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Friday afternoon, Sommer, Lucia, and I went over to the Westside Theatre to meet William Lang, the PSM of I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change. He has been the PSM for this show for the past 9 of its 12 years on off-Broadway. A work week for him consists of about 40 hours unless it is a rehearsal period, then he adds 15 hours to his schedule. Even though, according to him, working off-Broadway offers more free time, he has never had to work a second job. William described to us that he got interested in theatre while he was in high school and then was a theatre major in college, SMing for all 4 years. Next, he was a student at the Yale School of Drama and from there he began his careerand where started to make his contacts with professionals  in the business. Eventually he came with two shows to NY and one job seemed to lead to another. But he stated that to ensure this to happen, you have to be able to develop a good reputation and be great at networking. The things about being a Stage Manager that give him the most satisfaction is that he just loves theatre in general, loves the people, likes being behind the scenes and finds the whole process exciting. On the other hand, he thinks the hours are the worst part of the job because it makes it hard to have a social/personal life. We asked him to identify some really good qualities an SM should have in order to be successful: people person, authoritative tone, easy-going, friendly, outgoing, punctual, good time management, considerate, compassionate, good personality, and be able to assume responsibility. Also, he wanted us to know that we should be willing to work our way up through the ranks and definitely recommends graduate school. Meeting with William Lang was great, even though, at this point the information may be repetitive because we are still meeting people and it never hurts to hear another perspective. Thank you.

But overall remember, “It’s called a play for a reason…come in and PLAY!”

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