Put That Prop Back Where it Came From, Or So Help Me

 The last show I worked on was a student written, partially student directed, sketch comedy show. I was the assistant stage manager of the production, and it was both my first time stage managing, and my stage manager’s first time. The two of us were slowly internally panicking through the whole process, knowing neither of us knew what to do, but the trick that both of us knew was vital: Don’t let anyone know.
            So we got into tech week, and since we only had a week and a half of turn around from our last production, things were messy. I was backstage and organized all the props by sketch, all of the scene changes were carefully thought out and we were ready to go. After our first run through I noticed something:
                                                 ALL OF THE PROPS WERE MISSING  
            Okay, maybe not ALL of the props, but my nicely organized prop table had a massive pile of misplaced props that needed to be reorganized back into their clearly labeled sections.
            Now, this would not have been so much of a problem in a regular college show setting. Just take a breath, curse your actors under that breath, and reset. But this show had two shows during each night. Each run was about 1 hour and 40 minutes long, and they were at 7 and 9. Do you see the problem?
            If there is only 20 minutes, there’s only about 15 minutes to actually reset if we include places. I needed to have as much ready to go as possible the moment the show was finished. We had A LOT of edible props (Cookies, drinks, eggs, etc.) which needed to be replaced, along with a pistol that fired blanks every show. We were crunched for time.
            I had no choice but to sit my actors down and talk to them and explain how crucial it was to put their props back, something that is a first grade skill. If you take it out, put it back. It’s understandable that an actor cannot always put his own props back right away, but also as the assistant stage manager/ run crew, let us know, if you ask nicely, we will try our best to help you. Even if you don’t ask us nicely, we are still obligated to help you.
            But for the first time ASMs out there: It’s going to be chaos. Know ahead of time that actors will not always do what is most smooth for you. Heavy organization helps and guides the entire production. And actors:
            Put that prop back where it came from, or so help me.

We Think It's Funny at Plymouth State University Photo by Kaleb Hart