I am the Stage Manager for a newly formed Community Theater Group.  The first play I managed had twelve in the cast.  This next musical (opening in a week) has a cast and crew of fifty between the ages of 7 and 70.  Most of them have never acted before and know nothing about backstage manners (although I have explained the rules). I am having a terrible time with the older teens who think they are hot stuff and refuse to listen to me.  I shush them until I am blue in the face and they still act up backstage.  The director won't kick them out of the production - one of the teens is her son.  I am terrified that they will distract me during the performances.  How do I handle these rowdies without blowing up? 

First off - let me say, "God bless you". A Stage Manager concerned with such things is worth her weight in gold.

I would recommend recruiting a pair of stagehands to ride herd on the kids backstage - one stage left, one stage right. They can keep unneccesary bodies out of the wings when not needed and help shush the few who do have to be there. I find that the kids our group works with, even though they are good kids and know the rules, get wrapped up in showing off for each other and in the excitement of performing and forget to focus, and just having someone nearby to remind them makes a huge difference.

Also, remind them just prior to curtain that they have put a lot of time and effort into making the show great, and it would be a shame if the audience is distracted by faces peeping out from behind the sight lines, whispering in the wings, or missed cues due to backstage goofing off.

Good luck and break a leg!

I second Sandy's recommendation... grab two stagehands, one for each side, and put 'em on crowd control. The bigger they are, the better. My first job as an assistant stage manager was on a production of Annie. I was young at the time and still learning, but I understood that part of my job was keeping the kids in line. It helped that I was large and not afraid to take someone out of the theater to talk to them. These were also all good kids, but at little excitement backstage can lead to all sorts of things. I ended up doing this sort of thing for that group several more times, mainly because I was good at it. All the kids liked me, enjoyed my company, but they knew that was for the green room and the back halls, not the backstage area.

Good luck!

G?day Jo

Having SM?d & Directed production with large casts of 400 & more, of predominately the teen agers. I can imagine they are putting you through the mangle both ways!

I found that to 'divide & conquer' as being the best option. I?m sure you can pick out the main instigators of the problems, especially the Directors son! If they are divide naturally into groups because of the logistics of the Musical, such as Dancers, Chorus, age or dressing room allocations, appoint the worst offenders, as say ?Deputy Assistant Stage Managers? & allow the peer process to work for you. Invariably they will keep those they are responsible for in line, it happens just like magic!

However you have to lay down some of the ground rules for your Deputy Assistance & reinforce the fact that the quality of the production depends on them & is their responsibility alone, but it is a two edged sword which you hold & they will loose their position, if they act untoward, misuse or abuse the trust you have given place in the position. The fist likely lad, is the Directors pride & joy, and it is politically advantageous to just appoint him up front & see how it goes? You never know it might be the only one you need t appoint. Take time out to include them in production/crew meetings & seek their input by listening to their ideas or suggestions!

Chookas Jo

Thank you all for the great advice!  This is a wonderful website - I'm so glad I found it. I have two large men in mind to ride herd on the teens (one of them is a retired police officer, too).  I have been trying to use humor to keep the cast in line as I am rather height disadvantaged.  I yelled at them all once when I lost my temper at their antics and sounded just like a witchy mom!

Not sure I want to give any of the older teens a promotion to Assistant SM as the two ringleaders are already influencing the younger teens in smoking/swearing/fighting sessions during break time.  But I will try with the Director's son at rehearsal tonight.  I have asked the Director to have these boys make their stage entrances in separate corners as they get very rambunctious just prior to their scenes.

And thanks, Sandy, for the kind words.  I have been feeling rather unappreciated lately as lots of local media attention has been focused on the cast and Director (and none on us hard-working backstage workers!).

While it is probably way too late for your production, I will post anyway in case anyone is in the same boat.

One of the ways to do this is to have parents at each stage enterance and in the green room. Most of the kids in my youth theater (and we have enough bitchy teens) will hush up when their parent tells them to.

