How to Work With Your Stage Manager (and Make Their Job Easier)

It’s the second week of rehearsal. You’re halfway through a speech you were sure you knew, and the next words are gone. Somewhere behind the table, a person with a pencil and an open script is waiting. You say “Sorry, sorry, what is it?”, step out of the scene, and the actor across from you drops their shoulders.

That person with the pencil is the stage manager, or one of their assistants. They’re in every rehearsal and every performance, and by opening night they may well know the show better than anyone in the building. How you work with them shapes how the room feels, and whether you get hired by that company again.

The short version: the stage manager runs the room, keeps the record, and, after opening, keeps the show the way the director left it. Your side of the deal is simple. Sign in, answer every call, call for lines the way the room asks, take line notes without arguing, tell the stage manager first when something is wrong, and leave the notes to them once the show opens.

Know what the stage manager is actually doing

Most actors have only a vague sense of the job. Actors’ Equity, the union that represents both stage managers and actors in the US, lists it plainly in its Stage Manager Day announcement. Stage managers coordinate every rehearsal, call, and performance before and after opening, keep the record of how the production runs, lead technical rehearsals and call the cues, and keep departments talking to each other.

The last item on Equity’s list matters most to you: they “maintain the artistic vision of the director and the producer after opening.” Once the show opens and the director moves on, the stage manager stays.

A school production handbook shows what that looks like day to day. Toronto Metropolitan University’s stage manager job description has them keep an up-to-date prompt book, send out daily rehearsal notes, tell actors where props and scenery are and when that changes, and agree a prompting policy with the director. Every one of those touches you.

So when the stage manager asks you something small (where you set the cup down, whether you’re free on Thursday), it’s not fussiness. They’re writing down the show so it can be run again tomorrow, by someone other than the director.

Be where the sign-in sheet says you are

The sign-in sheet is how the stage manager knows the company is in the building. Playbill’s explainer on checking in says Broadway and Off-Broadway Equity contracts expect actors at the theater no later than a half hour before curtain, and that each show posts a sign-in sheet as close as possible to the stage door. If you’re not there by half hour, management can keep you off that night.

The same piece notes that “many stage managers give leeway,” and that some ask actors to call if they’re running late. Don’t treat leeway as permission. Treat it as a reason to call early. A stage manager who knows you’re twenty minutes out can plan around it. One who finds a blank line on the sheet has to start worrying about an understudy.

Rehearsals work the same way. Florida Atlantic University’s theater department, in its rehearsal and production guidelines, makes it the actor’s job to tell the stage manager as soon as possible if an emergency means missing a call. It also says no one leaves rehearsal until the stage manager dismisses them, and no one leaves the building during performances without the stage manager’s permission.

Answer every call, out loud

Before a performance, the stage manager counts the company down. A typical sequence from Indiana University South Bend’s stage management handbook runs: half hour (and the house is open), 15 minutes, ten minutes, five minutes, then “2 minutes, and places please.” Your company’s timings may differ, but most use some version of it.

When a call reaches you, answer it. The standard reply is to repeat it back with a thank you: “Thank you, five.” “Thank you, places.” Encore Stage & Studio’s short explainer says the reply confirms you heard the direction and acknowledges the person giving it. The same goes for breaks in rehearsal: “Take five” gets “Thank you, five,” and then you come back in five.

It can feel like a ritual. It’s really a checklist. Every “thank you” is one less actor the stage manager has to go and find.

Call for a line the way the room expects

Once scripts are down, someone sits on book: they follow the script and give you a line when you ask. FAU’s guidelines spell out how to ask. When you need help, “remain in character and say ‘line.’” The stage manager reads the line until you start speaking again. That’s it. No apology, no stepping out, no “wait, what’s my line?”

Here’s how it plays in a real scene, the opening of The Importance of Being Earnest:

ALGERNON. Did you hear what I was playing, Lane?

LANE. I didn’t think it polite to listen, sir.

ALGERNON. I’m sorry for that, for your sake. I don’t play accurately—any one can play accurately—but I play with wonderful expression. As far as the piano is concerned, sentiment is my forte. I keep science for Life.

Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest, Act 1 (Project Gutenberg).

Say the actor playing Algernon gets through “for your sake” and blanks. Still in the scene, still facing Lane, he says “Line.” The person on book reads “I don’t play accurately.” He picks it up and the speech keeps moving. Lane’s actor never has to drop the moment.

A good way to need fewer line calls is to test yourself before the off-book date instead of rereading. In Offbook you can hide your own lines while every other part stays on the page, recall each one from the cue, and then hide the whole script for a final run. The video below shows how. Our free first-letter line memorizer is a good halfway step when a speech won’t stick.

