# Spikemark, full reference text > Every guide, the prompt book page notes and the FAQ from https://spikemark-web.pages.dev, converted from the published pages at build time. The short index is at https://spikemark-web.pages.dev/llms.txt. Prompt desk practice # Blocking notation and cue calling practice A director gives a note. You choose who moves, put them on the ground plan and write it down in shorthand. Spikemark marks the actor, the area, the move and the notation, and names every miss. Then call a scene: warn, standby and go on the right words. ## One note, start to finish "The Sheriff enters up center through the outer door and crosses stage right to the stove." Written in the starter key: SH ENT UC, X R From "Out of the cold", the opening of Trifles. The Sheriff comes in by the outer door up center and crosses to the stove, stage right. Where the note leaves the Sheriff Stage rightUpstageStage left UR UC UL R SH → C L DR DC DL Audience Audience at the bottom, so stage right is on the left of the plan. - Up right, UR. sink, front room door - Up center, UC. outer door - Up left, UL. cupboard, small table - Right, R. stove. the Sheriff is here. where the note put the actor - Center, C. big table - Left, L. stair door - Down right, DR. bread shelf - Down center, DC - Down left, DL. rocker, corner chair - D outer door (UC) - K sink (UR) - F front room door (UR) - C cupboard (UL) - M small table (UL) - S stove (R) - ST stair door (L) - T big table (C) - R rocker (DL) - H corner chair (DL) - B bread shelf (DR) Free daily Blocking drill One scene a day, new at your midnight. Every note marked in four parts. By script Practice and timed runs 14 scenes and 137 notes. Untimed, or a note every 20, 15 or 10 seconds. Calling Warn, standby, go 56 cues on three levels, timed from each spoken line. For a class Projection mode A big plan on the screen, answers revealed on your cue, a printed key. Printables Prompt book pages Key legend, area grids, cue sheet with CSV and run sheet. Your record Progress Totals by part, cues called clean, export and a certificate of practice. ## The scripts - Trifles by Susan Glaspell (Project Gutenberg ebook 10623): 5 scenes. - A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen, translated by R. Farquharson Sharp (Project Gutenberg ebook 2542): 3 scenes. - The Proposal by Anton Chekhov, translated by Julius West (Project Gutenberg ebook 7986): 3 scenes. - The Bear by Anton Chekhov, translated by Julius West (Project Gutenberg ebook 7986): 3 scenes. Every scene comes from a public domain script on Project Gutenberg, cited by its ebook number. The staging, the ground plans and the cues are invented for practice. ## Private by design Any name you type, for a certificate, a class or a cue sheet, stays in this browser. Nothing is uploaded. There is no account and no server behind the drills; the voice is your browser's own. Spikemark is a practice tool, not a substitute for a stage management course or for the conventions of your own production. ## Frequently asked questions ### What is Spikemark? A practice tool for stage management students and teachers. A director's blocking note is read aloud, you put the actor on a ground plan and write the shorthand, and the drill marks the actor, the area, the move and the notation. A second drill reads a scene while you call warn, standby and go. ### Is it free? Yes. Everything on the site is free, with no account. ### Where do the scenes come from? 14 scenes from 4 public domain plays on Project Gutenberg: Trifles by Susan Glaspell (ebook 10623), A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen in R. Farquharson Sharp's translation (ebook 2542), and The Proposal and The Bear by Anton Chekhov in Julius West's translation (ebook 7986). The staging, ground plans and cues are invented for practice: 137 blocking notes and 56 cues. ### Is my data uploaded? No. Any name you type, for a certificate, a class or a cue sheet, stays in this browser. Nothing is uploaded. Progress, cue sheets and your key live in this browser; export them as files to keep a copy. --- Guide # Stage management guide: blocking and calling In rehearsal a stage manager writes down every move the director gives, in shorthand, beside the line it happens on. In performance the stage manager calls every cue from that same book: a warning, a standby, and a go on the marked word. Spikemark drills both, on scenes from public domain plays. ## Taking blocking Blocking is where the actors move and when. The stage manager records it as it is given, in pencil, in a shorthand anyone with the key can read: the actor's initials, a token for each movement, and a stage area for anything that travels. The stage areas are read from the actor's point of view, which is the single most common thing new stage managers get backwards. The daily drill gives you one scene a day to practise on. ## Calling a show Every light, sound and scenery change in a performance happens because the stage manager called it. Each cue is marked in the prompt book with three points: where to warn the operator, where to put them on standby, and the exact word where the cue goes. The calling drill reads a scene aloud and times your calls against those marks. ## The prompt book Both skills meet in the prompt book, the master copy of the show. Its key explains your shorthand, its margins hold the cues and the blocking, and its paperwork keeps the company running. ## Every guide - [Blocking notation explained](https://spikemark-web.pages.dev/guide/blocking-notation-explained/): the shorthand stage managers use for crosses, entrances, sits and turns, with a starter key. - [Stage areas and the grid](https://spikemark-web.pages.dev/guide/stage-areas-and-the-grid/): the 9 and 15 area stage grids, stage right versus house right, and how to read a ground plan. - [How to call cues](https://spikemark-web.pages.dev/guide/how-to-call-cues-standby-warn-go/): warn, standby and go: when each is called, what the words are, and how timing is judged. - [Building a prompt book](https://spikemark-web.pages.dev/guide/building-a-prompt-book/): what goes in a prompt book, page by page: script