Wishbone

My first reaction is to take one or two of the offenders out to the parking lot and shoot 'em as an example to the others.    But perhaps that's a bit extreme.

Seriously though I'd have gotten the parents involved as soon as possible to keep them in their place.  And if they're still a problem the director or someone with the authority should get rid of them.  We don't get "paid" enough in ct's to put up with that. And for all the emotional, understanding and touchy feely nature of what we do there's still a certain discipline and decorum that must be respected and adhered to. Summarily getting rid of people like this is the kindest thing we can do for ourselves.

I have to agree with the "God bless you" remark earlier.  A stage manager willing to handle that kind of mob is rare.

Having been a stage manager, actor, director, flunky and everything else in a CT, I have to say that you need several things:

First, be assertive.  YOU are in charge backstage, but only inasmuch as you assert that authority.  Don't be mean or aggressive, but do assert the authority.

Secondly, get someone the teens DO respect -- e.g., the director -- to make sure they understand you are in charge and what is expected backstage.  Also enlist the aid of the experienced actors in the cast -- all the horsing around will bother them, too.  They need to assist in educating younger/newer performers on backstage etiquette.

Again, God bless you.  Stage managing has to be one of the least appreciated jobs in the theater.  You're a brave soul, indeed.

I don't know how practical this is for the theatre you are in but another possible idea is to post an ASM who knows the show at the stage door entrance. Only those who are in the upcoming scene would be allowed backstage. Once they are done with their scene then they exit to the green room until their next scene.  If an actor is only in one or two scenes then once they are done all their scenes they go to the green room and stay there until curtain call. This works very well for the CT's I work with.  We don't need a sentry.  The actors who work on our plays know from the start what the usual routine is for shows.  Of course it helps that the two diffenrent stages only have one door leading to the backstage area.  Both also have a speaker on in the green room so the cast waiting there can follow where the show is.  Another factor is that we don't so large cast musicals and seldom do shows with children in the cast.  

     Do you have an audience for dress rehearsal?.  Maybe you could have a few 'plants' (theatre friends who you trust to help with this) in the audience who could listen for backstage noise. Then after the show have them come to the green room and tell the entire cast how much they did or didn't enjoy the show. If there's excess noise they heard, then tell the cast.  "Hey, the show was good but what spoiled it for me was all the noise coming from backstage.  I missed some really good stuff on stage because of the backstage noise.'  Another idea and this is a 'mean one'.  Start a rumour that there is a list being kept of those who won't listen to the SM and who continue to make noise and disturb the show.  All those on the list will be 'blacklisted' from being in any shows.

     One time at a show I was working on in the middle of a rehearsal run through an actor on stage actually stopped the run and complained of the backstage noise.  And it was adults making the noise.  After that there was never a problem. 

     Just tossing some ideas out.

Hehe the blacklist rumor made me laugh.  Evil very evil.

I've had problems with backstage noise from large casts in musicals as well.  During rehearsals for our recent production of "Gypsy" I became so fed up with noise consistantly floating from the greenroom during the rather quite final moments of the show that I walked into the greenroom and said something to the effect of "from now on no one is allowed to say a word in here during this scene (we have audio and video monitors from the stage to the greenroom btw).  If you talk while this scene is going on on stage you will be kicked out of the show, no questions asked, and I don't care who you are."  I didn't yell, I just said it stern and matter of factly, then turned around and walked back to the stage.  They were quite after that and no one got kicked out

I teach high school theatre.  Even with a cast of 35, it can be daunting.  We only have 3 more students than last year, but it seemed a lot worse than just 3 more bodies.

Instead of shushing that gets ignored or even "blowing up" at them, I now have rule.  If you can't keep your mouth shut when it needs to, the entire company runs a lap around the rehearsal hall or, if we are in the theatre, they run stairs.  They dread my "run a lap" or do 4 flights, but usually after the first lap or set of stairs, they stay shut up.  The few times there's been a problem during performance, I send them around the building or make them do push ups.