Featured Blog Posts - TheatreFace

Stage Managing 101

2011-01-15T21:30:00.000Z

This begins a 3-part series on the job of the Stage Manager, considered by many as the most important role in a production.

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Stage Managing 101

The job of the Stage Manager is a complex subject because there is no one codified set of guidelines that defines all the job duties of a Stage Manager in all the various performing arts genres. Add to that the numerous levels of productions from amateur/community theatre, to university, semi-professional, and even the multitude of options within professional (paid) theatre. In some ways, you're on your own.

Stage Manager’s Domain

The duties of the Stage Manager involve whatever happens on the stage and the backstage area, and can include the dressing rooms and Green Room. Even if your Tech Booth is in the balcony of the theatre, you are not responsible for the space between the lip of the stage and your booth; the House Manager handles the House.

The dream Stage Manager gig is the one ruled by a union contract. Any other job is a complete unknown in terms of what will be expected of you as the Stage Manager and the conditions surrounding the production.

Rule #1

The first thing to do when being hired as a Stage Manager is to ask for a list of duties or proposed duties from the person in charge. This might be a Producer, a Director, or a Professor, depending upon the producing organization. Books on the subject can help guide you, but get your specific duties from the person signing your paycheck or giving you your grade.

Regardless of the setting and who’s running the production, you should have a firm knowledge of what is expected of a professional Stage Manager (SM), even if you are still at the community theatre or university level. Why? Because you can’t make a living SM’ing for free. And if you’re good at running the show, you might want to pursue it down the road. Also, knowing this aspect of production will make you a better Director or even a better Writer (to learn how a show goes together). Consider this “putting on the training wheels.”

A great general reference of what is expected of an SM is contained within the agreement that Actor’s Equity Association puts forth for SM job duties and the Stage Manager Packet. Equity, as it is known, is the union for actors and Stage Managers. The union for the Techs (stagehands) is IATSE. These Equity documents cover everything from reports for a work-related injury to posts for juvenile actors, from proper use of theatrical firearms to earthquake preparedness. As the Stage manager, you must be ready to handle anything.

Professional vs. Amateur SM Jobs

In professional theatre, a Stage Manager might be on site to assist the director from pre-production and the auditions, through the rehearsal process, the performances, and in the wrap-up of post-production. In amateur/community theatre, many of the job duties a professional SM would handle might be performed by the Director, with the show’s SM not even being present until the last week of rehearsals. A university SM gig may be a mix of the two, with the instructor divvying up duties to spread the workload out across several students who need to participate to make a grade.

A professional (paid) but non-union SM job could be similar to a union job, but without the protection of the union contract, there’s no telling what you might be hoodwinked into doing outside of your SM duties. Paid, non-union productions might include repertory theatre, regional touring companies, cruise ships, regional theme parks, festivals, and the dreaded dinner theatre. These paid jobs are more plentiful than the Equity jobs, so don’t turn your nose up at them. Just know what you’re getting into, and refer to Rule #1 (see above).

Crossing the (Production SM) Line

If you find yourself doing things like calling the water bottle people to bring another 5-gallon jug, or ordering food or buying plastic plates for the “craft services” table, hanging the poster in the marquee outside the theatre, or getting the producer’s tux from the dry cleaner’s for the Opening Night performance (because as the SM, you have nothing better to do on the day of Opening Night) — on top of running rehearsals, running the tech crew, and calling the show — you’re veering into Production Stage Manager world…. This is fine… as long as:

You are comfortable doing it,
You are credited as such, but most importantly,
Your main function as the Stage Manager is not hindered by these extra duties.

If a Producer asked me to do any of that (and they have), I would say (nicely), “No.” But I would be sure to recommend someone standing around who could do it.

Wrapping Up

The duties of the Stage Manager are not set in stone, and you will find what works best for you in each assignment. Know what is expected of you as the Stage Manager, work closely with your Director, and be very organized.

Next Article: “Basic Stage Manager Duties”

Home-brew Electronics

2011-01-14T12:00:00.000Z

During the holiday break I was reading through recent posts on the show control mailing lists, and stumbled across a thread concerning do-it-yourself printed circuit boards. The processes ranged from simple transfer/resistance etching to desktop CNC routers; the sheer number of people doing this got me thinking, “This must not be so hard.” So I did a little further snooping, and it turns out, while making PC-boards “at home” isn’t “easy,” per se, it truly isn’t that hard. And the potential possibilities for instruction, and production, seem to be worth the investigation.

(It’s worth saying that I’m not an electronics expert, and make no claim to be. Pursuing any of the avenues of research I suggest below is done at the reader’s own risk. Badly constructed electronics devices represent a very real potential for electrocution and fire, and circuits built to control devices in live performance directly impact the safety of cast and crew. Fellow blogger Erich Friend could probably write for days about the dangers inherent in this kind of thing.)

Why bother?

Sure, you can by pre-printed circuit boards. And you can probably by off-the-shelf components pre-made to fulfill the kind of data manipulation you would likely try to create in a classroom environment. However, in our interconnected world, it has become all to easy to be complacent about understanding how information is passed from device to device. I recall being in high school and learning all about RAM, ROM, bits and bytes, serial and parallel data, etc. I’ve found that the students I teach now have had relatively little exposure to this information; indeed, the notion that all of the data handling that goes into the playing of Call of Warfare: Frag ‘em All is simply manipulation of 1s and 0s seems ridiculously far-fetched to many of my students. This is somewhat troubling, for while the average Joe can probably get by believing in the power of “magic squirrel boxes” to convert information to whatever format is required, the theatre technician exploring automation and control technology must have a firm grasp on how data is encoded and transmitted.

Enter the electronics project: it is almost comically simple to find web sites providing how-to instructions for building simple MIDI controller circuits, low-voltage power supplies, RS-232 circuits, or DMX control circuits. What is exciting to me about these projects is that while they range in difficulty from the moderate to the complex (for the relatively novice electronics student), they all provide real-world functionality (remember all that blather the last two weeks about “real-world problems”?). Because of this, I’m thinking about utilizing these kinds of projects in a scenery automation/show control class sequence I teach next year.

I can’t help but believe that learning to understand and utilize the data registers in a PIC microcontroller would lead to a better understanding of how a PLC utilizes data registers, and how digital input and output signals get stored (and transmitted) as binary data. Students could build on these concepts by creating RS232 or MIDI controllers, which might convert simple on/off sensor inputs to complex, serial output data streams (perhaps a discrete output on a PLC closing causes a MIDI controller to send a “note-on” command through a MIDI network, to trigger a sound cue, for example).

Building these circuits, of course, can be done without creating home-made printed circuit boards—bread boards and generic PCBs serve just fine. But isn’t there something just…cool…about making your own, custom-designed, circuit board to solder your own circuit design to?

Theatre Plant Design – Who’s Watching the Hen House?

2011-01-13T12:00:00.000Z

Few Architects or School Administrators truly understand the inner workings of theatres or lecture halls as a production space. Most of the public think that "elves and fairies come in the night" and put on a show. Rarely do they comprehend the enormous planning, design, and custom construction that goes into mounting a show, let alone the planning, design, and construction of the facility to support this effort. They have little concept of the tools required for the task, yet they are typically the ones that make the major decisions about how the venue will be designed. The Theatre Plant is a tool of enormous complexity and is very difficult to design. I have heard many Architects, Engineers, and Contractors tell me that the only building that is more difficult to design and construct is a hospital.

Ask most drama instructors if they like their theatre, or if they think it is well designed, and you'll probably get a four or five hour tirade casting aspersions about the Architects' ancestry. The number of poorly designed (and frequently unsafe) assembly spaces that we see perpetrated on unsuspecting clients is astounding. Harsh words? Yes, but don’t shoot the messenger. With a little insight it is usually quite easy to understand their frustrations. Little or no storage, noisy rooms, inadequate power, poor sightlines, antiquated technologies for Sound, Lighting, and Rigging may start the list. Then there are safety issues — how do you teach students to run shows safely if their equipment is in tatters and was designed for the contractor’s convenience, not the users’ well-being? There is little value in bad design, and great sums to be paid lawyers and plaintiffs should an accident occur.

So, how do you fend-off a bad theatre before it is designed? Who is going to design and specify the technical production systems? Who is going to see that they are installed correctly? A system of check & balances must be established to ensure that the production requirements of a theatre space are not trampled by overzealous, yet well intentioned, architects, engineers, and building contractors.

· Stage Lighting is not taught in Electrical Engineering School - Should the project electrical engineer be allowed to do it?

· Stage Rigging is not taught in Mechanical Engineering School - Should the project structural engineer be saddled with it?

· Stage Draperies are vastly different than commercial interiors draperies - Should the project interior designer be given the task?

These same questions can, and should, be asked about all of the technical production systems: Sound, Video, Production Intercom, Dimming, Pit Fillers, Stage Floors, Dressing Room layouts, Lighting and Rigging Catwalks, Orchestra Lifts, Seating Plans, Scene Shop and Control Booth layouts. Each is a unique adaptation of art, science, and production usage that must be made to function optimally within the context of a working theatre.

Theatre Consulting is a niche industry that is not well understood. The very nature of the Theatre Consultant's role in the design process is a multifaceted interweaving of almost every other discipline involved in the project. When you design a theatre plant, you have to assess every aspect of each item in the building and ask how will it affect the audience’s perception of the facility and the shows within it; how will it affect those trying to produce the show, and how will it affect the performers. This can be very time intensive, as the smallest of seemingly insignificant details can really affect the success of the end product. Misplaced lights, shiny surfaces in the wrong place, clattering door hardware, and a myriad of other items can all detract from the audience’s enjoyment and immersion in the show.

Communicating the value and impact of this type of service to a prospective client can be complicated and time consuming. There are not very many companies that provide these services, and very few that fully integrate their services with acoustics, noise control, and audio-visual design. We recognize that the education of potential clients is a task we must do and accept it as part of our work.

One of the first questions that is frequently raised is: “Who’s going to pay for this ‘extra’ consultant?” The standard Owner-Architect contracts can accommodate the fees of a variety of specialty consultants being passed-through to the client. This is reasonable since Architects can't be expected to know all things. Unfortunately, most Owners and Architects don't take advantage of these accommodations effectively when considering theatre consulting services. This is strange because it is very common for a School to hire special kitchen consultants for their food service areas, or specialty landscaping consultants for their sports playing fields – so why not employ a specialist for the theatre when planning a performing arts center?

Many Architects immediately think they'll have to take a hit on their established fees and fail to explore the options available. Likewise, if the Owner is approached about the concept, they may be naive enough to think that their Architect must know all that is necessary to effectively execute the project. This is mostly a client education task, but it can sometimes be very difficult to communicate this information to a potential client without offending them and/or the Architect. Some Architects have a very difficult time admitting (either to themselves or to their clients) that they don’t know enough about theatres to design one without extra assistance. Others have designed many theatres thinking that they have done a wonderful job, and it never crosses their mind that their projects are functional disasters and new facilities could be vastly improved if they would involve someone knowledgeable about the inner workings of a theatre.

Many Architects don’t understand the time savings a Theatre Consultant can bring to their project, so they don’t see the value of the fees. The early involvement of an experienced consultant can help the design team from going down dead-end design paths. One of the common errors we see are projects where the Architect and Owner have designed the facility the way they think it should be, have set a budget, and then seek-out a consultant and ask them to “make it work”. Designing around bad architecture and forcing systems to fit into awkward spaces and within ill-conceived funding is both time-consuming and frustrating.

It is much easier for everyone if the Theatre Consultant (and acoustician, if this is a separate consultant) to be involved from the very first planning meetings. They will ask questions, suggest ideas, and provide guidance that can help focus the project towards a functional layout and a realistic budget that will be productive for all that will use the venue.

To be continued . . . see “The Myth of the Freebie” post to follow.

Chapter 3 of the Care and Feeding of Wireless Mics... Protecting Mics

2011-01-11T13:00:00.000Z

To condom or not to condom, that is the question. No.. this has nothing to do with sex... I'm talking about wireless mic packs.

This is a much bickered over topic, and both sides have points, but in my experience of the musical, weather you prefer condoms, choose to construct gortex sleeves, or rig mic belts with plastic wrap or sandwich bags, you've go to take some protective measures where mic packs are concerned, because sweat kills. So - bag that puppy - ESPECIALLY with dancers or individuals who sweat a lot. For the average actor, putting a condom or gortex sleeve over the mic and folding it over is enough. If you have a profuse sweater however, you're going to need to take greater steps. If you're using condoms, you may want to double bag a pack, since you're using a something tubed shaped on something square, they're far more prone to tear or pop than in their "intended" application. We'll get back to protection in a minute...

Sweat is most damaging at two points - the mic connector (where the mic element connects to the pack) and at the end of the element itself, where the mic actually is. Next is the internal components of the mic pack itself - depending on how the pack is constructed depends on how much moisture is likely to end up on the inside. Finally, sweat can
damage the exterior of the mic element itself. The immediate danger is the moisture itself. Water and electronics do not mix, and mic packs are no exception to the rule. Sweat can also short out the mic element, or if the pack becomes saturated enough, do lasting damage to the pack's circuit boards. Even if you're equipment doesn't fail immediately, problems and damage can result from the salt and minerals that sweat leaves behind. The minerals can build up on the connector, or on the mic itself, restricting the movement of the mic element and changing it' sound. The connector can be cleaned out with a good contact cleaner, the head of the element, however, tends to be damaged for good once minerals have built up. Over several shows, the salt and minerals can actually be deposited in such quantity that the mic element can't even move.