pages, blocking, cues, contact and run sheets. - [Blocking a public domain scene](https://spikemark-web.pages.dev/guide/blocking-a-scene-from-a-public-domain-play/): taking blocking for a scene from Trifles, step by step, with the notes and the shorthand a stage manager would write. - [Stage management class drills](https://spikemark-web.pages.dev/guide/stage-management-class-drills/): a five lesson plan for a stage management unit using projection, blocking and calling drills. Ready to try it? The [daily blocking drill](https://spikemark-web.pages.dev/blocking/) is free every day, and the [prompt book pages](https://spikemark-web.pages.dev/prompt-book/) print the key, the grid and a cue sheet. ## Sources Checked on 27 September 2026. Stage management notation and calling have no single governing standard; what is written here is common practice in our own words. Where your teacher, stage manager or company does it differently, follow them. - **Spikemark's grader.** The four part blocking grade and the cue timing grade described on this page are the rules the drills apply; every example on this page is computed by them. - **Susan Glaspell, Plays, Project Gutenberg ebook 10623.** Trifles (first performed 1916), the kitchen description and the lines used in the drills; opened 27 September 2026. - **Henrik Ibsen, A Doll's House, translated by R. Farquharson Sharp, Project Gutenberg ebook 2542.** The Act I room description and opening scene; opened 27 September 2026. - **Plays by Anton Chekhov, Second Series, translated by Julius West, Project Gutenberg ebook 7986.** The Proposal and The Bear; opened 27 September 2026. ## Frequently asked questions ### Where should a beginner start? With stage areas, then blocking notation, then a Trifles scene in the daily drill. Calling cues comes after, once the prompt book makes sense. ### Do I need to know the plays? No. Each scene tells you where it comes from in the play and what is happening, and the lines are in the prompt book beside the plan. --- Guide # Blocking notation explained, with a starter key Blocking notation is the shorthand a stage manager writes beside the script to record every move the director gives: who moves, what they do and where they end. A line such as MH X DL, SIT means Mrs Hale crosses down left and sits. The actor comes first, then each movement with its stage area, in the order it happens. ## Why blocking is written down In rehearsal the director shapes each scene: where an actor enters, when they cross to the stove, when they sit. Nobody remembers all of it a week later, so the stage manager records it as it is given. The written blocking is how an actor who missed a rehearsal catches up, how an understudy learns the show, and how the stage manager settles an argument about what was agreed. It has to be quick to write and easy for someone else to read. ## The parts of a line of blocking Each line has three parts, always in this order. - **Who moves.** The actor's initials or the character's initials, the same ones every time: MH for Mrs Hale, N for Nora. - **What they do.** A token for each movement: a cross, an entrance, a sit. Two movements in one note are both written, in order, separated by a comma. - **Where.** A stage area code after any move that travels: DL for down left, UC for up center. A move that happens in place, like sitting or turning, has no area. Pieces of the set can be added (X DL stove) when they help, but the area is what places the actor. See [stage areas and the grid](https://spikemark-web.pages.dev/guide/stage-areas-and-the-grid/) for the area codes. ## A starter key Spikemark's starter key uses the common choices. X for a cross is nearly universal; the other tokens vary, and you can change any of them before a drill. | Token | Movement | Meaning | | --- | --- | --- | | X | Cross | walk from one area to another | | ENT | Enter | come on stage, arriving in an area | | EXIT | Exit | leave the stage from an area | | SIT | Sit | sit down where you are, on a named piece if one is given | | RISE | Rise | stand up from sitting or kneeling | | KNEEL | Kneel | kneel where you are | | TURN | Turn | turn in place, toward a piece or a person | | CTR | Counter | a small balancing cross in answer to another actor's move | Many stage managers draw small symbols instead of words, such as a stick figure in a chair for a sit, or an arrow for the path of a cross drawn on a small ground plan in the margin. The symbols are faster to write by hand; typed tokens are easier to read on screen and to grade, which is why Spikemark uses them. **Worked example:** the first 5 notes of "Out of the cold" from Trifles (Project Gutenberg ebook 10623), on a 9 area plan, written in the starter key. | Note | What the director says | Shorthand | Actor ends | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | The Sheriff enters up center through the outer door and crosses stage right to the stove. | SH ENT UC, X R | R (right) | | 2 | On "This feels good. Come up...", the County Attorney enters up center through the outer door and crosses stage right to the stove. | CA ENT UC, X R | R (right) | | 3 | Mr Hale enters up center through the outer door and crosses down center. | HA ENT UC, X DC | DC (down center) | | 4 | Mrs Peters enters up center through the outer door. | MP ENT UC | UC (up center) | | 5 | Mrs Hale enters up center through the outer door. | MH ENT UC | UC (up center) | Put the actor for "The Sheriff enters up center through the outer door and crosses stage right to the stove." in L instead of R and the grader says: "You put him left (L); the note said right (R). Stage right is the actor's right, which is the left side of the plan as you look at it." ## How the drill grades a note Each note is marked in 4 parts, and each miss is named in a sentence. - **Actor.** You chose and moved the actor the note was for. - **Area.** The actor ends in the right stage area on the plan. - **Move.** Your shorthand has the note's movements, in the note's order. - **Shorthand.