We're Free!

Well, I guess there's only the last two days to update on.

It's kind of sad.

Wednesday we were back at the Ex-Hall, still working on the PRG boxes. We started the day at 8am as planned. We finally had the forklift we needed so we could stack things and make them fit. We started with the cable boxes - those things are heavy, but fit way better stacked. So the forklift got it done for us. Jarrod drove the forklift while the rest of us worked on getting the boxes in to place, lined up with each other, and made sure the wheels landed in the wheel cups so the boxes wouldn't roll off of each other during transportation.

All the stacking got done pretty quickly, so we had a little bit of down time until the first truck came, so Sean and I started working on the boxes that were missing things. Andy had a few things to drop off, so we were able to complete a few and we had to recount a few others and found some flaws in the count.

Then the truck came. But, when we planned for a truck 52 feet in length, 8.5ft in width and 94 inches tall...the truck wasn't actually that size. I guess there was already something packed in the truck, and  the doors closed a foot or two inside what counted for the length of the truck. So we lost a lot of room. The three truck loads were already going to be  tight squeeze, and we were already thinking we'd have to order another truck, so losing room on the first truck was not a good sign.

Although we had spent a bunch of time organizing the pack and planning out how all of the boxes would fix together, the plan was barely used. We packed all of the orchestra pieces in first, and then pulled the video material from the back of the plan and pushed it closer to the nose. Then came the cable crates and unit boxes and what not. We had one of the SP electricians come and drive the forklift while Chris and Katie were in the truck packing things in. Sean's and my job was to bring everything from the Ex-Hall to the loading dock and then help Amber (the SP) line everything up on the forklift. It took us an hour and 40 minutes to get the whole thing packed, but we got most of the boxes and everything on to the truck. There were a few unit boxes and some other small things that didn't fit, but it was better than we'd thought it would have been.

After that, we worked on reorganizing the second truck load that was to come in the morning and planned out the third truck, which would only be a half truck. We got two final drop offs - one from the Dock Street Theatre and one from the Memminger. They had a few complete boxes and a lot of boxes missing things, but what they were missing was not the things we had in out miscellaneous pile. We had to recount a few of the mult boxes and make sure the break ins and break out tallies were correct - and we found a few errors so that solved those problems. And then there was the case of the missing cable. We were missing a few Edison plugs and a few lengths of mult and DMX. and we had some extra mult. So Jarrod worked out a plan to reorganize where the extra things went, and then called Andy to make sure it was okay that some things weren't accounted for. Eventually, we just packed everything away and put some extra units in the unit boxes and reorganized the cable and called it complete. Odds are, the missing cable was just miscounted in to a box and so it wasn't accounted for in the paperwork or something. Eventually it would all make it back to PRG.

We were scheduled to have another truck come in in the afternoon, so we'd only have 2 trucks to do the next day. But it got canceled - the company didn't have a truck available to come do a pick up. So we spent the end of the evening stacking the new shipment and finished the boxes and generally cleaning up the ex-hall. We would be back in the next day at 8am, doing three truck loads. one at 8am, one at 11am, and one at 4pm.  It was going to be a long day.

Or so we thought.

We got in at 8am. Everyone was dragging. But Jarrod was on the phone - and when he got off the phone, there were new plans to be set up. The 8am and the 11am trucks were nonexistent. They weren't coming. So we had to find new jobs to do, and luckily, there were jobs to be had.

Hello, more days as an SP. Though this day wasn't have as long and arduous as the other.

We started at the Memminger, helping them strike what was left of the production party we'd had there the night before. Katie and I gathered all the tales that had been put out - they 13 that had to be found and stacked in the van and taken back to the ex-hall. Then we had to take out the left over wine and beer, clean the coolers, clean the food trays - basic party clean up. It wasn't too terrible. After that, we were off to the production office to find more work.

Katie got commissioned to drive trucks back to the rental place all day. Sean stayed to help the office people strike the production office so it could return to being the Gaillard Green Room. Chris, Jarrod and I got the wonderful assignment of going to the shop and helping out the SPs.

When we got there they put us right to work. I started easy - just cleaning and bagging all the coolers that were coming back from the work sites. Then, I got to put them in a loft above the garage door. That was kind of fun. Tom picked up a flat on a fork lift, we loaded to coolers on, and then I got to ride it up to the loft and put everything away. I'm starting to get more and more used to heights. I've a long way to go before I'm totally comfortable, but I take a few more risks here and there (safe ones though).

After that, it was time to start loading trucks to send equipment back. Basically what we'd been doing at the ex-hall, but not PRG. We moved tons of truss from a storage car to the shop to the truck. We also had to push boxes of 1-ton motors from the shop on to the truck - meaning heavy equipment packed in to little boxes getting pushed up a pretty steep incline. It was all I could do not to let the box win and bowl me over on it's way back down the ramp. But with enough people working on it we had no difficulties like that. People were observant enough to realize when someone needed help controlling the massive amounts of weight we were working with.

