Backstage....you mean organized chaos. @tech-badger - Tumblr Blog

Posts

diceprophet

When the bard uses intimidate

lark-in-ink

When they roll a 20:

ma-at-thought

When they roll a 1:

jeza-red

never not reblog the angry dooting=_=

gamedude113

When the enemy is a better bard than you

mistergrim13-deactivated2017071

@nerdybuddha

lekosis

no idea wtf is happening in that last gif but you really gotta respect the level of raw commitment they’re displaying here

geeky-jez-deactivated20231025

I feel like you’d be even more confused to learn they’re aggressively singing “Like a Virgin” at each other in that last one.

thenewmetropolitan

the-frozen-city

Gives me life

unexpectedtexture

Need Employment: Effective Immediately

Hi friends,

I cannot give too many details at the moment, but my theatre just went belly up and I’m out of a job. We were given no warning.

If anyone knows of anywhere that is hiring a charge artist, or regular scenic painter, please PM me. I have a couple places on my radar right now, but the more the better. Will be patrolling Offstage jobs and what not.

Thank you, truly.

-H

velociraptor-in-a-tutu

Where are you located? I may know a few really short term options.

backstageleft-deactivated202009

SIGNAL BOOST.

q2qcomics-deactivated20200929

Aside from being a top-notch human being, H-Train is among the most skilled scenic artists I know. If you know of anything, pass it on.

goombastomp

Annie Leibovitz’s STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI Set Photos

goodticklebrain

So, last month @jmujaneway asked me the following question:

“Hiya! Someone at lunch said there’s a debate as to which Shakespeare character spends the most time dead on stage. I figured you’d know! Please help?”

I offered up my best guesses (Caesar and Desdemona) and then you guys took over, with @nellololol going to far as to do some in-depth research and provide us with some line counts. This was far too fun to leave alone, though, so I’ve done my own line-counting and here are the results!

Now, Bassianus and Humphrey are somewhat debatable, as they can conceivably spend part of their “dead” time hidden in a pit or behind bed curtains respectively. However, I have seen both languish on stage in person, so they are included. Conversely, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Romeo and Juliet production that actually included the “real live body” of Tybalt in the final scene, but I have heard of those that have, and that have similarly had a “real live body” of Caesar in the funeral scene.

If we go by the has-to-be-on-stage-dead-the-entire-time-no-chance-of-being-swapped-out-for-a-dummy matrix, however, the winner is Desdemona. Take a bow Desd– oh wait, you can’t. You’re dead.

uomo-accattivante

Love this. ❤️😂

schoolbus-soul

#jedineedawoman is now my official hashtag for my pining based posts, because it is perfect

stagemanagerssaygo

gif87a-com

Ejecting a floppy disk in space

rudescience

1.44MB of wheeee.

techtheatreprincess

On a scale of 1-10, how fired should the person be that USED PVC PIPE TO HANG A FUCKING ELLIPSOIDAL?

q2qcomics-deactivated20200929

Like, from a cannon? Into the sun?

alexprobablysm

If their job was to kill someone, give them a raise!

col-brightside

Upon further inspection, it looks like there are 2 C clamps on that pipe…

tech-badger

Holy hell....

soundfail

Ugh, interns… amirite?

dangermcd

Sorry, I know I’ve posted this before, but here’s my daughter helping me with a focus note when she was 7.

She’s helping with me lighting her dance recital, something I kind of fell into over the years as I had been working in this theatre for a decade and then she was enrolled in their kids program. They’ve been hiring a professional team to give each of the 40+ pieces fully realized designs for ages.

This past summer, as she was 8, she ran down immediately after her tech run and asked to help out on the console in the house as other kids started another number. She picked up a headset, learned the headset etiquette and jargon pretty quickly, and easily followed the syntax on the ETC Element as I fed it to her. I keep a lot of the systems/purposes on faders so I can grab them in a hurry to cue over a run of a piece, so I let her design a couple pieces by pointing to faders that I thought would be appropriate, but let her choose how bright/dark to make it. She was a champ.

The next day, a Sunday, the stage manager and I were going through more tech runs with the groups, but my daughter was at home. I was on the phone with my wife and asked what they were up to. She said they were going to the park. I mentioned that only if she was interested, my daughter could come and help me on the console again that day, but since they were going to the park and it was a beautiful day, I said I really didn’t expect to see them.

