By Jennifer Weiner

I met Gabrielle Scott at the beginning of the week as the Production Stage Manager of the NPP’s 10 Minute Play Festival on the grounds on an interview, but as someone who is primarily an actor, the only question I ever have for any stage manager is half tongue-in-cheek and half dead-serious, “Why do you hate yourself?” Instead, we swapped text messages back and forth all week and over the course, I found real questions to ask and was delighted by her answers. I hope you are as well.

That’s the dirty secret of all stage managers, isn’t it? They only LOOK like they’re on top of all the things!
Oh, absolutely. Fake it ’til you make it!
They’re better actors than the actors, LOL!
Extremely true. But that’s okay, it’s like a reminder that we’re still human. If that makes sense.
That makes a lot of sense. I fully believe a good stage manager is worth twice their weight in gold.
That’s so sweet.
I mean, your job is hard as hell. Full stop.
That’s very true, but every job has relative difficulties. I could never act again.
Hahahahaha! So would you say you’ve found your niche, or are there other areas in the theatre collaborative that you’d want to explore?
Well, I still love jumping around and learning new things. I do costume design as well, but I still love learning about lighting and scenic too. Stage management is the thing I happen to keep coming back to purely because I love helping to create and facilitate art.
That’s a really cool perspective, to be honest. The idea of SMs being facilitators of the creative work.
That’s pretty much the basis for my stage management approach: to aid in the creation of art. I love helping the process along and it makes me super excited to see the final product that everyone has worked so hard for.
Are you finding any new challenges acting as a production stage manager on a virtual platform as opposed to the more traditional production role of calling cues from the booth?
There are definitely issues and challenges that I haven’t thought of before. I think growing up surrounded by technology has its benefits, but there’s still the barrier of a screen, so we’re dealing with lags and connection issues and anything else that might pop up out of nowhere. That in and of itself has also tested my adaptability and patience for sure.
How is your role shifting as each of these 10 minute plays are rehearsing and recording? How would you describe your part in the process?
It goes from facilitating information to making sure deadlines are met with recordings and dramaturgy notes. My job is basically helping things run smoothly and giving people access to the information that they need to continue their process.

Oh deadlines… it may not be the same as a call to places on opening night, but I’m sure anyone who watched them would agree, Gabby saw to it that the 10 minute plays were a smashing success!