Megan Murello
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With an intricate, impactful text and my first time being entrusted with stage managing and calling cues as a sophomore in high school, August: Osage County was one of the most eye-opening theatrical experiences of my life.
AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY
Competition Stage Manager
Within the Texas UIL One Act Play world, each competition presents new challenges and requires creative problem solving. The day before competition, every competing school has one hour within the competition space to spike their set, program their cues into the contest space's light board, and show the contest managers any fight choreography/sequences that may be in their show. After those fulfilling those requirements, the company has free rein with how they utilize their rehearsal time.
As Competition Stage Manager, it was my responsibility to run the contest rehearsal, constantly communicate with the contest managers, and make sure that we fulfilled all rehearsal requirements and were prepared to compete the next day. Before each contest rehearsal, I met with the technical team and directors, checking that we were all on the same page and see if there was anything we could improve upon from the last contest day. During the rehearsal, I called a Cue-to-Cue, coordinated with the technicians and directors to make sure our technical elements looked the same in this performance space, and solved problems with actors as to how to navigate these new backstage spaces.
During the rehearsal, I called a Cue-to-Cue (shown above) from backstage and constantly communicated with every technician to ensure that our sound system, backstage lighting equipment, and the host school's area lighting system was working properly, adjusting our tech to fit the space.
When we started running low on our one hour rehearsal time, I started cueing straight off of the lighting cues (shown above). The lighting designer and I hopped around to each individual cue while the director called out any adjustments that needed to be made in order to keep our actors in light.
Competition Set/Strike Elements
Another aspect of the One Act Play world is the limited set-up times. Each competing company has 7 minutes to set up their set in the performance space before the run of show and then 7 minutes to strike their set immediately following the duration of their performance. For August: Osage County, we attempted the biggest set in the history of our theatre department. Incorporating three stories of platforms, many heavy furniture pieces such as a real sink installment and china cabinet, a ten foot long kitchen table, and eight lamps placed throughout, it was vital that we had an exact set and strike plan. The directors and I worked on assigning each piece of the set in multiple "rounds" (shown above) to guarantee everything made it to its rightful place. We also designed a load in plan (shown above middle) to set all of our pieces in the correct order for our 7-minute set up. Throughout this process, it was my responsibility to make sure all actors and technicians were on the same page and problem-solve different obstacles we'd encounter in each performance space for our set and strike.
