# Line Notes: How Stage Managers and Directors Track and Give Them > Line notes keep a show word-perfect after the scripts go down. When to start them, a shorthand fast enough to keep up with a run, what goes on the sheet, how to hand them over without a fight, and what to do when the same note keeps coming back. - URL: https://www.offbook.com/blog/how-to-give-line-notes - Published: 2026-10-11 - Last updated: 2026-10-11 It is the first rehearsal with scripts down. You are at the table with the prompt book open and a pencil, and the scene is moving faster than you can read. An actor swaps a word. Another skips half a line and nobody notices but you. Someone calls “Line” and you lose your place finding it. By the end of the act you have a page of scribbles you can barely read. Line notes are one of the least glamorous jobs in a rehearsal room and one of the most useful. They are how a production gets from “close enough” to the words the playwright wrote, and how it stays there over a long run. Done well, actors trust them. Done badly, they turn into a weekly argument. For the actor's side of staying word-perfect after opening, see our guide on [keeping a performance fresh in a long run](https://www.offbook.com/blog/keep-performance-fresh-long-run). The short version: start when the cast goes off book, and note big errors first. Mark the script with a small set of symbols you can write without looking, then copy the notes onto one sheet per actor with the line as written. Hand them over in writing, neutrally, without commentary. Track repeats, because a note that keeps coming back needs a different fix. ## What a line note is for A line note records a place where an actor’s words differed from the script. The [Indiana University South Bend stage management handbook](https://arts.iusb.edu/academic-departments/theatre-and-dance/general-information/Stage%20Management%20Handbook%202016-2017.pdf) asks for a note whenever a performer paraphrases, drops, adds, or in any other way changes the written dialogue. That is a good working definition: if it is not what is on the page, it gets written down. Why so strict? In a scripted play, the words belong to the writer. The Dramatists Guild’s [Dramatist’s Bill of Rights](https://www.dramatistsguild.com/rights) says no one may change a playwright’s script without the writer’s consent, and that includes the actors and the director. A line note is how a production keeps that promise without anyone having to make a speech about it. There is a craft reason too. Craig Mason, writing for [Theatrefolk](https://www.theatrefolk.com/blog/on-line-notes), points out that “You are the love of my life” and “You are a love of my life” mean different things. Small words carry meaning, and they carry cues. A dropped word at the end of a line can leave the next actor waiting for a cue that never comes. ## When to start, and how picky to be Line notes usually start at the off-book date, once scripts are out of hands. The [Davidson College theatre handbook](https://www.davidson.edu/media/560/download) tells stage management to make sure someone is on book once actors are off book, both to give called lines and to record where the text varied. For what that date usually looks like on a schedule, see our guide to [what “off book” means](https://www.offbook.com/blog/what-does-off-book-mean). Do not note every slip on day one. On the first off-book days, actors are still pulling the words out of memory, and a sheet with forty notes tells them nothing they can act on. Stage managers on the [SMNetwork forum](https://smnetwork.org/forum/the-green-room/line-notes-how-soon-is-too-soon/) suggest big problems first, then more detail as the off-book period goes on. One way to stage it: 1. **First week off book:** dropped or skipped lines, called lines, lines out of order, and changes that alter meaning or a cue. 2. **Second week:** add paraphrases and swapped words. 3. **From then on:** everything, including a dropped “the” that does not change the meaning, or a contraction that is not in the script. One exception: if an actor makes the same error again and again, note it early, even before the off-book date. The longer a paraphrase gets repeated, the more it feels like the real line. ## A shorthand you can write without looking You cannot write out full sentences while a scene runs. Mark your copy of the script instead, with a few symbols you can make in a second, and write up the notes after. The exact symbols do not matter. What matters is that you use the same ones every time and can read them an hour later. The categories come from real stage management forms. The [Emerson College stage manager’s handbook](https://websites.emerson.edu/emerson-stage-production/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2014/07/SM-Handbook-2013_final.pdf) uses check boxes for called line, dropped word, dropped line, switched word, and switched line, and says the categories can be changed to suit the show. A [Theaterish line-notes template](https://theaterish.com/blogs/news/theatre-template-acting-line-notes-template) adds paraphrase, inverted lines, jumped cue, and rearranged words. A simple set that covers the common ones: - **Dropped word:** put parentheses around the missing word in the script. - **Added word:** a caret between the two words, with the added word written above. - **Switched word or paraphrase:** circle the script’s words and write what was said in the margin. - **Dropped line:** a bracket down the margin beside the whole line, marked “DL”. - **Jumped cue:** a bracket beside the whole skipped passage, even if it includes other actors’ lines, marked “JC”. - **Inverted or rearranged words or lines:** small numbers over the words, or beside the lines, in the order they were said. - **Called line:** a small “L” in the margin by the line the actor asked for. Write the date at the top of the page each day, in pencil, so you can tell yesterday’s marks from today’s. ## What goes on the note After rehearsal, turn the marks into one sheet per actor. Each note needs where the line is (page, or act and scene), the line exactly as written, and what went wrong. The Theaterish template also records the actor’s name and the date, which is what lets you spot repeats later. Here is what a single note looks like, using Freddy’s line from the first act of Shaw’s *Pygmalion*. In the script: > MISS EYNSFORD HILL: Did you try? > > FREDDY: I tried as far as Charing Cross Station. Did you expect me to walk