What is a Production Manager?
Creating a successful technically demanding performance requires its production team to not only be versatile but also dedicated and organised contributors to the production. In order for these production processes to run smoothly, one member of the team must act as chief organiser; the Production Manager.
The roles which a Production Manger undertakes vary from show to show; however an efficient Production Manager must be an approachable and organised individual, capable of managing a substantial production team. According to Gail Palin’s Stage Management: The Essential Handbook, a Production Manager has numerous roles to play:
Production Manager (PM)
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Employs and supervises all production staff.
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Liaises and agrees the budgets and design deadlines with the director and designers.
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Prepares and distributes the provisional schedule and budgets to all production departments.
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Oversees all ordering of materials and building work.
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Manages and controls the production budget.
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Chairs design and production/progress meetings.
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Prepares the production risk assessment and advises on action to be taken.
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Schedules and oversees all work during production week.
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Contributes to the technical rehearsal by taking technical notes and scheduling their completion. ((Palin, Gail (2010) Stage Management: The Essential Handbook. London: Nick Hern Books Ltd. pp. 14-15)).
According to this list of numerous tasks and responsibilities a PM must undertake, I enter this experience with a slight hint of uncertainty. Previously, my roles within a production have had much less responsibility and, being that this production is already destined to be ‘tech-heavy’, it is a major undertaking agreeing to the role of Production Manager. Nevertheless, I am determined to succeed in this role and produce a technically spectacular performance comparable to those produced by some of the other theatre companies I have previously reviewed and by whom I am inspired.
Kate Dawson
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Works Cited