Well I struggle with in and stage. The actor gave his speach from the stage The crowd moved across the stage I sat on the stage At what stage of the plan are we at we should stage a reconstruction so no, I can't find an in and I'm not sure what the "steps" remark is about Thinking further, if you consider a project plan where you have steps or stages you could argue that you are in a stage of the project, but that is pretty odd and most people would talk about steps or elements of a project. What examples of in and stage do you have?

And, if you are an actor, then you will perform *on* the stage.

Context is important. To elaborate on the previous comment: In the case of steps (i.e. various stages of a computer introduction program): We will be learning the difference between hardware and software in stage one of this course. Point in time: We had a fighting chance before, but at this stage, it's pointless.

Which context do you want to use it? I use "In the stage" when there are steps, and "at the stage" at a point of time