MSMT STAGE MANAGER MARK JOHNSON, left, and Assistant Stage Manager Amy Bertacini in the booth before the start of a recent production.
For Maine State Music Theatre stage managers, a routine work day between May and August lasts about 14 hours.
“You don’t do this work unless you love it,” said Assistant Stage Manager Amy Bertacini, who moved to Brunswick after working for the theater in the summer, adding that it simply feels like home now.
“You just go somewhere, and you know,” she said
Mark Johnson, the stage manager for MSMT, has been with the organization for 10 years. He went to school for production design in upstate New York, but there was no stage managing program, so he learned by doing.
His job focuses on organization, delegation and communication, he said.
“The quality of the work here is high,” he said of the productions.
“We have no business having this quality with the timeline we have,” Johnson said of the turnaround time to put on a show, which he described as a theater boot camp.
“We have a sense of pride in what we accomplish in the short amount of time,” he said.
Johnson’s favorite show is “Miss Saigon,” in addition to “Les Miserables” or anything with a large cast because they are the most personally satisfying, he said.
Bertacini studied lighting design, transitioning to learning stage management in college. She worked with a theater company in Delaware, then spent seven years in Chicago with the Goodman Theatre, where she met Johnson. She took over Johnson’s position in Chicago, and later, received a message from him asking her to apply to assist him at MSMT.
When she accepted the job in 2011, it was her first time in Maine. She didn’t know anybody in the state at the time.
“Now, it’s like family,” she said of the MSMT crew.
Bertacini said the crux of her position is making scene shifts look effortless, and that the varied happenings backstage are as important to the flow of a show as the actual performance. She and Johnson follow the show from rehearsals to closing night, working with actors, interns and the crew to solve a myriad of issues and provide support.
“They are the chosen family,” they said, adding MSMT is teaching the next generation of actors, stage managers, technicians and directors. “It’s an important part of what we do. Teaching is what this place is, and the collaboration among departments, and sharing what we know,” Bertacini said.
“It’s make it or break it if it’s what you want to do with your life,” she said.
jlaaka@timesrecord.com
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