** Your shorthand starts with the initials, uses only tokens in your key, and writes the note's areas. ## Common mistakes - Writing the area from the audience's side. DL is the actor's down left, which is the right side of the plan as you look at it. - Leaving out the actor. A line of blocking without initials is useless a week later. - Writing two moves in the wrong order. "Turns and crosses" (TURN, X DL) is not the same as "crosses and turns" (X DL, TURN): one turns before leaving, the other on arrival. - Adding an area to a move that happens in place. A sit happens where the actor already is. - Changing tokens halfway through the show. Pick a key, write it down, and keep to it. Try it on today's scene in the [daily blocking drill](https://spikemark-web.pages.dev/blocking/), or print your key from the [prompt book pages](https://spikemark-web.pages.dev/prompt-book/). ## Sources Checked on 27 September 2026. Stage management notation and calling have no single governing standard; what is written here is common practice in our own words. Where your teacher, stage manager or company does it differently, follow them. - **Spikemark's grader.** The four part blocking grade and the cue timing grade described on this page are the rules the drills apply; every example on this page is computed by them. - **Susan Glaspell, Plays, Project Gutenberg ebook 10623.** Trifles (first performed 1916), the kitchen description and the lines used in the drills; opened 27 September 2026. ## Frequently asked questions ### Is there one official blocking notation? No. There is no single standard, and stage managers change the details from show to show. A few symbols are close to universal, such as X for a cross and stage area codes like DL. The rest is whatever your key says, which is why the key goes in the front of the prompt book. ### Do I write the blocking in pencil? Yes. Blocking changes all through rehearsal, so it is written in pencil and erased as moves change. Only the final blocking survives into the running prompt book. ### Should the area be from my point of view or the actor's? The actor's. Stage right is the actor's right when facing the audience, which is the left side of a ground plan drawn with the audience at the bottom of the page. ### What does Spikemark grade in my shorthand? That it starts with the right actor's initials, that every token is in your key, that the moves are the note's moves in the note's order, and that the areas written are the note's areas. Set pieces are optional. --- Guide # Stage areas and the grid: 9 and 15 areas The acting area is divided into a grid of named areas, seen from the actor's point of view facing the audience. A 9 area grid has three rows (up, center, down) and three columns (right, center, left); a 15 area grid adds right center and left center. Downstage is nearest the audience, and stage right is the actor's right, which is the left side of a ground plan. ## The nine area grid Three rows by three columns. Reading the plan from the top: UR, UC, UL across the back, then R, C, L across the middle, then DR, DC, DL nearest the audience. The center of the stage is simply C. The nine area grid, audience at the bottom Stage rightUpstageStage left UR UC UL R C L DR DC DL Audience Audience at the bottom, so stage right is on the left of the plan. - Up right, UR - Up center, UC - Up left, UL - Right, R - Center, C - Left, L - Down right, DR - Down center, DC - Down left, DL ## The fifteen area grid Five columns instead of three: right, right center, center, left center and left. That gives 15 areas, and codes like DRC (down right center) and ULC (up left center). Use it on a wide stage, or when two pieces of furniture sit close together. The fifteen area grid, audience at the bottom Stage rightUpstageStage left UR URC UC ULC UL R RC C LC L DR DRC DC DLC DL Audience Audience at the bottom, so stage right is on the left of the plan. - Up right, UR - Up right center, URC - Up center, UC - Up left center, ULC - Up left, UL - Right, R - Right center, RC - Center, C - Left center, LC - Left, L - Down right, DR - Down right center, DRC - Down center, DC - Down left center, DLC - Down left, DL Table: Every area code on the fifteen area grid, upstage first | Code | Said as | On the 9 area grid | | --- | --- | --- | | UR | up right | yes | | URC | up right center | no | | UC | up center | yes | | ULC | up left center | no | | UL | up left | yes | | R | right | yes | | RC | right center | no | | C | center | yes | | LC | left center | no | | L | left | yes | | DR | down right | yes | | DRC | down right center | no | | DC | down center | yes | | DLC | down left center | no | | DL | down left | yes | Spikemark accepts 46 spellings for these 15 areas, so DSL, D.S.L. and DL all mean down left. ## Reading a ground plan - **Find the audience.** Look for the edge of the stage marked as the audience, the house or the proscenium line. On most ground plans it is the bottom of the page. - **Stand on the stage in your head.** Imagine standing on the stage facing the audience. Your right hand is stage right; your left hand is stage left. - **Mirror the page.** With the audience at the bottom, stage right is on the left of the drawing and stage left is on the right. Write it on the plan if it helps. - **Find the depth.** Downstage is the row nearest the audience, the bottom of the page. Upstage is the row furthest away, at the top. - **Read the area code.** Say the row first and the side second: down left is DL, up right center is URC, and the middle of the stage is simply C. **Worked example:** the stage right and left mirror, computed by the grader. The note "Nora enters up right center through the hall door and crosses stage right to the small table." ends in R. A student who puts the actor in L reads the plan from the house. The drill answers: "You put her left (L); the note said right (R). Stage right is the actor's right, which is the left side of the plan as you look at it." ## Common mistakes - Reading left and right from your seat in the house instead of from the stage. - Putting downstage at the top of the page because the top "feels" forward. - Calling the middle of the stage "center center" in one place and "C" in another; pick one. - Guessing between two areas. If a cross ends on a line, write the area the actor's body is mostly in. Print a blank grid from the [prompt book pages](https://spikemark-web.pages.dev/prompt-book/), or practise placing actors in the [daily blocking drill](https://spikemark-web.pages.dev/blocking/). ## Sources Checked on 27 September 2026. Stage management notation and calling have no single governing standard; what is written here is common practice in our own words. Where your teacher, stage manager or company does it differently, follow them. - **Spikemark's grader.