by Molly Van Der Molen, Images by Kevin Russell Poole
Star stage manager, Gabriella Piccolino, and I met for a midday Zoom call to discuss all of her superhuman strengths in and out of the rehearsal room! She is a kick ass queen who balances her bubbly sense of humor with a no-nonsense confidence that makes her the collaborator of our dreams! Gabriella is personable, worldly and warm with a charisma that is practically contagious and it was a true delight getting more acquainted with such a fabulous member of the B&E team! The following has been edited for length and clarity.
Molly Van Der Molen: OK! ALRIGHT! So, first of all super nice to meet you (officially). I’ve heard that you’re a wonderful stage manager and I’ve heard rave, rAvE, RAVE reviews from Emily and Kevin about you, so I’m excited to finally put a face to the name!
Gabriella Piccolino: Thank you!
Molly: I’m Molly, for the record, I didn’t even introduce myself … So, ok, so the first question, if you’re ready -- are you ready to just dive on in?
Gabriella: Yeah!
Molly: Perfect. How do you identify as an artist? Or as a creative person?
Gabriella: Um, oh boy, so, I’m not like someone that came into theater as an actor first. Like, I really just did some stuff in highschool, literally helped paint some sets. I went to a very small highschool so we had no money, um..
Molly: Where’d you go?
Gabriella: I went to Sarah Catholic High School in McKeesport, Pennsylvania - and so I was like, oh, this is kind of fun! And that is honestly how I found theater. Really, I’ve only ever identified like AS a stage manager.
Molly: That’s Awesome!
Gabriella: Yea, I don’t act, I CANNOT sing to save my life, I don’t - like literally that’s it! Like I JUST do stage management, umm, pretty much always!
Molly: What is it about stage management? What about it keeps you interested and stimulated by it - I mean I feel like stage management is the most diverse, exciting job in the theater.
Gabriella: Umm I love people and I think I also have control issues! HA, so combine the two and I’m like OK. And I think I’m very good at kind of like reading people? And learning what they need and ya know, I hate when stage managers are like “I don’t like actors, ehhh!” Like then you just shouldn’t be a stage manager. You have to really appreciate everyone involved in the process, and most of my friends are performers, so, I’ve spent a lot of time with them and I understand the psyche, I understand them as people. I communicate pretty well even though I’m probably going to say “like” every other word (it’s a bad habit).
Molly: It’s not!
Gabriella: But in terms of emails and scheduling, I’ve done some WILD schedules. PEA Fest being one of the more wild schedules that I did.
Molly: I believe it! Pea Fest is unusual, even virtual! You were part of the virtual one right?
Gabriella: I did virtual and we had actors in California, in Texas, in LONDON. Ummmmm… that was a lot of work. It’s more like the collaborative, I mean every area of theater is supposed to be collaborative but, being that point of contact where like literally the show can’t happen without you but it’s your job to make it happen without you is kind of an interesting concept. And yea, it’s just fun! And I like being stressed. Like I don’t like being stressed but I like being stressed ya know?
Molly: That makes sense. Being a stage manager is definitely a super power in it’s own. Can you just repeat what you said about making the show happen, like the show can’t operate without you but --
Gabriella: Yea, literally the show can’t happen without you but your job is to make it happen without you. Like people aren’t supposed to know that you are there. Everything is supposed to be seamless, we’re always taught “you better have paperwork so that if you get hit by a bus and you die like someone can step in and do the show”. And you’re like OK, cool? Thank you! NO PRESSURE!
Molly: I love stage managers. It really takes such a special talent and literally the whole entire industry would not exist without you.
Gabriella: I also am not the kind of person that likes, like, I don’t want to be in the spotlight. I’m happy to do things, I don’t need someone to be like “oh you did a good job!” like, that’s not really how I -- see here’s the thing, I know when the show is good, like I know when I made things happen the way they were supposed to happen, and I know when they didn’t. And so, I don’t need someone to be like “oh my god you were so amazing!” or to be like “oh yeah, you messed up” but they’ll always tell you when you mess up! Designers specifically - you miss a cue, that lighting designer will let you know!
