Stage Manager Resume: Templates, Examples, & Essential Skills

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As Stage Manager, you’re used to getting everything in order for the big show. But, are you having trouble organizing your resume to have it ready to premiere to a hiring manager? Our resume templates can help you raise the curtain on your resume.

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You might be ready to run the show from lights up to curtain call, but first, you have to put the spotlight on your skills to attract potential employers. 

Think of your resume as your own personal audition. It’s your chance to wow producers (employers) with a succinct yet engaging representation of what makes you a great candidate to stage-manage their production. 

However, if you’re not sure how to write an applause-worthy resume, no worries! In this guide, we’ll cover everything you need to write a stage management resume that’s guaranteed to earn you a standing ovation:

• Crafting the best possible resume for a stage manager
• Writing a compelling resume summary or objective
• Adding your experience and education sections
• Including relevant skills and experience
• Tips, tricks, and advice to help you work on your dream production

We’ll also include plenty of examples throughout, so you can get a visual idea of what your resume should look like.

Too busy to read this helpful article? We get it. The sooner you finish your resume the sooner you can start contacting producers. Feel free to stop reading and head over to ResumeGiants’ awesome online resume builder. (It’s free!) Select the template that works best for your personality, add your information, download the file, and bam: you’re ready to send it to your favorite theatre companies.

But if you feel a little unsure about your ability to write a great resume, keep reading! We’ll give you all the secrets you’ll need to write a killer stage management resume that’ll consequently get you calling cues in no time.

Before you get too starstruck over all the resume tips and tricks we’re going to share, check out this example of a good stage management resume.

Resume Example

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[Dale E. Call]

[Stage Manager]

[443-555-8253 | dale.e.calls@email.com | dalecallstheshow.com]

Summary

Dedicated and personable stage manager with 5+ years of experience working with LORT theatres in the Philadelphia, PA area, specializing in classical texts. Opened 20+ successful productions with a return hire rating of 80% among major producing companies. Extensive hands-on knowledge with QLab, ETC board operations, and schedule management software.

Experience

Spruce Street Theatre | Philadelphia, PA

Production Stage Manager

Macbeth

• Safely facilitated daily fight calls with zero incident
• Successfully called show with 250+ light cues
• Coordinated cast and understudy cast of 31 people

Philly Little Theatre | Philadelphia, PA

Assistant Stage Manager

The Cherry Orchard, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Children’s Hour

• Assistant stage managed 30 performances for sold-out 10th anniversary season
• Maintained and re-fabricated consumables throughout runs
• Plotted and executed nine successful quick changes

Education

University of Pennsylvania | Philadelphia, PA

BA Theatre Arts

2011 – 2015 

Instructors: Fancy Person le Fance, Ima Serious Dramatist, Thespian Theo

Skills

• Organization 
• Written and verbal communication
• Problem-solving
• Time management

• Fluency in Microsoft and Google Suites
• Proficient in QLab
• ETC Lighting Console Trained
• First Aid

Certifications

• Society of American Fight Directors 

Theatrical Firearms Certified 10/4/2019

• First Aid, CPR, AED Certification

Valid through  2/17/2023

Memberships

• Actors Equity Association 
• I.A.T.S.E. Local 8

Languages

• English (native)
• Spanish (fluent)
• French (proficient)

A stage manager is the glue that holds a theatrical production together. You’ve heard the phrase “the show must go on,” right? Well, the stage manager is the person who ensures that the show indeed goes on despite any obstacles. With such high stakes, producers can get quite choosy about who they pick to stage-manage their production.

The best resume format is one that puts your experience, background, and skills center stage.

Therefore, to create an effective resume, follow these industry-approved formatting tips:

• Firstly, go for a reverse-chronological order to list your work experience.
• Secondly, keep your layout clean with white space between sections and paragraphs.
• Limit your resume to one page unless specifically asked to provide a longer one. 
• Choose a professional font like Arial, Calibri, or Cambria (10-12pt for body text and 13-15pt for headings.
• Finishing up, save your resume as a PDF, as this will prevent formatting issues.

What Sections to Include and in What Order

The sections of your resume can vary depending on how much experience you have in stage managing productions. We’ll go into more detail later on in this article, but the general idea is to put the most important information first. 

No matter what stage of your career you’re at, your resume needs to capture the reader’s attention with the good stuff and keep them engaged enough to continue reading.

