Stage Manager Justin Scribner Oversees Maybe Happy Ending From a Room With 13 Camera Angles

Production stage manager Justin Scribner has been a part of the new Broadway musical Maybe Happy Ending for over six years, through various workshops, readings, and a 2020 staging at Atlanta's Alliance Theatre.

The acclaimed musical from Will Aronson and Hue Park, previously a hit overseas in Japan and Korea, is a surprisingly moving tale of two Helperbots, expertly played by Darren Criss and Helen J Shen, the latter in her Broadway debut. Thanks to rave reviews, the production at the Belasco Theatre has been steadily building a devoted fan base and entered The Million Dollar Club of box-office grossers for the first time last week.

Scribner, who says he still tears up while calling the technologically advanced production, has been the production stage manager, stage manager, or assistant stage manager for Broadway's The Heart of Rock and Roll, the 2023 revival of Parade, the 2022 revival of Into the Woods, the 2017 revival of Once On This Island, the 2016 revival of The Crucible, Rock of Ages, God of Carnage, The American Plan, The Times They Are A-Changin', the 2006 revival of A Chorus Line, Lennon, the 2004 revival of Pacific Overtures, and the original Broadway production of Rent as well as the production assistant for the revivals of Jumpers, Little Shop of Horrors, and Nine. Scribner was also both production stage manager and associate director for the 2022 revival of A Christmas Carol starring Jefferson Mays in over 50 roles.

In the interview below for the Playbill series How Did I Get Here—spotlighting not only actors, but directors, designers, musicians, and others who work on and off the stage to create the magic that is live theatre—Scribner shares how honesty and optimism launched his Broadway career, his supremely satisfying journey with Maybe Happy Ending, and why working on the revival of A Christmas Carol was a full-circle moment.

Justin Scribner on the mic at *Approval Junkie* with Faith Salie.

Where/how did you train to become a stage manager?
Justin Scribner: I was very involved in theatre as a teenager, with children's theatre, community theatre, and my high school, H-B Woodlawn in Arlington, Virginia, where our incredible drama teachers encouraged us to self-produce and direct our own pieces—so I became a very passionate collaborator early on! We did 13 shows a year at school, and I got to try many different hats on—director, producer, designer, and technician. I got my BFA in Theatre Production and Stage Management from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia, and was very fortunate to get an internship just after my senior year at the Kennedy Center as a part of the Sondheim Festival. When I moved to New York City in 2002, I had one goal: to work full time as a theatre maker somehow!

Was there a teacher or a person who was particularly impactful? What made this person stand out?
At the Sondheim Festival, I struck up a friendship with Lee Armitage, who told me that I reminded her of a veteran Broadway stage manager named Artie Gaffin because of our joyful natures and sense of humor. She thought we would really get along and she e-introduced us—and one year after relocating to NYC, I finally met him! Just as Lee expected, we really hit it off, and Artie hired me on five Broadway shows as a production assistant and then assistant stage manager. He treated everyone with such love, and through his example and mentorship, he showed me how to infuse a process with generosity and care.

Can you detail the nightly duties of a stage manager?
A production stage manager is responsible for the smooth running of a show, which includes caring for the backstage family and maintaining the artistic and technical integrity of the show. The daily duties change based on every show’s many variables, and that’s one of the things that makes the career so wonderful—variety! I get to collaborate with the creative team, the writers, actors, singers, dancers, designers, technicians, producers, theatre staff; and, because stage managers interface with everyone, we are kind of like the center spoke of the wheel that keep everyone in motion and feeling connected.

Some of my favorite nightly duties include calling the show on headset, noting the show to maintain the director’s vision, and working with other stage managers to keep the show feeling fun and fresh. On Maybe Happy Ending, I am so lucky to get to work with Sarah Harris, Plato Seto, and Karlie Teruya, who I have each worked with several times on several shows. They are so good at what they do and so lovely to collaborate with, they really make coming to the theatre joyous.

The stage managers of Maybe Happy Ending: Nina Schatell, Hera Jung, Karlie Teruya, Plato Seto, Sarah G. Harris, Justin Scribner, Mia Qin.

What was the learning curve like for implementing the impressive projection technology used in Maybe Happy Ending?
Our video team is made up of many genius designers, programmers, animators, and technicians who all worked with video designer George Reeve, scenic designer Dane Laffrey, and director Michael Arden to build an immersive visual world that is both cinematic and astonishing. Several stage walls (both obvious and hidden) and even portions of the ceiling are made up of very high-end video tiles that have been designed in almost four-dimensional ways. We knew that we would be pushing the limits of what had been done on Broadway, and although we didn’t have oodles of time for trial and error, we found our way together very efficiently. As the PSM, I was fortunate enough to work alongside them as we deciphered exactly how everything would move and be cued. Being a part of problem-solving how the design elements all came together was very challenging but fulfilling work, especially since the final product is so successful.

What’s the process for calling a show that has so many onstage moving parts like Maybe Happy Ending?
Calling the lighting, video, sound, and automation cues every night is exhilarating and supremely gratifying! It’s a challenging production to call because it’s so nuanced, and there are many complicated sequences that have been built with extremely specific cue timings and just enough space for everything to line up just right. I maintain a very detailed calling script so that I can cue everything very precisely and consistently.

