Arturo Porazzi visits TheatreVCU

The following piece is written by Sophomore Phoebe Copeland, a Stage Management major at VCU, currently working on The Trip To Bountiful.

A few weeks ago when Toni-Leslie James invited the department to a dress rehearsal of her new show Come from Away, I was disappointed at being unable to make the trip to D.C. to watch it. But as fate would have it, I ended up getting a little piece of the musical delivered right to my classroom.

Last Tuesday, the Production Stage Manager of Come from Away visited Bonnie Brady’s advanced stage management classes to give a behind the scenes look at running the musical and insight into the professional world of stage management. Arturo Porazzi has extensive credits on and off Broadway as well as numerous regional theatre credits and considerable experience running corporate events. He is a trim man, not short but not tall and old enough to know what he’s about. He came into the room full of dry wit and a no nonsense attitude. He exuded an air of confidence and his playful jabs soon had us all laughing, suddenly comfortable in his presence.

He began by asking each of us why we wanted to be stage managers. We gave varied responses; to some he said yes, unconditionally, while with others he engaged in more of a conversation. He explained to us the three most important attributes of setting up any kind of large event: Organization, Anticipation, and Communication. Then he went on to list three things to always strive for in stage management: to be clear, to be concise, and to be consistent. To this, we all responded enthusiastically because without any prior discussion he had listed 3 of the 5 C’s that Bonnie has us memorize the first semester of freshman year!

That similarity was reflective of the rest of the talk. Many of the things that Bonnie teaches us in class, we got to see displayed in Arturo’s work. He showed us his dropbox, filled with folders inside folders containing the multitude of paperwork and tracking necessary to keep such a large scale show operational. We got to see his calling script and ask questions about the way he calls, writes, and learns cues. At one point, he played a video of the Opening Night performance and called the cues along with the recording, narrating his thought process and technique as he went. Arturo discussed how to rehearse a show with a turntable in a rehearsal space lacking one. He told us about the process of teaching new understudies the tracks of the actors they were understudying. He emphasized collaboration and good communication, sharing anecdotes and memories.

Before he finished his talk, Arturo also gave us some insight into stage managing large corporate events for big companies releasing new merchandise. This was a facet of our major that I don’t think many of us had considered. After hearing Arturo describe it though, it seemed obvious such an event would require a stage manager.

It is easy to stay wrapped up in the education world and forget to what it is that we are aspiring. The opportunity to meet a professional stage manager and listen to his stories was a unique experience that invigorated my interest in my field.

-Phoebe Copeland

Come From Away is open at the Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. now thru October 16. It opens in Toronto November 15 and on Broadway for previews on February 18, 2017.