A digital binder for stage managers
StandBy.
The stage manager's prompt book, reimagined for the rehearsal room.
One calm, local-first home for your company, calendar, cues, and reports - built first for the iPad in the room, and just as at home on a laptop or phone.
● No login required ● Works offline ● Your data stays on your device ● Nothing to install
What it is
One quiet home for the whole prompt book
StandBy is a digital prompt book. Everything a stage manager carries from show to show, in one place and cross-referenced - nine linked modules that replace a binder and a fistful of spreadsheets.
The whole prompt book, in one place
Everything about a production lives together and cross-references. Calls know who's cast, availability conflicts flag against the schedule, scenes link to events - and as tech approaches, your calling script surfaces automatically with standbys, cues, and status.
Works in the room - offline & private
No account required and no wifi dependency. Your show is stored privately on the device, it loads instantly, and it keeps working when the venue wifi doesn't. One tap backs up the whole production as a file - and it's the same app on every screen.
Produces the paperwork you hand out
Print-perfect contact sheets, cast lists, and rehearsal reports; clean PDFs with a pre-filled email; photo-upload to file a physically-signed sheet against a past call; and a calendar export for the company's phones.
The case
Why StandBy, not five other tools
One tool shaped around the stage manager's workflow - instead of a spreadsheet, a shared calendar, report templates, paper sign-in sheets, and a physical binder.
Replaces a stack
Contacts spreadsheet, shared calendar, report templates, paper sign-in sheets, and the physical prompt book - collapsed into one tool.
Not a generic PM app
Asana, Notion, and Trello make you build a stage-management system. StandBy already is one - zero configuration, usable on day one.
Not a locked-in SaaS
No subscription and no forced login. Your contact sheet lives on your device - not seat-gated on someone else's server.
Everywhere, one link
Full sidebar app on a laptop, a touch layout on the iPad, a pocket reference on a phone. Nothing to install.
Built for the field
From Off-Off-Broadway through Equity
Small & self-produced
- Free and installs nothing - fits companies with no budget and no IT.
- Runs on your own iPad, with no account to provision - usable day one.
- Export & import covers the "SM changes, the show goes on" handoff.
- A sample production teaches the whole tool in one tap.
Union & professional
- Distribution-ready reports and callboard sign-in sheets.
- Attendance - present, late, absent, excused, no-show, with timing notes.
- Emergency contacts and availability/conflict tracking that respects actors.
- Language tuned to the practice, not generic project jargon.
Now follows your show across devices beta
Sign in once with Google or email and your whole production syncs from iPad to laptop to phone - automatically, in the background. Start blocking on the iPad in rehearsal, finish the report on your laptop at home.
Still local-first, still free, and your data stays private to your own account.
Roadmap
Live today. A shared platform next.
StandBy is live at standby.show - a complete prompt book that already syncs across your devices. Here's what's shipped and what's ahead.
Complete prompt book
All nine modules, offline, with print & PDF paperwork. Live and in use.
Accounts & sync
Passwordless accounts and automatic, conflict-free sync across your devices.
Public launch
Live at standby.show over secure HTTPS, with one-tap Google sign-in.
Closed beta & discovery
Invite stage managers, gather feedback, and track how people find StandBy.
Share, collect & widen
Read-only production links, cast availability forms, call & report reminders - and formats beyond theater: cabaret, one-acts, dance.
Teams & integrations
SM/ASM collaboration and company accounts (a paid tier), then script-page linking, calendar sync, e-sign sign-in, and a native app.
Put the whole show in one place.
Open StandBy, tap "Explore a sample production" to look around, or start your own. It's free.