Theatre and Relative Design in Scenery

"Design with an eraser." - Joe Mielziner A blog following the senior year of a Theatre Design Major.

[auditionwtf-blog]

Hey, don’t even worry about it- it’s not like we put OUR OWN FUCKING BLOOD SWEAT & TEARS into the lighting design or anything…

[stagemanagerssaygo]

Credit: Pete Sauber

[lx-puns]

What do you call draftings gone through the shredder?

Ground plans.

[astudyintheatredesign]

director: *addressing cast and crew* good job everyone. you all have worked so hard to create very different moods scene to scene and -

lighting designer: you're welcome.

[backstagestitches]

Do you do any kind of theater oriented stitches, if so do you sell them/ have pics?

I actually have a few theatre oriented stitches! And I’d totally be up for selling some :)

Best Little Whorehouse in Texaslinks [x] [x]

Places is Not a Suggestionlinks [x] [x]

Theatre Techlinks [x] [x] pattern [x]I made another one of these for an artswap with @q2qcomics [x]

“Exit, pursued by a bear”links [x] [x]

Tiny Soundboardlinks [x] [x]

Tiny Stage Managementlinks [x] [x]

Tiny Stage Lightlinks [x] [x]

“Lights, Go”links [x] [x]

Tiny Stagelinks [x] [x]

Hamil-tinelinks [x] [x]

Hamiltonlinks [x] [x]

[thisturtleisneon-deactivated202]

theatre tech IS acting

acting like everything is fine

[crownless-again-king]

I want this on a shirt

[copperbadge]

I just forcibly relived my entire four years of undergrad and three years of grad school in the theatre arts in thirty seconds, thanks

[unexpectedtexture]

Scene: The carpenters are sorting several large pieces of black scrim, deciding what would work best as masking.

Me: “Aaaaayyyy, good to see you lads don’t de-SCRIM-iminate!

[perpetuallight]

That’s BORDER-line funny.

[theperksofbeingpansexual]

our set for “Next to Normal” 🎭

[techfails]

There was an actor in the tech I did today who kept commenting on the lighting design, saying disparaging things like “Is this really how I’m going to be lit?” in a very condescending tone.

DON’T. BE. THAT. ACTOR.

PLEASE RESPECT YOUR DESIGNERS.

[justcallmeaphrabehn]

Cringeworthy

[elliemeanslight]

ughhhh

[parabolicreflectorinacan]

Can you see?, Yes? Then you’re not in your light

A fellow lighting designer in a moment of infinite, cutting, sarcastic, wisdom (via itselftherevelation)

[scenicdesign]

“In the Heights” 1/2″ Scale Model

Anna Louizos

[astudyintheatredesign]

You know you are working with an old board when...

[jellysnack-deactivated20240529]

Why do we as a theatre community accept missing out on life events because of work?  Why do we let fear or being blacklisted control how we live our lives outside of work.  Any office job would (more) easily grant a few days off for an event, like a wedding.  But in theatre it’s such a huge deal and we almost always get told no.  Why is this the norm?

[deactivated---1-deactivated2017]

The problem is the competitive nature of the field we are in.

In a culture where anything artistic is valued less than other pursuits, you have many people who prey on the eagerness of technicians, designers, actors and other artists who want to get their “foot in the door” so desperately that they will willingly undercut themselves to secure a position. Even corporate executives in Manhattan would be shocked at how much the non-paid intern system is abused in theatre production! Why? Because we cannot afford to lose even the *chance* to be considered a position to apply.

Another factor is the ever increasing reliance on the formerly “exta” bits of volunteer, internship and graduate work that used to supplement one’s educational and work experience section of a resume.  In an ever increasing arms race to stand out, many technicians, designers and directors end up trying to out-do the other in these extra-circular elements.  This also was encouraged by corporate America culture. This is where the joke of wanting someone 18-24 with 30 years of experience comes from.