Molly: Ha! What’s your biggest, like as a stage manager what has been one of the most rewarding moments and then one of the like, oh my gosh, I hate to use this phrase, but like a cringe moment?
Gabriella: Ummmm… oh… I’m just, I have a cringe moment that came to mind but that probably shouldn't’ be published! But, like an AHA this is an amazing, successful moment I think is just anytime you think that the show isn’t gonna happen. This is kind of broad, it’s not specific, but like even in college, there’s always a moment where you’re like -- is this actually going to happen ??? Because nothing is ready. And then when I moved to New York, I had a contract for a new work and I thought like, oh, professional theater is going to be so much different than school!
Molly: No!
Gabriella: - and I’m like, we’re doing this show in a basement of a not good, dare I say, very shitty, like off-off-off broadway theater. Like it’s dirty, there’s no lights, the board is from 1822 and we open tomorrow and absolutely nothing is built? There’s no set, there's nothing, the actors don’t know their lines and when it happens, like the next day you get there and there’s an audience and the show HAPPENS. That’s theater magic for me. Like, true theater magic. So I’d say that’s always a very rewarding moment.
Molly: Do you like to stage manage musicals more so than plays or do you like to do performance art like what is your, what do you find the most joy in stage managing? Because there’s different beasts you know?
Gabriella: Everything is very different. I would say, if you would’ve asked me this three years ago, I would’ve said musicals, because that was always like my dream, and then I ended up not getting to stage manage like our big musical my senior year. (dramatic, Cabaret, I’m still a little bit bitter about it but…) so after that I didn’t really do any musicals. I stage managed A LOT of dance in college. Like a lot. And it’s cool, it’s a different kind of skill and I’ve had directors hire me because of that. They’re like, “I direct in a way that’s like, you know, choreography” and I’m like “ok, that’s cool, um ... sure”. But, I feel like right now it has been mostly new work.
Molly: That’s so exciting, because then you have some input in the development of the play because you bring a specific, and a very important perspective to the table.
Gabriella: I think it’s interesting because some directors really do want to hear from stage managers now. It depends on how open the director is and then how comfortable the stage manager is giving input, because the director for like the first professional show I did, whom I’m very good friends with now, um, we got close during that production, but when she would ask me my opinion my instinct was to shy away! I was like “UMMMMM… I don’t think you want my opinion!”
Molly: How do you feel about that now?
Gabriella: Um… now I’m a little less hesitant about it but I’m still very careful about what I say, because my job is still to kind of be like the neutral person in the room and make sure I’m responsible for the actors, I’m responsible for the director and the designers and everybody and so if I have too much of my own opinion in the mix, I feel like it takes away from that, or it can.
Molly: Isn’t it funny though, that’s really like directing itself - like you’re kind of setting the mood for how the rehearsal goes and like (positively) manipulating the dynamic of the situation to make sure everyone feels safe and good in their roles and that really is, I mean it’s what a stage manager does but it’s also what a director does. It’s just funny how we’re all kind of stepping into each other’s zones in that way
Gabriella: I mean, I think it works best when it is a more comfortable kind of relationship and I have found it very uncomfortable when directors don’t want to hear anything. But, I’m never gonna volunteer! I’m never going to be like “Oh, this doesn’t make sense”. I’ll always ask - like “can I ask a question?” or “can I say something about this?” and then if they say no, I’m like “ok!”- like, it’s alright.
Molly: I’m just gonna say it, I know I’m on the other side of the country as of now, but if we ever work together your opinion is welcome in my rehearsal room!
Gabriella: I appreciate that!
