Top 12 Stage Manager Skills to Put on Your Resume

A standout stage manager resume doesn’t just list tools or talk about charm. It stitches together precision with people sense, a cool head with fast hands. Below you’ll find twelve core skills that hiring teams expect, paired with quick ways to sharpen them and simple guidance on showing them off in your materials.

Stage Manager Skills

1. QLab
2. AutoCAD
3. Vectorworks
4. Show Calling
5. Scheduling
6. Script Analysis
7. Prop Tracking
8. Conflict Resolution
9. Budget Management
10. Rehearsal Planning
11. Microsoft Office
12. Communication

1. QLab

QLab is show control software used to play back sound, video, and—via light cues—control lighting networks. It’s a cue stack powerhouse built for live performance, letting you fire complex sequences cleanly and consistently.

Why It's Important

It anchors precise, repeatable cues. The result: smoother transitions, fewer flubs, and a performance that feels intentional instead of improvised.

How to Improve QLab Skills

1. Build a test show file and stress it—multiple cue lists, auto-follows, grouped cues, OSC and MIDI triggers.

2. Practice hotkeys and workspace layouts to cut down on mouse clicks.

3. Create reusable templates for common show types (straight play, musical, dance concert) to speed load-in.

4. Rehearse contingencies: backup outputs, redundant audio routing, “panic” stop strategies.

5. Label everything mercilessly; future-you will thank you mid-performance.

Strong QLab chops translate into stability when the house is full and the clock refuses to slow down.

How to Display QLab Skills on Your Resume

2. AutoCAD

AutoCAD is drafting software for precise 2D and 3D drawings. In theatre, it’s often used to read and annotate designer plates, mark spike locations, and communicate clear, scaled notes to technical teams.

Why It's Important

Clean drawings reduce ambiguity. Crew members build faster, safer, and with fewer questions. Time saved becomes rehearsal time earned.

How to Improve AutoCAD Skills

1. Learn core shortcuts and alias commands to accelerate drafting.

2. Customize tool palettes and workspaces for theatre tasks—layers for scenery, electrics, soft goods, and deck tape lines.

3. Develop title block and viewport templates that match your venue standards.

4. Practice importing and cleaning designer files without wrecking line weights or layer structures.

5. Use xrefs and clear naming conventions so collaborators don’t get lost.

6. Draft from real measurements. Verify the deck, proscenium, and grid before you draw.

A reliable drafting flow helps you translate ideas into action without noise.

How to Display AutoCAD Skills on Your Resume

3. Vectorworks

Vectorworks is CAD/BIM software widely used in theatre for ground plans, light plots, scenic drawings, and paperwork. It pairs design with data—handy when props lists and channel hookups start multiplying.

Why It's Important

It gives you detailed, accurate plans and exports that align the entire team. Everyone reads the same map, and that keeps days shorter.

How to Improve Vectorworks Skills

1. Tailor your workspace. Keep only the tools you touch daily; hide the rest.

2. Build show and venue templates—classes, layers, title blocks, sheet borders are pre-baked and consistent.

3. Leverage the Resource Manager and symbol libraries for repeatable accuracy.

4. Use data tags and worksheets to generate prop lists, scene change charts, and inventory counts from drawings.

5. Practice clean layer/class discipline so exports don’t turn into spaghetti.

When your drafting informs your paperwork, you spend less time reconciling and more time rehearsing.

How to Display Vectorworks Skills on Your Resume

4. Show Calling

Show calling is the art and discipline of timing. The stage manager triggers lighting, sound, automation, scene shifts, and entrances with crisp, consistent cues.

Why It's Important

It keeps the production coherent. Pacing holds, transitions breathe, and the audience never sees the seams.

How to Improve Show Calling Skills

1. Build a bulletproof prompt book: clear cue labels, standby stacks, color-coding that means something.

2. Practice calling from recordings, then from live runs, then from muscle memory. Refine phrasing for brevity and clarity.

3. Standardize comms language with your operators before tech. No surprises, no vague phrasing.

4. Reduce booth clutter. Headset good, pencils sharp, backups ready.

5. Debrief with crew after runs. Nudge timings, tighten standbys, trim the fat.

6. Keep calm when the unexpected happens. Prioritize safety, then storytelling, then perfection.

Consistency builds trust, and trust keeps the machine humming.

How to Display Show Calling Skills on Your Resume

5. Scheduling

Scheduling means mapping rehearsals, fittings, production meetings, tech days, and performances so people, spaces, and resources collide at the right moment—without chaos.

Why It's Important

Clarity saves hours. When the schedule sings, departments coordinate, conflicts drop, and the show gets better faster.

How to Improve Scheduling Skills

1. Start with constraints: cast conflicts, union rules, space limits, build timelines. Then draft.

2. Use shared calendars and change logs. One source of truth, updated promptly.

3. Block rehearsals around scene objectives, not just page order. Group tech-heavy moments.

4. Plan buffers. Over-optimistic days come back to bite.

5. Communicate early. Daily calls, clear subject lines, no mystery abbreviations.

6. Iterate after each workday. Adjust based on real progress, not wishful thinking.

Good schedules respect people’s time and the production’s needs—both matter.

How to Display Scheduling Skills on Your Resume

6. Script Analysis

Script analysis for stage managers pulls the text apart: story beats, scene shifts, props, cues, costume needs, traffic patterns. You’re mapping the engine under the hood.

Why It's Important

It drives smart plans. Rehearsals target what matters, departments align, and you anticipate the tricky bits before they explode.

