.

Run sheet

• Every prop use and every shift, scene by scene, with who and where each prop comes from.
• There's nothing to fill in; it follows the preset, the intermission reset and the shifts.
• Same as before means the prop was used earlier and is wherever that scene left it.

Printing the lists

• Print lists makes the preset checklist or the intermission reset, for this performance or every one still to come, with a box to tick beside each prop. Scenery set at places or moved at intermission is added under Scenery.
• It also makes the run sheet for the whole run, and the shift plot: every shift in order, on one page for everyone, or a page for each crew member with only their moves.
• They save in a Prop lists folder in the show's folder.

Contacts and email

Contacts

• In Production, under Contacts, type each person's phone and email. Add crew with Add someone.
• Tick Gets reports for the staff and crew who should get each report and meeting notes.
• Anyone with the show's folder can read these details, so keep them to the company.

The company form

1. Make a company form, at the top of Contacts or Conflicts, gives the questions for a Google Form that asks for phone, email and conflicts together.
2. Send the form to the company.
3. Import form responses brings the answers in, with a review first. A phone or email you typed by hand stays unless the person changes their answer.

The contact sheet

Print contact sheet, in Contacts, makes a sheet for staff. Switch off Phone or Email for a sheet that's safe to post on the callboard.

Email

• Email buttons open your own email program with the message filled in. Worklight sends nothing; you press Send.
• A very long report may be cut off by some email programs. The app says so, and Copy as text is the sure way.

Dark, for the booth

A bright screen glows in the booth window and spoils your eyes for the dark. Dark gives the app a dim backstage look instead.

1. Click the palette button, beside the ? in the black band.
2. Choose Dark. Choose Paper & Ink to go back.

• One choice covers Breakdown, Rehearsal Planner and Stage Manager, and is remembered in this browser.
• Dark changes only the screen. Everything you print is black on white as always, and the print previews show it that way.

Your files and sharing

• Your show stays in its folder, on your computer. Line notes, reports, where props go and the scene shifts are in stage-manager.json. The cast is in production.json, which every Worklight app shares. Nothing goes to any server.
• Stage Manager reads breakdown.json and rehearsals.json and never changes them. If they change, it picks that up when you come back to its tab.
• To share, keep the folder in a cloud service you already use, such as Google Drive or Dropbox. Worklight only sees a folder; your service does the syncing.
• One person edits at a time. If a file changes while you have it open, Worklight warns you before saving.
• Unsaved work is backed up in this browser until you save.

Keyboard shortcuts

Nobody needs them; everything works by clicking. For those who like them, a whole note goes in without the mouse: the page, Tab, a number, a letter, the words, Enter. They work on the note screen when you're not typing into the line.

On a Mac, use ⌘ in place of Ctrl.