A Day in the Life of an Off-Broadway Production Manager

After all that jetsetting through my twenties, I recently transitioned to a pretty normal job. Now I work as a Production Manager for an Off-Broadway theater. It’s sort of a step away from Stage Management, but uses a lot of the same skills. If, for some crazy reason, this was a path you were thinking of following here’s what 24 hours in my day looks like – a busier day (because the days I go in and work on my blog and update Facebook for 8 hours are not nearly as interesting… although it’s been known to happen once or twice). 8:30 AM  - Wake up. 9:00 AM – Subway to midtown. 9:45 AM – Walk to the theater. Try to ignore the 3 Starbucks I pass in two and a half blocks. 10:00 AM – Boot up computer and check emails. 10:30 AM – Check in with the Wardrobe department. Make sure they have everything they need. Make sure the next few shows are fully staffed. 11:00 AM – Print large signs to glue onto set pieces using our plotter. Deliver them to the carpenters and/or props department. 11:30 AM – Work on paperwork for fire inspections for any upcoming shows using an open flame. 12:00 PM – Department Meeting 12:45 PM – Eat my lunch that I hopefully remembered to pack from home. If not, run across the street and indulge my latest food obsession – Chop’t. 1:00 PM – Rehearsal starts. Double check all the stagehands are here. Try to help keep conflicts between our house crew and the show’s crew to a minimum. 1:30 PM – Do assorted paperwork while rehearsal is happening. 3:00 PM – Check in with Wardrobe again. 3:30 PM – Check in with Props Shopper, make sure he’s aware of any updates from stage management about what props are needed. 4:00 PM – Wander around in the wings, double checking everything that needs to be happening is. Update the production report for the day. 4:30 PM – Attend a production meeting for a different upcoming performance. 5:00 PM – Sort through all the information just gathered at that meeting. 5:30 PM – Work on payroll. 6:00 PM – Freedom!! 6:30 PM – Gym 7:30 PM – Subway back out to the boondocks. 8:30 PM – Dinner. Engage in super important activities like watching The Big Bang Theory and Pretty Little Liar. Catch up on reading other blogs, work on my own. 12:00 AM - Bedtime Gosh. How boring compared to before. :oP It’s incredibly weird and awesome to me to work 8 hour days, 5 days a week. Sometimes that doesn’t work out like that when our schedule is super crazy, but most of the time it does. And I love that if I have to work 6 or 7 days a week, that time goes into a bank and when we’re slow I can just up and a take a week or two off without touching my vacation days. All around, I guess there are some perks for trading adventure for stability… now I’m just waiting to see how long I can stand it before the wanderlust hits again.