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Flagpole Talks With AthFest Stage Manager Mary Sigalas
may come as a surprise to some, but
AthFest does not actually run itself.
Someone is organizing with the city,
gathering the sound production teams, booking
the bands and making the stage set-ups match
the stage plots. One of these someones is Mary
Sigalas, who came to visit Athens from California,
and one year, just stayed.
Day to day, Signlas holds a handful of odd
jobs throughout the city; she is a hairstylist
somedays, a coordinator and veteran AthFest
stage manager others, and a passionate and cre
ative musician throughout it all.
Between calls to volunteer coordinators, ap
pointments at her salon and daydreams of her
new band's first gig coming up mid-July, she
found a few minutes to sit down with Flagpole
and tell us what stage managing two outdoor
stages with more than 40 bands really looks like
before and during the annual AthFest weekend.
Flagpole; You’ve worked in other festivals
before...
Mary Sigalas: I started off in Chico, California
at the Chico World Music Festival, and then I
worked at the California World Music Festival. I
did all that for about five years before I moved
out here.
FP: What called you out to Athens?
MS; Actually, I came out to visit my brothers
for Christmas one year and I had previously, a
couple years before, ironically, met some people
from AthFest having one of their first meetings
downtown where Wild Wing is now. I was sitting
there throwing darts with my brothers and over
heard AthFest people meeting. Immediately my
ears perked up. ‘
So I went over when the meeting slowed
down and I just told tnem, "Hey, I do that out in
California." So a couple of them walked me over
to the window and showed me where the stages
were going to go and the whole idea, the whole
concept. I just thought "Wow, that sounds so
cool." And they told me if I ever came back to
join in.
FP: It's always kind of random like that, isn't
it?
MS: It is random like that. [At the time] they
were preparing for '97, the very first AthFest.
They were hoping it was going to come together,
11 years ago. And, so, in '98 at Christmas, I
came out and my brothers talked me into just
not going home. So I stayed, I just didn't get
back on the plane. So I got online because I
remembered AthFest, and I immediately called
[Executive Director] Jared Bailey and he became
my first pal and he showed me the ropes here.
FP: You've been stage managing the outdoor
stages for a handful of years. What is that like, on
any random AthFest day?
MS: Well, it starts long before the festival.
All through the spring. I've got my eyes peeled
for volunteers and production people that maybe
aren't already on board with AthFest, but I'm
looking for them because it's a big deal. It's a
big job. Then we get the volunteers together,
kind of coordinating the volunteers for both
the stages, and parking. Troy [Aubrey, AthFest
Booking Chair] and I get together and he gives
me the names and numbers of all the bands, and
I get in contact with all of their contacts and get
their information.
I try to make [the stage maps and plots for
the individual bands] all reader-friendly for the
stage hands, sound guys and the stage managers,
so they have a flip chart they can go through. I
try to make it as easy as possible so there are no
breaks and we're not scrambling trying to figure
out what's coming.
Typically, as I get all of that ready, I get all
the last minute-band stuff, y'know, "Oh do you
think you can throw a grand piano onstage?"
FP: Of course, you'd love to throw a grand
piano on the outdoor stage.
MS: Oh yes, thatd be fantastic. It's pretty
amazing what kind of things have happened dur
ing a changeover, though. [Shows on] the big
stage are normally 40 minutes to an hour and 20
minutes, depending on how big the band is of
course, and then there's a 20-or-so-minute break.
During that break, the other stage is playing. So,
the turnovers are quick. And we assess how much
time is actually going to be needed.
When we can, we like to give the band on
the second stage a longer time, and they gobble
that up. If they're able to play longer, they want
to. But for the most part, we try to keep it flow
ing and on time. That's really our goal. We want
everybody in the audience to feel like they can
count on what the schedule says.
FP: And how successful have you all been?
MS: Very! It's a collaborative effort. We have
the best people on the stages working and they
move fast and we have a system and we're real
proud of the people because it's 98-percent at
titude. They work really quickly. On both stages,
it comes together because of the system, and the
good attitudes and, of course, the skills to be
able to plug things in and set things up. What
I try to do for the main stage is put the sound
guys in charge of the volunteer staff. So [the
sound guys] tell the [volunteers] exactly what
needs to happen, and it happens fast.
FP: Do you get to enjoy any of the music dur
ing AthFest or are you too busy running between
stages?
MS: In the last few years. I've learned to
make myself stop and enjoy it so I don't lose
the love of it. I enjoy the busy-ness and activ
ity of it all. I, y'know... well, yes. To answer:
yes. I do enjoy all the activity of it, but I make
myself stop, and I always enjoy the last part.
Unfortunately, I don't make it over to the second
stage often. When we first started, the stages
were side by side. And then my first year, I em
ceed the whole show. Which really, is a whole
other part of it, getting the emcees together.
That's a really fun part of it not to leave out. I
think this is the second year, maybe the third
year, when I've asked someone to help me out...
So we'll have someone like the mayor open up
the festival, y'know, people who make a differ
ence. Sometimes that means just real big sup
porters of the bands, but for the most part, we
try to include people from the whole city.
FP: What is the day of, or the day before
AthFest like?
MS: Well, normally we set up the stages on
Thursday. We get the sound set up on Friday, and
then the festival setup is crazy. The craziest part
is Friday. And the rest of it is cake compared to
the Friday setup, because we're trying to get it
all up by five o'clock when the festival starts. I
think there have been a couple exceptions to the
start time. We've certainly started late, either
because of a sound issue or getting the nuts and
bolts together. But we always catch up, that's
what we're proud of.
We've also had some issues where, just in
working with the community, making sure we
don't start before [everyone is ready]. It used to
always be an issue, when the festival used to be
on the other side of town by the Courthouse, and
court didn't get out until 5 p.m. So we couldn't
start on time. We couldn't do soundchecks or
anything. There have been issues over the years.
FP: How is the current festival location?
MS: Oh, we love the new location. It works
out so well. And we feel that we’re at the heart
of the music scene right on Pulaski. We, of
course, include all the big clubs, they've all been
AthFest participants. It's not a favoritism thing,
it just works out there, it's kind of like an am
phitheatre.
FP: How many volunteers do you work with?
MS: Well, promotions is HUGE. And actually,
Andy Kogerma is the person in charge of the vol-
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