Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play
Director: Sarah Hankins
Music Director: Justin Cowan
Scenic Designer: Sam Barnes
Lighting Designer: Rose Mormino
Costume Designer: Sydney de Briel
Photos: Amy Holroyd
Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play was produced by UNCG in the spring of 2016 and was my first college production as a member of stage management. I was one of two assistant stage managers on the production. This show had three acts, with act three being a musical. All scene transitions within the acts were done by actors with the crew and I handling transitions between acts. My primary duties consisted of costume tracking, scenery tracking, and tracking sound effects for the sound engineer.
All the transitions were handled by the cast during the run of the show. This required careful tracking of scenic elements throughout the show and precise spiking both onstage and in the wings for pieces. This taught me how to communicate clearly with actors about transitions and, not only identify, but also address their needs as they came up.
With the cast having to handle the transitions, there was not a lot of time for their costume changes. Costumes were very carefully laid out and ordered for the actors to be able to all but dive into them in order to make their entrances. The limited time they had to change along with the fact that backstage was almost always visible also posed a new challenge for me at the time. Actors' costumes were placed in proximity to the stage as was necessary for their entrances and for their comfort since they had such extensive changes.