About the time we were finishing that truck, another truck with wardrobe came to be unloaded. It was right before lunch, so everyone jumped right in, ready to get it done so we could all go to break. The carts were a lot heavier than I expected and I tried to push it down the load ramp, instead of pull it so i could be in front of it and stop it. So it went out of control and almost hit one of the other guys working on the unload. It was kind of scary, but no one got hurt. Just the carts got bumped around a bit. But I learned my lesson. Always push on the front side because the carts will roll themselves down the ramp and they just need you to control and stop them.

After that, it was time for lunch and then off to the Ex-Hall for the truck that got moved forward from 4pm to 2pm. Luckily, this truck was the proper size and had fold doors rather than the sliding door and we didn't lose any room at all. The pack went incredibly smoothly and we actually fit extra stuff in. We had Chris and Katie in the truck again, Jarrod calling, and me, Sean, Rebecca, and Andrew (the last two being extra SPs) loading from the ground while Amber drove the forklift. Everything works really nicely when you have a system and hard workers.

Once that was done, we headed over to the Memminger again. they were setting up chairs after having struck the rest of the theatre. The whole theatre is basically a HUGE black box. The risers for the seats an be set up anywhere and then seats then set up in any configuration, as the chairs and the feet are separate and just need to be set together. We had worked with the Memminger chairs at the Robinson, so once the TD there told us the pattern, I was able to help people put things together using the system we had developed there. Set one side and bring the foot up to the other leg and then set it, rather than trying to set both the legs in the feet on the ground. There was a minor issue with centering the chairs and getting the pattern right, but the TD and everyone eventually figured it out and we got rolling once again. Once it was all set, we just did clean up. We put the extra hardware away and worked on sweeping the floors and putting the theatre back to the way it had been before Spoleto had gotten there.

After that, though we really wanted to go back to the Ex-Hall and finish packing everything out, everyone was sent back to the shop. The offices and departments that had been spending the whole packing up were now having their trucks arrive at the shop to be unloaded. We had everything from printers and copiers to wooden desks still holding paperwork to boxes of electrics material. Everything needed to be sorted and put away in the proper places in the shop. A lot of things went in to storage cars, locked up until the next year when they would be needed again.

Eventually, Katie, Chris and I were sent back to the Ex-Hall to pack the extra boxes that didn't get shipped back to the PRG in to Robert's truck to be stored at the shop until the next week. We were sent with 3 or 4 other SPs in order to get it done, rather than being sent with Jarrod and having it called like the other packs we had been doing. Instead, Robert a few other SPs planned to take the heavier boxes and put them in the front, following with the medium weight and putting the lightest in the back. We had just spent the end of the last day making sure the pack would fit and then it was pulled completely out of order to be put in to Robert's truck. Everything still fit, it was just different. We had worked out a system with Jarrod and we all knew what was going on, but everything we'd worked out on our own was moot while working with the SPs because they had their own ideas on how to pack the truck and getting everything accomplished efficiently. Both ways worked.

Once it was all packed in, we followed the truck back to the shop to unload everything was had just packed it to it. There was one scary moment when we noticed that we had packed all of the heavy cable crates in to the right side of the truck, causing to sit a little lopsided. When Robert drove around the corner, I swear the truck almost tipped. Chris and Robert said they were scared about it too while they were driving. So that's another good lesson to know...plan your packs to they sit evenly across the truck and it sits flat on it's tires and on the road, rather than being crooked.

But the truck got to the shop safely and was unloaded quickly. We fork lifted most of the boxes out of it rather than pushing them down the steep load ramp - but we did attempt a few. It took four people to do it while keeping the boxes under control. 2 at the front and 2 at the back. Everyone was extremely careful because the boxes were so heavy - one wrong step could cause an out of control box followed by a lot of damage and injuries.

Once the truck was unloaded, many people were simply working on organizing everything in the shop. The rest of us with less knowledge of where things went, were left to sweep the floors and make everything look nice and clean. Tedious work because of all the dust, dirt, and sawdust in the shop  - but it had to be done and we all wanted to go home so we worked pretty hard.

Once the shop was clean...we were released for good. Out of contract.
All of the theatres had been struck that day or a few days in advance. The last thing to put together was the shop - the head quarters of the festival besides the offices. All the equipment needed to be stored properly so it would last through to the next year and everything needed to be clean so it would remain in good shape. It took everyone who was left at the festival working together in order to get it done in a timely fashion and we were all eager to help and go home.

The final release was incredible and so worth it. We all knew we'd worked hard and we had all learned and grown so much. No one really wanted to leave and go home, but everyone was relieved to be able to shut their alarms off and not go to work in the morning. We were all ready to kick back and relax in the beauty of Charleston.

This whole experience has been incredible and I am so glad that I did it. I am so much more confident in my work as an electrician and I can't wait to start working back at SVSU and start applying everything I have learned.

I have met so many cool people and wonderful contacts and connections that I can use in the future--it's been real. I will miss everyone and everything down here in South Carolina, and I can't wait to come back.

Counting In

Well, today started the big PRG count in.

