Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 2020 - 18

SMMP Mentees and Mentors, 2014 | Photo: Tom Thatcher/USITT.

On the following pages, members
who participated in the early years of
these programs share their experiences,
as USITT members continue to build
and adapt these mentorship programs to
fit the future.

Stage Management Mentor
Project

Like so many USITT programs over the
years, the Stage Management Mentor
Project grew out of a perceived need for
programming that members saw and
took the initiative to address. As is so often the case with mentoring programs,
the impacts on the people involved were
notable and valuable, but SMMP's influence was felt well beyond the individual
mentors and mentees. The success of
the program has served as a model for
other programs and has impacted the
conference experience for all attendees.
"When I went to my first conference it seemed as though they were
only interested in SM Forms and formats. I thought it could be better," recalls
Elynmarie Kazle, founder and coordinator of SMMP from 1991-1996. In 1991,
the opportunity to start the project presented itself in a venue change. "I got an
opening because we were supposed to
go to Washington, D.C., and they had to
change it to Boston at the last minute,"
she says. "So, the conference committee
was in need of anything that could help

them. I said, 'I have this idea... to put together professional stage managers with
students to do the events at the conference. There were so many stage managers, so we said, 'What can we do to make
state management more present at the
conference?'"
Robert Cohen (co-founder, mentor 1996-present) describes using stage
managers for the conference programming as "the missing piece, the missing
element," recalling, "I first went to the
conference in Boston (1991). Elynmarie
had me come up to Boston for that first
conference and we hatched the idea,
[along with] Debra Kingston who was
Treasurer of USITT and also a stage
manager." The three asked, "How can
we involve more stage managers in the
industry with the technicians?"
"It was new-the idea that there
were people to assist, to manage these
events," says Meredith Greenberg (mentee 1992-94, mentor 2003-present).
"[People] were probably thinking, 'Have
you always been here?'"
The first year of the program, 1991,
allowed the team to experiment and recruit, but Kazle argues that the program
came into its own in Seattle in 1992.
"There was a Management Commission
push that happened where the big slogan was 'do it,'" says Kazle. "Looking
at Wichita (1993) and Seattle coming
up, we wanted everything to look fancy,

18 | THEATRE DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY | WINTER 2020

show-worthy. That was the first year we
brought New Products back, put it in a
big conference room, turned it back into
a show."
These changes were intentional, as
Kazle notes that she "tried to put stage
managers in places where they would
not only get to be able to coordinate
something but would get something out
of it. Not only was it a good experience
for the stage managers, but we were able
to effect change in the events." Sums up
Cohen: "It gestated out of the kind of
thing it now stands for, bringing stage
managers into situations where they do
things on the fly, fast."
Involvement and Exposure: Kazle's
January 1991 proposal from the USITT
archive describes SMMP as "new, and experimental - however the goal is to assist
the conference committee with committed, prepared student volunteers for some
of the major time/labor intensive events
at the conference. I hope that by giving
these selected students an opportunity
[...] to get more involved at the conference
it will give them a clearer picture of what
the Institute can do for them as they make
their way into the working world."
Cohen recalls that the "mentees really came first from the people who were
in education telling people to tell their
students to apply. It was word of mouth,
and it was a core group of people affiliated with universities. And it was a lot
of Elynmarie convincing these different manufacturers and vendors on the
events that they needed organization,
needed herding, getting everyone in one
place at the same time."
It wasn't only students who were
getting involved; the program also
brought in mentors from outside the
membership to learn what USITT could
offer. "My first conference was 1993, and
I came in as a guest stage manager," says
Travis DeCastro (mentor 1994-present).
"I didn't know anything about USITT,
and my colleagues said reach out and
find something to do. So, I was a guest
SMMP person without knowing anything about how it worked. My first year
as a mentor was 1994, and that year
was really great. I got to help someone
coming in on a horse for the banquet. It
was great exposure to what the Institute
could do."
Community and Access: Kazle's
original proposal highlighted the

Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 2020

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