Stage Manager's Association

The SMA, whose inception is traced to 1981, is the only professional organization for ALL working stage managers across the United States. Our mission is to recognize, advocate for, and provide continuing education and networking opportunities for stage managers across the USA. The SMA strives for equity, fairness, diversity and inclusion. As stage managers we are discreet in our dealings with productions, producers and employers. We respect and value diverse life experiences and heritages, strive toward equitable treatment of our members, and support members who nurture diversity and equity in their places of work and in their broader communities. Our NYC roots, networking and education remain an important part of the association today. SMA members, over 900 strong, are united for a common cause: to advocate for and recognize stage managers for the work we do in the entertainment profession.

Tools for all Stages of your Career /Our programs include:

OPERATION OBSERVATION (C) (our oldest program) Observe seasoned professionals in action. We facilitate this observation or shadowing for members and others who generously open their backstage processs to others. 

STANDING IN THE DARK©: A series of audio and video conversations with prominent stage managers: on their career, family and working regionally. JOB POSTINGS: Hundreds of the latest job opportunites delivered directly to our membership and posted on the website. Employers post free of charge. 

A VIEW FROM THE WINGS / WEBINARS / LECTURES SERIES / SPEED DATING: Online and in person symposia and conferences that cover hot topics, with prominent industry experts on topics that most interest our membership. 

NATIONAL RECOGNITION: The SMA honors professional stage managers annually with the Del Hughes Award for Lifetime Achievement as well as other national honors. 

COLLABORATIVE CONNECTIONS MENTORING for members at all levels of their career. Get the advice you need from seasoned professionals, farther along the path, in any area of entertainment management. A way for the seasoned pro to give back to the industry. 

WEBSITE: Find out what’s going on in the world of Stage Management, or how that new gizmo is being used by other SMs. Over 200 links to articles on Stage Management, “how to” recordings, document library and interviews; are all a part of our website library. 

SM GO/COMMUNITY: Let the Stage Managers’ Association provide support for a project or your next get together of local Stage Managers, no matter where in the country. 

INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE: through our new international initiative, we have now have active contacts with Stage Manager Associations on all seven continents. 

NATIONAL SM GUIDE RESPONDENT PROGRAM: A program where professionals are the resource for collegiate theatre programs with a need for trained stage managers without the benefit of a stage management program. (ROLLING OUT FALL 2019) 

AWARDS:
The Del Hughes Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Art of Stage Management is presented by The Stage Managers’ Association to acknowlege a professional who exhibits the finest qualities of stage management: patience, diplomacy, organization, and a sense of humor. Del Hughes (1909-1985) was an American theater performer, stage manager, and television director. Prior to establishing his career as a stage manager, Hughes performed in several Broadway productions, including Vickie (1942), Yours, A. Lincoln (1942) and Open House (1947). Hughes managed dozens of Broadway productions, including the premiere of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman in 1949 at the Morosco Theater, as well as works by Lillian Hellman and Graham Greene. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Hughes directed episodes of the television dramas “One Life to Live” and “All My Children.” The Del Hughes prompt books, archived in the Billy Rose Collection at the New York Public Library at Lincoln Center, date from 1943 to 1968 and represent twenty-four Broadway productions. Upon his passing in 1985, his daughter, Julie Hughes, created a legacy for her father with the Stage Managers’ Association -- the Del Hughes Lifetime Achievement Award in the Art of Stage Management. In 1986, the first award was presented to Phil Friedman.