KAYUMUTIARA
production team | assistant stage manager
PRE-PRODUCTION
During the first days of our play production, no particular roles were given to the stage managers. It was in our initiative if we wanted to help with the production of; in this case, the photoshoot of characters.
This image shows me giving ideas on how to style the character, to match planned character pegs for character photoshoot.
And on the following session, I had helped set up the windows for the photoshoot by blocking out natural lighting for our lighting equipment. I also helped in doing the photoshoot itself by holding reflectors, and lighting.
I think the photos turned out to be okay despite the lack of professional equipment.
PRODUCTION
prop making
The workload for the weeks that followed were higher than before.
Nonetheless, it was very tolerable. As assistant stage manager, we were tasked to focus on one of the main focus of the stage which was of course, the backdrop. The backdrop phase consisted starting with prototypes first to have a reference or schematic for the rest of the backdrops. Once the frame was finalized, then came details like painting the foot black as to help with immersion, then actually starting the design and ending with finishing touches.
In this journey, I've learned that even production roles have equal or even a harder task than the acting roles. As blunt as it sounds, I do appreciate the other teams and their cooperation, but I noticed that the production team is usually in charge of mostly everything in the play. That being said, production can only be efficiently done through cooperation and patience of all members, and I'd say initiative is better than assigned roles because more can be accomplished in a day than just waiting to be assigned a task, or finishing a task and not do anything at all.
One of my most memorable moments in production are dry runs to test out the props and see our hard work slowly turn into fruition. It truly makes the whole process worth it to see the product run smoothly.
We didn't believe it was possible, but thanks to the cooperation of all members, we were able to finish the props even before dress rehearsals started. Truly a memorable experience indeed.