Importantly, most employers spend only about six or seven seconds reading a resume. Theatre is a very competitive industry, making it even more crucial that you make a strong impression as quickly as possible. Taking this into consdieration, think of your resume as an opportunity to “upstage” your fellow applicants.

Here’s a quick outline of the sections an emerging stage management resume will include (in this order):

1. A header with personal information and contact details (including website URL if you have one)
2. Resume summary or objective
3. Work experience
4. Education
5. Soft and hard skills
6. Other sections (as needed)

Potential employers will read your resume from top to bottom (rather than bottom to top), so you need to put the most important information first within each section as well. What’s more, you only have a few seconds to impress the person reading your resume, so show them your best right away. 

Now that you know the components of a stage management resume, let’s take a deeper dive into each section. Hopefully, you already added your contact information, so we’ll jump right to the resume summary or objective.

If you’re not sure where to start, don’t worry. Next, we’ll go through some example stage management resume summaries and objectives.

An Example of a Resume Summary

Just as the name might suggest, a resume summary is a summarization of your resume. It describes your professional background and experience in about two to three sentences. 

Think of it as a play blurb that entices your audience (in this case, your potential employer) to learn more.

Before you begin to write it, make a quick list of your experiences and skills that are most relevant to this particular job. Once you have this list, write two to three sentences that combine these bullet points.

Need some inspiration? Here’s a quick example of a good stage management resume summary:

What makes this stage management resume summary so good? It provides specific details and cold, hard facts that back up the experience. 

How to Write an Entry-Level Resume Objective

Even the biggest Broadway stars start somewhere. So, if you don’t have much (or any) professional stage management experience, it’s best to go with a resume objective.

A resume objective provides a brief description of your overall career goals, with a few of the key skills that would make you a great stage manager thrown in.

Think about why you’re pursuing a career in theater, the goals you’ve set, and the skills you already possess that would make you excel at stage management. Then, compile all that great information into two or three short sentences. 

The best and easiest way to personalize your resume objective is to simply use the company’s name and the name of the production in your resume objective. (And make sure to spell—and punctuate—both correctly!) This demonstrates your attention to detail. Furthermore, producers will appreciate that you’ve researched their company. 

You should also customize your skills and experience sections. If the job posting mentions the production will involve extensive fight choreography, for example, why not highlight that you have a first aid certification?  

Yes, it takes time, but these personalized details will really help you steal the scene. 

Example Entry-Level Resume Objectives

In case you’re someone who prefers to learn from someone else’s mistakes, here’s an example of a bad stage management resume objective:

This resume objective doesn’t have any specific experience that would indicate they’d be a good stage manager. Plus, even though stage management often requires thinking on your feet, this doesn’t mean you should admit to not having the employer’s desired experience!

If you want to transform your passion for theater into a profession, try writing your objective more like this example:

This applicant doesn’t have stage management experience, but they help the reader understand how their previous experience as an event coordinator is applicable to the job description. 

What’s more, the job-seeker included the company’s name and the title of the production on which they’re hoping to stage-manage. Bravo!

Even if you’re the Lin Manuel-Miranda of stage management, you’re not going to book stage management gigs if you don’t know how to showcase your experience. 

Just like we’ve said time and time again (and will probably say a few more times), this section is absolutely the most important one on your resume. 

Not only does it show employers that you have the right skills, but you also know how to use them in real-world situations. 

Your goal should be to include at least the following information in your stage management resume experience section: 

• Work history
• Responsibilities
• Key accomplishments

The real key to any successful resume experience section is customization. If you can make yourself look like the absolute perfect fit for the job, you’re more likely to get hired!

Some Examples of an Experience Section

Now, let’s jump into some examples. First, let’s look at the wrong way to write up your experience:

Not only does this example fail to specify the candidate’s experience, it’s pretty boring.

Theater is a form of entertainment. And while you don’t need to crack jokes in your resume, you definitely don’t want to bore your readers. Putting on a show requires a great deal of collaboration, but getting hired onto a show is a competition. 

So how do you outshine other candidates with similar experience? Use concrete details and numbers to support your experience. 

Here’s what your stage management resume experience section should look like:

This applicant includes details, numbers, and responsibilities which are sure to impress any producer. 

Once you have established your career as a stage manager, you might want to consider changing your resume format to reflect the theatrical industry standard, which is a bit different from most other resumes.

