doing tech theatre can be so exciting but also so draining.
constantly switching between: "I never want to do this again" and "I want to do this forever"
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doing tech theatre can be so exciting but also so draining.
constantly switching between: "I never want to do this again" and "I want to do this forever"
tech crew problems:
there is a Humming but we do not know Where and exactly Why
guess who installed a colour gel on a light by themselves 😎 (I am not a lighting person)
don't even bother thanking tech if you won't do it properly
one of the cables for our lighting system broke (a student tripped on it??? somehow??? it attaches to the board so like how would your foot get caught???) and so, using a ladder and our tallest stage crew member (I am barely 5'4) we replaced it with a spare XLR and had to wrap it around a random hook so it didn't fall over.
During this whole process, a problem actor who only knows tech stuff from Googling random shit and looking at the first answer, was telling us it was a safety hazard. Yeah, I know, we do safety hazards every day. It was either this or have no lights.
during rehearsal this week, we had some students interested in learning tech. about half of them had done stage crew last year but the rest were new to theatre company.
It's going to be fun training them but I know I'll always miss last year when it was just three of us up in the big tech booth. (me, doing sound effects and projections, my assistant doing the microphones, and the lighting technician)
also, two of the guys interested in sound are very hyper. I might have to get them moved to stage crew because they were not paying attention when I was teaching. that energy might have a better use moving sets or pulling curtains.
but is it great to see so many interested in tech, as it's always been overlooked.
Never underestimate the powers of Little Treats.
Last rehearsal, once we finished a run through, I gave our two new lighting techs some chocolate covered caramels I brought, and their faces lit up.
Even if we don't get recognized by the actors for our efforts, I still want them to know that they are working hard!
(I also like to give myself Little Treats when I'm working on programming cues in QLab at 1AM, which has been happening a lot lately.)
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