Theatre staff celebrate International Stage Management Day 2017

Stage managers from around the world are being celebrated as part of International Stage Management Day.

The event was first established in 2013 by the Stage Management Association, to shine a light on work in theatres that can be overlooked.

People have taken to Twitter to honour the backstage workers, posting pictures and blogs to shine a light on their contributions.

The National Theatre, Bush Theatre and Shakespeare’s Globe in London are among the venues tweeting backstage pictures of their stage management teams.

The #ntNetwork team, current residents of Rehearsal Room Two. #StageMgrs17 pic.twitter.com/b1jBKl8fpT

— National Theatre (@NationalTheatre) October 10, 2017

Shout out to the all the beautiful people that are Stage Managers working tirelessly behind the scenes for our productions #stagemgrs17 pic.twitter.com/scO4XmnOH8

— Bush Theatre (@bushtheatre) October 10, 2017

To promote the event many used the hashtag #StageMgrs17 to share their celebrations online. Stage management teams also took over some accounts for the day to post and tweet about their experiences.

Hello! It’s @lindsayinnes here ASM on @HairsprayUKTour signing in! Stay tuned to see what happens backstage in Baltimore! #StageMgrs17

— HairsprayUKTour (@HairsprayUKTour) October 10, 2017

Actor Aaron Neil said that most people didn’t know how critical the work of stage managers was, while Suba Das, associate director at Curve Theatre Leicester called the backstage workers “heroes”.

If you don’t work in the industry, you probably don’t realise how critical the work of stage managers is. Thank God for them. #StageMgrs17 https://t.co/ioUUbKtS7w

— Aaron Neil (@_AaronNeil) October 10, 2017

In honour of Stage Managers Day – here’s the gorgeous #PinkSariRevolution team rocking it @CurveLeicester . Heroes all! #StageMgrs17 pic.twitter.com/uhmvFoqhmK

— Suba Das (@SubaDasDirects) October 10, 2017

Andy Rowley, SMA executive director told The Stage that stage managers were too often overlooked and that this celebration would allow others an inside look into their world.