Stage Manager Overview

Use Stage Manager to manage act records, performer applications, technical profiles, production readiness, running orders, crew sharing, live show status, and exports.

Article guidance

Stage Manager is for performance-led events where the organiser needs more than a list of names and set times. It keeps performer details, technical requirements, stage setup, scheduling decisions, production packs, crew links, and event-day status together against the same SmartGig event.

Use it for music stages, talks, community programmes, comedy, dance, DJs, workshops, and any live schedule where a missed contact detail, wrong stage window, or stale running order can create avoidable pressure on the day.

What Stage Manager covers

Reusable act records with contact details, default timings, rider notes, files, and structured technical profiles.
Public performer applications with deadlines, required questions, save/resume drafts, consent audit data, review states, and follow-up links.
Stage records with previous-event layout import, saved layout templates, locations, day windows, stage holds, default changeovers, capacity, PA, lighting, monitors, power, curfew, noise limit, access, and stage-manager contact details.
Lineup rows that connect acts to an event with availability, eligible stages, set length, repeat count, repeat buffer, production owner, review state, contract confirmation links, guest-list allocation, accreditation state, on-day desk history, due date, and event-specific technical overrides.
A running-order builder with conflict checks, stage-window protection, performer double-booking checks, shared-resource clash and handover protection, stage suitability advisories, drag-hover readiness previews, resolution hints, generated-schedule quality scoring, undo/redo, unsaved edit warnings, persisted draft history, density and detail controls, keyboard controls, duplicate-day copy, selected-day changeover templates, scoped day/stage shifts, schedule-health guidance, and draft locking.
Publishable running-order versions with comparison previews, restore previews, public links, Document Centre exports, production packs, contact sheets, and change logs.
Production recipients, stage/day crew assignments, role-scoped production permissions, scheduled Stage Manager reminders, site technician links with live status, and crew communication history for sharing the right stage/day information with crew without giving them full SmartGig access.
Live show view for stage focus, current and next slots, performer arrival, ready side-stage, on-stage, finished, delayed, cancelled, actual variance, and append-only notes.

A sensible setup order

Enable Stage Manager on the event: Start from the central event record or the Stage Manager dashboard.
Create the act and application structure: Add known acts manually or open public performer applications when acts need to submit their own details.
Review submissions into real records: Progress applications through review states, deal with duplicate hints, and create, link, or merge act records carefully.
Set up stages, lineup rows, and crew cover: Add or import stages, day windows, stage specs, approved acts, availability, eligible stages, contract status, production-review ownership, and stage/day crew assignments.
Resolve missing production information: Use readiness queues for missing contacts, riders, technical requirements, overdue reviews, and stale shared materials.
Build the draft running order: Place acts manually or with generated help, check conflicts, use locks where needed, and keep the schedule health rail clear.
Publish, export, and share: Publish a version, generate the right exports, create crew links, schedule reminders where useful, record deliveries, and follow stale indicators when the schedule or technical profile changes.
Use live view during the event: Track arrival, ready, on-stage, finished, delayed, cancelled, variance, show-day notes, and technician-link live status from the live view.

Use the dashboard queues

Applications needing review before they become acts or lineup rows.
Events missing stages or lineups before scheduling can start properly.
Missing rider, contact, technical review, and overdue production-readiness work.
Unsent production packs, stale production-pack deliveries, stale technician links, unsent contract links, expired contract links, and unsigned contract links after reminders are due.
Multi-event production-readiness, contract, and accreditation reports when the production office needs to compare load across events.
Recent events that need setup, scheduling, publishing, or crew-sharing follow-up.
Risk, status, and date-window filters when the event list needs to focus on setup, production-readiness, crew-sharing, contract, or accreditation follow-up.