Don't believe me? Here's a little experiment to show you what sweat leaves behind. Get some saline solution (over the counter, regular contact solution) which is actually LOWER in salt and mineral content than sweat, and a metal container, like an Altoids box or candy tin. Tinfoil in a small Tupperware container works too. Next, fill the bottom of the container with just enough saline to cover the entire bottom. Let it evaporate. When the water part of the solution is gone - you'll find a lovely white crust at the bottom. That's just with one dose. Imagine how much would be left if you refilled the container every day? or three or four times over a weekend like a mic pack is used during a show! The white crust - that's exactly what sweat can leave on your element connector and INSIDE the mic head. Bad enough when it's in solution, in a dry form it's even worse. The build up itself is physically a problem, never mind salt's long term corrosive effects on metal can be disastrous. Seen what a car long exposed to salt on the road looks like?

Protecting mic packs.In all honesty I don't have a "favorite" method - the two options I'm going to talk about are more workable options that ideal solutions. Each have their shortfalls, but in my experience one of them is a necessary evil. The first is the non-lubricated condom. The pro's of the condom is that they're readily available, sanitary, and require next to no preparation to use. If you're buying in bulk, you can get condoms for under 20 cents a piece. The down sides are, that as mentioned, you're literally , putting something square or rectangular into a tube. Ruptures are going to happen, regardless of brand. Even in bulk, if you have a long running performance with lots of mics, you're looking at a pricey expendable. Although you may be able to reuse a condom once, I wouldn't recommend it - based on the breakage issue, not to mention hygiene. The other option is building re-usable gortex sleeves. These cost more out of the gate, but the whole point is they're reusable. I have made these in the past - the idea constructing a pouch that's just big enough to slip your mic pack in without a hassle. The down side is even though the material is waterproof, you'll still need to waterproof the seams, and will probably need to re-waterproof them anytime the sleeve is washed. Sleeves also are not the most hygienic option as the outside will become repeatedly soaked with sweat. (When I use them I label or otherwise track them so the same actor gets the same sleeve every time rather than passing germs around via mic accessory.)

Precautions often need to be taken with mic elements as well. For the average actor, a piece of medical tape under the head of the element may be all the protection you need. For a profuse sweater, more measures may need to be taken so you're not going through an element every few shows. If you're using a headset or over-ear mic, you are a step ahead as the element 'should' sit away from the skin. However, if the actor wears the element too close to his/her cheek, or is the kind of person who produces a lot of moisture around the hair line, you may still have a problem. Again, step one is a small piece of medical tape under the head of the element to separate it from the skin. For the bucket sweater, you may need to wrap the earpiece with cotton or another absorbent material (like a sweat band for your mic) to keep moisture from running down the length of the element itself and pooling at the end.

Inevitably, even with precautions, elements and packs are going to get sweaty. If you discover a mic element or a pack is soaked, the best way to address it is to get as much of the sweat out as you can BEFORE it dries - and the best way to do that is hit the element or pack with some canned air. If you get the sweat out while it's still liquid, the white
gunk has less of a chance to form. If you have someone who is a profuse sweater, you may want to have a mic wrangler, dresser, ASM, or ask the actor themselves to hit the element with canned air at intermission, or even between scenes to keep it from sweating out.

All for now cats and kittens. Next time I'll show you some low cost, low tech methods of waterproofing mics and elements. Until next time!

Cheers! ~R

Who's Job is 'Safety'?

2011-01-06T13:00:00.000Z

Much of my practice as a Theatre Consultant involves the safety and well-being of my customers. This is a multi-faceted element as I get involved with projects from several different aspects:

I visit many theatres just to see how they are constructed and equipped. While there, I frequently find items that are hazardous.
I work with existing facilities to plan improvements to other system like lighting, sound, or rigging, and I frequently find items that are hazardous.
I work with Architects and Owners to plan new facilities, and while doing this, I frequently find items that will be hazardous if the design continues down that path.

The common thread (if you didn’t notice), is that I frequently find items that are hazardous (yes, even in brand new theatres!). Why is that? Does the doctor only see sick people? I don’t believe that to be the case. I mostly attribute it to lack of awareness to one’s surroundings. I always tell my clients that they need to look at things with a fresh set of eyes. We become complacent to our surroundings and fail to see the obvious, and we frequently don’t ever stop to ponder the more abstract issues of ‘what if?’

Look around your theatre. All of you. Not just the technicians – it’s not ‘their job’. It’s EVERYONE’S job. Be you a dancer, costumer, director, or box office manager, it’s your job to know your surroundings. Not just for your own well-being, but for the sake of everyone that comes through your venue. If your patrons get hurt – it’s highly unlikely that they will return if the last time they were there they were injured, or saw someone get injured. The same goes for your artists and staff.

It’s just like a 12-step program – the first thing you have to do is recognize you have a problem. Hazard recognition is the key to preventing injuries. Look at the building, the equipment, and the staff. Analyze your processes, your procedures, your show. Look at each part and ask yourself: What could possibly go wrong? (famous last words!) Can this be done more safely? What can we do to fix this?

Involve the whole staff in the process. Everyone has a different perspective. It is important that you listen to them and acknowledge their concerns. This is no place for ‘blowing people off’. If someone thinks that there is a potential hazard, then more than likely there really is a hazard and nobody has taken the time to consider the consequences of what could happen should something go ‘horribly wrong’.

Solutions to potential problems should be well researched – don’t just slap some bailing wire and gaffer’s tape on it. There may well be real laws and regulations that specifically address the hazard, so you need to understand the legal requirements surrounding the issue before you try to formulate a resolution. Understand that solutions come in many forms:

Administrative – Make rules, and policies – then communicate and enforce them.
Corrective – This may be an engineering fix or procedural change to the problem.
Training – This involves educating the staff and artists about the hazard and making sure that they recognize it when they see it.
Preventive – This may involve removing the hazard, or installing a means to keep people away from the problem item.

Each of these solutions must not only meet the letter of the law (rule, code, standard, regulation) and spirit of the law, but they must also be something that can work within the operations of the venue and its production(s). If an untenable solution is developed, then everyone will either ignore it or work-around it and there will be no net gain in safety.

I can do that myself! Maybe. Maybe not. As Clint Eastwood’s character Dirty Harry once said: “A man’s got to know his limitations.” Don’t be afraid to ask for help – both in identifying the problem(s) and in devising the solution(s). You don’t know what it is you don’t know. Seek-out persons that have experience both in theatre operations and in defining the safety issues – this can help you improve your workspace while not hindering your production. The show must go on – however – it must go on safely!

Productions as Scholarship: Learning Together

2011-01-07T12:00:00.000Z

Last week, I explored how to harness the pedagogical power of realized productions in an academic environment. Though I indicated at the end of my last post that I’d explore some of my frustrations in effectively linking coursework to production work, I want to postpone that and instead respond to a question sent by a colleague regarding last week’s post, which opens up interesting questions that I hope all of you might be interested in discussing:

Remind me again why one should have "professional work outside of Purdue" and not have their "artistic focus" on their work at Purdue?

I copied this question in the comments last week and responded rather quickly, without really considering the (perhaps hidden) ramifications of either his question or my original post. In a subsequent email conversation, we started to unpack the implication inherent in my post that faculty “research” (in this case, “creative endeavor”) is a separate endeavor from teaching, and should take place outside the university. Frankly, I had not considered this implication, and thought this would be a great place to begin a conversation about the notion of creative endeavor, its function as a theatre faculty member’s research, the relationship between creative endeavor and teaching.

“The concept of the modern university rests, in part, on the close, even symbiotic, relationship between research and teaching” (Robertson and Bond 5).

When I started what I thought would be a brief survey this week into what people thought about the relationship between research and teaching in academia I was surprised to discover what a deeply contentious issue this is. Academic articles abound correlating student evaluations and counts of research publications seeking to prove (or disprove) the statement above. Every article I read asserted a widespread belief in the idea of a strong relationship between the two, but each one disagreed with another about how to quantify the quality of the relationship and about whether the metric they’ve chosen supports or refutes the statement above. It appears that however one chooses to measure the relationship, faculty seem to have faith in the fact that teaching and research go hand in hand.

Last week we established the role of realized productions as teaching tools, but what about production work as research? Can “creative endeavor”—such as working on theatrical productions, either outside the university or on campus—be considered “research”?

Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines “research (noun)” as:

careful or diligent search
studious inquiry or examination; especially: investigation or experimentation aimed at the discovery and interpretation of facts, revision of accepted theories or laws in the light of new facts, or practical application of such new or revised theories or laws
the collecting of information about a particular subject

and “research (verb)” as:

to search or investigate exhaustively;research a problem;
to do research for;research a book;

Anyone who has delved into both the intricacies of a particular play and the study of their particular discipline can absolutely understand how any theatrical endeavor can rise to the level of “research.” (Check out Trish’s post last week about vocal health, Richelle’s post this week about microphones, or Gwydion’s post last week about his journey as a playwright, and tell me after reading them that these practitioners haven’t “searched and investigated exhaustively” the elements of their field of study!)

If theatrical productions can serve as either research (creative endeavor) or teaching (as ill-structured problems), is it possible for them to function as both at the same time? One phrase in all of the articles I read this week about the relationship between teaching and learning stands out: “teaching and research should be mediated by scholarship” (Robertson and Bond 9). Though the particular study in which this quote is found quickly returns to the question of what metrics should be used to measure the relationship between the two, this one statement is the light bulb for me.

Merriam-Webster defines “scholarship” as “the character, quality, activities, or attainments of a scholar: see learning,” and defines “learning” as “the act or experience of one that learns.” To say that scholarship “can mediate” research and teaching suggests that rather than seeing these two pursuits as opposite actions that inform each other (i.e., research discovers new things, while teaching passes on the previously researched), faculty and students embrace productions as opportunities to learn together.

Though I’ve not asked him, I suspect my colleague would cheer at this sentiment. Of course, the next question he’d ask would probably be, “how do we do it?” I’ll be frank and say that I'm not sure I know; this is a perspective I’ve not considered directly in my own work as an instructor, and I'll have to give some serious thought to how I’ll approach this conundrum.

So, I put the question to all of you: have you done it? How do you do it? Do you feel you’ve been successful? If you’re a student, have you worked with faculty who’ve been successful at this? Share your experiences!

References and resources on the relationship between teaching and research:

Marsh, Herbert W. and John Hattie. "The relation between research productivity and teaching effectiveness:Complementary, antagonistic, or independent constructs?" The Journal of Higher Education. 73:5 (2002).

Robertson, Jane and Carol H. Bond. "Experiences of the Relation Between Teaching and Research: What Do Academics Value?" Higher Education Research and Development. 20:1 (2001).

Shapiro, Howard N. "Promotion & Tenure and Scholarship of Teaching & Learning." Change. 38:2 (2006).

"Why is Research the Rule? The Impact of Incentive Systems on Faculty Behavior." Change 32:2 (2000).

Twitter and Theatre

2011-01-05T13:00:00.000Z

I don’t want this blog post to be a commercial for Twitter… but it might venture close to that territory. If I cross a line, I do hope you’ll forgive me. All I want to do is make you happy. And I promise you: Twitter can make you happy, 140 characters at a time. No, really. I can give you five reasons, in fact.

#1: Networking

In the time I’ve spent on Twitter – I keep it open in the background while I’m working most days, and pop in to join the conversation several times a day for anywhere from five to forty-five minutes– I’ve had the privilege to tweet with a rather stunning collection of brilliant minds from throughout the theatrical ecosystem, from producers to directors to fellow playwrights to everyone in between. I’ve established creative partnerships; I’ve met people who have subsequently read, produced, and promoted my work; and I’ve also been able to help others in turn. Our meetings haven’t been limited to the virtual space, either. I’ve turned Twitter friendships into real-life connections that genuinely mean a lot to me.

#2: Ideas

Diving into Twitter headfirst – following a bunch of people, chatting with strangers, overhearing all manner of crazy schemes – can seem overwhelming at first. Quickly, however, the ability to dip into the Twitter stream any time you like feels like having ready access to more ideas than you even knew existed: new voices and new perspectives about theater, engaging and challenging and enriching you. Time spent on Twitter has made me a better playwright and theater blogger, for certain: more aware of the world in which my work and my own ideas exist, for sure, and more ready to learn.

#3: Questions

Virtually every day, it seems, one of my fellow theater Tweeps – a slang term used to refer to the people you follow – asks the Twitter stream a question. “Name your all-time favorite theater documentaries,” someone asked recently. Another wanted to know how to troubleshoot a lighting instrument that wasn’t working well. If you need to know the answer to almost any theater-related question, and you’ve made enough theater friends, you can just plain tweet what you like to know, and the answer will appear to you shortly. Yes, you could go to Google… but why not go directly to trusted peers and experts instead? (Hint: a good place to start is the #2amt hashtag; just do a search on that term and you'll be off to the races!)

#4: Fun

One of the side effects of having so many cool and creative people hanging out together, even if only virtually, is that the word games never seem to stop. For two straight days last summer hundreds of theater practitioners were making up names of imaginary superhero plays. (Aquaman of No Importance, Arms and the Batman, and so on.) The banter you can easily access makes the whole Twitter stream feel like hanging out with a really good, really tight cast and crew. Yes, there are sometimes arguments, but they often lead to new insights… and, for the most part, they almost always remain civil.

#5: Dialogue Practice

Finally, a benefit to Twitter that belongs specifically to playwrights: dialogue practice. Imagine having to keep all of your lines to 140 characters or less. Sure would compress your wordiness just a bit, wouldn’t it? Especially since you need to write quickly just to keep up with the rapidly-moving stream… particularly if you’re following a great many people. I find that if I can boil an idea down that small, and do it within a minute or so, without sacrificing the rigor of my thinking and self-expression, I’m usually onto something.

If you’re still not convinced by my five reasons, however, let me make a suggestion: join Twitter, follow me (my screen name is @GwydionS), and watch me tweet for a while. Follow some of the people I follow, too – many of them might even have names you recognize. And then, when you feel ready, jump in and say hello. I promise to give you a warm welcome!

