Customer Reviews

The Perfect Stage Crew: The Compleat Technical Guide for High School, College, and Community Theater

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I purchased The Perfect Stage Crew after taking over the Theatre Arts class and role as Technical Director at the high school where I teach. I had little theater experience and no technical knowledge when I accepted both positions. Prior to purchasing this text, I had read numerous reviews and purchased other texts, none of which addressed the specific issues I was encountering on a daily basis - such as basic stagecraft, simple (but effective) lighting, tips for managing a crew and tricks for maintaining my sanity. The text reads easily and is well organized. Mr. Kaluta has a priceless sense of humor, and I would swear he's been backstage in my theater! I feel confident in following his advice and learning from his mistakes because he's been where I am. I have even moved away from the "textbook" for my course and started creating notes and handouts gleaned from the pointers and information in The Perfect Stage Crew. Thank you so much for writing a book on technical theater that doesn't read like an instructional manual for a vacuum cleaner and that makes me laugh out loud while nodding in agreement. I HIGHLY recommend this book to anyone working in high school or community theatre. It has proven invaluable to me, and I expect to return to it often over the next several years.

As a student that does stage crew, this book is worth its weight in platinum. It is full of everything you need to get up and running for any theatrical event; whether amateur, school, or professional, this book will fulfill the needs of it all.
With tips ranging from carpentry to lighting and sound, and even how to manage the stage crew themselves, you really cannot go wrong buying this book, especially if you are a sponsor or director.

After hearing about this book, many crew members also bought this book and they also say the same things I do.
Heck, my stage crew sponsor LOVES this book. Well, after all, he should, if you catch my drift.

Disappointing to say, but it's rather hard to get past the immature writing. The author breaks about every rule of good writing and composition for excessive and off-track babbling about things that no one who bought the book would want. Yes, it's supposed to make it more fun/entertaining, but I felt it diffused rather than enhanced the book. I wouldn't recommend this book even though it contains one redeeming value: Each topic covers a helpful "Why do I need to know this" section that at least gives purpose to the read and is helpful for young students.

John Kaluta's The Perfect Stage Crew: The Compleat Technical Guide for High School, College, and Community Theater considers budgets and the means for creating professional-quality stage productions on a limited set of resources. Kaluta shows how to pull off a fine production in less than forty days on almost any budget, and covers everything from organizing and storing backstaeg supplies, to building sets, to testing lighting, to operating sound equipment. This technical guide is confidently recommended for any involved in theatre at the high school, college or community levels.

Kaluta's, The Perfect Stage Crew, is far after and forever perfect. Anyone pursuing the love of arts, communications and particularly those working with excited and courageous young people in career and technical education nation-wide, can forget worrying and save their energy for better spent passion.

The Perfect...is succinctly detailed, nuance attentive, elegant yet exuberant and will answer before you know the question. National standards in this field clearly define all that must be known and done to achieve excellence. Kaluta far exceeds intelligent discourse.

The Perfect Stage Crew... is back pocket and top shelf and without a doubt, biblical in importance. One is a must but others to spare... for your fondest colleagues, will get all of you there. Kaluta has packed twenty-five years of retries into one anatomically correct and beautiful rocket that will hurl you into a perfect and proud production.

He's been there and done that but, instead of a tee shirt, Kaluta's got the real deal.

Take it, leave it but read it. Better yet, beep it, then leap with it, where you may have feared to tread,quickly though... before you forget where you were before it.