- Level
- A little practice
- Time
- Tech week rehearsals + every performance (crew call ~1 hr before curtain)
- Wear
- All black ("blacks") + soft, quiet shoes
- Your zone
- The wings (offstage left & right)
- You take cues from
- The stage manager, over headset
- Move speed
- Quick with purpose — never run
Quick start
- 1
Show up at crew call and check in
Arrive about an hour before curtain, dressed head-to-toe in black. Find the stage manager or crew chief and let them know you're here so they can mark you present.
- 2
Walk your moves before the house opens
Find your spike marks (the tape on the floor) and physically rehearse each piece you'll move. Knowing the path in the light makes it automatic in the dark.
- 3
Get on headset and listen for your cue
If you're assigned a headset, put it on and stay quiet on the line. The stage manager will call "Standby" then "Go" — you move on Go, not before.
- 4
Make the shift, then clear the wings
Set each piece on its spike mark, then step back into the wings, out of the sightlines. Being seen by the audience is the only real mistake.
- 5
Stay until you're released
After the bows, you'll reset props and scenery for the next show. Don't leave until the stage manager calls the crew released.
Watch first
How to Make a Run Sheet (Shift Plot)
The cue-by-cue document run crew follows to track props, scenery moves, and timing during a show.
Maintaining the Show
Keeping a show consistent run-to-run — the core discipline a run crew needs once a production opens.
Here's the secret nobody tells first-timers: run crew looks impossibly fast and complicated from the audience, but you only have to learn YOUR handful of moves. You're not memorizing the whole show — you're memorizing "in the scene-two blackout, I roll the couch to the blue spike, then exit stage right." That's it. Do it a dozen times in tech week and your body just knows it.
The stage manager runs everything over a headset and never lets you guess. You'll hear a "Standby" warning, then a "Go." You move on Go. The whole night is a rhythm of wait, move, clear, repeat.
Backstage words you'll hear tonight
- 1
Standby
The stage manager calls your cue number to warn you it's coming. Get to your piece and put your hands on it.
- 2
Blackout / lights shift
The stage goes dark or dims. This is your window — but wait for the call, not just the dark.
- 3
Go
On "Go," move your piece along its path to the spike mark. Quick, controlled, quiet.
- 4
Set on the spike
Land the piece exactly on its tape marks so lighting and the actors find it right where they expect it.
- 5
Clear
Step back into the wings, out of all sightlines, and reset for your next cue.
Backstage words you'll hear tonight
- Blacks
- Head-to-toe black clothing so you vanish in low light
- Wings
- The offstage space at the left and right of the stage
- Spike mark
- Colored tape showing exactly where a piece goes
- Blackout
- Stage lights fully out — your cover to move
- Headset / cans
- The intercom the stage manager uses to call cues
- Preset
- Putting pieces in their start positions before the show
Before the house opens
- Dressed in full blacks with quiet, soft-soled shoes
- Phone silenced and pocketed (no screen light backstage)
- Walked every one of your moves and found your spike marks
- Headset on and tested, if you're assigned one
- Glow tape and pathways noted so you don't trip in the dark
- Checked in with the stage manager and know your first cue
More resources
Sources: Backstage.com — Stage Crew Jobs Explained; Wikipedia — Running crew; Barnard Theatre — Backstage Run Crew guide