Plays With A Purpose

Black Ensemble Theatre

I've had the privilege of serving as the stage manager for Black Ensemble Theatre's annual "Plays With A Purpose" series. This play series is a saga of plays that various CPS schools can attend as part of a field trip. The plays all deal with important topics, such as anti-bullying, gun violence, respecting our differences, and many more. These shows have been really special because the actors are truly making an impact on the community, performing for thousands of K-12 students over the span of this series, and the Black Ensemble Theatre continues to make their team members and audiences a part of their family. I stage managed 3 separate productions during the 2022-2023 "Plays With A Purpose" series.

All photo credits on page: Black Ensemble Theatre

All PWAP shows are staged on the respective mainstage show happening at the same time. Each PWAP each has an limited rehearsal and tech period, with each show having 8-10 rehearsals and 3 tech rehearsals before performances begin. Each show is a musical, so this requires rehearsals with the Black Ensemble resident musicians, as well as choreography rehearsals. I made sure that I recorded all blocking and choreography and shared any videos with the cast in my daily communications with them. Each production also needed some script changes, so I made sure that everyone had the most current version of the script in a shared "Cast Resources" folder.

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Each production also needed some script changes, so I made sure that everyone had the most current version of the script. Every PWAP production also had full technical elements, so I worked with the designers to make sure they had any specific notes that would be beneficial to have in advance of tech. I also created actor/scene breakdowns for each production for the designers to gain a stronger understanding of the show before we met for tech. All in all, the rehearsals went smoothly and we had lots of laughs putting these shows on their feet. It was incredible to see how the cast, musicians, and production team were all able to work together with such a short time frame on each show.