Chapter 2 of the Care and Feeding of Wireless Mics... The Mic Pack and Element

2011-01-04T12:00:00.000Z

Happy New Year, ya'll!

Last time I talked about set-up and tuning of your wireless system to get the best results. The next step is making sure the mic pack and accompanying element are placed correctly on your actor.

Starting with the mic pack... There are lots of places a mic pack can live on an actor's body with reasonable comfort. The most common is the small of the back, and the most typical, cost effective, and user friendly rig is simply an elastic waist band with a pouch sewn on to hold the pack. This works in about 50% of applications. However, mic pack placement can become a real challenge if you have a cast who are physically active. If you're doing a lot of lifts, falls, or rolls, the small of the back can not only be a bad place for the health of your mic pack, but can hurt the actor as well. Sometimes simply swinging the pack from the small of the back to the side of the waist can take care of the problems... other times another location needs to be determined all together.

Another thing I recommend, just like laying out your console and planning who gets what mic and element, you should give advance thought to where a mic pack is going to live on the actor when they're in costume. Relying on pack placement when you're in rehearsal can be deceptive since actors rehearsal clothing isn't necessarily what they're wearing in the show. For example if you're doing a a musical in period costume say from the 50's or 60's, and you've got women in authentic or vintage clothing, putting a mic pack in the small of the back may be a physical impossibility based on the structure and fit of the clothing. The same goes for a girl in a corset. If you have a costume designer, look at their renderings and have a discussion with the designer or draper about the clothing and where they think the best place will be to hid a pack. If you're just pulling from stock, talk to your costumer about what folks are wearing so you can be prepared. Also, think about the fact that you want your cast to look as nice as they can, and adding a lump to someone's back in a tight fitting dress or shirt may be more Hunch Back of Notre Dame than Bell of the Ball. Great alternate placements that reduce visibility include under the arm, high on the actor's thigh like a garter, or (though not my favorite choice) in the front of a dance belt. If your actor has a fitted top but a flared coat or big skirts, the hip or gluteus maximus may be an alternative also. All of these locations can be rigged with various elastic configurations for rehearsal. If you have an on-site costume shop with time to help, or you or a crew member can sew, a great route is having pouches sewn onto foundation garments or in costumes themselves. Wherever you place the pack, you want to make sure that both the pack is safe and the actor is comfortable. Whenever possible avoid somewhere that the mic connector and antenna are going to be subjected to a lot of bending or flexing. Someplace like the hip is great for someone who doesn't dance. It can be both damaging to mic and actor if they squat or jump. Also, don't be afraid to try someplace unusual. There are times extreme or different placement is necessary. Although I've never had to do it myself, I've known an engineer who had to place a pack in a wig as the actress was naked, another who used a pack with an extra l long element that was worn in a cowboy boot, and another instance where a pack was hidden in the padding of a bra. That must've been one heck of a bra.

After the pack has a home, you need to place the head of the element itself. The "easiest" place on the body for a mic element - the lapel - is also typically the worst sounding. Unless you have an actor who never moves their head, placing an element on a lapel is a bad idea. Yes, wireless mics come with lapel clips. This isn't because that's the best way for a theatrical performer to use them - the lapel clip is intended for reporting or presentational situations - lectures or speeches - i.e. static bodies and controlled environments without much singing or dancing. Lapel placement is also susceptible to a lot more noise from clothing, movement, and feedback. Yes. Feedback. Because the element is farther away from the actors mouth, you have to turn the mic up more. The higher the volume you have, the more likely you are going to ring. Ideal placement of a mic element is low on the cheek, just up from the corner of the mouth - headset mics are designed to accomplish just this. That said, many directors, costume designers, producers, etc. aren't interested in SEEING a mic element that prominently - particularly on a period musical - and the words "but that's what they do on Broadway" don't tend to help. The next best choice is higher up the cheek just beyond the ear, or, if the actor is wigged or has lots of hair naturally, over the center of their head with the element on their forehead.

There are lots of ways to attach mic elements to actors. The most useful, inexpensive starting place is clear medical tape. A few rolls can last you an entire performance, and can be safe to use on the face, neck, and body if necessary. Latex free varieties are common for folks with latex allergies and aren't any more expensive. If you have an actor or dancer who sweats so much that the standard medical tape doesn't stick, you can look at surgical tape or wound tapes/dressings that will stick under hotter/sweatier conditions, although they are, of course, much more expensive. When dealing with young actors with sensitive skin, I've used paper tape to help with the discomfort of removal. (There are also so great adhesive removers available for all ages of cast to help them keep from getting tape gum buildup on their necks and faces.)

If you have headset mics, you won't need much else outside of the tape, as the mics will fit over one or both ears and are self contained.

When dealing with a traditional element, ear pieces can be made or bought, toupee clips (which are designed to clip toupee or other hair pieces on) can be attached to the element with thread or elastic and serve to clip the mic element in into an actor's hair. (Pictured right are three colors of toupee clips - the top "blond" clip with elastic tied to the clip for attaching to an element.) Toupee clips can occasionally be found at beauty supply shops or wig stores, but the best idea is to shop around for them online. They run anywhere from some change to $3 a piece. Don't buy from the first place you find them!

Bobby pins can also be used to the same effect, though they don't stay with the mic had have a tendency to get lost. Both bobby pins or toupee clips are great under wig caps. Although not one of my favorite choices, elements can be attached to a loop or circle of elastic (or even a store bought hair band) and held on that way.

If you're using a mic element with a large head, or a flat head (like the Shure WL93) a great supply to add to your expendables is toupee tape. (Which is a double sided, skin friendly clear tape made for false hair pieces. It's sold in beauty supply stores, wig shops, as well by theatrical suppliers and from all of the above online. A single roll can be a bit pricey, but since you use it in small pieces, you don't need much.) Toupee tape is great cut into small pieces to attach the end of the element to the cheek or forehead. Not only does it keep the element in place, it keeps the "out" side (that is receptive to sound) facing out.

(Pictured above left: three types of toupee tape in rolls. Also sold in strips. Right, a close-up of the tape, and below, views of top-stick tape applied to the back of the head of a Shure WL93 mic element.)

Harking back to Chapter 1 - it's well work taking the time to see what each actor will be wearing (not only as on their bodies) but on their heads to help you plan element placement. Wigs are great to hide elements, but also can be problematic if an element gets tucked up under wig lace or under the wig itself. Make sure that elements are free of hair, wig lace, or jewelry, and is hopefully in a position that doesn't see a lot of sweat. (Sometimes that's about impossible.) Hats are also a challenge for placement as well as EQ.

Once you've settled on a placement, the important thing is that the element goes in EXACTLY the SAME SPOT EVERY TIME. When you're dealing with a lavaliere mic, a few inches can mean a huge difference in volume, which can leave your engineer struggeling with the mix, not knowing what's going on, but knowing something isn't "right." Wig lace, jewelry, and hats can make a lot of unwanted noise. If the element is buried under a wig, you may not get any sound at all. If you are working with an inexperienced cast, it is important to remind them about placement frequently, if not daily, and the mic technician (if you have one) engineer, dresser, or even stage manager should spot check people to make sure the mic element is where it ought to be.

Other mic pack reminders:

Check your mics EVERY performance. Just because they worked the show before doesn't mean something didn't happen to them when the show was over, or that something wasn't done right during set up. Check not only that the pack works, but that there aren't any kinks, pinches, or other problems with your element. Checking the connector to the element and antenna on the pack are good ideas, too.

Just like a phone, CD player, or any small piece of electronic gear - sudden impact is bad. Don't drop mic packs - and encourage your cast and crew to be mindful of the same.

Always use fresh batteries. Batteries are expensive - but ALWAYS use fresh batteries for each rehearsal/performance. These days, rechargeable batteries are sophisticated enough that they CAN hold enough charge to power a wireless reliably through a performance - IF they're high quality and if they're managed. I recommend using high quality batteries and METERING them EACH TIME to make sure they've charged properly prior to use.

DO NOT have performers turn on and off their own mic packs. Yes, you may be preserving battery life, but what happens if they forget, or get off a switch and turn on the mic pack when it's supposed to be turned off? Mic packs can also encounter interference or reception drop out problems if they're frequently re-powered. Leave the on/off in the hands of your engineer. If your mic packs come equipped with a power lock feature, power lock them. If not, tape the switch so the mic can be inadvertently turned off.

If you don't know how to solder or repair electronics, never open a mic pack. If your pack is under warranty, don't open it if you do! Send it in for a warranty repair.

All for now cats and kittens... Until next time!

Cheers, ~R

Choosing an Audition Song

2011-01-03T07:30:00.000Z

Since it's Musical Monday, let's start the day off with some tips on how to choose a song for an audition. The song must be a perfect fit from the moment you open your mouth to the last sound wave of the big money note. With college and summer stock auditions coming up, now's a great time to pick repertoire to land those scholarships and gigs.

Choose a song that is:

1. A Solo ~ For a solo audition, never sing a song that was written as a duet, trio, or chorus number. Even if you really love the song, already have the sheet music, and have it memorized, pick a different song. I guarantee there is at least one other great song in the Musical Theatre canon.

2. Not from the Show ~ Never sing from the show unless the audition notice specifically says you should. Sing a song that is very similar to the songs sung by the character you want to get. The director may have a different take on the character that you don't know about, and singing a song from the show may appear as if you're "set in your ways" ... or at least, set in singing it like the singer on the cast album. The last thing you want is to seem inflexible or undirectable.

3. Within Your Age Range and Life Experience ~ A teenager probably would not have the life experience to sing about doomed romance or the travails of war, so don't pretend. You won't impress a director by trying to sing older for your age. Likewise, a 50 year-old woman can't pass for the innocent maiden, either. Roles are usually stereotyped into certain voice types, and certain age ranges evoke certain types of characters: young female = lyric, light soprano, ingenue; older, experienced female = belter, "other woman," trouble-maker; tenor = earnest, romantic lead; bass = older man, sage, bad guy.

4. Within Your Vocal Range and Training ~ Many singers today do not transpose songs -- "sing it as written, or sing something else" is the usual mantra, though transposing was frequently done in the days of old (before 1950, so I'm told). Therefore, if you're a baritone, the high notes of West Side Story's "Maria" are probably too high, while the belted showtune, "Blow, Gabriel, Blow" from Anything Goes, would not sound right coming from a classically-trained soprano.

With famous roles, the written high (and low) notes are usually well-known: "Christine" in Phantom of the Opera has to sing a High C; "Mary Sunshine" from Chicago is a male counter-tenor role that goes up to a High E, while the title role in Kiss of the Spider Woman requires the woman to sing an octave below Middle C. Also, the Musical Director just might ask you the vocal range of the song, or what is the highest note you can hit; you need to know those answers (i.e., your highest legit note will be different from your highest belt note). So stay in your genre and vocal range. If you want to expand either, do so many months before an audition. Do not use an audition as your time to prove this new road you want to travel.

5. A Shortened Version of the Song ~ Keep your song between 90 seconds and 2 minutes if there is no time limit or bar length mentioned in the audition notice: i.e., "Prepare 60 seconds or 16 bars of a song." Sing a verse, the bridge, a chorus, the last verse, and the tag. Skip any recitative or multiple verses. You want to leave them wanting more from you. Pull 'em in, dazzle them with your range and versatility, then wow them with the money note. Sweet and simple.

Save the full songs for the callback. You should have 8 to 10 full songs that you can sing at a moment's notice for just such an occasion. And forget about buying those "16-bar" books. Just because a songbook editor picked those 16 bars for a song doesn't mean those are the "right" 16 bars for your voice.

TIPS:

Follow the guidelines of the audition notice to the letter.
Sing the song as directed, whether that means singing a cappella or buying sheet music for an accompanist to play for you. Using a CD is usually acceptable, but again, check the audition notice.
And even though you may have a zillion songs on your iThingie, that doesn't mean the audition/production team will have the necessary cables and/or wires to hook-up your gadget to theirs. If they say bring a CD with your music on it, then just bring a CD (ancient technology that it is).

Happy auditioning!

trish

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Trish Causey

writer * composer * vocal talent

http://theater.about.com

http://www.MusicalTheatreTalk.com

http://www.TrishCausey.com

Real Problems, Real Learning

2010-12-31T12:00:00.000Z

In last week’s blog, I wrote that I would use this space to share my journey to develop the courses and curricula I’m teaching at Purdue. To begin, I thought I might explore some fundamental questions about theatre instruction: what is the place of realized productions in an academic program? What is the relationship between academic coursework and production work? How do you balance the academic needs of students involved in productions with the production needs for a particular play? Of course, as I sat down to put my thoughts in order, I began to realize these questions were much more complex to write about than I had originally thought; this week, I thought I’d start by talking about how realized productions function as pedagogical tools. I’ll begin by discussing the concept of “ill-structured problems” and relating that concept to production experience; then I’ll examine a couple of issues particular to theatre production that appear at first blush to make leveraging realized productions as “ill-structured problems” difficult, and suggest ways in which these issues are just another layer of complexity that reflects the real-life situations in which students might find themselves after they graduate.

“Jane spent $42 dollars for a skirt. That was $14 less than twice what she spent for a blouse. How much was the blouse?”

If you’re like me, that sentence sends chills down your spine, bringing back memories of those awful word problems from high school algebra class. What made those problems so horrible? If you’re like me, it had less to do with figuring out the algebraic equation required to find the answer (“2x-14=42,” for those whose brains will itch until they figure it out), and more to do with the fact that—consciously or subconsciously—your brain was rebelling with a reverberant, “When will I ever use this?”