Some stage managers call performances from the back of the house in a booth or from a standing desk on the side of the stage or on an elevated platform backstage. At Maybe Happy Ending, I am very lucky to have my very own calling room, a lovely dressing room on the second floor, that has many monitors with 13 camera angles so I can keep my eyes on every aspect of the show—like mission control! We have a small cast, but a robust crew: five carpenters, three prop people, five electricians, two sound engineers, three wardrobe, one hair and makeup supervisor, and three stage managers—and it takes every single one of us operating at the top of our game to make everything happen smoothly for every performance. It’s quite a tightrope that we all walk together, but luckily, we have some of the best people in the industry working on our show, and my colleagues make it look easy!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Maybe Happy Ending (@maybehappyending)

In addition to your stage manager duties, you were also the associate director for A Christmas Carol in 2022. Can you share a favorite memory from working on that production?
That was one of the most elaborate physical productions you could imagine for a one-man version of A Christmas Carol, and Jefferson Mays is one of the most awe-inspiring performers, a true legend, so it was a remarkable process every step of the way. I was very lucky to stage manage the live capture that we did at the United Palace in 2020, where we then also filmed a feature film (which you can and should stream now!). Because of my long-standing friendship and work relationship with Michael Arden, he trusted me to be his associate director for the Broadway production, while he also juggled directing the City Center production of Parade. One of my favorite memories of that process was working on building the very magical (and somewhat dangerous) staircase sequence, in which we had to figure out how to make it look like Scrooge was in two places at once and ultimately resulted in Jefferson jumping from 12 feet off the ground onto a crash mat, holding a candle.

Gleefully, I might add.

What made you decide to become a stage manager? Was there a particular production or performance that influenced your decision?
I was bitten by the theatre bug early! My father actually took me to see a production of A Christmas Carol at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C., when I was only four years old, and we sat way up in the balcony, looking down on the stage. I watched in awe as trap doors opened and people came out of fireplaces and disappeared into graves. He would tell me later that I asked him countless questions about how things worked and who was operating things backstage to make the magic happen. In college, once I found stage managing could be a viable career for me, my dad enjoyed recounting this origin story to friends and family about my first play and how rapt I was by the stagecraft. As you might imagine, getting to do A Christmas Carol on Broadway in such a delightfully complex production was a very satisfying, full-circle moment for me!

Tell me about a job/opportunity you really wanted but didn’t get. How did you get over that disappointment?
Ooh, I’ve had a couple of those. There was one opportunity that went sour for me early in my career… Immediately after having a great interview for a really exciting play, I got a job offer to be the production assistant on my first Broadway production. The stage manager that hired me gave me the basic dates and details and her phone number and told me she was looking forward to working with me. I went home floating on air, thinking that the universe really had my back. Three weeks later, it was the day of the first rehearsal, and after leaving a few emails and voicemails and not hearing back, I found myself sitting at home all dressed for my first day of work feeling like I had sorely misunderstood something. I stayed home waiting for my phone to ring, and that night I ate what I remember as an entire large pizza myself. Had I offended her? Had I missed a call or email? Had I misunderstood something? How could this happen?

Late the next evening, I got a call from the stage manager, apologizing profusely for not getting back to me sooner and sharing that they had to hire someone else as the PA, and she was so busy she had entirely forgotten to return my calls and explain the situation to me. I could hear in her voice how terrible she felt and how overwhelmed she was by the whole situation, so after sharing my honest disappointment, I told her that it sounded like her hands were really full and that I knew we would get the chance to work together one day. It was a really hard phone call, but I kept it together.

Three months later, she called me out of the blue and offered me the show that would end up becoming my Broadway debut, expressing her enthusiasm for working with me and telling me that she was very impressed how I handled the disappointment of the other show. What felt like my most embarrassing story at the time became a triumphant story about resilience and the power of honesty and optimism.

Justin Scribner and Matty DiCarlo at Rock of Ages. Francesca Russell

What advice would you give your younger self or anyone starting out?
I think young people (I include my younger self here) need to discover for themselves what makes them tick. I have always had a strong sense of self, but I did look to others for validation and guidance and ultimately found that I was the only one who could see clearly what was best for me. The thing we often forget is that we are the captains of our own proverbial ships. While you’re learning what it is you truly want and works best for you, I hope you’ll find joy where you can and lean into it. I hope you have deep conversations and find your way into relationships that lift you up. I hope you won’t obsess too much over what’s right and wrong—it’s truly all relative. I hope you’ll see perfectionism and laugh at it. We don’t need to have all the answers. We can be soft and vulnerable. We can try different things, and you can fail. It’s probably best if you do anyway, so you can see what you’re made of and which direction you really want to head.

What is your proudest achievement as a stage manager?
Maybe Happy Ending, hands down. Being a part of the development of the piece for the last six-and-a-half years, through readings, workshops, and the production at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, I have worked with some truly wonderful people and really enjoyed every step of the process. I feel like I have been empowered to do some of my best work by my teammates and collaborators, but also I just love the story and the way we are telling it. It is wholly original and beautiful and surprising, and I am so thrilled it is being received and celebrated by so many people. If I let myself get caught up in the storytelling while I’m calling the show, I still find myself tearing up at times. It’s incredibly moving.