Stage Management

I’m Laura Baxter, I’m a queer Stage Manager living and working on the Indigenous lands of Treaty 13, Toronto/Tkaronto, and I’ve been a member of Equity and active working Stage Manager, since 2009.

As I sit here trying to write this, I’m in rehearsal nursing my 7-month old baby and writing blocking, wondering how other SMs are juggling all of their responsibilities. How do you have a personal life and a career as an SM? For a lot of us, we sacrifice our personal lives, and work/life balance is almost impossible in our culture of long hours and demand for total dedication to the art, at the expense of everything else.

I want to advocate for work/ life balance in theatre, and continue the work of diversity and inclusivity in governance, policy, and rehearsal rooms. I’d like to challenge the systemic and cultural issues that have led to a real lack of diversity among Stage Managers, and work to support access and opportunities for BIPOC Stage Managers and Apprentices.

Since the pandemic decimated our industry, we’ve had to rethink what theatre looks like, and we have an opportunity to challenge the status quo and make positive changes that benefit all of us.

I’ve been a stage manager on the prairies in all scales and disciplines for over ten years. Hitting the wall of the pandemic hurt. Being a stage manager was all consuming, and realising I’d been burnt out and running on empty for years had me questioning whether I should, and could, go back.

Our world is grappling with interrogating authority structures and power dynamics, and this will impact our role. We navigate holding a position of authority, while working for companies that control our employment, satisfying artistic and production outcomes, and protecting safe workspaces. I want to ensure stage managers are safe and empowered amidst these sometimes conflicting priorities to speak up, hold boundaries, and have whole and complex identities.

I don’t want to continue to accept work hours that are far beyond unsafe and unhealthy. I want to see unconventional career paths, and apprenticeships that don't function as gatekeeping, to infuse our industry with new ideas and perspectives.

I’m running because I know I’m not alone in struggling with returning, but we have the brilliant opportunity to come back to something better than when we left it. The work is already starting; I'm excited to be part of it.