Word problems, like the one above, are a classic example of the so-called “well-structured problem”: a problem which by design has only one possible solution, and which tests the retention of rules or information (in this case, the basic algebraic form “ax±b=c”). However, while they may be effective in testing retention, some cognitive theorists believe they do not prepare a student to apply a particular skill or piece of knowledge to a real-life situation. (Our brains—consciously or not—seem to immediately understand this fundamental flaw in well-structured problems: they don’t exist in real life!) In contrast to well-structured problems are, well, ill-structured problems; sometimes also called “authentic problems,” these problems attempt to accurately reflect the nature of real-world situations, and, according to some theorists, better prepare students to apply knowledge and skills to real life scenarios.

Ill-structured problems can be created with greater or lesser difficulty depending on the level of preparation of a student, but in every case these problems reflect the total complexity of a real-world situation. For example, one might rework the word problem above by setting parameters about how much Jane has to spend in total; how the blouse and skirt should relate to each other (for example, they must match); whether the blouse and skirt need to be “dressy” or “casual”; how many different blouses and skirts are available; and what their colors, styles, and prices are. A student might be asked to determine as many different blouse/skirt combinations as possible. This problem might be made more complex by adding different stores Jane can shop at, or by adding a larger inventory of already-purchased items with which her new items must match; by having certain stores only take cash and limiting the ratio of cash to credit Jane can spend, etc.

Realized productions are in many ways the ultimate real-world, ill-structured problems. Realized productions represent the true complexity of the design/production/direction/performance tasks students will face in the real world: for example, in technical direction, every production will have some combination of challenges—to a greater or lesser degree in each production—for a student in the many different skill sets we attempt to teach, from structural analysis to mechanical design; from automation control to time management; from fiscal management to negotiation/communication skills. (Think not? Consider the most basic scenic element: the moving platform. The choice to use a standard platform and leg it in six places with cross-bracing is, at its most fundamental, a structural decision. Putting six casters on it and deciding it will take two stage hands to move it across the stage is a mechanical solution, while making sure they each have a headset and receive a cue from the stage manager is an automation solution.)

What makes realized productions (and other ill-structured problems) different than working in the real world is one very important factor: instructional support. Less-experienced, less-knowledgeable students, obviously, will need more assistance from faculty as they tackle ill-structured problems. Ideally, in a process called “scaffolding,” students will undertake progressively more difficult productions, while at the same time the level of instructor support is gradually removed. This process should culminate in a student tackling a relatively much more difficult production than they were first faced with, and approaching the project with little, if any, instructor guidance.

But I want them all in yellow denim, and he wants them in bustles!

Theatre is a collaborative art: directors, performers, designers, and production staff members all bring different skills, talents, ideas, and direction to the table for each production. In an academic setting, students in each of these areas also bring different levels of knowledge and skill to the table. This adds another layer of complexity in the approach to a production—to successfully turn every production into an ill-structured learning scenario, the team must find a way to weigh all of the needs of every student involved, as well as the needs of the play.

Consider a costume design student and directing student each in their final year. The ideal project for the costume design student might be a strong, period-based approach, emphasizing color and adornment choices to speak to character; for the directing student, however, the ideal project would provide a perfect opportunity to explore complex Brechtian and agit-prop approaches to theatre, allowing for contemporary influences to affect costume choices. Obviously, while Lysistrata might suit each of these students’ needs, it certainly can’t serve both of their needs; pairing them would probably not be the best choice. Right?

Yes and no. Putting together students whose needs and approaches are so opposed as to seem mutually exclusive could certainly be a recipe for disaster, and should probably only be done with care. However, these kinds of situations do represent another facet of the real-world production problem: different artists come to the table with different ideas, and somehow, from all of those ideas, a production must develop. Regardless of how the collaboration process works for a particular production, learning to develop that process and to work through it to create a shared vision is just as vital a student need as any other. Finding ways to challenge students to collaborate in different ways on every project is important throughout all of their realized production work; additionally, when faced with those productions where the collaboration comes harder, faculty support and guidance is vital—and may mean that that final production, which was supposed to sail through without any real faculty involvement, may need a little bit more attention.

Taking a Back Seat

A very smart instructor once told me, “If you can do anything other than theatre and be happy, you should.” He was right; all of us who pursue the art of theatre as a vocation are stupendously passionate about what we do. Consequently, it is very easy, I think, to let ego and personal desire blur the issues when working on realized productions in an academic setting. I find I have to constantly keep in check my own ideas about how a set design should progress when working as a technical director on a student-designed production; just because it would be more interesting for me to build anything other than another set with four pairs of hard masking walls and a platform doesn’t mean that that isn’t the best approach for a particular student—and a particular production—at a particular time.

I’ve developed a little mantra that works for me: “I don’t need this show for my portfolio.” I have enough professional work outside of Purdue that I try and keep my personal artistic focus on those productions, and allow the students to do what they need on theirs. This isn’t to say I’m always successful—sometimes I can’t help but tell a technical direction student, “but wouldn’t it be more interesting if we controlled this with a PLC?”—and I certainly don’t think that this little mantra will work for everyone. But finding some way to remind ourselves that the stakes should be higher for our students than they are for us on each production can only be a good thing for our pedagogy, I think.

A corollary to the idea that our personal artistic needs should take a back seat is the notion that not every choice a student makes needs to succeed. I tell my technical direction students that unless I see them making a choice that puts people in imminent danger, I’ll “back their play”—even if I don’t necessarily think it is the best choice. If they’re the technical director on a production, and they can support their choices, they should deploy them. They may be wrong—they may underestimate how long a unit will take to construct; they may find they’ll have to add a number of additional braces to keep a wall from shaking when a door slams; they may have to go back and rebuild a unit out of another material. However, I firmly believe that this is an essential part of their learning experience, and for two important reasons: first, if I make them do things my way, and they’re anything like me, they’ll always believe they were right even if they were wrong. And, second, they’ll make mistakes when they’re working professionally, and learning how to cope with those mistakes and still get the show open is an essential skill for anyone in theatre to have—one more layer of the “ill-structured problem.”

Final Thoughts

We all know that realized production experiences are the strongest tool in our arsenal for preparing students to work in a varied and complex field. The key to making productions work well as pedagogical tools is to try and always remember that that is what they are: teaching tools. It is easy to get caught up in the “gotta get it open” mentality we’re all accustomed to in this business—we should encourage each other, as instructors, to remember to step back and ask ourselves, “What are my students learning from this?”

Next week: using coursework as rehearsal for production work!

Quick links to start finding more information on ill-structured problems and problem-based teaching and learning:

4C/ID on the EduTech Wiki: http://bit.ly/dBPCcD
Ten Steps to Complex Learning: http://bit.ly/4UeEGs
Problem Solving: http://bit.ly/hF5Sji
Center for the Study of Problem Solving: http://bit.ly/gTfBza
David Merrill (instructional design theorist): http://bit.ly/eHGTPS
David Merrill’s “First Principles of Instruction”: http://bit.ly/i2JnjP

Hard Floors vs. Hard Heads

2010-12-30T14:00:00.000Z

For those of you that missed it in the news – A major Broadway Musical production of SpiderMan suffered a serious publicity snafu last week when the aerialist playing Spidey took and unexpected 30 foot dive off of the scenery. (http://theatresafetyblog.blogspot.com/2010/12/spidey-goes-splat.html & http://www.stage-directions.com/theatre-buzz/2925-another-serious-actor-injury-on-spider-man-turn-off-the-dark-agencies-agree-on-more-stringent-safeguards.html & http://www.stage-directions.com/theatre-buzz/2952-actors-equity-president-releases-statement-on-spider-man-injuries.html)

Most of us mere mortals never get to work a show this complex or expensive to produce, however, we do frequently get to place performers and the audience in harms’ way. Let’s look at this kind of risk and see how we might better mitigate it. Here is a recent example that I came across:

The local children’s theatre summer camp decides to present “Once upon a Mattress”, which is a variation upon the fairy tale “The Princes and The Pea”. Set piece needed: A bed with twenty or so mattresses. This gets pretty tall - say about 11 feet tall. You have to be able to move it on / off the stage, the actress playing the princess is about 12 years old, and will have to climb up on top of the bed as a part of the performance.

What could possibly go wrong here?

· Unsecured access – The ladder is not a fixed part of the set piece and has no hooks to lock it to the bed frame or anchor it to the floor. The ladder is leaning against a set piece that is on non-locking casters and is not secured to the floor. The ladder weighs almost as much as the princess. The ladder’s vertical side rails do not significantly extend above the top of the sloped platform, so transition to / from the ladder is difficult at best.. (Note: OSHA standard is for a ladder to extend 36” above the deck.)

· Unplanned movement - The bed frame is on casters that do not lock, so when the performer is climbing or descending the ladder, or moving about on top of the mattresses, the set piece and ladder are both free to move independently of each other.

· The top of the bed is so tall that the tiny actress disappears from the audience’s view, so the top of the bed is raked (sloped) about 10 degrees so she will be more visible. Railings would have “blocked the audiences’ view”, so there were no railings. (Note: OSHA standard is that fall protection shall be utilized whenever workers are more than 72” above the floor.)

So we ask ourselves: What parent sanctions their child to ‘play around’ on the sloped roof of a one story building where they could fall onto a hard floor below? Probably not too many. Did I mention that the parents PAID to have their children in this play?

Who would be responsible if the princess fell?

· The Set Designer / Scenery Builder was a “respected Technical Theatre instructor at a local College”, but did not incorporate any safety features into the set piece like locking casters or floor jacks, did not secure the ladder to the set piece or floor, and did not provide any place to secure the performer to the set piece. The set piece did not appear to have been constructed of fire retardant / fireproof materials.

· The Director / Producer of this play didn’t recognize the potential hazards involved in this scenario and instructed the crew to use this scenery, and directed the 12 year old actress to climb upon it and perform.

· The Costumer did not design-in any way for the actress to wear a fall protection harness under her outfit. It is likely that the costume materials were not treated with fire retardant.

· The Stage Manager and/or Rigger did not see that this could be a potential problem and did not require that any safety precautions be accommodated. No crash-pads on the floor, no interlocks between the ladder and the set, piece, no fall protection equipment, or places to attach a fall restraint lanyard.

· The Theatre Owner was leasing the space to the Show Producer and was reluctant to require any safety precautions be taken for fear that the renter would not return if they required to produce the plays safely.

· The one person that broached the subject of the princess’s safety was ejected from the Theatre.

What could have been done differently? Safety planning must begin with the first production meetings. Hazards must be recognized and addressed early so that solutions can be researched for complexity, cost, and availability. This isn’t limited to just fall protection. This has to address many other items as well.

Theatre is a very collaborative effort, and all the participants must work closely together to mount a show safely. The integration of safety within the culture of the production staff is key to making it a seamless step. Everyone should be free to comment on the methods and materials so that the ‘path of least resistance’ is to do it right, not find excuses.

Ladder Safety Information:

www.laddersafety.org

www.elcosh.org/en/document/324/d000305/hazard-alert-ladder-safety.html

www.scribd.com/doc/22733144/TeqNote-Ladders-Fall-Protection

What Playwrights Should Study

2010-12-29T16:00:00.000Z

About a month and a half ago, I was part of a long discussion on Twitter about whether MFA programs were any good for playwrights. My strong opinion then, as it is now, is that I wish they would just go away. As we all know from Outrageous Fortune -- or if you don't, where have you been? -- there are now a small number of MFA programs that are producing, one way or another, many of the "hot" new playwrights. The whole thing smacks of elitism, and it also strikes me as a shallow determinant of quality. I think we'd be better off if the whole system were somehow abolished by fiat.

This is not to say, mind you, that I don't think a playwright can get better by spending two or three years working on his or her craft... I just don't think that's enough. I think it takes ten years of working on your craft to get good at it, not two or three. A decade or so of writing, hearing your plays read, exposing them to audiences, failing, trying again, self-producing, reading a ton of plays, seeing a ton of plays, learning about the history of theater, and talking to other playwrights, again and again. Nothing else will make you into a playwright.

Oh, sure, there are probably prodigies who can do it more quickly: Sarah Kane comes to mind. (Though I think she'd have gotten better, too, had she lived.) In the main, however, it just takes time.

If not attending an MFA program, what else should one be doing? I believe one should be living, quite frankly, and learning about anything and everything else than being a playwright. Exploring the world, taking classes in other subjects, meeting different sorts of people, taking up other hobbies, spending time with family, starting a family, making friends -- even trying other art forms. I consider all of that equally important to maturing as a playwright. And I suggest wholeheartedly that in the long run, we'd probably all be better off if we studied other subjects in college.

Although I started writing in earnest when I was 12 years old, in high school I was a bit of a math prodigy, too, so that was the area in which I focused my studies. I went off to college to major in astrophysics, and it was only when I was one course away from completing that major that I switched to the writing department... to major in poetry. My minor, furthermore, was African American history, and the language I studied was German. The closest I got to writing plays was to work as a technical director and lighting designer and set designer for several college productions, just for fun.

I went on to earn a master's degree in writing... again, though, in poetry. This was an MA, mind you, not an MFA, so my course work was slightly more academic than it might have been. Although I was there to study poetry, I read a good deal of philosophy, too. Most importantly, I fell in love with the early 20th century American novel and spent most of my time reading and thinking about Willa Cather and Edith Wharton and... you get the picture.

So that's mathematics, astrophysics, African American history, German, poetry, and fiction... and it's really only a drop in the bucket of the subject matter I've explored over the years. I worked as a typesetter for three years -- those were digital graphic designers before there was such a profession -- then apprenticed myself to the master printer at a college for several months to study letterpress printing. While I consider myself a fairly good cook, over the years I have applied myself in particular t0 the study of the making of soup, and I now have some expertise, I believe, on that one subset of gastronomy. At the suggestion of a computer programmer I once knew, I took up birding; my "life list" -- the number of American species I've managed to spot -- isn't as long as I wish it was, but it's not embarrassing, either. I've worked as a sports journalist, a teacher, and (believe it or not) a carny, and I've learned from every single one of those jobs. I now work part-time for a digital engagement agency and as a regular part of what I do, I study one non-profit organization and government agency after another, learning about their missions and audiences and communications strategies; I'm never at a loss for new things to learn.

