"This step-by-step, user friendly guide covers every aspect of stage management and can take any would-be stage manager at any level of theatre and turn them into an expert who will be the ultimate asset to your production."

-Tom Paster, Director of Musical Theatre, Northern Highlands Regional High School, NJ

"It's entertaining, informative and practical - a great resource for the "how-to" questions, and a terrific overview for anyone involved in the process of making theater."

-Les Gutman, Producing Director, Friendly Fire Theatre, NYC

Are you about to stage manage your first show and have no idea where to start? This book offers simplified guidelines for a complicated job and gives a step-by-step process for organizing auditions, rehearsals, the technical aspects, and performances. The author understands the pressures of the beginning stage manager and proceeds to calm those fears in a no-nonsense handbook. This "survival guide" gives detailed descriptions or examples of all the forms and lists the stage manager must use in production. An essential read for the novice stage manager in high school, college or community theatre.

About the Author

Mary Ellen Allison is a working stage manager with over thirty years of professional experience from Broadway to community theatre. Her credits include shows with award-winning theatre artists, such as: Horton Foote, Jean Stapleton, Allison Janney, Jim Dale, Andrew Lippa, and Frank Langella. She teaches stage management at Ramapo College of New Jersey and was named to Who's Who Among America's Teachers, 2003-2004.