Stage Management, 10th Edition

14

Working with the House Manager

 

 

Never confuse the seating capacity of your theater with the sitting capacity of your audience.

—Anonymous

 

The function of the house manager (HM) is to ensure the audience’s safety and comfort prior to a performance, during intermissions, and after the performance.

•Understand the HM’s function and coordinate with him in the total effort of assisting the audience to see the production.

Normally, the most important item in your coordination is deciding how the HM can notify you that the audience is ready to see the production. Will the HM call you on a backstage phone or intercom and say, “It’s all yours”? Or will you run the show at a prearranged time unless the HM tells you otherwise? How might the HM ...