** The four part blocking grade and the cue timing grade described on this page are the rules the drills apply; every example on this page is computed by them. - **Henrik Ibsen, A Doll's House, translated by R. Farquharson Sharp, Project Gutenberg ebook 2542.** The Act I room description and opening scene; opened 27 September 2026. ## Frequently asked questions ### Why is stage right on the left of the ground plan? Stage directions are given from the actor's point of view, facing the audience. A ground plan is usually drawn with the audience at the bottom of the page, so the actor's right hand is on the left of the drawing. ### Why is it called upstage? Many older theatres had raked stages that sloped up away from the audience, so moving away from the audience meant walking uphill. The words stayed after most stages went flat. ### Is DSL the same as DL? Yes. Some stage managers write the S for stage (DSL, USC, SR) and some leave it out (DL, UC, R). Spikemark reads both spellings as the same area. ### When would I use 15 areas instead of 9? On a wide stage, where right center and left center help tell apart two pieces of furniture that would both fall in one of the 9 areas. Small and studio stages usually use 9. --- Guide # How to call cues: warn, standby and go A stage manager calls each cue in three steps: a warning about a page ahead ("Warning lights 12"), a standby a few lines ahead ("Standby lights 12", answered with "Standing by"), and the go on the exact word marked in the prompt book ("Lights 12, go"). The go is what the audience sees, so it has to land on time. ## The three calls - **Warn.** About a page ahead, give the operator a warning so they can get ready: "Warning lights 12." Many companies skip warnings for simple cues. - **Standby.** A few lines ahead, put the cue on standby: "Standby lights 12." Leave at least 1.5 seconds before the go so the operator can answer. - **Hear the answer.** Wait for the operator to reply "Standing by" before you go on. If there is no answer, ask again. - **Go.** On the exact word or moment marked in your prompt book, say the cue and then the word go: "Lights 12, go." The operator acts on the word go. - **Clear.** After the go, the cue is done. Move your eyes to the next cue marked in the book. The order matters more than the exact words. Some houses say "LX" and "sound", some say "lights" and "Q"; what never changes is warning before standby, standby before go, and the word go last. ## Where the marks go in the prompt book Each cue is written in the margin of the script: a W and the cue number where the warning is called, SB where the standby is called, and the cue number with a line or arrow at the exact word it goes on. The [sample prompt book page](https://spikemark-web.pages.dev/prompt-book/) shows the layout Spikemark uses. ## How Spikemark times your calls The drill reads the scene aloud one line at a time. It records when each line starts and ends, and nothing finer: word by word timing events are not fired reliably by every browser, so every go point in Spikemark sits at the start or the end of a line. With no voice available, the lines are shown on a caption clock instead, each for its reading time. - A warning counts from just before the start of its warning line (0.3 seconds early still counts, for reaction time) until the standby line begins. - A standby counts from the start of its standby line, but not later than 1.5 seconds before the go. - A go is on time within 0.9 seconds on Easy, 0.6 seconds on Standard and 0.4 seconds on Hard. Harder levels also add cues. - One standby may cover two cues standing by together, as it would on headset, and two go points under 1 second apart are one go. - Each cue takes one warning and one standby. A second warning or standby in its window, or a go with no cue on its point, is a false call: a false go fails the nearest cue, because on a real show it fires a cue nobody was ready for. **Worked example:** the cues of "Out of the cold" from Trifles at Hard, with times from the start of the scene for a reading at normal speed (a real voice will differ a little). | Cue | What it does | Warn from | Standby from | Go at | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | LX 1 | Cold morning light firms up once business starts | 0.0 s | 3.6 s | 13.9 s (start of line 4) | | SQ 1 | Wind gusts at the outer door | 13.9 s | 19.7 s | 29.5 s (start of line 6) | | LX 2 | Slow shift: the rocker picked out as Hale points | 37.5 s | 42.2 s | 54.2 s (end of line 10) | | SQ 2 | The kitchen clock ticks up | 42.2 s | 49.1 s | 56.3 s (start of line 12) | Call LX 1 0.9 seconds after its go point at Standard, where the window is 0.6 seconds, and the report says: "Go was 0.9 s late; the go is at the start of line 4." ## Common mistakes - Saying go before the cue number. The operator should know which cue before the word go. - Standing by too late, so the operator has no time to answer. - Calling the go when you see the move instead of on the marked word. Your marks are the timing. - Forgetting a cue that shares a line with another. Read ahead a page, not a line. - Rushing to catch up after a missed cue. Take the next cue on its mark and fix the miss after the show. Practise on public domain scenes in the [calling drill](https://spikemark-web.pages.dev/calling/), and learn the blocking side in the [daily blocking drill](https://spikemark-web.pages.dev/blocking/). ## Sources Checked on 27 September 2026. Stage management notation and calling have no single governing standard; what is written here is common practice in our own words. Where your teacher, stage manager or company does it differently, follow them. - **Spikemark's grader.