My main areas of study since I left academia have all been scientific. My familiarity with physics led me first into astronomy. Then I found chaos theory, and it was a short walk from there into game theory and economics. I spent a good long while working my way through evolutionary biology, about which I still think a great deal, and made a few side trips into genetics and medicine and ecology. Over the years, though, no subject has gripped me with as much depth as epidemiology and virology; I've consumed virtually every book I could find. Oh, and I've certainly read just about all there is to read in the last decade or so on the subject of atheism, which feels largely like a scientific subject, at least of late: this after a childhood studying Judaism and a brief side trip into Wicca.

I tried to learn Irish Gaelic and failed; same with Spanish. I've started to deepen my knowledge of jazz, but it's slow going, and I really wish I had time and attention for opera, too. I've listened to a great deal more old time radio classics than, well, almost anyone my age, but I wouldn't call myself an expert; would that I was one. I'm an able handyman around the house, but I'd kill to have the skill my father's late partner had: he was genuinely gifted. I've been to a dozen or two of the world's great museums, but it feels like a drop in the (paint) bucket. I've only visited 37 of the 50 states; not having been to Alabama, Alaska, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, and Wyoming feels miserable. (Don't even get me started on where I still need to go in Europe, let alone the rest of the world.) There are major works of literature I haven't read, and my knowledge of history is appalling, and I sometimes genuinely agonize over the fact that I can't speak French with my French-fluent wife.

At this point in my playwriting career, filling all those gaps in my knowledge and experience -- plus the ten thousand others I haven't thought of or noted here -- feels like it would make more of an impact on my work than going back to earn an MFA, even if I wanted one. (I'm even more certain that doing and studying those things would make me a better human being, and make me feel -- when the lights go out at the end of my lifetime -- like I have fewer regrets... as long as I keep writing, too, that is.) They'd give me more to say, that's for sure, and make me more compassionate toward a wider variety of characters -- that I also know.

Naturally, none of this can replace my own continual lifelong efforts to hone my craft... but that goes without saying. This brings me, however, to my final point: of all of the playwrights throughout history, 99.99% never earned an MFA... or even took a single class in playwriting. The whole notion that writing can be taught (rather than learned, or at most self-taught) is novel... and may in fact prove to be a historical blip. Historically, we playwrights have learned by reading plays, watching plays, writing plays, and getting responses to our plays. If you want to be a better playwright, just do those things, by hook or by crook... and spend the money you'd spend on the MFA on the time to do it (and on, say, a pottery class, or cross-country skis, or that collection of Montaigne essays you've wanted to read, or all of the above).

Meanwhile, the rest of us will do our best to overthrow the theatrical hegemony that suggests certain MFA graduates are better playwrights. It's about time for that revolution to start.

The Musical and Chapter 1 of the Care and Feeding of Wireless Microphones

2010-12-28T17:00:00.000Z

I’m sitting to write this blog between projects – cleaning up holiday gunk and writing a strike list. When this blog posts, the ASF Christmas musical, Peter Pan, will be about to launch into its final week of performance, closing with a matinee on New Year’s Eve.

This particular production is my 3^rd trip to the Peter Pan rodeo – the second as a designer, and in a backwards way, the second time as an operator. (I’ll get to that in a minute.) Pan has been THAT show for me… part Pandora’s box, part Scottish Play, part case study of Murphy’s Law… Now, that said, I make no aspersions on the productions themselves. All three productions I’ve been a part of (one at the Utah Shakespearean [now Shakespeare] Festival in 2000, and two at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival in 2007 and 2010 respectively) have been charming audience pleasers with talented casts and designers. However, my own personal experiences with the first two trips to the Pan Rodeo were nearly enough for me to throw in the theatre towel once and for all. I will forgo the gory details to spare the innocent, or to show mercy to those who suffered with me from reoccurring nightmares, but in summary, both drove me to drink. SO! You can imagine my surprise when the third trip actually started out fairly respectably. And, with only a few per-the course obstacles, opened without me owing my soul to the liquor store. The show still got me in the Murphy’s Law way. Due to unfortunate circumstances, I ended up first being the mic wrangler, then doing playback and orchestra mix for about two. Only on Pan.

This long preamble is a warm up to one of the most talked about sound topics… the musical.

Let me start out by saying that I’m not a musical hater. In fact, many of my favorite shows are musicals. Nor do I think we should stop doing musicals. But speaking from the role of audio supervisor and resident designer in regional theatre, where musicals are the exception, they pose an interesting challenge. 80% or greater of our season is NOT musical. So, what does this really mean for audio? That 20% or less of my season program is a completely different animal. Let me break this down a little more.

As a resident designer who is also the audio supervisor (unlike electrics who have a lighting designer and a master electrician, or the scene shop who has a scene designer and a TD and/or shop foreman) the musical is the show where I’m most challenged by having dual roles, especially as video systems, cue lights, paging, and com are all a part of audio’s responsibility –AND it is a musical that puts all those systems to the test and the type of show that demands that I pay attention to them, yet as a designer, I have the least time to spend on them, since my ears and person are in use from start of tech through opening or longer.

Speaking as a supervisor, the musical is where staffing becomes a challenge. With playback being computer based, any intelligent, reliable person with some theatre experience can run playback with some basic training. Not so with a musical. Having an AUDIO ENGINEER or TWO is crucial. Something I’ve discovered as well, a very crucial personality is the mic wrangler. I can teach the skills necessary for just about anyone with a theatre background to run mics, but I cannot teach them the right personal skills, or change their personality. I’ve been burned by the blanket assumption that I just “need a body” in that role.

The musical is also where my gear is tested. I was incredibly lucky (blessed) to walk into a well geared department when I came to ASF. That said, it’s gear primarily for playback, with additions made to accommodate musicals. With the scale of the musical shows ASF is producing, I have to get creative. For example, the largest console I own is 40 channel board, with a 32 channel right behind it. With body mics and orchestra support numbering in the 80’s, I need 3 boards before we even add playback to the tally.

And then there are the mics themselves… the primary audio component in a musical. And wireless mics are, like so many things in technology, wonderful when they work, and you’re worst nightmare when they don’t.

So that’s REALLY what I want to talk about… and answer some of the most common questions I get. Some of what I’m going to share may be old hat if you’re an engineer/designer with several musicals under your belt. If you’re just starting out in sound, a lot of what I’m about to say probably reads like Japanese. But either way, I hope it’s
some useful information:

Chapter One in the care and feeding of wireless microphones – set-up.

The first place designers and engineers go wrong when using wireless is in the set-up process. And nothing misbehaves more so than a neglected wireless mic.

First off, know your gear. If you’re using a type or brand microphones for the first time, or a make and model you aren’t familiar with, get familiar. Look at the instruction manual. (If you don’t have one, you can probably find one online.) If you're like me, and don’t use wireless every show, a little brush up before hand certainly doesn’t hurt even though I’ve been using the same series of wireless mics since college. Make changes and adjustment with a mic system - make sure you know what your system is capable of and how to use its features – long before the pressure of tech. With the 700 MHz ban of the FCC, I just bought a new bank of wireless mics. They have a heck of a lot more bells and whistles than the older systems we own, so I took a little time and read up. Glad I did – it saved me time and stress.

And time is always an issue in theatre – but there are things that are worth taking or making time for – and enough time to set-up and test your wireless system is one of them. After reviewing my gear, I make sure that my crew and I have adequate in space time to set-up and test everything we’re going to use. I’ve opted to work alternate calls (evenings or late nights) during load-in in order to accommodate the time I need rather than forgo set-up time. I have never regretted that choice.

The place to start is antenna/receiver placement. Many theatres were built without a musical mix position in mind, so wireless mic racks often live in dark corners under balconies, or stuffed into alcoves in the wings. Every wireless system is different, so that situation may be ok. On the other hand, it may be a guarantee for signal drop-out before your actors see the stage. If you have the budget/rental option to use powered antennas, do so – then you just have to find a home for the antennas rather than an entire rack. If you’re stuck with using the antennas on the mic receiver units themselves, the rule of thumb is line of sight. This means the dark corner under the balcony is only ok if the rack is high enough to clear all that metal hidden in your theatre seats – not to mention all the bodies and respective pieces of technology your audience may bring into the theatre with them. One of the best ways to find the “sweet spot” in your building is to simply power your system up and try your receivers in different places – see where you get the best reception. As long as you can get a snake there to pick up audio, try to find what works best. It may not be where you think… as was the case at the Utah Shakes. Wireless manuals will tell you that company switches, dimmers, and other places where building power run are bad for reception. Except that in the indoor space, the best location for reception is offstage behind the stage right torm – right next to a breaker panel.

Following reception, an absolute key to wireless performance is frequency selection. Preselect frequencies and check them. There are great resources online about picking frequencies – many of them from mic manufacturers, which is a great place to start. All towns/cities/buildings have frequency issues. Newer model wirelesses often have frequency scanning to check for open frequencies too. If they do, take advantage of the feature. Either way, once you have your mics set, turn them all on and check them for common problems in a controlled environment, so you know what your hearing IS or ISN’T a frequency issue.

On the same line, have your gear prepared well in advance. It sounds kind of basic, but know your show, and know your cast. It’s a lot easier to choose the right mics and elements if you know what the actor looks like, not to mention when that actor does what and when. If you have 10 actors who need mics, make sure you have 10 wireless mic packs tuned to 10 receivers that are labeled with those actor’s names or characters long before you’ll ever need to mic them up (plus a spare or two). Don’t leave mic assignments to the day of or on a “as you hand it out” basis. That’s a great way to get really confused. The bigger the show, the more important this is. For my current show of Pan, we’re running 30 wireless mics and three spares. Had I gone into tech without knowing what mic was what, we would still be trying to get the mix right a month after opening.

Pre-gain your mics. Sure, you’re going to make adjustments once you have the actual actor in the pack, but it’s a lot easier to have a place to start from that the sensitivity of the mic is gained appropriately on the pack and isn’t pegging out a receiver, or receiving so little signal you don’t even know if the pack is working or not.

Plan your console mic layout. Figure out the mics you’re going to use together, and the mics you’ll use the most. Group them on the end of the console or center of the console – whatever makes the most sense based on if you’re left or right handed, where your masters are, and the size of your board. Yes this really makes a difference, especially if you’re mixing on the fly with an analogue console. For example, in Peter Pan, Wendy and the two Darling Boys Michael and John are often in scenes together. Wendy and Peter Pan also have several scenes together. So it makes logical sense to put Wendy’s mic between the boys and Peter on the console.

Once you’ve set up everything and tested the components, fire everything up once more and test it all again. If it’s done in advance, the first day tech can be about setting EQ and fine tuning gain – a much lower stress situation than scrambling to get things working.

That’s all for now, cats and kittens. Another installment in the care and feeding of wireless mics next week. Cheers until next time. ~R

Vocal Health During the Winter Months

2010-12-27T16:09:43.000Z

Vocal health is a crucial topic for anyone who makes their living with their voice. From actors and singers, to teachers and lawyers --- our voice is our livelihood. Be mindful of the following tips to protect your pipes, especially during the winter months.

1) The MOST important thing to remember is NEVER clear your throat. Ever! Slamming the vocal folds together with the force of air coming from the lungs causes immediate damage to the folds that increases over time. Clearing the throat can lead to nodes, polyps, and scar tissue on the vocal ligaments and folds or even hemorrhages within the vocal fold muscles themselves.

When mucus and phlegm clog your throat, eat or drink something acidic to cut through, such as pineapple, lemonade, or even strawberries (yes, soft drinks are acidic, but see #2 below). Sing or talk through the gunk. It won't sound pretty, but your vocal folds will be much better off for the long-term. "Throat Coat" is a preferred choice amongst singers for a soothing tea.

2) "Water, water everywhere" ... Hydration is a must for the voice and its subsystems, even in the winter months. The human body is 70% to 80% water. Caffeinated drinks, salty foods, and not drinking enough fluids to begin with are all causes of dehydration. Certain medications (prescription and over the counter) can also dehydrate you, as can mild and severe acid reflux. Walking outside in windy weather can also dry you out quickly. Get your water by eating lots of fresh veggies and fruits, and keep a room temperature bottle of water with you at all times.

3) Wear a scarf to keep the throat and neck warm. The muscles in the neck surround the larynx which houses the vocal folds. Sudden cold temperatures or walking in cold weather without a scarf causes the body to hunch in an effort to keep warm. The muscles in the neck can likewise "squeeze" inward, hence their name of "constrictor muscles." Wearing a scarf also gives you that extra bit of fabric to bring up over your mouth and nose, which warms the air before it reaches your pharynx (throat) or lungs.

4) Rest! Get plenty of rest by sleeping at least seven hours each night. The muscle systems that allow phonation (sound production) are just like every other muscle group: they need rest and recovery after a workout. Yoga and meditation also benefit the mind and body with their restorative powers. A 15-minute nap in the middle of the day can do wonders for giving you the energy you need to finish your day strong --- which just might make for a better night's sleep.

Stay safe and warm during these cold winter months! If you have any questions, just leave them below.

That's a wrap. Take care!

trish

Illumination Solutioneer: Michael Maag Lights up the Oregon Shakespeare Festival

2009-04-10T00:00:00.000Z

At the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, from February to the last weekend in October, two or three theaters play between four and nine plays in rotating rep. Hundreds of people make up the OSF staff, not to mention even more hundreds of volunteers who help with everything from sewing to the Tudor Guild gift shop. The person who lights it all up? Michael K. Maag. His official title is so long and complex that he had to spell it out in an email.

Our conversation began with some contact on Twitter (you can find him here) in late March and continued in a phone call just after Servant of Two Masters opened. How Maag has time to keep track of everything he's doing is beyond me, but he explained everything from lighting emergencies to the OSF's awesome new video projector in our rounds of discussion.

