A third of stage managers report high anxiety, and 85% were lonely in the past year

Catherine Campbell, who lectures in performing arts at Adelaide University, makes the case that stage manager may be the most stressful job in live performance. She wrote the piece for The Conversation, where academics write with journalists and anyone can republish for free. ArtsHub picked it up in its 1 October newsletter.

Her comparison is air traffic control. The stage manager calls the show on headset, from lighting and sound to set moves and fly cues, and in rehearsal keeps the room physically and mentally safe.

So how much harder is it on them? Actors' Trust is a UK charity that has supported actors and stage managers since 1882. This year it published a survey of nearly 3,700 people from both jobs.

34% of stage managers report high anxiety, against 23% of UK adults. 85% had a problem with loneliness in the past 12 months, against 25%.

Concretely, on a UK show, the person calling your cues is more than three times as likely as the average adult to have struggled with loneliness this past year.

One figure needs care. Campbell compares 74% of stage managers reporting a mental health problem in the last three years with 20% of the population. But that 20% counts UK adults ever diagnosed with a condition, which is a different measure.

She also cites a 2024 US study where 93.6% of stage managers said they had "probably" or "definitely" experienced burnout at some point. We couldn't open that study to check it. None of her numbers is Australian, although she teaches in Adelaide.

She covers stage managers in theatre, dance, opera, musicals and concerts, and leaves circus out. Anyone who has worked a show with flying acts knows what a cue means there.