** The four part blocking grade and the cue timing grade described on this page are the rules the drills apply; every example on this page is computed by them. - **MDN Web Docs, SpeechSynthesisUtterance: start event.** Fired when an utterance has begun to be spoken; opened 27 September 2026. - **MDN Web Docs, SpeechSynthesisUtterance: boundary event.** Word and sentence boundary events, which Spikemark does not rely on; opened 27 September 2026. - **Susan Glaspell, Plays, Project Gutenberg ebook 10623.** Trifles (first performed 1916), the kitchen description and the lines used in the drills; opened 27 September 2026. ## Frequently asked questions ### Why does the word go come last? So the operator can hear which cue it is before acting. "Lights 12, go" lets them check the number; "go lights 12" would start the cue before they know which one it is. ### Is a warning always needed? No. Many stage managers warn only for big or complex cues. Spikemark grades warnings so you practise the full sequence; the easy level has the fewest cues. ### What is a cue light? A small light at an operator's or actor's position that the stage manager switches on for standby and off for go, used where a headset call would not work. The drill shows one. ### How does Spikemark know when I called? The scene is read one line at a time, and each line's start and end are recorded from the speech engine. Every go point sits at the start or end of a line, and your calls are timed against those points. --- Guide # Building a prompt book, page by page A prompt book is the stage manager's master copy of the show: the script with every blocking note and every cue written beside the line it belongs to, plus the key, the ground plans and the paperwork the company runs on. Build it in a binder with wide margins, number every line, and write in pencil. ## What goes in it - **Script pages** with blocking and cues beside the lines they belong to. - **The blocking key**: your tokens and what they mean. - **Ground plans** for each set, with the area grid. - **The cue sheet**: every cue by department, number, page and what it does. - **The run sheet**: what happens backstage, when and who does it, for each performance. - **Contacts, schedules and reports**: contact sheet, rehearsal and performance reports. ## Putting it together - **Choose a binder.** Use a sturdy ring binder big enough for every script page plus the paperwork. Tabs for each section save time in tech. - **Mount the script.** Put each script page on its own sheet with wide margins, or photocopy it onto the middle of a larger page, so there is room for cues on one side and blocking on the other. - **Number everything.** Number every line or every page so a cue or a note can be found fast. Blocking notes get numbers too. - **Put the key in front.** Print your blocking key and the area grid and put them at the front, so anyone can read your shorthand. - **Add the paperwork sections.** Add the contact sheet, rehearsal reports, the cue sheet, the run sheet and the ground plans, each behind its own tab. - **Write in pencil.** Blocking and cues change until the show opens. Write in pencil and keep an eraser in the binder. ## A page from a practice prompt book This is "The quilt" from Trifles laid out the way Spikemark prints it: cues on the left with their warning, standby and go, the numbered script in the middle, and the blocking on the right, numbered in the order the director gave it. The staging is invented for practice. **Trifles**, The quilt 9 area plan. Cues shown: 4. Text: Project Gutenberg ebook 10623. Cues, script lines and blocking for The quilt Cues Script Blocking W SQ 1 1 MRS PETERS She was piecing a quilt. 1 MP X C SB SQ 1 2 MRS HALE It's log cabin pattern. Pretty, isn't it? I wonder if she was goin' to quilt it or just knot it? GO SQ 1 (start) W SQ 2 3 SHERIFF They wonder if she was going to quilt it or just knot it! 2 SH ENT L 3 CA ENT L SB SQ 2 4 COUNTY ATTORNEY Frank's fire didn't do much up there, did it? Well, let's go out to the barn and get that cleared up. 4 CA X R 5 SH EXIT UC GO SQ 2 (start) 5 MRS HALE I don't know as there's anything so strange, our takin' up our time with little things while we're waiting for them to get the evidence. 6 CA EXIT UC 7 MH SIT W LX 1 6 MRS HALE I don't see as it's anything to laugh about. SB LX 1 7 MRS PETERS Of course they've got awful important things on their minds. 8 MP SIT GO LX 1 (start) 8 MRS HALE Mrs Peters, look at this one. Here, this is the one she was working on, and look at the sewing! W LX 2 9 MRS HALE All the rest of it has been so nice and even. And look at this! It's all over the place! 9 MH TURN 10 MRS PETERS Oh, what are you doing, Mrs Hale? SB LX 2 11 MRS HALE Just pulling out a stitch or two that's not sewed very good. Bad sewing always made me fidgety. GO LX 2 (end) 12 MRS PETERS I don't think we ought to touch things. 10 MP RISE, X UL The page has 12 lines, 4 cues and 10 blocking notes. Print it, or any other scene, from the [calling drill](https://spikemark-web.pages.dev/calling/). ## Common mistakes - Margins too narrow to write in. Cues and blocking need room, especially on busy pages. - Writing in pen. Blocking changes; ink makes the book unreadable by opening night. - No key in front. Nobody else can read your shorthand without it. - Cues without a warning or standby point marked, so the call comes as a surprise. - Loose paperwork. If it is not in the binder behind a tab, it will not be there in tech. Blank pages for the key, the grid, the cue sheet and the run sheet are free on the [prompt book pages](https://spikemark-web.pages.dev/prompt-book/). ## Sources Checked on 27 September 2026. Stage management notation and calling have no single governing standard; what is written here is common practice in our own words. Where your teacher, stage manager or company does it differently, follow them. - **Susan Glaspell, Plays, Project Gutenberg ebook 10623.** Trifles (first performed 1916), the kitchen description and the lines used in the drills; opened 27 September 2026. - **Spikemark's grader.