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Kayland Sejour
Prof. Murray
English 1102
5 December 2014
The Stage Management Community
As a theater major and theater kid, my life revolves around the Theater and Performing
Arts community. However within these communities exist smaller subsets or discourse
communities. One specific discourse community is the Stage Management crew. In my own
personal theater I perform in, Fort Lauderdale Stage Players, we have a stage management crew.
Although during my time with the Fort Lauderdale Stage Players, I found myself mostly
performing on stage, I also worked a lot within the stage management crew community. The
stage management crew existed solely in order to make sure that the plays ran smoothly on
performance night. Using a very specific way of communicating, our stage management crew
were able to always achieve the main objective. I will always prefer being on-stage to being
off-stage, but I do understand the importance of the off-stage stage management crew. This
specific discourse community is a community that is often not looked at, since they arent
onstage, however the language and communication used within this community is very rare
and deserves to be recognized by more than just the theater community.
The stage management crew community fits every characteristic of John Swales definition
of what a discourse community is. Swales first specific criteria for a discourse community is
that the community has a broadly agreed common set of goals (Swales 24). The Stage
management crew for Fort Lauderdale Stage Players does have a common set of goals. First off,
the main goal or objective of the community is to make sure that all the mechanics of the show
run smoothly in order to ensure a successful show. Other goals that are outlined in the stage1

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management handbook are very specific to the roles that each member plays. For example, goals
may include: making sure each actor gets the right props or making sure that each prop is placed
in the right place on stage. All of these small goals, go towards the overall agreed goal of the
entire community, which is making sure that the show is a success.
The stage management crew of Fort Lauderdale Stage Players have different mechanisms
of intercommunication among its members. Although some means of communication are verbal
through headsets and microphones (on show nights), most communication is done in writing.
The stage management crew has many meetings in order to discuss how to help the play run
smoothly. They also use email in order to communicate with members about rehearsal schedules,
changes that may need to be made in the script, and any director comments or directions. Also
they communicate on the scripts they are given, using their own abbreviations and lingo. They
communicate different directions and jobs of each member on these scripts.
Participatory mechanisms that are used within the stage management crew in order to
provide info and feedback are called Questions sheets. Fort Lauderdale Stage Players makes
every member in the stage management crew write down any concerns or questions on a piece of
paper to be handed into the stage manager. This occurs after every rehearsal so that members are
not confused about what their role is during the show. The concerns and questions are then
addressed and answered in a meeting at the end of a rehearsal week. This allows for participation
from each member of this discourse community, where info and feedback is given.
There exist many subsets or genres within the stage management crew discourse
community. The genres are broken down into the different jobs or roles assigned to members that
make up the stage management crew as a whole. This includes members who are solely
responsible for the props offstage, members who are solely responsible for the props onstage,

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members who are responsible for helping the actors get dressed, and members whose sole
purpose is to make sure that the curtains go up or down on cue. The genres of this discourse
community are assigned to each member of the community.
The stage management crew have their own very specific way of communicating or
very specific lexis. The primary lexis that exist, is the terminology that the stage management
crew uses. This terminology is very specific and is understood by each member of the
community. Terminology include the abbreviations written in the margins in scripts. To most
other people that dont belong in this discourse community, the words in the margin would just
look like irregular scribbles in a script. However, to a member in the stage management crew the
scribbles in the margins are specific directions that tell exactly what has to be done during that
specific time in a play. For example, move table SR may be written in a script next to lines
under a heading that says ACT1SCENE2. To any member of the stage management crew they
know that the meaning of move table SR means to move the table to stage right. The position
of this direction in the script is also important, because since its written under ACT1SCENE2,
next to specific lines, the member knows exactly when in the play to move the table to stage
right.
Swales last characteristic in defining a discourse community is that the community has
members with suitable degrees of relevant content and discoursal expertise (Swales 26). Within
the discourse community of the stage management crew there are different levels of expertise.
You have the novice members who are new and have to learn what all the abbreviations mean
also have to learn how to effectively communicate with the other members and essentially
belong in the community. You also have intermediate members who have been in the crew over
the course of a couple shows and may be appointed to high manager-like positions over the
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certain genres that exist within the community. Lastly, you have the experts who are usually the
stage managers and sometimes the directors of the plays. The stage manager has done multiple
shows and knows everything that needs to be known within the stage management community.
The director of the play also may be an expert in this community, because the director is
involved in every aspect of the show, including backstage where the stage management
community exists.
If everything is followed correctly within the earlier mentioned Stage Management
Handbook then there should be no errors in communication. Some conflicts that might arise is,
if a member doesnt follow the directions written in the script and misses a cue. This problem
can lead to the show not running smoothly. Most members will have no difficulty, because
existing in the community is fairly easy as long as they follow the directions and communicate
with other members. This is why there are no errors in communication.
Fort Lauderdale Stage Players stage management crew meets the six characteristic defined
by John Swales of a discourse community. The characteristics are: the community has common
goals, participation mechanisms, information exchange, specific genres, highly specialized
terminology, and levels of expertise. Due to this, the stage management crew is its own discourse
community.

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Work Cited
Swales, John M. "The Concept of Discourse Community." Genre Analysis: English in Academic and
Research Settings. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1990. N. p. Print.