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Kayland Sejour
Prof. Murray
English 1102
5 December 2014
Stage Management Discourse Community: Data Analysis
The average person does not understand what goes on backstage and how the backstage
stage management crew put so much effort into making sure a show goes smoothly. As a former
stage management crew member at Fort Lauderdale High Schools Stage Players, I found it
relative to research the much unknown world of the stage management community and discuss
the communication that occurs there. Through research, I have found how the different
communication that occurs in the discourse community helps the community function as a
whole. I have also compared the research itself and how they each relate to each other.
John Swales, who developed The Concept of a Discourse Community in Genre
Analysis: English in Academic and Research Settings defined a discourse community as a
group that has agreed upon goals, communication, uses genres, gives feedback, has a
threshold level of membership and specified language (Swales 24). Stage management crew is its
own discourse community, fitting all the characteristics necessary to be considered a discourse
community. Although most communication is done verbally within the stage management
discourse community, the community could not successfully exist without the written
communication that is in place. I will explore the written communication that exists in the
community further into the analysis, such as the Question Sheets and member contracts. I will
also explore how these written communications in the stage management discourse community
connect with other researched sources.
Written Communication

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One important means of communication that is used in this community is the member
contract. The member contract lays out the rules of being a stage management crew member.
The contract was created to ensure that every member knew their role in making the production
successful. The contract is a means of communication, because it communicates the rules of the
community to every member, who then agrees to the rules by signing the contract. This is a way
of truly introducing new members into the community and the first basis of communication that
the community experiences. Another means of communication within the community is the
important Question Sheets. The Questions Sheets were created after the community decided they
needed a form to handle any questions members might have. It includes the header for a name
and topic, and then it has a space for the actual question. These Question Sheets are means of
communicating any questions or need for clarifications that arise in the community. The
information from these Question Sheets are then discussed during weekly meetings (Wilson).
The existence of both of these, aids the stage management discourse community in achieving
their purpose of making sure the production goes/runs smoothly. This is because everything that
occurs in the community can be easily communicated to every member through these outlets.
Every member has to sign the contract and every member has an opportunity to uses the
Question Sheets to discuss any concerns or questions to the community.
One of the main means of communicating in the community are the stage directions
that are written on scripts. These stage directions are particularly important, because they are
the main means of communication backstage (Wilson). The members of the stage management
crew write special stage directions on scripts and then share them with other members, who then
do the same. This is how the stage management community does most of their communication

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backstage, since they cannot speak during show time. This particular communication is expanded
on throughout the analysis of this paper.
Analysis of Sources and Writing
The beginning of my research started with my own observations of the community, a
phone interview with a former Fort Lauderdale High School Stage Players stage manager, a
blank Question Sheet, and an actual script with stage management communication in it. I then
began to focus on how communication works in the discourse community itself. My observation
noted that the community used the Question Sheets and the written stage directions. In order to
deepen my understanding of these two genres, I consulted the interview I had with Javon Wilson
(refer to Appendix A), the previous stage manager. He explained that his main job was to
ensure that the entire crew worked together backstage (Wilson). He discussed that the only
way we [the stage management crew] could communicate backstage, is with what we wrote on
the scripts (Wilson). He also explained exactly what they would write on the scripts in order to
communicate. His explanations were that they used an extensive amount of abbreviations and
special words that only the members understood. According to Frank Smith the author of Six
Principles for Using Technical Shorthand, shorthand or abbreviations must be agreed between
all members and that the shorthand/abbreviations has to stay constant in order to be
recognizable (Smith). By the community using abbreviations that was understood by all
members, it made their communication more efficient. Further looking into the Beauty and The
Beast Script notes, all the notes that were in the script for stage management communication
were constant (they all were either abbreviated or short sentenced) . Ellen T. Crowley author of
Acronyms, Initialisms & Abbreviations Dictionary included many terms in her book that
coincide with terms that the stage management community heavily uses. Crowleys

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abbreviations related immensely with the abbreviations that are included in the Beauty and Beast
script notes, due to the fact that some of the shorthand that was found in the notes were also
found in Crowleys book. Wilson had also mentioned that because of their specific
communication in the scripts, every show during his year went on perfectly.
Exchange of Information within the Community
Martin Cole in Communication Theory and Theater: An Exercise in Relationship he
discusses the importance of communication within the theater, stating that communication is the
exchange of information (Cole 45). Wilson, in the phone interview, explained that exchanging
information through written communication was key to their shows running efficiently, and that
without the proper communication, the show would have been a disaster. This shows that the
communication is vital within this community, and leads to helping the community to achieve its
purposes and goals. Jenny Slattery author of The Stage Managers Toolkit: Templates and
Communication Techniques To Guide Your Theatre Production From First Meeting To Final
Performance furthered the argument that communication was important within the backstage
theater world. Slattery discussed the tools that stage managers can use in order to allow for
communication with all of their members, that Wilson also addressed during his interview. Both
agreed that constant exchange of communication between the stage manager and the stage crew
was needed throughout rehearsals until performances. Thereby furthering the argument that
communication is important in the community, and the ways that the community communicated
(through the question sheets, member contract, and script notes) was efficient in exchanging
information.
Conclusion

