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Free Stage Management Templates

Every form a stage manager reaches for, from the first audition to closing night, organized the way a production actually runs. Each template is a clean, print-ready PDF: download it, print it, three-hole punch it and go.

They are free to use, copy and share with your team or your students. No email, no account.

Download all 31 (one PDF)

Free. No email required. Share freely with your team and students.

Pre-Production

Before the first rehearsal, the stage manager builds the scaffolding the whole production hangs on: who is in the company, how to reach them, when everyone is called and which actors appear in which scenes. These templates cover that groundwork.

Character / Scene Breakdown — Play template preview

Character / Scene Breakdown — Play

A character/scene breakdown is a grid that shows which characters are on stage in which scenes.

Character / Scene Breakdown — Musical template preview

Character / Scene Breakdown — Musical

Musicals need more from a breakdown than plays do.

Rehearsal & Performance Calendar template preview

Rehearsal & Performance Calendar

The production calendar is the one document every member of the company checks.

Prop & Furniture List template preview

Prop & Furniture List

The prop list starts as the stage manager's read-through of the script, noting every object a character uses, and becomes the props department's working list.

Audition Information Form template preview

Audition Information Form

An audition form collects what the director and stage manager need to know about each auditioner before casting: how to reach them, which roles they want and, most importantly, when they are not available.

Contact Sheet template preview

Contact Sheet

The contact sheet is usually the first document a stage manager distributes.

Stage Management Team Assignments template preview

Stage Management Team Assignments

When a stage management team has more than one person, clear assignments prevent dropped tasks and duplicated effort.

Prompt Script

The prompt script is the heart of the prompt book: the script itself, interleaved with backing pages where blocking, cues and notes live. These templates set up the book and the pages you write on every day.

Prompt Book Table of Contents template preview

Prompt Book Table of Contents

A prompt book can run to hundreds of pages, so a clear table of contents matched to numbered tab dividers is what makes it usable by anyone, including the person who takes over the show if you can't be there.

Prompt Book Page Layout — Right-Handed template preview

Prompt Book Page Layout — Right-Handed

How you arrange each spread of the prompt book matters more than it seems.

Prompt Book Page Layout — Left-Handed template preview

Prompt Book Page Layout — Left-Handed

Most prompt book advice assumes a right-handed stage manager.

Blocking / Backing Sheet — Play template preview

Blocking / Backing Sheet — Play

A blocking sheet, also called a backing sheet, faces each script page in the prompt book.

Blocking / Backing Sheet — Musical template preview

Blocking / Backing Sheet — Musical

Musical numbers move fast and involve a lot of people.

Formation Sheet — Dance template preview

Formation Sheet — Dance

For dance, positions matter more than words.

Rehearsals

Rehearsals generate more paper than any other phase: blocking, daily schedules, reports to the team, line notes for actors and the steady stream of script changes. These templates keep it organized.

Ground Plan — Blank + Blocking Snapshots template preview

Ground Plan — Blank + Blocking Snapshots

A ground plan is a bird's-eye view of the stage.

Blocking Shorthand & Symbols template preview

Blocking Shorthand & Symbols

Blocking happens fast, so stage managers write it in shorthand: X for cross, En and Ex for entrances and exits, arrows for sit and rise.

Blocking Key template preview

Blocking Key

A blocking key is the legend for your prompt book.

Daily Call template preview

Daily Call

The daily call tells every actor when and where to be.

Rehearsal Report template preview

Rehearsal Report

The rehearsal report is how the stage manager tells the whole production team what happened in the room and what each department needs to know.

Rehearsal Notes Sheet template preview

Rehearsal Notes Sheet

Typing the report is easier when your notes were organized from the start.

Costume Fitting Requests template preview

Costume Fitting Requests

Fittings have to be squeezed in around rehearsals, and the costume shop and stage management need a simple way to coordinate them.

Line Changes template preview

Line Changes

During rehearsals of a new play, or any show with an active director, the script keeps changing.

Line Notes template preview

Line Notes

Once actors are off book, someone on the stage management team follows the script and notes every deviation.

Tech

Tech is where the paperwork has to be exact. Cues, scene shifts, presets and quick changes all need to be written so anyone on the crew can follow them. These templates are built for that precision.

Preset List template preview

Preset List

Before every rehearsal and performance, the crew sets every prop and piece of scenery in its starting position.

Shift Plot template preview

Shift Plot

A shift plot tells every crew member exactly what they move in each scene change, where it goes and when.

Costume Change Plot template preview

Costume Change Plot

A costume change plot follows every actor through every change: what they exit in, where the change happens, what they re-enter in and how long they have.

Cue Sheet template preview

Cue Sheet

The cue sheet is the master list of every technical cue in the show, in calling order.

Calling Key template preview

Calling Key

A calling key explains how cues are written in your prompt book: which abbreviation means which department, which color you use and what the marks in the script mean.

Performances

Once the show opens, the stage manager's job is to keep it consistent and to communicate. These templates cover the nightly report, the information front of house needs and the plan for when an understudy goes on.

Performance Report template preview

Performance Report

The performance report, often called the show report, is the stage manager's record of every performance.

Performance Notes Sheet template preview

Performance Notes Sheet

Calling a show leaves little time for writing, so notes during a performance need a structure that's quick to use.

Front of House Information Sheet template preview

Front of House Information Sheet

The front of house team needs to know things about the show that only the stage manager can tell them: how long it runs, when latecomers can be seated, and whether there are gunshots, strobe, haze or mature content audiences should be warned about.

Understudy / Swing Plot template preview

Understudy / Swing Plot

When an actor is out, a single substitution can set off a chain of changes: the understudy leaves their own track, someone covers it, and costumes, props and traffic all shift.

Get the templates — or run the show digitally