The person who runs every performance: calling each light and sound cue and keeping the show on track.
Once a show opens, the director usually moves on, and the stage manager takes charge. From a booth or the side of the stage, the stage manager calls every cue over a headset ("lights 42, go"), keeps rehearsal notes, tracks who is on and who is out, and makes sure the performance you see on a Tuesday in week twelve matches the one the director built. On a community production the stage manager is often the most organized volunteer in town.
Also seen as: stage managers, production stage manager, stage management