to Hammersmith? Suppose the actor says, “I tried all the way to Charing Cross. Did you want me to walk to Hammersmith?” The note reads: - **Freddy, Act I, Oct 11:** “I tried *as far as* Charing Cross *Station*. Did you *expect* me to walk to Hammersmith?” Paraphrase (“all the way to”); dropped word (“Station”); switched word (“want” for “expect”). Notice what the note does not say. It does not explain why the line matters, quote the actor’s version at length, or tell them how to say it. It gives the right words, with the changed ones marked, so the actor can see the fix at a glance. ## Calling lines is a different job from taking notes Whoever is on book usually does both, and the two jobs pull against each other. While a scene runs, the actor’s request comes first. Davidson’s handbook says not to give a line until the actor asks for it, and to give it quickly and loudly, without a line reading. The [Kent State stage management handbook](https://www-s3-live.kent.edu/s3fs-root/s3fs-public/file/SM%20Handbook.pdf?VersionId=CZOkpiRCPICm8bJQIvjcJCT8lsTaplsO) adds that the line is given without emotional inflection. The Emerson handbook explains why not to jump in on a pause: actors who get lines unasked start to lean on the person with the book, and nobody can tell a thinking pause from a lost one every time. So stay quiet, follow the text, and keep marking. When someone calls “Line,” give it, then put the small “L” in the margin and find your place again. If you can, split the jobs. Several of the handbooks cited here put an assistant stage manager on book. In a school show, a student assistant can hold book and call lines while you take notes, which also gives that student a real job to learn. ## Hand them over without a fight Give line notes in writing. The IUSB handbook prefers written notes so actors can study them at home, with spoken notes at the end of rehearsal only as a fallback. Written notes also take the tone out of it: a list on paper is a lot easier to hear than a correction said across a room in front of the cast. Send each actor only their own notes. One poster in an [SMNetwork thread on giving line notes](https://smnetwork.org/forum/students-and-novice-stage-managers/rehearsals-giving-line-notes-a-real-novice-question/30/) describes keeping all notes in a spreadsheet, then sorting it by actor and sending each person their own section. Another poster there starts a fresh sheet for every rehearsal, so you can see at a glance who is still missing the same lines. Keep the delivery neutral. Mason’s advice to actors is to accept line notes without explaining or arguing, and not to take them personally. The person giving them can make that easier. No apologies, no jokes about it, no “again” in the margin. If an actor wants to argue that their version is better, the answer is the same every time: talk to the director, and until then, the script stands. ## When the same note keeps coming back A note that keeps coming back is probably not a memory slip anymore. It is likely a learned version of the line, and reading the right version on a sheet is unlikely to replace it. The actor has to practice the correct line from memory, out loud, from its cue. Memory research points the same way. In a well-known study, [Roediger and Karpicke](https://psychology.ecu.edu/wp-content/pv-uploads/sites/216/2019/03/Roediger-Karpicke-2006.pdf) found that students who tested themselves on a passage retained more of it two days and a week later than students who reread it the same number of times. Rereading a line note is studying. Saying the line from its cue with the script covered is testing. So when a note repeats, keep the sheet neutral and suggest a short drill in a quick private word: read the cue line, cover the script, say the right line, check it, and repeat until it comes out right twice. Then check two other things. Is the cue they are hearing what the script says? A scene partner’s paraphrase can throw off the next line. And does the actor’s script match yours? Different editions and outdated pages can cause stubborn notes. If the change is better, take it to the director, and in a new play to the writer. Sometimes the line an actor keeps saying is the line the scene wants. That is a decision for the people who own the text, made once, so it can stop appearing in the notes. ## Helping actors fix their notes between rehearsals The drill above works best with someone reading the cues, and actors rarely have that at home. Our free [run lines online](https://www.offbook.com/tools/run-lines-online) tool lets you drill a classic scene with a reader that waits, and our [first-letter tool](https://www.offbook.com/tools/first-letter-memorizer) turns a stubborn speech into first-letter cues. For a whole role, an actor can drill noted lines in Offbook. They upload the script, pick their role, and realistic voices read every other character. It listens while they say each line, and its Strict line detection holds them close to the script before it moves on. They can hide their own lines or swap them for first-letter cues while they fix the noted passages. Video: [Line detection](https://www.offbook.com/learn/line-detection) (0:57) Teachers can share a scene with their students by email invitation, so they drill the same version of the text, and free accounts can practice a scene that was shared with them. Students rehearse on a laptop with the full script on a big screen, and listen to their scenes on their phones anywhere. ## Questions actors ask ### Who gives line notes, the stage manager or the director? Usually stage management, often the assistant stage manager who is on book. The director gives acting notes. If an actor disputes a line note or proposes a change, it goes to the director, and in a new play to the writer. ### How should an actor respond to line notes? Read them the same day, fix the lines with the script covered, and say thank you. Don’t argue the note with the person who wrote it. If you think a change is an improvement, raise it with the director. ### Should line notes be given in person or by email? Written is better, because actors can study the exact words at home. Email or a printed sheet both work. Send each actor only their own notes, and keep the tone neutral. ### Do line notes stop after opening night? Not necessarily. Over a run, words can drift as actors get comfortable, so stage management may keep following the text during performances and give a note when a line starts to change.