Lexi Cuda

Production and Stage Manager

BS in Theatre Production - Stage Management

Anthropology and Entrepreneurial Management

alexcuda23@gmail.com (414) 882-9959

Lexi is a Stage Management major with a minor in Entrepreneurial Management and Anthropology. She has had much experience with production office work, running several 200+ person auditions (Online, Zoom and in person) and being a technical theatre stage hand. She would love to continue her future career not only in stage management but also event management and touring houses. Her love for staying busy also includes her side business; making paintings and jewelry. The creativity in her brain also has lead her to dabble in some prop making and assisting. Her favorite show that she has been a part of so far was Dead Man's Cellphone by Sarah Ruhl. She couldn't have asked for a better creative team! However, she holds a special place in her heart for all the improv shows and skits she has been able to stage manage during her four years at Ball State University.

Personal Website

Why did you choose your area of focus?

Facilitating and working under stress have always been strengths of mine. While I was in college, I took a stage management class my first semester at Ball State University and found what my skills perfectly fit into. I find that I bring a calmer energy to the rehearsal space than most stage managers and often like to end production meetings with "dad jokes". The most important aspect of stage managing to me is communication and making sure that every member of the team has all the appropriate puzzle pieces to make the show a success.

What does theatre mean to you?

Theatre is the mutilated props that live back stage in the theaters. One theater had a jawless puppet that would be moved around backstage every show. Theatre is the odd traditions you have during the show. For a show I stage managed, there was only one page that had no cues so all ASM's, deck crew and board ops would do a wall sit with me for the duration of the page. Theatre is the relationships you make. I worked with another stage manager on a show and now she has been my best friend for years. We are moving to Chicago together in August.

What did you do during the height of Covid-19?

When Covid-19 cases began to rise back in March, my show had just come to a close. However, I had a summer gig with Cedar Point Amusement Park to be a technician for their 150th Parade Celebration. After months of not knowing whether I was moving to Ohio, and after several unanswered emails, I went to their website. The first announcement on the front page of the Cedar Point's site was them cancelling all parades and extra events for the celebration. My job had been canceled publicly before I had gotten any information. An email came later in the week about it, but after everything, I was not mad. I was almost relieved. I was a little scared of the world we were living in at the time and how large facilities and restaurants were reopening so soon. However, they say with every closed door another one opens. The production stage manager at Ball State University had taken another job for the coming year, leaving a vacancy for a few months until BSU would be able to hire a qualified person. I had been in the role of co-assistant production stage manager for less than a year, and yet there I was raising my hand with the other co-APSM to fulfill the position until someone could take over. Starting the last week of July to the beginning of October we ran design meetings for nine shows, tapes out 15 rooms to follow covid-19 guidelines, sent NUMEROUS emails, assisted the other stage managers by answering questions, scheduled all theatre classes and rehearsals, and more. It was a crazy experience that I would do over again in a heart beat.