Tell me about your job.

Well, we can start with my title which [came about] through lengthy attempts to express the complexity and reach of my job: Lighting Department Manager, Automated Lighting Programmer and Visualist.

So that means that I manage the lighting crew, act as an assistant to all of the lighting designers, design the three rep plots, program all of the moving light cues in all of the shows, create the majority of the video and projection content and program the media servers for the shows that use video. I also am responsible for all of the lighting equipment, maintenance, purchasing, department budgets, scheduling, etc.

I want to change our department title from “Lighting Dept” to “Illumination Solutioneering Dept.” I am really a translator. I hear the needs of the design team and turn them into reality. I am blessed with an amazingly skilled and dedicated team that makes this possible.

How about a little about your background?

I have a BS in Technical Theatre from the University of Northern Colorado, I have worked in regional theatre from the Aslo in Sarasota, FL to Seattle Rep and many in between. I even spent a couple of summers at Utah Shakespeare to help prep for this job.

It may or may not be of interest to note that I now do this job from a wheelchair. I was paralyzed in a bicycle vs car accident in 2003. I now ride a hand cycle, and did my first marathon (Portland) last fall.

What's a typical day like during the season?

From February through July, we are always both performing shows and teching shows. From August through October, we are just performing 9 shows in three spaces in rotating rep.

So every day in two or three of the theatres we start by changing out the lighting from last night’s show. We change gel, template and shutter cuts on the lights in the rep plots. When the stage hands have completed their amazing task of transforming the space we get on deck and plug in all of the set mounts and deck electrics. After a channel check that includes the rep lights as well as the specials for each show we are ready for the matinees. As each show completes, we reverse the process, strike the deck, change the color, gobos and shutter cuts and reinstall the deck electrics for the night shows. Between the matinee and evening show, we typically have 2.5 to 3 hours to complete our changeover.

We have about 170 to 260 lights in each rep plot, and each show gets between 50 and 100 specials. If we are in tech rehearsals we add in the process of repping tech tables in and out of the theatres and focus calls to take care of notes. We do all of this with two Master Electricians: Steve and Noah, and five Lighting Technicians: Kelly, Christine, Jesse, Joshua and Maria.

What about when the theaters are dark — what are you doing then?

OSF is dark in November, December and January. We actually start building for the next season in October. We stagger the contracts for the various departments. The scene shop, prop shop and painters take time off in August and September, and the lighting, sound, stage hands and wardrobe take time off in November and December.

January is a big prep time. The actors are all back rehearsing, and we are putting everything in for the next season. We do maintenance, hang the new rep plots and specials, build special effects, etc., all to get us ready to open four shows in one weekend in February

I am on contract all year. I wish I had another two months between October and February.

Can you tell me some stories that the audience would never know about but that the lighting folks will find interesting and amusing?

This is where people want to hear the horror stories of the things that go wrong, right? The great thing about OSF is that we do everything we can to keep the audience from noticing that something is not as it is supposed to be. We had a Merry Wives a couple of years ago [on the Elizabethan stage] that had a disastrous opening night: Automation cues that went wrong, curtain drops that didn’t and a lighting console that died at cue 11.

The board op (Noah) grabbed an usher, ran across the street to the New Theatre, stole the Obsession, installed it in the Elizabethan and was back online and in sync by cue 35. You know that it was a bad night because the failure and substitution of the lighting console was a footnote in the show report.

There was also the time that a Vari*Lite 6 died at 1/2 hour. No repair was possible, so I spent the show on headset with a leko on a stick and a fistful of gel pretending I was an “intelligent light.”

With just under 800 shows a year, we usually have a few close calls and acts of heroism that keep the shows up and running. We take pride of ownership and work hard to deliver design integrity. We work with amazing lighting designers who create beautiful works of art, and it is our job to recreate that art exactly each and every time.

Open to the sky, the outdoor Elizabethan Stage seats 1,200 people. Featured in the photo is the 2005 set and ensemble in The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus. Photo by T. Charles Erickson.

What are the issues with each theater?

Of course each theatre has its challenges. The construction and design aesthetic of the Bowmer does not allow for a back light angle. There is not enough room in the New Theatre catwalks for all of the lights and rigging. The Elizabethan is outdoors, and our systems have to endure environmental variance from freezing snow during onstage rehearsals in May to over 140 degrees on the stage on a hot August afternoon. The big challenge is that we have just 20 hours of tech time for each show. Both the conventional light programmer and I have to be on our toes working at speed to get our cues programmed in, and then we have to squeeze video in at the same time.

[This conversation continued on the phone:] I tech all 11 shows, and then I do come back and see the shows and check on things and make sure we’re fulfiling the mission of keeping design integrity.

The hardest part is when we change over in the Elizabethan theater. We have a whole day between the times we can mess with the lights, and things can get bumped, so things that are special and cut tight, we just have to trust.

You can't see the lights to fix them!
During the day, you can turn on the lights all you want to, but when the sun’s up, it’s still too bright to see. That’s why we start at 8:30 pm in the summer, to be able to see the effects of the lighting at least later in the play.

We have birds’ nests to deal with all of the time, and a big part of inventory maintenance is cleaning bird poop off of the lights. One or two pigeons do get through and nest in the lighting bridge, so we always have to have a fight with pigeons who lay eggs up there. We’ve put up fake owls, and in the offseason, we cover the dome with net so birds won’t roost there. It’s time to start working out there now!

What's your role in solving some of those problems or, er, opportunities?

I work with the designers and my team to come up with the solutions that will allow the vision of the show to be realized. I design the rep plots with all of the shows in mind. They plots change from year to year to accommodate the ways in which the stages are used.

On the day-to-day problems, the M.E.’s and I work together to come up with whatever it takes to get the designer the look they want, and to stay out of the way of the rigging or whatever the problem of the moment is. Most of my crew are Vari*Lite Certified Maintenance Technicians, so everybody has the knowledge and skill to troubleshoot and repair just about any problem that comes up.

In Servant of Two Masters, Pantalone (David Kelly) is overjoyed at the prospect of receiving more gold. Photo by Jenny Graham.

How’s it going right now (just before Servant opens)?

We are just about to open a very funny Servant of Two Masters. The season is going well. We are having a couple of challenges, a crew member with a broken arm and a recalcitrant computer on board our big projector. Overall, it has been less intense than last season thus far. However, it is about to get crazy again as we begin rehearsals for the Elizabethan season and hang the lights in the Elizabethan as we tech Equivocation. We always lose some sleep once we start focusing outside. That kind of has to happen at night.

Have you seen issues around staffing or equipment with the economic downturn?

Everyone at OSF is feeling the desire to be fiscally prudent. We are all trying to make smart decisions about design, usability and re-usability. I have not had to let anyone go, but we are not expanding any contract lengths or doing any hiring. I certainly desire having some crew members around for a couple more weeks of the “off season” to work on maintenance, but for now we forgo that in favor of keeping everybody on that we can.

Tell me about adding video to your job.

I’ve always been a computer geek; I’ve been playing with computer graphics all along. I started with Macintoshes in 1984,when I bought one of the first ones. My lighting teacher in college was big-time into projections, so I’ve always regarded projection as part of lighting design and projectors as just a fancy lighting instrument. You can project anything you want it to do — a shutter cut, a gobo, make the gobo move a little bit, make water flowing on stream or stars coming at you as you travel through space. It’s a lighting instrument with limitless possibilities. As soon as video became capable, I started messing with programs that allowed me to do live manipulation. I like the aspect of reacting to the live environment and what’s happening on stage.

We had Pani projectors when I came here. A 35-mm projector has a little slot, but Pani uses square slides, big ones, and we would actually put the sets in place, take photo paper and turn the lights on on stage. Then we’d take the images into Photoshop and build masks that were exact to the stage. We did a Romeo and Juliet where Keven Kenerly was sitting on the stage, and he was outlined with light, and he got up and walked out of the light, leaving his outline behind. We can do amazing things with the PANIs.

In 2006, I received a grant to do tech expansion, specifically in video. I knew it would be necessary for what would be happening; the movement is toward convergence, and lighting and video designers are merging into one discipline. We bought a big, expensive video projector, a 21,000 lumen projector. It’s high-definition and bright enough to ride on top of the stage lights. Every show in the Bowmer since 2006 has used the projector.

The trance-like dance movements of Elesin (Derrick Lee Weeden) and the woman of the market place (Khatt Taylor, Krystel Lucas, Arsene DeLay) guide him to the death passage in Death and the King's Horseman. Photo by Jenny Graham.

For instance, in Death and the King’s Horseman, the back panel that has the wrinkly cloth, there are images of African cloth patterns being projected onto that cloth, and onto the floor and onto the columns with the wood carving. We have narrow masks that map to those guys and project similar patterns on them as those times. It’s the same cloth as from market scene.

In [2007’s] Cherry Orchard, there was a scene where they were in the park in the spring, and the designer asked for me to do slow, subtle cloud image going across the whole stage, so you really wouldn’t notice it. [Then-OSF artistic director and director of Cherry Orchard] Libby Appel said, “You know, I can’t perceive the clouds.” So Chris turned it off, and it changed the stage picture so dramatically that it took away the feeling of spring, but with it on, it was there. It was subtle, behind lighting, one of those things where you don’t really see it, but it made the scene perfect, and told the story of time, place and mood. That’s what we’re using the projector for all of the time.

"What, will these hands ne'er be clean?" Lady Macbeth (Robin Goodrin Nordli) descends into guilt and madness. Photo by Jennifer Reiley.

In Macbeth, we built a very fine mask that just maps the bridge and lights the bridge in fine color from projector. It’s so helpful because you don’t have to open up the whole stage. The director and designers wanted to keep [the action] mostly contained into that circle [below the bridge], and trying to light the bridge alone with lighting instruments would have been close to impossible.

You said you performed improv video in your spare time. When would THAT be?

Yeah, it's few and far between! We're Sonoluminescence. We usually do one performance in December or the last week in November. We recently did one at the Schnieder Museum of Art [on the campus of Southern Oregon University], , where they are showing pictures from [astronomer Halton C.] Arp’s catalogue of peculiar galaxies. We did music, dance and video on top of it based off of the galaxies and Hubbell images. There are five of us: OSF computer Todd Barton; Terry Longshore, the percussion teacher and head of the music department at OSU; Suzee Greeley, a local choreographer and dancer; and Bruce Bayard, who is a visual artist and cello player. Todd plays keyboard and shakuhachi, a Zen flute with very beautiful notes. It’s instrument that needs to be played from the Zen state, and he’s a master of the instrument. The thing about our performances is that they’re compltely improvisational. We never rehearse in specifics. Suzee reacts to what she’s hearing and seeing, the musicians work off of each other, they have video montors to see what I’m doing, and I react to what I’m seeing and doing.

I have a VJ rig that allows me to bring up hundreds of video clips that can be applied, and I have four cameras, one for each musician and one for Suzee. I take live video feed and bring it back into the system and do time and color maniuplation with that. I take picutres and project them back onto Suzee. She wears white dance clothing, so she acts as a projection surface. We’ve been doing it for 7 years; we have a good time getting together and getting into the groove, and every time we do it, magic happens.

Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and a little more about Oregon, coming right up!

2009-04-01T22:42:48.000Z

Elesin (Derrick Lee Weeden) and Iyaloja (Perri Gaffney) greet each other at the marketplace. Photo by Jenny Graham

Hey TheatreFace folks!
Thanks to Jacob for inviting me to do this blog about Oregon theater (or theatre, if you prefer) in general and the OSF in particular. I've interviewed a couple of Ore Shakes* people and have a few more in the hopper today and Friday, including one with OSF Artistic Director Bill Rauch and another with scenic and theatre designer Richard L. Hay.

This is the fourth year I've covered some or all of the shows at Ore Shakes. Living in Eugene means that Ashland is only three hours south (a little shorter in good weather, a little longer when it's raining or snowing) and Portland about two hours north. A freelancer and I went to OSF for opening weekend, and our blogs/reviews are here, <"http://blogs.eugeneweekly.com/node/992">here, here, here and here. And, in what turned out to be a kind of crazy media convergence, this is my attempt to live-blog the press conference coffee meeting during opening weekend.

Where I live now, here's the landscape: Eugene has a small semi-pro theater, the Lord Leebrick, which is about to become a very big player in our downtown scene. Here's my article on that development and the live-blog from the press conference. We also have a couple of community theaters, one celebrating its 80th year & the other in its 30th, and the U of Oregon's Department of Theatre boasts a revamped traditional space and a new flexible/black box space. The community college, whose program was slashed, puts on surprisingly strong performances supported almost entirely by the Student Productions Association and some strong instructors.

Meanwhile, I'll just mention a couple of things in the very busy, hip city to our north. Portland, Portland Center Stage has two shows going on right now, one of which is an "autobiographical rock and roll musical." (I posted photos of it, and a laudatory paragraph about PCS' social media savvy, here.) Unfortunately, PCS is also having budget problems, which led to PCS laying off its literary department on Monday (lots of interesting discussion in the comments to that blog post).

The Miracle Theatre Group, which focuses on Latino arts and culture, is celebrating 25 years in Portland, and I'm pleased to say they have a Twitter feed and a show opening this weekend. Portland's Artists Rep opens Distracted April 17, and I'm popping up the highway for that. (Will try to remember to cross-post the review!)

That's a small taste of what's happening in Oregon. I'm looking forward to meeting you all and hearing your questions, comments, etc. It's always fascinating to find out what's going on behind the scenes for those of us who only see a fraction of what happens when the curtain goes up.

*I know you call it Ore Shakes in the theater world, and I'll try to do that, but news folks usually go with the shortest possible abbreviation. So bear with me!

