Among the Management Department's courses is the Stage Management course, a fascinating programme that trains professionals who oversee entrances, exits and movements of performers and objects during a performance.
Among this course's graduates is Sumireko Inui, who told her story for our Hall of Fame.
How did you find out about the Academy?
I saw an advertisement on Facebook; before, I did not know such an institution existed in Italy. It was a very difficult time for me, we were in the middle of the Covid epidemic, I was far from my family and I was graduating in performing arts at the Vivaldi Conservatory of Alessandria.
It felt like a thread of light in a tunnel, because during my time at the Conservatory I had several opportunities to see the 'behind the scenes' and all the organisation outside the stage. I loved it, but I was well aware that I did not have the right knowledge to be able to aspire to work in Stage Management.
When I saw that the Academy was opening a new course, specifically in Stage Management, how could I not try?
Did the scholarship you won helped you in your studies in Milan?
Yes, absolutely. It allowed me to live in a city like Milan and be able to dedicate myself quite happily to the Academy course. It is something really important that I have never taken for granted.
What do you think the job market is like to become a Stage Director in Italy and abroad?
I must say that I was particularly lucky, because after my internship experience at Teatro Carlo Felice di Genova, thanks to the Academy, they immediately offered me a contract for the role of Deputy Stage Director. So, I took a very linear path: I did the course I wanted, I did the internship I wanted and then I got a contract. Exactly as it should be.
I am very happy with my experience and speaking personally, I don't know much outside of Genoa, but the impression is that the job market in Italy seems to me to be full of institutions, theatres, festivals, cultural organisations and events where this particular figure is in great demand.
I have not yet delved into foreign countries, for now I would still like to stay in Italy.
What ideal characteristic should a person who does this job have?
First of all, it is important to have a great deal of attention to all things related to the stage activity, both the artistic and the technical part. Furthermore good communication skills are also needed. These are two skills on which even now I'm working on to try to improve (especially on the second one, as a foreigner I am careful about it).
For example, creating a production involves more than a hundred people with different backgrounds (gender, age, nationality, profession, studies, etc) and different personal and work-related characteristics. You have to know who you are dealing with in order to bring the show to the stage (possibly with a safe, sound and happy cast and technicians!). Sometimes when having to solve problems, Stage Directors interact with anyone, even administrative staff. One must always be very attentive to others and try to be empathetic.
This year I learned that even a small oddity that seems nothing at first, if ignored can eventually become a big obastacle. Human relations are delicate.
What is the biggest challenge you have faced at work?
Honestly, it is a continuum of difficulties. As for the challenges, I wouldn't know which one to choose. But I must say that my way of dealing with things has changed a lot. At the beginning, as soon as something happened I felt like crying, I would panic and had the urge to leave.
Now instead I know that some solution can always be found. It is teamwork, so even if I do not solve it alone I know I can work with my colleagues who have years of experience behind them.
I can mention my first real challenge, inherent to a hall's temperature during an orchestral concert on an away tour.
Three days after arriving at the Carlo Felice, I took it upon myself to follow an orchestra concert in a church in March. I was very worried because I had never followed an event in such a context and I was not even that well prepared in the orchestral field, but everyone told me that it had always went well and there would be no issues this time either. Instead, during the rehearsal before the concert, the Orchestra decided to interrupt and skip the rehearsal. The Carlo Felice has an agreement for which below 18 degrees the orchestra may decide not to play in order to guarantee the level of the performance due to the freezing of fingers and breath, as well as to protect the instruments. We were an hour before the concert and until the last moment we did not know whether the orchestra would play or not. Fortunately, the church warmed up with the arrival of the audience and just two minutes before the start of the concert the Orchestra decided to perform.
I had a crying fit because I was very stressed about blowing up a concert on my third day of work. Fortunately, everything went well and I have been carrying a thermometer ever since!