** The four part blocking grade and the cue timing grade described on this page are the rules the drills apply; every example on this page is computed by them. ## Frequently asked questions ### Is a prompt book the same as a calling script? Often, yes. Some stage managers keep one book for everything; others make a clean calling script with only the cues once blocking is set, so the book on the desk during a show is easy to read in low light. ### Which side do cues go on? There is no rule. Spikemark puts cues in the left margin and blocking on the right, which keeps each column narrow. Choose one layout and keep it for the whole book. ### Can I keep a prompt book digitally? Many stage managers do, on a tablet or laptop. The layout ideas are the same. Keep a printed backup of the calling script in case a device fails. ### Where do I get a script I am allowed to copy? For a production, from the licensing house or publisher under your license. For practice, public domain plays such as Trifles, A Doll's House in an old translation, or Chekhov's one act comedies are free to copy. --- Guide # Blocking a scene from Trifles, step by step To take blocking for a scene, learn the ground plan, mark where each actor starts, and write every note the director gives on the line it happens: initials, movement, area. This page walks through the opening of Trifles by Susan Glaspell (first performed 1916, Project Gutenberg ebook 10623), with the shorthand for each note. ## The scene Trifles is set in the kitchen of an empty farmhouse. In Glaspell's text the men and two women come in from the cold through the outer door at the rear. On Spikemark's invented plan, that door is up center, the stove is stage right, the big table is center and the rocker is down left. Everyone starts offstage. Ground plan: Trifles, Out of the cold Stage rightUpstageStage left UR UC UL R C L DR DC DL Audience Audience at the bottom, so stage right is on the left of the plan. - Up right, UR. sink, front room door - Up center, UC. outer door - Up left, UL. cupboard, small table - Right, R. stove - Center, C. big table - Left, L. stair door - Down right, DR. bread shelf - Down center, DC - Down left, DL. rocker, corner chair - D outer door (UC) - K sink (UR) - F front room door (UR) - C cupboard (UL) - M small table (UL) - S stove (R) - ST stair door (L) - T big table (C) - R rocker (DL) - H corner chair (DL) - B bread shelf (DR) ## Taking the blocking - **Read the scene first.** Read the lines before rehearsal so you know who is on stage and roughly what happens. - **Learn the ground plan.** Find the doors, the furniture and the audience on the plan, and note which area each piece stands in. - **Mark starting positions.** Write where every actor starts, or that they are off. - **Write each note on its line.** As the director gives a note, write the initials, the movement tokens and the areas beside the line where it happens. - **Number the notes.** Number each note so it can be found and changed later. - **Check it back.** At the end of the scene, read your blocking back against the plan to make sure every actor is where the notes put them. **Worked example:** the first 6 notes of "Out of the cold" from Trifles (Project Gutenberg ebook 10623), on a 9 area plan, written in the starter key. | Note | What the director says | Shorthand | Actor ends | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | The Sheriff enters up center through the outer door and crosses stage right to the stove. | SH ENT UC, X R | R (right) | | 2 | On "This feels good. Come up...", the County Attorney enters up center through the outer door and crosses stage right to the stove. | CA ENT UC, X R | R (right) | | 3 | Mr Hale enters up center through the outer door and crosses down center. | HA ENT UC, X DC | DC (down center) | | 4 | Mrs Peters enters up center through the outer door. | MP ENT UC | UC (up center) | | 5 | Mrs Hale enters up center through the outer door. | MH ENT UC | UC (up center) | | 6 | On "Now, Mr Hale, before we...", the Sheriff crosses to center to the big table. | SH X C | C (center) | Put the actor for "The Sheriff enters up center through the outer door and crosses stage right to the stove." in L instead of R and the grader says: "You put him left (L); the note said right (R). Stage right is the actor's right, which is the left side of the plan as you look at it." Two actors can end in the same area; that is fine. Notice the entrances: the Sheriff enters up center and crosses stage right in one note, so his line has two moves and ends in R. ## Common mistakes - Writing where the actor started instead of where they ended. - Missing an entrance because the actor had no line. - Writing a cross to a piece of furniture without its area. - Letting an actor cross while still sitting: a rise has to come first. The whole scene is in [practice by script](https://spikemark-web.pages.dev/practice/), free for every Trifles scene, and a new scene comes each day in the [daily blocking drill](https://spikemark-web.pages.dev/blocking/). ## Sources Checked on 27 September 2026. Stage management notation and calling have no single governing standard; what is written here is common practice in our own words. Where your teacher, stage manager or company does it differently, follow them. - **Susan Glaspell, Plays, Project Gutenberg ebook 10623.** Trifles (first performed 1916), the kitchen description and the lines used in the drills; opened 27 September 2026. - **Henrik Ibsen, A Doll's House, translated by R. Farquharson Sharp, Project Gutenberg ebook 2542.** The Act I room description and opening scene; opened 27 September 2026. - **Plays by Anton Chekhov, Second Series, translated by Julius West, Project Gutenberg ebook 7986.** The Proposal and The Bear; opened 27 September 2026. - **Spikemark's grader.