Free Prompt Book Template for Stage Managers
A complete, ready-to-print prompt book template — 21 pages of structured sections covering everything a stage manager needs to run a production. Download the PDF, print it, three-hole punch it, and start your next show.
Free. No email required. Share freely with your team and students.
What's in the template
The template is built around the structure working stage managers actually use. Twenty-one pages organized into eleven sections, each ready to be filled in.
Cover page
Production name, theatre, director, stage manager, and key dates.
How to use the template
A short orientation page explaining how the sections fit together.
Contact sheet (2 pages)
Every actor, designer, crew member, and production staff member — name, role, phone, email. Forty rows total.
Rehearsal & performance calendar (2 pages)
Two blank month grids with full week structure. Mark rehearsals, design meetings, tech days, previews, and performances.
Cast / scene breakdown
A table mapping characters to scenes. See at a glance which actors are needed for which moments of the show.
Prop list (2 pages)
Every prop with scene, user, preset location, and tracking notes. Thirty-six rows.
Costume plot
Track costume changes by character and scene. Note quick changes and special items.
Cue sheet (3 pages)
The master list of every technical cue — number, page, trigger, description, time, and notes. Sixty rows total. Department-agnostic so you can use it for lighting, sound, fly, automation, and projection cues all in one place.
Blocking pages (3 pages)
The numbered blocking notation template — facing-page structure with numbered rows on the left for blocking notes, matching script references on the right. Includes a reference to common shorthand (X, CC, Ent, Ex, Sit/St, T).
Show report
A full daily performance log: running times, cast notes, department notes by section, action items.
Emergency contacts & venue info
Venue contacts, nearest hospital, fire/police, evacuation procedures. The page you hope you never need.
Why this template works
Every section in the template comes from real prompt book practice — the structure that working stage managers across regional, community, college, educational, and professional theatre use day to day. Nothing in it is speculative. Nothing is filler. If a section is in the template, it is in the template because real productions need it.
- Printable. Standard US letter size, 0.75-inch margins, ready for a binder.
- Three-hole punch friendly. No content crowding the left margin.
- Pencil-ready. Plenty of space in every field for handwritten notes that will be revised many times.
- Adaptable. Section structures are starting points. Add columns for departments your show needs; cut the ones it doesn't.
How to use the paper template
Assembling the prompt book is straightforward.
- 1
Print the template double-sided on letter-size paper.
- 2
Three-hole punch every page.
- 3
Insert tabbed dividers between each numbered section.
- 4
Add your script in the main body of the binder, behind the production paperwork. Print the script single-sided on hole-punched paper, with text on the right-hand page and a blank page on the left for blocking notes.
- 5
Use the blocking template pages behind the script section, or use plain blank pages and apply the numbered notation method directly.
- 6
Pencil only. Blocking changes. Cues move. Schedules shift. Pencil is what keeps the book usable across the whole rehearsal process.
The result is a working prompt book ready for your first rehearsal.
When the paper book starts to get heavy
The template works. Many working stage managers run productions from paper books their whole careers, and there are real reasons for that — paper never crashes, never runs out of battery, never depends on wifi.
But somewhere into the second or third production, common problems start showing up:
- Photocopying the contact sheet four times to distribute to the team
- Retyping the cue list when a new designer comes on
- Re-numbering cues by hand after every insert
- Trying to find a specific blocking note across 200 pages
- Reconstructing the book after an ASM's binder gets left in a coffee shop
- Handing off the show to a stage manager who has never seen it
Each of these is solvable on paper. None of them is easy.
What CuePad does differently
CuePad is the same prompt book — script, blocking, cues, ground plans, paperwork — running in your browser instead of a binder. The structure is identical to the template you just downloaded. The numbered blocking method, the cue tracking, the production paperwork. All of it. Just digitized.
What changes:
Search across everything
Find a cue, a blocking note, or a contact in seconds instead of flipping through pages.
Real-time team collaboration
The director, the ASMs, and the design team see updates the moment you make them. No more outdated photocopies.
Automatic backup
The book lives in the cloud. Lose your laptop, open the same prompt book on another device.
Version history
Restore a previous state of the book — useful when a director changes their mind back to where they were two weeks ago.
PDF export
Generate a printable prompt book PDF whenever you need a physical copy.
CuePad is free to start. The Core plan includes the full feature set on one active script — enough to run an entire production.
Frequently asked questions
- Is the template really free?
- Yes. Free to download, free to use, free to share with your cast and team. No email required.
- Can I use it for a commercial production?
- The template is provided free for use by working stage managers, directors, and theatre educators. If you're running a commercial production and want to discuss licensing, contact us. Contact us.
- Can I modify the template?
- The structure is yours to adapt. Cross out columns, add sections, customize for your show. The PDF is the starting point.
- Do I need CuePad to use the template?
- No. The template is fully usable on paper, with no software at all. CuePad is offered as the digital alternative if and when the paper book starts feeling like more work than it's worth.
- What if I'm new to stage management?
- The template includes a short “How to Use” page explaining the sections. If you want deeper guidance, our guide on how to make a prompt book walks through the whole process.
Get the template — or build your book digitally
Download the PDF template, or start for free with CuePad and run your entire next production in a digital prompt book.