By Carol Olechowski s both University at Albany theatre major and off-Broadway stage management team member, Carly Lichtenstein says she has the best of two worlds. �I�m a senior here at Albany, but I get to go home every weekend and be with another group of people who stimulate me intellectually and socially.� The 21-year-old Tarrytown native became interested in stage managing as a high school freshman. �I saw The Who�s Tommy that year. I love musicals. I can�t sing or dance, but I wanted to be a part of them. So I got bitten by the stage managing bug, and I�ve been stage managing ever since.� A stage manager, Carly explains, is �in charge of the crew, the actors, the lighting and sound, and gives rehearsal and production reports to all the team members. It�s not always easy, but I love having my hand in everything. Every day is different. I know I�m going to be one of those few people who can wake up every morning and be excited to go to work.� Carly has been a stage manager at UAlbany�s Department of Theatre since she was a freshman. Last summer, she performed in that capacity with The Donkey Show, which opened at New York City�s Club El Flamingo more than a year ago. Initially a stage management intern, she is now paid for her work as a spotlight operator with the show. Previously, Carly did an internship with another off-Broadway show, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, an experience she says �completely changed my life. I always knew I wanted to stage manage, but I got to work in a professional setting. I loved it. It gave me a lot of confidence and helped me grow not only professionally, but personally.� The Donkey Show, Carly explains, �was started by a group called Project 400. Its goal was to make 400 original productions; The Donkey Show was No. 33. It�s really ingenious; it�s A Midsummer Night�s Dream set to 1970s disco music like �Knock on Wood� and �Car Wash.� The show doesn�t take place in a traditional theater; the setting is an actual club. The action takes place all around the club, with the audience standing on the floor, which is also a stage, and in the balcony.� Logistically speaking, �it�s a challenge to stage a show with 500 club-goers,� Carly admits. �Drinks are served throughout the show, and cast members have to move through the audience. We keep all the props in the room and improvise a dressing room. I sometimes have to readjust the spotlight, since the shutters have been set differently [for club use than they are for the show]. Normally, I wouldn�t worry about them. And the original cast took the show to London this past July, so it�s been a very interesting transition, working with a new cast.� Carly�s own schedule would be enough for any merely mortal stage manager to contend with. �I have classes from 9 a.m. Friday until 1:15 p.m. When they�re over, I go straight to my car and drive to Tarrytown. I get there around 3:30; I try to be in the city about 5:45. There are two shows, at 8 and 10:30, Friday and Saturday nights. I get out of work around midnight and home to Tarrytown by 12:45,� she relates, with the practiced delivery of the veteran commuter recounting an oft-taken route. While the schedule seems daunting, �I�m used to it,� Carly assures a visitor. In addition, she takes a full course load of 15 academic credits. �That�s always a challenge, and it can get really crazy. But in the real world, I won�t have to worry about mid-terms or papers.� Theater majors, stresses Carly, who has also acted in such UAlbany productions as Playboy of the Western World and School for Scandal, �work as hard as, or even harder than, other students. We have to go to rehearsal every night, then do homework for 9 a.m. classes the next day.� Carly and her friends among the cast and crew of The Donkey Show �are really a family. It�s a great troupe of people. We�re all friends; we all go out together sometimes after the show. And some of my closest friends are from Hedwig and the Angry Inch.� �I�m glad I�ve had the opportunity to work with them,� Carly adds. �I�m always learning. The faculty here have asked me to come back and stage manage next semester; I�m glad they haven�t forgotten me. I haven�t decided yet if I�ll do that. I have a lot of options in New York, and that�s a really good thing.� Carly, who will graduate in May, is philosophical about her post-Albany prospects. �I find a lot of college seniors are scared about graduating and about what they�re going to do with their lives. I�m excited about my future. I can�t wait for it; I can taste it every weekend.� In the meantime, she enjoys looking back on �how far I�ve come. I think I�m doing the right thing. I�m happy. �When I�m feeling down, I look at what I�ve done already. I�m just so excited to think what else is out there for me.