** The four part blocking grade and the cue timing grade described on this page are the rules the drills apply; every example on this page is computed by them. ## Frequently asked questions ### Why use a public domain play for practice? Because anyone can copy, print and share it. Trifles, A Doll's House in an old translation and Chekhov's one act comedies are on Project Gutenberg, free, with the ebook numbers cited on every Spikemark scene. ### Is the blocking in Spikemark from the original productions? No. The staging, the ground plans and the cues are invented for practice. The playwright's own stage directions are left out of the lines. ### What if the director changes a note? Erase the old note and write the new one on the same line. That is why blocking is written in pencil and numbered. ### Which scene should I start with? The Trifles scenes use the simpler nine area grid, and "Out of the cold" and "The bird cage" are the easiest. Every Trifles scene is free in practice mode. --- Guide # Stage management class drills: a 5 lesson plan A short stage management unit works well in five lessons: stage areas, blocking notation, taking blocking from a projected scene, building a prompt book, and calling cues. Each lesson ends with a drill students can repeat at home, so the class time goes on discussion rather than first attempts. ## The five lessons - **Lesson 1: stage areas.** Teach the nine area grid on a blank plan, then have students stand in named areas on the real stage or a taped floor. End with the area guide's mirror example. - **Lesson 2: notation.** Build a class key together, then practise writing single notes. Students set the same key in Spikemark so their drills are graded against it. - **Lesson 3: taking blocking.** Project a Trifles scene in projection mode. Play each note to the room, have students write it on paper, then reveal the answer and discuss. - **Lesson 4: the prompt book.** Students print a prompt book page, a cue sheet and the key legend, and assemble a small binder for one scene. - **Lesson 5: calling cues.** Run a calling scene on the projector at the easy level with the whole room calling, then let students call alone at a harder level. ## What students can practise between lessons - The [daily blocking drill](https://spikemark-web.pages.dev/blocking/): one scene a day, graded on actor, area, move and shorthand. - [Practice by script](https://spikemark-web.pages.dev/practice/): 14 scenes and 137 notes from 4 public domain plays, untimed or on a note clock. - The [calling drill](https://spikemark-web.pages.dev/calling/): three levels, from fewest cues, go within 0.9 seconds to every cue, go within 0.4 seconds. - The [prompt book pages](https://spikemark-web.pages.dev/prompt-book/): the key legend, area grids, a cue sheet and a run sheet. ## Running projection mode Open [projection mode](https://spikemark-web.pages.dev/projection/) on the classroom computer. Choose a scene, play the first note, and give the room time to write. Reveal the answer: the plan marks the area and the shorthand appears in large type. Ask who wrote it differently and why; notation differences are a good discussion, area mistakes usually come from reading the plan from the house. The answer key stays hidden on screen until you ask for it, and prints on its own. ## Assessing the unit Each student's progress page shows how many notes were right in all four parts and how many cues were called clean. A printed certificate of practice records the totals. Use them as evidence of practice, not as a grade on their own. ## Common mistakes - Starting with calling before students can read blocking and areas; calling is easier once the book makes sense. - Using a copyrighted script for handouts. The public domain scenes here can be copied freely. - Letting each student invent a key. Agree a class key first, then allow changes later. - Skipping the discussion after a reveal. The miss sentences are a starting point, not the lesson. ## Sources Checked on 27 September 2026. Stage management notation and calling have no single governing standard; what is written here is common practice in our own words. Where your teacher, stage manager or company does it differently, follow them. - **Spikemark's grader.** The four part blocking grade and the cue timing grade described on this page are the rules the drills apply; every example on this page is computed by them. - **Susan Glaspell, Plays, Project Gutenberg ebook 10623.** Trifles (first performed 1916), the kitchen description and the lines used in the drills; opened 27 September 2026. - **Henrik Ibsen, A Doll's House, translated by R. Farquharson Sharp, Project Gutenberg ebook 2542.** The Act I room description and opening scene; opened 27 September 2026. - **Plays by Anton Chekhov, Second Series, translated by Julius West, Project Gutenberg ebook 7986.** The Proposal and The Bear; opened 27 September 2026. ## Frequently asked questions ### Do students need accounts? No. Spikemark has no accounts. Each student's progress stays in their own browser, and a teacher's projection runs from one browser at the front of the room. ### Does this replace a stage management course? No. Spikemark is a practice tool, not a substitute for a stage management course. It gives students repetitions between lessons and gives a teacher a projected scene to work from. ### What if our class uses a different notation? Set the class key in the notation key panel before the drill. Spikemark grades shorthand against whatever key is set. ### Can I print answer keys? Yes. Projection mode prints an answer key for any scene, with a class name you type, and each student can print a certificate of practice from their progress page. --- Prompt book # Printable prompt book pages and cue sheet The paperwork around the drills, in Spikemark's own layout: the key that explains your shorthand, blank stage grids, a cue sheet and a run sheet. The sample page below shows how cues and blocking sit beside the script. What goes where is in [building a prompt book](https://spikemark-web.pages.dev/guide/building-a-prompt-book/). ### Your notation key: Cross X, Enter ENT, Exit EXIT, Sit SIT, Rise RISE, Kneel KNEEL, Turn TURN, Counter CTR Stage managers do not all write blocking the same way, so set the tokens you use. Areas are always written as area codes (DL or DSL both work), and you start each line with the actor's initials. Cross ( walk from one area to another ) Enter ( come on stage, arriving in an area ) Exit ( leave the stage from an area ) Sit ( sit down where you are, on a named piece if one is given ) Rise ( stand up from sitting or kneeling ) Kneel ( kneel where you are ) Turn ( turn in place, toward a piece or a person ) Counter ( a small balancing cross in answer to another actor's move ) Use the starter key ## Blocking key legend Tape this inside the front cover of the prompt book so anyone reading your blocking can decode it. | Write | Means | | --- | --- | | X | Cross: walk from one area to another | | ENT | Enter: come on stage, arriving in an area | | EXIT | Exit: leave the stage from an area | | SIT | Sit: sit down where you are, on a named piece if one is given | | RISE | Rise: stand up from sitting or kneeling | | KNEEL | Kneel: kneel where you are | | TURN | Turn: turn in place, toward a piece or a person | | CTR | Counter: a small balancing cross in answer to another actor's move | | DL, DSL | Stage areas, from the actor's point of view facing the audience: UR, URC, UC, ULC, UL, R, RC, C, LC, L, DR, DRC, DC, DLC, DL | | MH | The actor's initials start every line of blocking | Print the legend ## Area grid Grid 9 areas: up, center and down; right, center and left 15 areas: adds right center and left center Blank 9 area ground plan Stage rightUpstageStage left UR UC UL R C L DR DC DL Audience Audience at the bottom, so stage right is on the left of the plan. - Up right, UR - Up center, UC - Up left, UL - Right, R - Center, C - Left, L - Down right, DR - Down center, DC - Down left, DL Print the area grid ## Cue sheet with your own cues One line per cue: department, number, script page, the line or action it goes on, and what happens. Export it as CSV for a spreadsheet, or import one; a cue already on the sheet is not added twice. Start a cue sheet No saved cue sheet yet. ## Run sheet The running order for a performance: what happens backstage, when, and who does it. Print it blank and fill it in. | Time | Page | What happens | Who | Notes | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Print the run sheet ## Sample prompt book page Cues on the left with their warning (W), standby (SB) and go, the script in the middle, and the blocking on the right in the starter key, numbered in the order it was given. **Trifles**, Out of the cold 9 area plan. Cues shown: 4. Text: Project Gutenberg ebook 10623. Cues, script lines and blocking for Out of the cold Cues Script Blocking W LX 1 1 COUNTY ATTORNEY This feels good. Come up to the fire, ladies. 1 SH ENT UC, X R 2 CA ENT UC, X R 3 HA ENT UC, X DC SB LX 1 2 MRS PETERS I'm not... cold. 4 MP ENT UC 5 MH ENT UC 3 SHERIFF Now, Mr Hale, before we move things about, you explain to Mr Henderson just what you saw when you came here yesterday morning. 6 SH X C GO LX 1 (start) W SQ 1 4 COUNTY ATTORNEY By the way, has anything been moved? Are things just as you left them yesterday? 7 CA TURN SB SQ 1 5 SHERIFF It's just the same. When it dropped below zero last night I thought I'd better send Frank out this morning to make a fire for us. GO SQ 1 (start) 6 COUNTY ATTORNEY Somebody should have been left here yesterday. 7 COUNTY ATTORNEY Well, Mr Hale, tell just what happened when you came here yesterday morning. 8 CA X DR W LX 2 8 MR HALE Harry and I had started to town with a load of potatoes. SB LX 2 W SQ 2 9 MR HALE I didn't hear or see anything; I knocked at the door, and still it was all quiet inside. GO LX 2 (end) SB SQ 2 10 MR HALE I opened the door... this door... and there in that rocker... sat Mrs Wright. 9 HA X DL 11 COUNTY ATTORNEY What... was she doing? 10 MH CTR UR GO SQ 2 (start) 12 MR HALE She was rockin' back and forth. She had her apron in her hand and was kind of... pleating it. 11 MP TURN --- FAQ # Stage management drill questions and answers Short answers about the drills. For the notation itself, start with [the guide](https://spikemark-web.pages.dev/guide/). ## Frequently asked questions ### What is Spikemark? A practice tool for stage management students and teachers. A director's blocking note is read aloud, you put the actor on a ground plan and write the shorthand, and the drill marks the actor, the area, the move and the notation. A second drill reads a scene while you call warn, standby and go. ### Is it free? Yes. Everything on the site is free, with no account. ### Where do the scenes come from? 14 scenes from 4 public domain plays on Project Gutenberg: Trifles by Susan Glaspell (ebook 10623), A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen in R. Farquharson Sharp's translation (ebook 2542), and The Proposal and The Bear by Anton Chekhov in Julius West's translation (ebook 7986). The staging, ground plans and cues are invented for practice: 137 blocking notes and 56 cues. ### Whose blocking notation does it use? Yours. There is no single standard, so you set your own tokens in the notation key before a drill, and the grader reads your shorthand against it. A starter key with common choices is set to begin with. ### Does it need a microphone or speakers? No microphone. The notes and scenes are spoken by your browser's own voice. With no voice available, each note is shown as text and the calling drill runs on a caption clock instead. ### How is calling timed? Each line is spoken as one piece, and the drill records when it starts and ends. Every go point sits at the start or end of a line, and your warn, standby and go are timed against those points. ### Is my data uploaded? No. Any name you type, for a certificate, a class or a cue sheet, stays in this browser. Nothing is uploaded. Progress, cue sheets and your key live in this browser; export them as files to keep a copy. ### Can a teacher use it with a class? Yes. Projection mode puts a large ground plan on the classroom screen, reads each note to the room, and reveals the answer on the teacher's cue. It prints an answer key. ### Is it a qualification? Spikemark is a practice tool, not a substitute for a stage management course or for the conventions of your own production. ### Who runs Spikemark? An independent site. Spikemark is not affiliated with any performers' or stage managers' union or association, any play publisher or licensing house, or any school or theatre.