This is all because there are a great many people who wish to work in this industry, and not very many jobs. Also, nepotism is a HUGE problem in the theatre community, where if you’re friends with the right person you can get into any gig even if you don’t have the right talents or qualifications.  With the limited jobs and the large potential for unscrupulous hiring practices, it makes things difficult.  And, with the arts inherently an industry where people simply want to be liked, it makes more of a perverse sense of logic to simply try to conform to this system of being in “favor” with the right people to get work that you don’t see much progress in changing the industry’s problem.

And, if you are seen as a “problem”, it isn’t difficult to find another eager and willing technician who is willing to do more for even less. Ad to that the many part time amateurs who “play” at working in theatre and who are used as a metric by those unwilling to pay artists and designers what they are worth, and you start to see the concept of a living wage for theatre workers go down quickly.

So, many technicians simply push on, knowing that we work in an industry that could see you removed from a show for any number of reasons, *if* you don’t know the right guy.  It is not right, and unions and trade groups have been fighting to change that.  But, it is sadly encouraged on the whole by regional and local theatres. 

[backstageleft-deactivated202009]

I’ve written about this a little in my “Theatre is Still Our Workplace” post (which deals mostly with being able to report inter-employee issues). I used to not be super agitated with this until I actually got a theatre job with vacation days. And then I worked at a place who’s safety practices were so atrocious that myself and several other people considered reporting them to Osha but didn’t because the company would likely have been able to find out who we were based on the way their reporting system is… Sure it’s illegal to blacklist whistleblowers, but this industry is small and people talk… Plus the way I’ve seen companies treat interns.

And those are serious problems that need to be addressed but it requires a shift in attitude at a fundamental level. In which we have to make sure the younger technicians actually fight for their right to be treated and paid well (including getting time off for important events!). We shouldn’t have to be scared about reporting companies that have terrible practices for fear of retribution. We need a better system of accountability that benefits the employees more than the employers. 

If we aren’t able to take time off for important personal events, work feels a lot more like you’re chained to it and a lot less like an occupation you enjoy. Because seriously, what kind of occupation gets upset at you for needing to take time to go to a relative’s funeral or going to your sibling’s wedding. That’s fucking awful. 

[backstageleft-deactivated202009]

WAITRESS Will Become First Broadway Musical with an All-Female Creative Team; Lorin Latarro Joins as Choreographer!

Choreographer Lorin Latarro has joined the creative team for the Broadway production of Waitress. With her addition, Waitress is the first Broadway musical in history where a traditional four person creative team of book writer, composer, choreographer and director have all been women.* Latarro replaces Chase Brock, who choreographed the pre-Broadway run at the A.R.T.

Apparently designers aren’t considered part of the “creative team”, because they still have a male set, lighting, and sound designer on their team.

[stageandhistory]

…and what about the music director? They’re a pretty important part of that process.

[backstageleft-deactivated202009]

Yepppp. Please stop being misleading, Broadway World. 

[backstageleft-deactivated202009]

Okay okay, so apparently Creative Team is separate from Design Team in Broadway terms. I concede to that, though don’t understand how choreographer someone is on creative vs design.  But @stageandhistory has a point about the Music Director. 

[astudyintheatredesign]

That got me so excited until the listed off what exactly constitutes the "creative" team.

[backstageleft-deactivated202009]

Wishing to know who gets hired to design in regional theatres in the U.S., lighting designer Porsche McGovern completed a project about designers in the League of Regional Theatres (LORT), and published the results of her study.

This is incredibly depressing and way worse than I thought.

I would be curious to see the breakdown of props & scenic painters (two sections of tech which are cut earliest when there needs to be money saved).  

[astudyintheatredesign]

So I just finished designing the lights for my first musical. And by just finished I mean tonight is opening and I didn't finish writing and cleaning all of the cues until right before the house opened. And I couldn't even stay to see if everything is going right. This is kind of nerve wracking. But when you were literally the only one hanging and focusing the entire show while still working 30 hour weeks it tends to lead to late cueing (we didn't get into the space until the weekend of tech so)

[astudyintheatredesign]

52 lights cues in one song so far.

Not including spots. 

Sweet