VALDOSTA — When the director of Peach State Summer Theatre’s “Once On This Island” asked for an unscheduled scene during a photo shoot, Cristin Downs is the person who had to shoot the request down.
Rare to hear someone tell a director “no” on a set. As this season’s Peach State production stage manager, Cristin Downs is charged with keeping everything on time and on schedule.
It’s not that she enjoys saying no to a director or anyone, but she has to weigh what’s best for the production.
“I try to come at everything from a really nice perspective so when I do have to do something unpopular, people can understand that I’m acting in the best interest of the show,” Downs said this week between a matinee showing of “Big River” and an evening performance of “Once On This Island.”
As production stage manager, Downs is the go-to person. She works closely with directors and actors, designers and the stage crew. The stage manager is involved in all facets of the play’s preparation. During each performance, she watches from the upper-floor sound booth, keeping in touch with stage-level personnel by radio headsets.
Think of the stage manager behind the old theatrical saying: The show must go on! The stage manager is the person who makes sure everything and everyone is in place so the show can go on.
Downs views the job of stage manager as being a “communications hub,” keeping in contact with everyone involved in a play. She takes an even-keel approach to the job. She is direct, but remains calm. She strives to be pleasant but is ready to say no. It’s all for the good of the show.
For example, she hangs around the theatre during the transition period from the matinee to the evening show, so she is aware of any situations that may arise. Situations can range from an unforeseen technical difficulty in switching out sets to providing a diplomatic function between unexpected artistic differences.
Downs shares one such diplomatic effort at another theatre, during a past job, where she had to step between two elderly actresses who escalated a verbal disagreement into a physical altercation. A stage manager must be ready to step into whatever difficulty, even if that means breaking up a fight between two old ladies.
“You also have to know the people you are working with,” she says. People in theatre have a tendency to be overly dramatic, she says. Downs has to judge when a person really is or isn’t in an impossible situation.
Cristin Downs is a rare breed of theatre person. Many technical and backstage personnel are initially lured by the stage to theatre. Downs has never had an interest in acting. She became interested in theatre in her early teens when selecting extracurricular activities for school. She enjoyed the eccentric personalities she encountered in theatre. She was hooked and stage management seemed to be her niche.
“I’ve always been an organizer,” she says. “Even with my family, when we were going somewhere, I would take charge of what needed to be done ... so we could be ready and get out the door on time.”
She studied theatre in Pennsylvania and California, graduating with a master’s in drama from the University of California. She has worked in theatre professionally since.
Downs learned of Peach State through friends who have worked with the South Georgia theatre. She asked friend Keith Kirkland, one of PSST!’s lighting designers, if he knew of any summer jobs. He mentioned Peach State’s need for a stage manager. She e-mailed her resume to PSST!’s Jacque Wheeler and was hired.
Managing three productions at once is no easy feat, but it is the type of challenge that Downs seeks. She says she would be bored stage managing a show with only a few entrances. Give her a monster of a show like “The Producers” or, better yet, three shows taking the stage in as many weeks, including a monster like “The Producers.”
“I love taking crazy things that need to be right in an instant,” Downs said, “and making them right.”
For more information on PSST! shows: Visit the Web site www.valdosta.
edu/psst or call 259-7770.
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As production stage manager for Peach State Summer Theatre, Cristin Downs is the go-to person. She works closely with directors and actors, designers and the stage crew. unknown
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