My Personal Theatre History

2009-04-01T02:07:58.000Z

LAST SHOW ADDED TO YOUR RESUME:
Tech show would be Gaelic Storm, I was backstage and did some light prep. Performance would be The Pirates of Penzance, I played Edith.

LAST SHOW YOU AUDITIONED FOR:
Romeo and Juliet

DID YOU GET IT:
Unfortunatly no, but there are more auditions down the road.

LAST SONG YOU USED AT AN AUDITION:
Every Story is a Love Story from Aida

FAVORITE MUSICAL(s):
Into the Woods for sure, but there are tons that I enjoy.

FAVORITE PLAY(s):
I don't really have one at this point, but if I had to choose, I'd say Shakespeare's "Midsummer Night's Dream" or "Much Ado About Nothing."

FAVORITE OPERA(s):
"Die Fleidermaus" (sp?)

FAVORITE ROLE YOU'VE PLAYED, AND FROM WHAT SHOW?:
Edith in Pirates of Penzance

FAVORITE ROLE OVERALL THAT I WOULD LOVE TO PLAY:
The Witch or the Baker's Wife in Into the Woods

SUPERSTITION:
Don't say Macbeth in the performance space!

YOUR GOAL IN SHOW BUSINESS:
To never lose the fun in acting

WHAT WAS YOUR VERY FIRST SHOW?:
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. I was in 4th grade and was in the Children's Chorus.

HAVE YOU EVER HAD A DANCE SOLO?:
Yes, a few times. The most recent was in Aida

HAVE YOU EVER HAD A SINGING SOLO?:
Yes quite a few times, the most recent being in Pirates

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN THE LAST PERSON TO TAKE A BOW?:
Only once, and it was one of the best moments of my life

HAVE YOU BEEN TO NY?
Once

HAVE YOU BEEN TO LA?
Not yet

WHAT'S THE SCARIEST PART OF AN AUDITION?
Walking in. First impressions are so incredibly important.

WHAT'S THE BEST PART OF AN AUDITION?
Starting, because then I can forget about everything but the moment I'm playing

NAME A SHOW YOU WOULD NEVER DO AGAIN:
Never say never. I'll do any show. No matter the show, the experience will always be different.

NAME A SHOW YOU COULD DO FOR YEARS:
Probably anything, really.

WHAT ARE YOU AUDITIONING FOR NEXT?
Grease

DO YOU KEEP IN TOUCH WITH PAST CAST MEMBERS?
Absolutely!

ON A SCALE OF 1-10, HOW IMPORTANT IS GETTING PAID?
At this point in my life, it's a 1 because I'm still in school. However, when I'm trying to make a living off of acting, it'll be a 10 haha

SOMETHING EMBARRASSING OR UNEXPECTED THAT HAPPENED TO YOU WHILE ON-STAGE?:
In Beauty and the Beast, the transformation was basically the beast taking off his wig and wiping off his makeup super quickly. As Belle, I had to kiss him shortly after, and one night he hadn't gotten all of the brown off of his nose, and it smeared onto my cheek!

WHO IS THE MOST DIFFICULT PERSON (ON STAGE OR OFF) THAT YOU HAVE EVER WORKED WITH?:
Myself

EVER BEEN NAKED ONSTAGE?:
Nope

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN KILLED?:
Not to my knowledge. You never know though, there could have been some amazing techie saves that I was completely unaware of!

BEEN DRUNK?:
I've played drunk in a student-run production of Romeo, You Idiot!

PLAYED SOMEONE HALF YOUR AGE?:
Yep.

PLAYED SOMEONE TWICE YOUR AGE?:
In high school, yeah. I was the old woman in Twelve Angry Jurors

CRIED?:
A couple times

FIRED A GUN?
Not on stage, no

BEEN DRENCHED?
In sweat...lol

BEEN IN A DREAM SEQUENCE?
Yes

BEEN KISSED ON STAGE?
A few times, yeah

Love it

2009-03-31T04:33:40.000Z

It really just warms my heart that this sort of thing (Theatreface) exists. This coming together of people everywhere that do and love the same things I do. I read some of the blogs and find them to sound like conversations and thoughts I've had so many times. I enjoy Facebook a great deal but this is actually even better for me! Love it!

New Edition of Concert Lighting by James Moody to be Released in Sept.

2009-03-31T21:42:42.000Z

Just a HEAD UP. My 3rd edition of Concert Lighting: Art, Techniques, and Business will be out in time for LDI in Nov. I will be there signing copies as well as atUSITT where I will also chair a Super Session on Concert Lighting (Wed. tme?) This edition is greatly expaned to cover Digital lighting, LEDs, Protocols and much more.
Jim Moody

Lighting 101 - Part 2 Webinar

2009-03-28T14:04:38.000Z

View This Invitation In Your Browser

Lighting Design 101: Part II
April 16, 2009
In this followup to the previous Lighting Design webinar, Richard Cadena (editor of PLSN, ETCP recognized trainer, and author of entertainment lighting books such asElectricity for the Entertainment Electrician and Technician), and lighting designer Jeff Ravitz (Bruce Springsteen, the Black Eyed Peas, Dave Matthews) discuss how each of them would approach the same project.
Topics include:
• Lighting instruments, positions, and purpose
• Plotting, modeling, rendering, and visualization
• Color combining and scene building
• Programming and playback
Don't miss out on this free session. Sign up today!
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The Theatre Experience

2009-03-27T20:13:58.000Z

LAST SHOW ADDED TO YOUR RESUME:
Confluence by John Bishop... Fabulous show and I was directed by a fabulous director, Trevor Belt.

LAST SHOW YOU AUDITIONED FOR:
The children's show "Winnie the Pooh"

DID YOU GET IT:
Unfortunatly no, but that's the way the cookie crumbles.

LAST SONG YOU USED AT AN AUDITION:
Now That I've Seen Her from Miss Saigon!!

FAVORITE MUSICAL(s):
Too many to count, but right now I'm sort of in love with "Into the Woods" and "Singin in the Rain."

FAVORITE PLAY(s):
I like a lot of Neil simon, Adam Rapp, and Neil Labute. A specific favorite would be Streetcar Named Desire. Love it.

FAVORITE OPERA(s):
"Carmen" because it's the only one I've seen, but I liked it.

FAVORITE ROLE YOU'VE PLAYED, AND FROM WHAT SHOW?:
I loved playing Chris Gorman in Rumors by Neil Simon.

FAVORITE ROLE OVERALL THAT I WOULD LOVE TO PLAY:
Mrs.Lovett in Sweeny Todd, that bitch is crazy :)

SUPERSTITION:
None really, I just believe in karma...I knock on wood a lot. And I do believe in the Highlander knifes myth at UCM.

YOUR GOAL IN SHOW BUSINESS:
To be able to support myself by acting and not starve in the process

WHAT WAS YOUR VERY FIRST SHOW?:
My first real show was in the seventh grade and I played a beat up kid in the highschool's production.

HAVE YOU EVER HAD A DANCE SOLO?:
Yes... several times, my latest was in "Cabaret" at UCM

HAVE YOU EVER HAD A SINGING SOLO?:
Several times... These are my favorite

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN THE LAST PERSON TO TAKE A BOW?:
Yes a couple times... It's always a good feeling to walk out on stage and see all of the cast waiting for you to join them :)

HAVE YOU BEEN TO NY?
Nope

HAVE YOU BEEN TO LA?
Nope

WHAT'S THE SCARIEST PART OF AN AUDITION?
Usually it's the song audition that's the scariest. Cold reads don't give me much of an anxiety attack, but it's all stressful

WHAT'S THE BEST PART OF AN AUDITION?
When you come out feeling like you really nailed it and it doesn't matter if you get the part cause you just gave a kick-ass audition and you know it!

NAME A SHOW YOU WOULD NEVER DO AGAIN:
High School Musical... Yes I was in Highschool musical

NAME A SHOW YOU COULD DO FOR YEARS:
If I was given the opportunity to do a show for years I would do anything you wanted me to.

WHAT ARE YOU AUDITIONING FOR NEXT?
Well hopefully something my agent hooks me up with

DO YOU KEEP IN TOUCH WITH PAST CAST MEMBERS?:
YES! I love my theatre friends and it's a great way to find out about new theatre opportunities

ON A SCALE OF 1-10, HOW IMPORTANT IS GETTING PAID?
Sadly, I would do theatre if I made absolutely no money, because just getting the applause at the end of a great performance is enough to satisfy me.... money's a nice bonus if it comes along.

SOMETHING EMBARRASSING OR UNEXPECTED THAT HAPPENED TO YOU WHILE ON-STAGE?:
In high school, the door fell off when I was walking through it... not cool.

WHO IS THE MOST DIFFICULT PERSON (ON STAGE OR OFF) THAT YOU HAVE EVER WORKED WITH?:
I'm not at liberty to say

EVER BEEN NAKED ONSTAGE?:
almost... Cabaret came pretty close

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN KILLED?:
Don't think so.

BEEN DRUNK?:
YES! It's so much fun playing drunk... it's almost as good as the real thing.

PLAYED SOMEONE HALF YOUR AGE?:
All the time, cause I look like I'm twelve

PLAYED SOMEONE TWICE YOUR AGE?:
Only in High School

CRIED?:
Yeah a couple times

FIRED A GUN?
Nope

BEEN DRENCHED?
I wish lol

BEEN IN A DREAM SEQUENCE?
No I'm not a big fan of dream sequences

BEEN KISSED ON STAGE?
OMG ALL THE TIME... like every role... it's getting a bit ridiculous

Your turn...

Flood:

2009-03-25T06:30:00.000Z

So, as busy(and awesome) as USITT was, I don't get a break coming home, or even just get to go back to my usual schedule.

We drove to USITT this year and left on Sunday morning to go home. We stopped in Minneapolis because we had to pick up prop/costume rentals from the Chanhassen Dinner Theatre for our upcoming production of "The Producers". We did our pickup at 9:15am. The 4 of us in the car had to do all the loading of set pieces and costumes into the truck. We didn't get on the road until about noon, which meant we got into Moorhead at 4pm. All last week we were hearing about the flood that was coming our way. Well, it's close. We're in trouble. All classes have been cancelled for the 3 colleges in the Fargo/Moorhead area all week so the students can go help sandbag. The amount of sandbags needed went from 1 million to 2 million within a day or so. I couldn't help on Monday since I got back at 4 and had to be at rehearsal at 7. I'm also dealing with a bad head cold right now. Today, my roommate, a couple friends of ours, and I went to the Fargodome to help fill sandbags. We only worked for about 2 hours but probably filled over 200 bags. We're all going back tomorrow at 10am to help as long as we can.

I was around during the 1997 flood in Grand Forks. (Look it up on google if you don't know.) Flood stage is 18 feet. Currently, the Red River is at 33.27 feet. Our dike can hold up to 40 feet. The projected river crest is between 39-41 feet by Friday. I'm watching the news right now and there are aerial photos of the water and a family whose only transportation from their house is by boat. This is real.

Oh, and also, it's raining outside right now. Rain turning to snow forecast for tomorrow. Western North Dakota - Dickinson - had 18 inches of snow with the blizzard from this past weekend. Interstate between Dickinson and Bismarck is closed.

You know what they say... "When it rains...

Tech Directors with beards.

2009-03-25T17:20:36.000Z

One of my students asked me the other day, "Why do all tech teachers have beards?". My response was "not all of them do... " But then I got to thinking about it and aside from all the wonderful and talented tech teachers that are women, all the males I know that teach tech have beards, and over 75% of them wear galsses, and are a bit on the heavy side. When we play Bob and Marti Fowler's DVDs in my class, people always ask me if he's my brother. Weird Huh?

Flood update:

2009-03-27T20:22:56.000Z

I just evacuated my half-basement apartment in Moorhead, MN. They evacuated Concordia College and Minn. State-Moorhead campuses. They're calling for voluntary evacuation in a lot of the city. The river is at 40.75 feet.

Flying Through USITT - Share Your Pics!

2009-03-24T14:30:00.000Z

Whew! OK, so now that I have my feet back underneath me after a jam-packed USITT weekend, it's time to write about how I got swept away. (The pic to the left is the Ocean Optics bumble-bee flying at the ZFX booth -- he flew while playing a ukelele and singing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow.")

Some of the most popular booths at USITT are the ones for flying companies. What's not to like? You've got people of varying skill levels flying through the air while the professional handlers of each company try to teach them tricks. You walk through the show and suddenly hear some shrieks, followed by uncontrollable laughter, look up, and there's usually someone getting their first taste of flying.

It was my intent to try and hit each of the three booths doing the flying (ZFX, Hall and Associates Flying Effects, Flying by Foy) and go up on their rigs, but it quickly became apparent that there were just too many people interested in flying, and too many places for me to be, so I wouldn't be able to personally fly at each of the booths. So I enlisted some help from my friends on the floor, and off we went!

The first place I hit was ZFX. They're a fun bunch -- the utilikilt is their unofficial uniform, and apparently it got them a few free rounds in some of the bars near the convention.

This is them hoisting me into the air. After some careful adjustment the rig wasn't too uncomfortable.

To be honest, when I first started flying around, I felt (and looked, obviously) a little lame. I wasn't quite getting the hang of it, and couldn't find the right "happy thoughts" I guess to make it really seem natural. And that's when someone from the ZFX flying team said that flying was less about Mick Jagger, and more about Bon Jovi. Suddenly, thinking about hair metal made it all much easier.

I still may have *looked* lame (that's for you to judge) but at least I felt a lot cooler -- suddenly it was a lot more fun, flying through the air, pretending I was a rock god.

Then we did a little physics trick by spinning me around, and having me speed up and slow down the spin by extending my arms and pulling them into my body. I'm not sure exactly what principle about motion that demonstrates, but it did it well, I was very dizzy when I finally came down to ground.

