Lonnell Baker is a good friend of mine that I watched manage stage plays on a regular basis. He remains steadily devoted to his craft of managing stage plays. I had the fortunate opportunity to watch him at work dealing with a stage play called “Trees Don’t Bleed In Tuskegee” about 10-12 years ago here in L.A. There were issues that came up between the Director, the cast, and crew; Lonnell stepped in and managed the disputes between the director, actors, and crew. Backstage, on one particular night got really ugly, and Lonnell negotiated terms between them and managed to get the play back onto track hours before it went up for one of its performances.
Lonnell played it straight with his cast mates and he usually didn’t candy coat things when it came to their duties. The Director on the other hand, I’m not going to mention any names, was someone that a lot of people didn’t like. He wanted to push his actors pretty hard, and at the same time didn’t give them the recognition that they deserved. Lonnell came in and changed that, for the short time that the play ran. He always looked out for everyone that was involved in the production and had his or her best interests at hand.
When I interviewed him, it had been at least 10 years since the last time I saw him, and he was still as vibrant as ever and still devoted to being a stage manager (along with keeping his steady day job). He told me that he always thought of the people that worked for him during productions and when problems came up, he always placed himself in their shoes. In that way, he would gain a better understanding of the problem itself and working it out mostly between the director and the cast (and sometimes) the crew.
One of these days, I want him to manage my cast and crew when I set about shooting my next project. By all means, I will do it and I will succeed and be fair, just like a particular stage manager by the name of Lonnell Baker.