Know the prompting policy

Rooms differ. For example, one director wants lines given only when you call, while another wants the stage manager to jump in when you paraphrase. The TMU handbook has the stage manager agree this with the director, so ask on day one if nobody says. Then follow it, even if your last show did it differently.

Take line notes as a gift, not a grade

Once scripts go down, the stage management team starts taking line notes. The IUSB handbook tells stage managers to give them when actors are “paraphrasing, dropping, adding or in any way changing the written dialogue,” ideally in writing so the actor can take them home to study. It also tells them to be persistent.

That persistence isn’t personal. Stage management is tracking every line against the script, and the playwright wrote those words for a reason. When you get a note, read it, fix the line, and say thank you. If you think the note is wrong, check the script first. If the script really does differ from what you’ve been told, ask the stage manager quietly at a break, not in front of the company.

It helps to keep every line note in one place for the whole run and drill the lines at home. You can see what a good note looks like, and the codes stage managers use, in our guide to how line notes work. To get used to saying lines with something reading the other parts, our free run lines tool lets you practice classic scenes: it waits for you to say your line before it plays the next cue.

Tell the stage manager first

The stage manager is the hub. They write the nightly rehearsal report that goes to every department, so they’re the right person to hear about almost any problem. The IUSB handbook asks stage managers to report anything in rehearsal that affects design: an actor who starts putting a book in their pocket may need a pocket in the costume. You can save everyone a scramble by mentioning new business like that yourself.

A short list of things to bring to the stage manager, not the green room:

• A conflict on the calendar. Tell them the day you know, not the day before.
• Any injury, discomfort, or fatigue in fight, intimacy, or dance work, before, during, or after rehearsal. FAU’s guidelines ask actors to report these, and the IUSB handbook has stage managers document injuries in the rehearsal report.
• A costume that needs repair. FAU asks actors to report repairs before they leave the theater.
• A prop that’s broken, missing, or in a new place.
• A safety concern of any kind, which FAU says should go to the stage manager, the director, or the department involved.

Props are not toys

FAU’s rule is blunt: props are for the actor they’re assigned to, and nobody else, because they’re often borrowed or irreplaceable. Don’t pick up a castmate’s letter to see what’s written on it. Do check your own props on the props table before the half-hour call. Once the house opens, it’s too late to find out a key prop is missing.

From tech on, the stage manager runs the show

FAU’s guidelines say that from technical rehearsals onward, the stage manager takes control of the production, and that cast and crew owe them strict attention. The same guidelines warn that tech rehearsals are often the longest of the whole process, and that the crew has only that short time to learn their part while the cast has had weeks. When the stage manager stops the run, stop with it, stay quiet, and wait to be told where to pick up. Our guide to surviving tech week walks through cue-to-cues, holds, and dress rehearsals day by day.

After opening, notes come from the stage manager or, for some numbers, a dance or fight captain. FAU says those should be the only people giving notes after opening. So don’t give your scene partner notes, even kind ones. If something has drifted, tell the stage manager, and let them decide.

This is the part of the job actors notice least. A stage manager watching show 40 is checking it against show one: a pause that’s grown, a cross that’s moved, a laugh line that’s been reworded. When you get one of those notes, it’s the director’s show being handed back to you.

The habits that make you easy to work with, in one place:

• Sign in the moment you arrive, and call ahead if you’ll be late.
• Answer every call by repeating it back: “Thank you, five,” “Thank you, places.”
• Call “Line” in character, and only the way the room allows.
• Write your line notes down and fix them by the next rehearsal.
• Bring problems to the stage manager before anyone else.
• Check your props before half hour, and leave everyone else’s alone.
• Leave notes to the stage manager after opening.

Questions actors ask

What does a stage manager do for actors?

They schedule and run every rehearsal and performance, track your blocking and props, give you the line when you call for it, take line notes, pass your problems to the right department, and call you to places. After opening, they keep the show as the director set it.

Should I say “thank you” to every call?

Yes, unless the stage manager says otherwise. Repeating the call back (“Thank you, five”) tells them you heard it.

Is it rude to call for a line?

No. Calling for a line is what the person on book is there for. What slows the room is breaking character, apologizing, or arguing about what the line is. Stay in the scene, say “Line,” take it, and keep going.

Can I give another actor a note?

It’s best not to. During rehearsals, notes come from the director. After opening, they come from the stage manager or a designated captain. If you think something has changed, tell the stage manager.

Who do I tell if I’m going to be late?

The stage manager, and as early as you can. Some ask you to call or text; your first-day paperwork or the callboard usually says how. Our guide to the first rehearsal of a play covers what to sort out with them on day one.