One of the central elements of stage management is communication. We are tasked with circulating information to everyone involved in a production. Oftentimes, we keep distribution lists, existing solely to organize which person gets what information. Everyone receives the daily call, the production team gets the rehearsal reports, line notes are sent individually, and so on. Efficient communication can make the difference between a well-organized process and one filled with contention.
Email is so easy. It’s a great tool to speed communication and distribute information. We can send the exact same info to numerous people at the same time, have records of our communications, read and reply from anywhere, anytime.
However, it’s almost too easy. Our inboxes get flooded and we get buried under hundreds of emails competing for our attention and needing a response. We write in truncated words without full sentences, reply while in transit or multitasking and all this can actually result in worse communication instead of better.
As a stage manager who relocated overseas last year for a startup, I was surprised at the many different ways that people used email. Sure, we were placed together from all parts of the world from different cultures, backgrounds and languages, but I thought that email etiquette was understood globally……. I was wrong. In an effort to corral the online craziness and misinterpretation across the internet channels in an already stressful theatre opening, I went online to gather a few rules to send to the team.