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When it comes to achieving the goals of the stage management discourse community,
communication is key for a successful show. The research shows the different types of written
communication in the stage management community, all aid in helping the community meet their
purpose. Research also agreed that communication has to be understood between all members in
the discourse community in order to be effective. The Question Sheets and member contracts
were shown to be very effective when it came to communicating information that dealt with the
community itself. The script notes were shown to aid in communicating period during shows. All
types of written communication that the community relies on, were agreed to be important in the
exchange of information. Wilson and Smith both agreed that the abbreviations and theater
shorthand used in the written communication has to be kept the same and in the same order so
that every member can understand it. This showed the importance of communicating, to even
new members, the special shorthand for the community.
The research in this analysis has lead me to want to research deeper into the actual
specific shorthand and abbreviations within the community. This research has also led me to
want to further research how the community introduces new members into using and
understanding the specific language of the community. Written communication has proven to be
very effective, yet is only effective if every member truly understands it, and that process is
pertinent to this research now.

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Work Cited
Catsicas, Chrystina. Questions Sheets Fort Lauderdale High School 1995. Print
Cobin, Martin. "Communication Theory and Theater: An Exercise in Relationship."Rhetoric
And Communication: Studies in the University of Illinois Tradition. Urbana: Published
For the Department of Speech Communication by the U of Illinois, 1976. 113-27. Print.
Crowley, Ellen T. Acronyms, Initialisms & Abbreviations Dictionary: A Guide to Alphabetic
Designations Contractions, Acronyms, Initialisms, Abbreviations, and Similar
Condensed Appellations. Detroit: Gale Research, 1976. Print
Sejour, Kayland. Observations. 2014
Slattery, Jenny. "The Stage Managers Toolkit: Templates and Communication Techniques
To Guide Your Theatre Production From First Meeting To Final Performance By
Laurie Kincman (Review)." Theatre Topics 2 (2013): 222. Project MUSE. Web. 5 Dec.
2014.
Smith, Frank R. "Six Principles for Using Technical Shorthand." Basic Technical Writing.
Vol.7. Washington, D.C.: Society for Technical Communication 1987. 47-51. Print
Swales, John M. "The Concept of Discourse Community." Genre Analysis: English in
Academic and Research Settings. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1990. Print.
Wilson, Javon. Stage Management Director. Telephone interview. 5 Dec. 2014.
Woolverton, Linda. Disney's Beauty and the Beast JR. Disney Theatrical Productions, 2000.
Print

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APPENDIX A

Phone Interview Transcript

Javon Wilson
September 17, 2014

Sejour: Good Afternoon Javon Wilson. Thank you for agreeing to interview with me
Wilson: No problem
Sejour: I am just going to ask you a few questions. Id first like to ask you what your role was
at Fort Lauderdale Stage Players theater
Wilson: I was the Stage Manager during the 2013-2014 school year
Sejour: What was that job like?
Wilson: It was fun yet stressful, I had a lot of responsibility. My main job was to ensure that the
entire crew worked together backstage and to guide everyone. This was to make sure that the
show [theater production] ran smoothly without anyone backstage causing any problems.
Sejour: How were you able to make sure that the crew worked together effectively?
Wilson: It all came down to communication. We had to have great communication in order for
everything to run smoothly. Without it, the show would be a disaster.
Sejour: What type of communication existed between you and the stage management crew?
Wilson: We had our member contracts that communicated the rules that each member had to
agree to. We had these things called Question Sheets. We also had notes written on the scripts
we were given backstage.
Sejour: Can you elaborate on the Question Sheets?
Wilson: Sure. They were forms that members could write questions or concerns on. We would
then take the information from these Question Sheets and then discuss them during weekly
meetings.
Sejour: Now can you elaborate on the script notes?
Wilson: Yes. We would write notes with our own specific abbreviations. Only the crew members
understood what the notes meant. They were are only means of communication backstage. The
only way we [the stage management crew] could communicate backstage, is with what we
wrote on the scripts.
Sejour: How were you able to see the notes backstage?
Wilson: Well each crew member had a flash light or head lamp to see their scripts.
Sejour: Thank you for answering all my questions

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APPENDIX A
Wilson: No problem. Goodbye
Sejour: Goodbye
[phone click]