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Contributed by: Charmaine Robledo/YourHub.com on 4/8/2008

Editor's note: Visit our Faces of Denver page, where YourHub.com staff and readers will introduce you to more people who make this part of the metro area what it is.

It's about 10 a.m. April 2, but D. Marie Long is just getting started at her job as an assistant stage manager on the set of Harvey, a production at the Tramway Theatre of the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.

The show is set to open April 9 and Long, along with the rest of the crew and actors, have been following a rigorous and late rehearsal schedule: Noon to 4 p.m. and 6 to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday, with Sunday off.

"It's so the performers can adjust their sleeping schedule," said Long.

For the next month, Long will be engrossed with two theater productions: Harvey and The Laramie Project. The two shows are a repertory, meaning they happen simultaneously. Both productions are part of the National Theatre Conservatory, a MFA acting program for students.

It's tech week, which Long said is a time to make sure everything is working and actors can rehearse with the special effects.

For Harvey, Long is backstage by herself, helping with the sound, lighting and props. The sound board operator, light board operator and main stage manager are all in a booth behind the audience. Dressed in all black, Long blends in perfectly with the darkness, so as not to be seen by the audience.

"Stage managers are the unseen eyes and ears of theater," said Long. "If you don't know we exist, then we're doing our jobs."

It's not just lurking in the shadows, though. Long said the job of stage manager is to organize the show process. From the first rehearsal through the last performance, stage mangers are part of each and every step.

"There are moments, like lost or broken props, and your job when you're backstage is to fix it," she said. She recalls working on A Christmas Carol and a set piece had broken during a live performance. She said the crew scrambled to get gaff tape to slap the piece back together, and "nobody in the audience knew."

However, today, while the actors rehearsed a scene in which the invisible Harvey appears on stage, an automated door that Long was controlling came off its hinges. The air pressure to open it was too much and blew the door off. Fortunately, this was rehearsal.

"It's stuff like this that makes me nervous," said Long. "We hope all the mistakes happen in tech week. If it was live, I couldn't run out there with a screw gun to fix it."

At 24, Long knows she is new in her career and feels very appreciative to be part of this and other productions at the DCPA. She studied theater and English at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minn. Though she tried acting in college, Long found she was more interested in backstage work. Eventually, she wants to direct.

"It's very difficult," Long said about finding jobs in theater. "I'm very lucky and I realize that. It's a constant search; even if you get a project, you're on the search for a new one."

For now, Long will stay busy being the assistant stage manager for Harvey and being the main stage manager for The Laramie Project. The shows run through April 26.

This summer, Long will be spending time in Fargo to direct a summer arts program for kids. She said she is unsure whether she'll be back with the Denver Center for Performing Arts next year. She added it will have to depend on their budget and her schedule in the fall.

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