Meet Jen Magel - Stage Manager for Anything Goes!

What is your role on this Production? I am the Stage Manager for Anything Goes. Basically that means I eat, breathe, and sleep the show so I can memorize as much of the show as possible…Once in the theatre I call the light cues, the sound cues, the places cues and makes sure the show runs smoothly from a technical aspect. I am also the liaison between the technical crew and the actors. During rehearsals, I write down blocking (in case an actor forgets or isn’t there). And occasionally I have to step in during rehearsals for actors who are missing…That gets interesting with the dancing (just ask Aaron or Richard…I’m no Stacey!).

What brought you out for this production? The fabulous director Barb Mah asked me if I would be interested in working with her again (we were working on Ragtime at the time). As I had a great time working with her on Ragtime and I love Musical Theatre I thought to myself…sure, why not?!


What is your background in theatre? I was exposed to theatre at a very young age. My dad was a director in Winnipeg even before my parents met. He started taking me to theatre shows when I was just 3 years old. I was in my first show at 11 years old (I was one of the Lost Boys in Peter Pan for St. Albert Children’s Theatre), but then realized I had massive stage fright. Around 16 years old I went to a tech call with my friend at the Arden Theatre and ever since then I was hooked. I have my diploma in Theatre Production from Grant McEwan and I have been working in technical theatre for 17 years. I mostly do theatre for a hobby as I have a day job, but I do occasionally do semi-professional shows as well. This is my first show with Walterdale and I’m enjoying it immensely!

Biggest Challenge? Now that’s a hard one… As a Stage Manager? Making sure everything is on time and running well can be a challenge but that’s what the job is, however in this show, I think learning the dancing so I could step in on occasion was the biggest challenge. I never did learn the whole tap dance.

This play takes place on a ship, you have any good boating stories? Good boating stories…hmmmmm… well I have a boating & theatre story. I went on a Disney cruise and they have a spectacular theatre on board! I actually got to take a tour of the theatre and talk with the stage manager and the technicians. I was told that they use more automation in one of their shows (which is about an hour long) than in the whole show of Phantom of the Opera. The fact that they can have this kind of floating theatre amazes me! Although they do have to sometimes cancel the shows if the seas are too rough…they don’t want to endanger the actors.