Less than 10 minutes later, my daughter marched her way into the house, sat down at the lighting board as I slid over and stood beside it, put on the headset, and looked at me expectantly. “We want to be in LX 68,” I said. Before I could tell her the syntax to do so, she was already punching it in and I was staring at LX 68.

I’m trying really hard to not push her or even nudge her into theatre. If you’re going to be in this business, where most live at or below the poverty line, but my friends keep staring at me like I’m an idiot and tell me, “It’s in her blood.”

q2qcomics-deactivated20200929

stagemanagerssaygo

techfails

This is amazing. One of the things I’m most excited about doing when I have kids (in the far future) is exposing them to theatre and technical theatre. I want to take them to every show I can and teach them about sound and designing.

perpetuallight

Costing a Set

Costing a set is a very important skill, especially if you’re going into carpentry or technical direction. The following is a basic tutorial about how to do it. Keep in mind that costing a set is always approximate. No one will be looking for an exact number.

1. First things first: The Set!

This is a simple set for a one act play. As the technical director, part of your responsibility is to cost the set and order materials.

You look at the plans carefully. You find out that the set is comprised of:

4 - 4'x 8’ theatre style flats

2 - 4’ x 8’ theatre style flats with 1’ x 2’ lips (to make the doorway)

1 - 4'x 8’ x 1’ riser with skin ply covering the downstage side

2. The Pieces

Now that you know what pieces are required, you go about figuring out how they will be constructed.

You decide to follow the ubiquitous theatre riser and flat plans. Good.

3. Calculations

Okay, you figured out how to build the flats and risers; now you begin calculating how much lumber/materials will need.

Lumber is sold by the foot, so you therefore proceed by calculating how much linear feet of lumber you need. You add up the combined length of all the pieces in a single flat and the riser and come up with the following. You also add the door skin and plywood in:

Flat

12’ of 1'x 6’ common spruce - you will rip these to make 1x3s

1 sheet of door skin

1 sheet of ¼" GIS (good one side) ply (for the keystones and corner blocks – 1 sheet is enough for 10 flats)

Riser

36’ of 2’ x 4’ KD (Kiln dried) spruce

1 sheet of ¾" GIS ply

4. Prices

Ready for more math? Here are the approximate prices of material (in Canada):

1’ x 6’ common spruce: $0.24/ft

2’ x 4’ KD spruce: $0.21/ft

¾" Ply GIS - 4’ x 8’ sheet: $49.47

¼" Ply GIS - 4’ x 8’ sheet: $27.27

Door Skin - 4’ x 8’ sheet: $19.73

White Glue: $10 for 4L

Paint: $0.20/ft

Staples/screws/other hardware: *don’t bother counting how many screws you will use; you just add 10% after you calculate everything else.*

5. The (approximate) Damage

ROUND EVERYTHING UP!

Flat

12’ of 1'x 6’ common spruce - 12’ x $0.24/ft = $3

1 sheet of door skin - $20

TOTAL: $25 x 6 flats = $150

Riser

2’ x 4’ KD spruce: 36’ x $0.21/ft = $10

¾" Ply GIS - 4’ x 8’ sheet: $50

1 sheet of door skin - $20

TOTAL: $60 x 1 riser = $80

Hardware/Glue/Paint

10% of $230 = $30

Glue: $10

The designer wants the walls painted a solid black (boring, huh?).

Area of the flats and riser: 4’ x 8’ = 32^2’ x 7 = 230^2’ x $0.20 = $30

TOTAL: $70

——————

GRAND TOTAL: $150+$80+$70 = $300 EST

5. Congrats! It’s time to get out the company credit card!

*Remember that this is all approximated. Also remember to always account for mistakes and warpage. It’s a good idea to get extra lumber.*

EDIT: Don’t forget labour costs as well!

backstageleft-deactivated202009

I follow the get 15% more lumber rule. Very good post :)

In more American terms: Riser = Platform Spruce would be replaced with Pine Door Skin would probably be replaced with luaun (luan, luon, however you spell it, it’s essentially ¼" to 1/8" ply).

Also do you guys in Canada typically use Broadway style Flats more? (Like the one that is pictured). Because Americans typically use Hollywoods (the last time I built a Broadway was highschool).

perpetuallight

Thanks for the added info! We mainly do Hollywoods up here as well.