A stage manager who will see to all these details and provide himself with intelligent assistants who will quietly “set” the stage for one picture and clear it for the next, behind the curtain, in such a manner as not to interrupt the reader in front of it, nor take the attention of the audience, is equally necessary.
Absolute quiet behind the curtain must be insisted upon, and the “characters” not allowed to make it a place for social reunion between the parts.
Two dressing rooms are necessary, even if the characters are all of one sex--as things can be more easily arranged with but few to disturb them.
All persons not needed behind the curtain must be excluded, as their presence only tends to confusion and delay.
The assistants who manage the furniture and other stage accessories, must know just what is required for each tableau, and when--and have those near at hand that are first needed, storing at the greatest distance those not again required, when clearing the stage.
The tableaux should be numbered, and the requisites for each listed, and a copy given to the stage director and assistants, for their reference and to avoid mistakes and delay.
Look out for the curtain. At the last moment it has sometimes been found that the curtain would not work, or that those appointed to manipulate it did not understand its mechanics, and great embarrassment has resulted. A signal must be determined upon, between the reader and the stage manager, that the curtain may rise at the point proper to illustrate what has just been read--not what will follow.
Should there be a lack of side screens, these may be supplied by covering ordinary clothes-horses with cambric, cotton, or cotton flannel, having due regard to the costumes and figures to be shown. A dark back and side for a picture all light and brightness (as a fairy or wedding scene), and light if the picture is a darker one. Judgment here is valuable.
DIRECTIONS.
Having selected the poem or story you wish to present, make choice of your reader. Get some one who reads naturally and distinctly. The tableaux take away all necessity for dramatic action on the part of the reader--if any ever existed--and the entire attention may be devoted to bringing out the thought of the author.