Industry Standard

1. Header with your name and contact details
2. Lines of work experience 
3. Education & Additional Training/Certification 

If this format feels strange, that’s understandable. But getting work in theatre is by and large the result of personal connections. So the more connections (i.e. names) your work experience can include, the better.

Basically, you use four columns to list the following information: 

• Title of the show
• Your role in the show
• Name of the theatre
• Name of the director

Let’s look at an example of the work experience section of an industry-standard stage management resume. 

Professional Experience

Macbeth	Stage Manager	Spruce Street Theatre	dir. Ima Big Deal
The Cherry Orchard	Asst. Stage Manager	Philly Little Theatre	dir. Thespian Theo
A Streetcar Named Desire	Asst. Stage Manager	Philly Little Theatre	dir. Starr Power

If you’re working full-time as a stage manager, you’ll build this experience section quickly. Most productions “run” somewhere between two weeks and two months with about a month of rehearsal before opening night. 

This means that you’ll be changing ‘gigs’ frequently—and hopefully adding lines to this section!

An Entry-Level Resume: Experience Section

Here’s an example of a bad entry-level stage manager resume experience section:

If you’re crafting an entry-level experience section, try making it look more like this: 

This experience might come from outside the theater industry, but unlike the first example, it does use specific numbers and concrete details to help the reader understand how the skills of event coordination can apply to a stage management career. 

The education section isn’t typically the most important section of a stage management resume, but you still want to make sure it’s hitting its marks.

While most professional stage managers have a college degree, producers rarely stipulate a required level of education.  

Moreover, you can use your education section to show you have applicable qualifications for stage management. Plus, depending on your degree, it’s an excellent place to name-drop. 

Example Education Section

Your education section shouldn’t be too long. Just make sure you concisely include three pieces of information:

• Where you went to school
• The qualification earned
• The dates of attendance

If you’re just starting out as a stage manager and have some extra space at the bottom of your resume, consider adding a line to your education section by listing notable theater instructors. 

Did one of your professors win a Tony? This is another space in your resume to name-drop. 

You likely won’t get a job just because so-and-so taught you Theater History 101, but it might be enough to get you an interview. 

Did you study Lecoq technique in France? Take a summer course in Shakespeare scansion at your local library? Certainly, any training that is remotely related to theater is going to catch a hiring manager’s eye. Here’s the right way to add additional training:

Very Serious Clown Workshop | Paris, France 

Mime, Neutral Mask, Bouffon

Instructors: Funny Guy, Sirius Man

Shakespearean Scansion | The Free Library of Philadelphia, PA

Hamlet, Othello, Romeo and Juliet

Instructor: Toby Ornottoby

Your experience and education sections may be the stars of the show, but you still need your supporting cast members. To finish up your song and dance number (because that’s what a resume is), you should additionally have a skills section.

Here are a some examples:

To quote Shakespeare, “Brevity is the soul of wit!”. So, limit your skills to only the most important. 

Don’t be afraid to brag about miscellaneous—but still relevant—skills and experience by adding a few “other” sections to your stage management resume.

Examples of “Other” Sections

For instance, are some other sections that can work as eye-catching set pieces on the stage of your resume:

Certifications

• Society of American Fight Directors 
• Theatrical Firearms Certified 10/4/2019

• First Aid, CPR, AED Certification
• Valid through 2/17/2023

Memberships

• Actors Equity Association 
• I.A.T.S.E. Local 8

Languages

• English (native)
• Spanish (fluent)
• French (proficient)

Theater is a competitive industry, and it’s an industry of big personalities. Although the stage manager works behind the scenes, you need to make yourself the star of the show when writing your resume. 

Therefore, you should remember these proven tips to help you write a show-stopping stage management resume:

• First, research the company, director, and play you’re applying to work with.
• Secondly, tailor your resume to this specific production.
• Likewise, ensure all your experience is completely relevant to the position.
• Additionally, don’t be afraid to name-drop (but triple-check name spellings).
• List specific skills, qualifications, and trainings that make you a great stage manager.
• Choose a clean, professional format to make your resume easy to read and understand.
• Pick the right layout to suit your style and brand.
• Finally, save your resume as a PDF.

Check out our free templates and start writing your resume. What’s more, don’t forget to check out some of the resume and job-hunting guides on our blog. Just remember the little guys when you hit it big on Broadway!