How to Improve Script Analysis Skills

1. Read for sense, then read for logistics. Mark beats, shifts in time/place, and technical demands.

2. Track characters by scene with entrances, exits, costume changes, and prop handoffs.

3. Build a cue candidate list early. Confirm with director and designers as choices settle.

4. Write scene summaries with objectives and tech notes to guide scheduling.

5. Keep a change log. When the text evolves, your paperwork updates with it—fast.

Analysis turns into actionable paperwork. That paperwork turns into clean rehearsals.

How to Display Script Analysis Skills on Your Resume

7. Prop Tracking

Prop tracking means knowing what each prop is, where it starts, who touches it, where it travels, and what must be reset before the next cue hits.

Why It's Important

Props are tiny chaos engines. Good tracking shuts the chaos down and keeps continuity intact.

How to Improve Prop Tracking Skills

1. Create a living prop inventory with photos, dimensions, sources, and maintenance notes.

2. Map prop plots by scene with tables or visual layouts. Include spike marks and storage homes.

3. Label clearly. Case, shelf, drawer, and show identifiers that survive a load-out.

4. Run pre- and post-show checklists with backups for high-risk items.

5. Document handoffs. Who resets what, when, and where—no assumptions.

6. Audit mid-run. Wear and tear creeps up; catch it before a cue fails.

When props behave, actors relax. The audience never notices—and that’s the point.

How to Display Prop Tracking Skills on Your Resume

8. Conflict Resolution

Conflict resolution is the quiet craft of spotting tension early, naming the issue, and guiding people toward a workable fix without scorched earth.

Why It's Important

Creative rooms run hot. A stage manager who diffuses friction protects the process and keeps eyes on the show.

How to Improve Conflict Resolution Skills

1. Listen fully before you respond. Let people feel heard, then summarize to confirm understanding.

2. Use clear, calm language. Avoid blame; focus on behavior and impact.

3. Find shared goals—safety, schedule, storytelling—and build solutions from there.

4. Offer options instead of edicts when possible. Choice invites buy-in.

5. Set agreements in writing for clarity. Follow up to ensure the fix sticks.

6. Know when to escalate to producers or HR. Some issues need bigger tools.

Steady, humane leadership lowers the temperature and lifts the work.

How to Display Conflict Resolution Skills on Your Resume

9. Budget Management

Budget management for stage management often centers on petty cash, rehearsal needs, expendables, and tracking departmental spends against a plan in coordination with production management.

Why It's Important

Money confidence prevents last-minute scrambles, protects priorities, and builds trust with producers.

How to Improve Budget Management Skills

1. Draft a detailed estimate up front with contingencies. Reality beats optimism.

2. Track every expense the day it happens. Receipts scanned, categories clean, notes included.

3. Prioritize essentials. Nice-to-haves wait until the must-haves are secured.

4. Negotiate and comparison shop. Small savings compound across a run.

5. Share regular snapshots with stakeholders. Transparency avoids surprises.

6. Review mid-process and post-mortem to refine future budgets.

Disciplined tracking turns finances from guesswork into a manageable system.

How to Display Budget Management Skills on Your Resume

10. Rehearsal Planning

Rehearsal planning organizes who’s needed, what’s tackled, where it happens, and which resources must show up on time—scripts, spikes, props, costume pieces, and people.

Why It's Important

Well-aimed rehearsals generate momentum. Poorly aimed ones sap it.

How to Improve Rehearsal Planning Skills

1. Break the script into tasks: scene goals, tech moments, problem spots. Schedule the hard things first.

2. Use shared calendars and clear daily calls so no one guesses where to be.

3. Prep the room. Tape the deck accurately, pre-set props, and have backups ready.

4. Build in notes time and quick turnarounds for fixes. Protect vocal and physical health.

5. Collect feedback, adjust the plan, and communicate changes promptly.

6. Keep safety protocols front and center—fight calls, intimacy calls, lifts, and automation checks.

Clarity in the plan frees artists to focus on the work, not the logistics.

How to Display Rehearsal Planning Skills on Your Resume

11. Microsoft Office

Microsoft Office (now commonly delivered as Microsoft 365) includes Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, and Teams—core tools for schedules, call sheets, reports, budgets, meeting notes, and collaboration.

Why It's Important

It’s the common language in many companies and venues. Files open, share, and print without fuss.

How to Improve Microsoft Office Skills

1. Excel: master conditional formatting, data validation, and pivot tables for clean schedules and budgets.

2. Word: build templates with styles for rehearsal reports, performance reports, and distributions.

3. Outlook: coordinate calendars, distribution lists, and rules for streamlined communication.

4. OneNote: centralize production notes, meeting minutes, and quick-reference checklists.

5. Teams: create channels by department, share files, and record quick updates when email would bog down.

The right template can save hours across a rehearsal process. Create once, reuse often.

How to Display Microsoft Office Skills on Your Resume

12. Communication

Communication is the throughline: crisp messages, steady tone, and consistent information across the production.

Why It's Important

It prevents drift. People do their best work when they know what’s happening and what’s next.

How to Improve Communication Skills

1. Be specific. Who, what, where, when—spelled out with no guesswork.

2. Keep messages consistent across channels. If it’s changed, say it loudly and once in the master thread.

3. Listen actively. Echo back what you heard, then decide. Misunderstandings evaporate when clarified early.

4. Mind the tone. Direct, respectful, and concise beats flowery or vague.

5. Document decisions. Meeting notes and report summaries become the record everyone leans on.

Clear communication feels simple on the surface. Underneath, it’s disciplined, deliberate work.

How to Display Communication Skills on Your Resume