A company manager is typically hired during pre-production and has anywhere from one to four weeks to read contracts, set up payroll, set up the box office, get familiar with the budgets, set up housing and travel for any actors or creative team members coming from out of town and attend all marketing and production meetings to be sure information is getting to everyone who needs to know it. “In time, I will know more about the show than anyone else there,” says Sampliner. Once rehearsals start, the company manager will pay bills and monitor spending, work with the theater to set up a management office and dressing rooms, establish the company operating policies, plan opening night festivities and sit in on all technical rehearsals. When the show opens three to six weeks later, the company manager will focus on day-to-day operations and serve as a liaison between the producers and the show company. “You are dealing with a constant process of problems. Really what you are is a troubleshooter.”

As a troubleshooter, Sampliner notes that anything that doesn’t fit into the job description of anybody else is going to come to her. “You don’t need to know everything to do this job but you do need to know how to find the answer to anything,” she says. She once had to charter a private plane to get a star from Louisville on a Sunday following her evening performance. “I had never chartered a plane before but as the company manager I had to figure it out.”

Among her many remarkable career experiences there is one particular item that stands out. Sampliner was the company manager on A CHORUS LINE the night director and choreographer Michael Bennett died. “It was one of the most memorable nights of my life in terms of the performance because it was like Michael Bennett was there. It was tough for the company to perform and it was like he was there inhabiting all their bodies and it was incredible.”

Like Sampliner, Denny Daniello loves the career he has carved out in theatre. He is currently company manager of the GREASE National Tour starring Taylor Hicks. He has the same responsibilities as a non-touring company manager but he executes them in a different city each week or two and manages the travel schedule for the entire show company. Traveling across the country with a group of people adds another sizeable element to the job. “Technically I serve as a liaison between the producers and the company and deal with day-to-day operations. In reality, on the road I am a parent, a caregiver and the go-to person for anything that arises,” Daniello laughs.

While on tour, the members of the show company become like a family. “The majority of us who do this professionally want to have a happy company so I see my role as being someone who can make things easier for the actors so they can focus on what they are being paid to do which is to perform.”

Daniello’s friends call him the “Company Manager to the Stars” because he has worked on tours such as CHICAGO starring Gregory Harrison and Paige Davis, SWEET CHARITY starring Molly Ringwald and THE DROWSY CHAPERONE with Georgia Engel. Making life on the road more comfortable for a star is a big part of his job. He proudly states, “I can get anything done in four calls or less.”

One of the funniest things he has had to do involved a star and her cat. “She was very sweet and felt a bit ridiculous calling me, but she had been given the wrong kitty litter. The cat was having difficulty using the kitty litter because it wasn’t familiar with the blue crystals. I went on a great quest with the concierge of the Ritz Carlton to track down a particular brand of kitty litter so her dear pet would use the litter box.”

By: Nancy Parrott