Molly: Really, truly! because that’s the thing too, I’m sorry, like I wanna have posters in my bedroom of like Stage Managers of America because also, you spend more time in rehearsal rooms than ANYONE else! So you have such a wealth of knowledge and it is a huge loss to not pull from that. People are so silly.
Gabriella: People are interesting.
Molly: What do you look for in an ideal collaborator? Like if you got to choose what shows you latch onto - how do you determine that?
Gabriella: um.. I really respect people that allow questions, even if it’s not necessarily opinion based, but I was always raised with the mindset of “if you don’t understand something - ask” and like the more questions you have, the better … and just like general respect is always great.
Molly: Aw, yes! Sorry, um … I’m looking at my list of questions. Okay, was there a moment from your childhood that describes who you are as an artist now? That’s a sweet one I haven’t asked anybody yet.
Gabriella: I think I was about a year old and my parents had me do, like, a photo shoot. Ya know how parents are obsessed with pictures of their kids?
Molly: Yes!
Gabriella: - and I had my Winnie the Pooh, because I would not leave home without it and I do very specifically remember this, we did this photo shoot and in every single picture I had a different face, like a different facial expression. And, so my parents have always said that I’m “the baby with a thousand faces” and I think that that is very relatable, because I think my biggest upside and also my downfall, is that you can read EVERYTHING! Like my face shows everything! I’m a very emotional person and I’m very connected that way, so, you see it visually on my face, at all times, if I’m enjoying what’s going on or if I’m not.
Molly: I love that though, that’s not a bad quality to have. Are you working on anything now?
Gabriella: I am! I am stage managing a new work that is part of the Broadway Bound theater festival at Theater Row. That goes up next month. It’s gonna be my first show back!
Molly: Wow! Ah that’ll be really nice! Are you, like, emotionally prepared?
Gabriella: I am! I don’t think I’m gonna need as much of an adjustment period, I just think everyone is really ready to do things that I think like emotionally it’s gonna feel very, like normal. Like a release.
Molly: I meant more just like, after having had such a long period of time not in a theater, like being back in it. Like I, just as an example, the other day, I walked through the costume shop at this theatre company. Just seeing, like, the state of a costume shop that has recently been making costumes and the lights were on and there’s just something about it that made me teary eyed and I’m ... I so agree with the relief of people feeling like “I am so ready to be back and get started” but I think there’s also just a -
Gabriella: There definitely, yeah, I don’t know, I think I am. But we’ll find out when it happens! I don’t know, I’m very emotional (like I’ve said) in general, so nothing will really surprise me! If I just start crying, I, like, cry once a day at least anyways.
Molly: That’s ok! Alright, well let me find a last question to ask you, ummmmm… who or what is the artistic love of your life?
Gabriella: The artistic love of my life … Oh god!
Molly: And it could be music or books, or whatever, it doesn't have to be anything theater related.
Gabriella: I feel like I’m not gonna have a good answer to this question! I might have to think about this cause there’s not - I don’t get um, necessarily inspired by, but then that leaves a whole other question - what inspires you? - and I don’t know. I find inspiration in a lot of just random things and people and things that I enjoy, so I don’t know that I necessarily have like an artistic love of my life.
Molly: That’s okay!
Gabriella: I’ll think about it and if something hits me, I’ll definitely email you, but it’s, it might just be like life in general and I don’t know, I do like living ...
Molly: I feel like that’s a good answer - whatever feels true to you is good enough for me.
Gabriella: Yeah, I’m a big traveller. Like I backpacked through Europe by myself a few years ago!
Molly: My gosh, how cool!
Gabriella: And I pull from that a lot, I’m like one of those annoying study abroad kids even though I didn’t study abroad. I’m like, “When I backpacked through Europe…” like that’s me and I am fully aware of that, so yeah, just getting to see new things and meet different people really is all I need!
Molly: Ah! That’s a great answer. I will give you one more “last” question! What is something we wouldn’t know about you by looking at you?
Gabriella: When I was a child, I wanted to be a volcanologist!