Later in the day Jess from Vectorworks (http://www.theatreface.com/profile/VectorJess) headed over to the Hall and Associates effects to try out their flying contraption. She was a little nervous to try it out, but had a great time.

Tracy taught her how to do some somersaults, and if you followed the Twitters stream you know: "Doing backward somersaults was exhilarating and a bit scary."

Last booth to offer flying was Flying by Foy, naturally enough. They didn't focus so much on getting people into harnesses, so they rigged up a hot air balloon basket and focused on how easy their system was for anyone to operate, showing off the controls as they lifted people off the ground with minimal effort. My co-worker Greg, pictured here, is a big scaredy-cat, so this is the only booth he agreed to fly in.

And that's it! Now, I know that lot's more people flew at these booths over the weekend, and even took pictures (digital cameras EVERYWHERE) -- so share them here! Post up a reply to this post and include your best flying shots from USITT. You can't look any geekier than me, I guarantee.

Congrats to the Apollo Creative F/X Challenge Winners!

2009-03-21T17:39:53.000Z

Apollo announced the winners of their Creative F/X Challenge, where students were challenged to use Apollo gels, gobos, dichroics, textured glass and rotators to create a cool visual effect at USITT. Without further ado, here were the winners!

Third place, Jessica Balfour, of Florida Southern College for her "Starry Night" effect. Apollo liked its multiple colors, its nice motion, and its practicality.

Second Place went to Mason Ford from the Cincinnati School for Creative and Performing Arts for his effect entitled "Stoner's Dream." Apollo thought it was fun, and had good motion and a good use of color.

And First place, with $1500 of Apollo gear going to the school of the winner's choice, went to Charles Aleshire of Ohio State University. They thought his design, entitled "Glactology," had a lot of very different looks, was extremely practical, and inexpensive. Charles actually requested that the winnings go to his high school, Upper Arlington H.S. in Columbus, Ohio.

Congrats to all who participacted!

Saturday Morning Pics at USITT

2009-03-21T16:30:00.000Z

Some pics from Saturday morning at USITT. I've been posting them throughout the day to my photo feed, but here's some more and some highlights. First one there is the the winning Tech Olympics team from UNC School of the Arts.

Ocean Optics had their bumble-bee flying over at ZFX, playing the ukelele and singing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" It was hysterical, but it meant . . .

That I had to resort to some hair-metal theatrics to make my flight interesting. (I'm trying to channel Bon Jovi.)

I managed to re-connect with Susan and Hillary at Period Corsets, and Steve at Lycian, showing off the new Mini-Arc.

And Greg Gallardo filled out the second leg of the Flying Tour, going up in Foy's Wizard of Oz basket.

Ask Cirque du Soleil Session - Saturday 3/21 8 a.m.

2009-03-21T13:25:37.000Z

Finally found the Ask Cirque du Soleil session. . . I know I missed some questions. If anyone was there and knows what I missed -- please add in the comments!

Question: With Int'l casts -- do language barriers cause safety issues?

Official "call" language of show is English. But this was problem in Japan. B/c all staff was Japanese and they didn't speak English -- so they had to find bilingual SM's. After much discussion, they decided to call show in English, b/c JApanese could learn "go" or "1" -- but SM's still have to know Japanese for specials. It is a barrier, but they provide ways around the barrier -- on Love they have English classes every week. ESL classes in the buildings to learn. French spoken during load-in, but once it hits Clear-Com, language is English.

Question: Where does everything get built?

USe outside sources to build outside props and pieces, some shows (like O) have small shops onsite for maintenance. O has one "hell of a laundry" room, it's majority of their space. Zumanity has a very small and very well-thought-out costume shop. "Briliant use of space." Majority of costumes made in MOntreal or outsourced. No centralized shop for props or scenic pieces. When renovating Ka theatre, they built a 6-story annex to house office, power plant, etc. So they have a good maintenance fab shop there.

Question: Physical appearance guidelines for Cirque, like theme parks?

Depends on where you go. Hotels have specific appearance rules, but might not enforce them. They might ask you to change them, and Cirque can't stop them. On tours, less strict, but they still like their employees to be presentable." Whatever that may be. Any time you join a professional organization -- you have to think about how you're presenting yoourself, adn how they'll react.

B/c of gaming laws in Nevada employees must pass drug laws and background check.

Resident division in Vegas in partnership with MGM/Mirage and Ruffen. So technicians that run shows, are actual employees of the MGM/Mirage and Ruffen corp. Great opps, great bennies. But all technicians are looked at as Cirque employees, and Cirque recognizes seniority on shows, not just looking at you as hotel employee. Cirque doesn't exclude you.

Question: re: wardrobe -- any special considerations on picking fabrics in terms of flying or chlorine? How long do costumes last?

Lots. Trying to keep costumes looking good as possible, for cost reasons. O has tested everything possible that will last in water. During creation, have to look at it from operations perspective, and serving the artist, who are given no boundaries. From perspective of show -- have to look at how it is maintained. Lot of collaborating and fighting and trial and error -- if costume only lasts one use on stage, have to find new costume. A lot of fabric mills have closed i this world . For 8 years, O had no problems with fabric -- then a mill closed. And now there's major problems trying to source the fabric. You never stop trying to find what you need.

Same thing with netting. Mill in Alabama went out of business.

Question: How do you deal with show changing up to 1/2 hour before curtain -- how do you deal with that?

Zumanity is most flexible of shows, b/c based around single artists as oppsoed to team. There are several scripts. They have plans for each possibility of show. Anything they do once, they document, so they have the ability to practice it to do again.

Ka and Love are unique, b/c Love is based on music that doesn't change, and runs on time code, and songs happen in order every day. So if they have to change anything, they decide what to do 1 hour before show -- including not having artist on stage, and just playing music. On Ka, a live band can vamp. When Ka has an automation issue, SM can tell conductor who will let musicians know, and arrange show as he plays. On Mystere and others, artists have in-ear monitors so they can speak to artists to tell them to vamp or move ot alternate plan. "And if all else fails, send out the clowns."

Question: What strategies do you use on long-running shows to give same show?

ARtistic staff has coaches and a resident show artistic director to work with artists on daily basis. Notes between shows. Technically, designers come back on occasion to take notes and make adjustments. B/c artists are teams, and they'll keep training and see what they can extend what they can do artistically, learning new tricks. That's how the show evolves - people get better adn try new things. Which is exciting.

Question: How many SM's per show?

Varies. 4-6 generally.

Question: How do yuo split up SM jobs?

For all shows in Vegas, all the teams share all duties across the board. An ASM does not call, only SM. All other duties, running tracks, shared on rotation basis. No one person is in charge. General SM oversees SM dep't.

Question: re: Criss Angel show, was it hard to collaborate?

None of panel there for creation, but everything Crique does is new and different. So it's always acompletely different thing. Love, working with Beatles was a challenge. Everything is a new challenge.

Question: How much time does pre-show setup take?

Mystere -- 1/2 hour setup, 15 minute turn-around. Ka, pre-set 4:30-5:10. 22 min to reset between shows. Mystere SM's come in 3 hours before show to work on lineup. On Love, 8 a.m.-4 p.m. day staff, 4 p.m. is show staff. Theatres active for 16 hours/day. 8 hours during day, inspection. 3 shifts at O. Mainentance, training, show. At Love, lights are never off.

Question: What is rotation schedule like on SM team?

Varies show to show. On Ka, 5 calling SM's, so each calls 1/wk. On Zumanity, 3 SMs, so they rotate more often.

Last Question: For wardrobe -- what's budget? How do you deal with it?

Much laughter. Wardrobe has an "extremely large" operational budget. Didn't go into actual numbers, but it's a huge challenge to manage, lots of accounting and management to do with it.

USITT Day Two Round-Up!

2009-03-21T03:46:02.000Z

Started the day out with a session on rigging and safe sets. You can read about it here. Boring picture, but interesting subject. Presentation really picked up once they started sharing horror stories. Steppenwolf, you got it in a bad way.

On the way back to my booth saw they had fired up the low fog at MDG. I love the smell of fog in the morning. It smells like, it smells like victory.

The first expo floor opening of the morning is always busy, so I walked around and took some snaps. This is my fave pic of the day - a couple Rosco gobos.

I made a general pest of myself at the ETC booth today, too. I distracted David here asking about their new Element console, but Sarah Clausen was kind enough to walk me through it. I won't repeat it all here in the round up -- check out the story to the right in the SD news box for the full specs. I will say that as Sarah told me, it's definitely a board with "the modern vocabulary in a less intimidating product." LEDs, scrollers, movers, in a board that still feels like the Express. (And with USB ports! No more floppies, hurrah!)

I walked the floor and talked to friends old and new. Learned a few things (Irwin Seating is more than 100+ years old, and still family owned. Pres. is third generation of family.) I also visited the castle/cathedral of Nethercraft. They're new to the this year and had some interesting wall coverings, bricks, stone and Egyptian.

For lunch I stopped in at the Vectorworks tweetup party. Thanks @vectorworks!

The afternoon I spent walking around and talking with folks, you can check out my photo stream here for the full run down of who I met with.

On the way out we walked past the ETC student session, a sea of seated students. . .

Lastly, headed out to the BMI Tweetup with @Carl_BMI.

Come back tomorrrow and be sure and check out the Great 2009 Fly-Off!

Promote Safe Sets Class, Friday 3/20, 8 a.m.

2009-03-20T13:30:00.000Z

Cross posted to the USITT Group -- you can check that out here: www.theatreface.com/group/unitedstatesinstitutefortheatretechnology.

Came a little late to the session, so missed a bit of the presentation, but managed to come in just in time to hear about how to keep system and people maintained.

Steps to promote safe sets and motorized rigging.

1 - do it again.
2 - train
2 - Know your system and do it again.

1 - Do it again
Inspectors should leave sign about when inspection was done, and when the next one is due.

Big shift from counter-weight to motorized, but you lose feel of line, and don't get as much info about the line. Motors are dumb. need people to look at this.

JR Clancy has added servcie indicators to their motor controls that come on after 1 year -- a "check engine" light to make sure you get system inspected.

Ask if your manufacturer offers longer warranties based on regular inspections.

2 - Train. Combine training with annual inspection to avoid brain drain and make sure the correct info is being passed along. Keep manuals available and accessible. Recommends Jay Glarum's book Stage Rigging Handbook. Has a lot of good basic info, and can teach a little about inspections. Also, authorization -- keep a log book of who is trained, and who is allowed to do what. Videotape training so people can watch.

3 - Know your system.
Looking, feeling and listening. Look over every piece of equipment before using it every day.

4 - Signage/Warnings
"the supervisor that never leaves."

I gotta tell you, this info is good, but man, at 8 a.m., this is a dry session.

Eric McAfee challenging people to take all the free info, free warning labels available online and use them, place them into your system. "Take whatever steps possible to make your theatre a safer place."

Open up to questions -- Van Phillips asked audience how many people had check load ratings on battens, individual load ratings on a down line. Sharing a story about the sequential failure of down lines on a batten. "Just like a machine gun" too fast to run. *Distributed* weight load -- not just how much a batten can sustain, but how much each point can sustain.

Question: if you have an older system that doesn't have load lifts indicated, will an inspection give me that?

It could, if you ask for it. Will take longer and cost more. There are levels of inspection.

Q: How much to rigging insptection costs?

Depends on who you have doing it. Older your stage space is, the least likely they'll charge you, b/c they'll be looking to replace your gear. But if you get someone who just does inspections, it'll cost more, b/c all they're doing is inspection. Woman in audience just had rigging inspection done, got quotes from $700 to $2000. Be careful about hwat you're inspecting, b/c fire curtain inspection not necessarily included. Recommended having a thorough inspection, not just motors - like going upstairs and checking on beams. There are other indicators. "Structural Steel is not to be overlooked." "I do theatre 101 with architects and engineers on a daily basis, and frequently I have seen . . . where they ahve installed rigging systems that don't have any real idea about loads that go into buildings." Eric's seen systems where the head beam buckles before there's even any weight on the linesets. . . 4 of 5 projects one summer architects had to re-engineer b/c they had no idea about the actual weight loads that would go into it.

Full inspections of rigging systems adn fire curtain take more than a couple hours. If someone tells you otherwise, find someone else.

Q: What's a good way to gauge load? How do I know how much my set weighs?

Couple different ways. What's raw materials? Do the math. Other way is to get industrial scales. If you're haningn something, you ned ot know how much it is that you're hanging. You have to know your stuff. It's possible to build a wall that will exceed system's capacity.

If you went into old union houses there was always someone who was the load master. They stood on stage and decided how much weight they'd start with on each batten as they loaded it. They were quite good with pure experience.

Add materials is still an approximation b/c of variables (paint, screws, humidity). Load sensing can also check weight on line, so you can use -- but do with safety, b/c first time you fly, you'll be doing it dumb. Take load just off the floor, don't have a lot of people around.

Don't use counterweight system as scale, as there's difference between weights, etc.

Things are much more interesting now that people are sharing war stories.

Lot of debate going on right now about fire curtains. Some people say we don't need them with fully sprinklered buildings, or less combustible materials. How many people seen smoke release hatches changed closed? How many people know fire curtains don't work?

If you have a safety system, you have to be sure it works.

They toured Steppenwolf a few weeks back, and their fire curtain had three different fail points -- curtain had been washed to get rid of fire-proofing, line had already been pulled by actor (so it wouldn't work if pulled again) and set was blocking fire curtain line, so it wouldn't have come down anyways.

Last question -- comment on British tradition of fire curtain being down til half hour. Second: Talk to Fire Marshall. B/c State of California had exempted itself from following fire code. They developed their own. But b/c theatres such a tiny audience, they hadn't dealt with certain issues yet, until professors/theatre admins asked.

re: fire curtain. they still do that in Chicago. Don't raise it until house is open -- so people see it, and see that it's working. Test every day.