The day started off really slow. There were a few sets of road boxes already at the Ex-Hall. We sorted them by which ones were complete and which were incomplete. Then, the sized of the truck is taped out on the floor. So we organized the first truck load in the outline in order to get a feel for where we were. Then, we took the sets of miscellaneous rental pieces that needed to go into their proper boxes and started completing the boxes that were incomplete (A box is missing a source 4 from the Gag, so we find a miscellaneous source 4 and put it in, etc). Then from there, the newly completed get arranged on the truck and we continue on our way. But we ran out of miscellaneous supplies to complete the boxes, and we didn't get any new truck loads so we did a lot of waiting for the trucks to come. We got two spaced really far apart before lunch, but that was it. So the morning was pretty easy.

Then, we came back from lunch and had a lounging early afternoon, until 4 or 5. Then the big trucks started coming. We got three truck loads within 30 minutes of each other. So we were pulling boxes off the trucks and pushing them in to the hall for a while and it was pretty exhausting. Some of those boxes are heavy. Throughout this, Andy the lighting coordinator was bringing us loads of miscellaneous items from various theaters that needed to be matched with their rental boxes, so we had a lot of incomplete boxes that we were able to work on. The whole process tested my knowledge of instrument names and equipment and cable names, as everything was labeled and we just had to find it. It was also good to watch the system that Jarrod used to check off the shipments we were getting and fill the boxes and make sure everything went to the right place. It's all stuff that could come in handy as a stage manager - or even as an electrician if I ever have to work with rental lighting equipment.

But most of the day, besides the counting and sorting and labeling was just moving around the huge, heavy rental road boxes in order to plan the truck packs. The first truck comes at 10am tomorrow morning and we have the whole thing laid out. A few of the boxes had cups on top to hold the wheels of a box that could go on top of it, so we have sets laid off to the side that will be stacked tomorrow when we get or fork lift, and we have boxes laid the length of the truck outline. So tomorrow, we just have to move down the line and load it all in. Basically, more heavy lifting and moving and everything. It's a lot of work but it's not so bad. It all  has to get done so the equipment gets to the proper place. Someone's got to do the bitch work, right?

We're back at 8am in the morning, working until 5 or 6. We have to load the outgoing trucks, and are expecting a few small incoming trucks with what's remaining of the road boxes. So we'll be doing a lot of counting and sorting too. It should be a good time. Stay tuned if something crazy interesting happens. 

The Beginning of the End

Well, yesterday was officially the start of the Robinson strike. We started in the recital hall, taking down the booms and a few lights along the apron pipe. Chris went up in the genie, so Katie and I pushed him a long (Katie did most of the pushing though) and we struck the lights. Jarrod headed the count in for all the cables, lights, and other pieces of equipment. It was incredibly systematic, as everything had to be accounted for. Each piece was sorted, and then Jarrod told us which pieces to put in which box and what order to put them in, as he checked off his list. This process was pretty much how the Robinson was going to go, as well as most of the PRG count in after our own theater was struck.

Once the recital hall was done, we moved back to the Robinson and started pulling and counting in all the cables. They had to be sorted by length and gage and then bundled in sets of 5 or 10. We had to make sure Spoleto materials stayed separate from house materials and rental materials. We packed up all of the PRG cables from the Robinson, then all the Spoleto cables, and then put house materials back where they belonged. All of the gels had to be pulled and sorted, frames going back to their home in the light booth. The booms had to be struck, the electrics needed to be stripped of cable (though we left the lighting units for the next days projects), and we helped the sound crew get all of their equipment out as well. The last thing we did was switch the light boards back to their original spots. Most shows in the Robinson work on an Express board, so the Element that we'd been using got put back to the side and the Express and to be re-set up. After moving the Element around so many times for tech rehearsals and programming, Sean and I had it down to a system. The one thing that threw us off was finding the power for the Express since the hookup was different than the Element, but I got to use my tech-savvy and looked at the connection and found the right cable. I like being a nerd sometimes.

The tasks were pretty quick moving and we trucked right along. We were done by about 2pm and had the afternoon off for the finale of the festival (a blue grass band playing at Middleton place with fireworks to follow). It was a fun time and a nice evening - though a late night with an 8am call the next morning. But still, worth it.

Today, we got in at 8am and started the rest of the strike. Sean and I pulled the lighting units that needed to be hung on the electrics so the house plot could be reset. I went up in the genie and redid a few picks on the cables running to the electrics so they would be out of the way and not getting caught on all the other batons like we'd been struggling with for the run of the festival.

Once that was done, I got to go up in the grid and throw weight with Chris. I've been taught the idea and theory behind throwing weight, and been walked through the process, but I'd never gotten to go up while it was actually being done and be a part of it, so I was pretty excited. It was a lot of sitting around while we waited for the ground crew to get everything set on the batons and then tell us approximately how much weight would need to be added or taken off. Mostly, I just handed Chris the bricks while he put them on the line-sets. But I did get to do a few. It's kind of scary because you absolutely cannot drop anything off of the arbor. Anything falling from the arbor would go with so much force that it would bounce and shoot out in to the stage, and could probably kill anyone in it's path. So you have to be really careful when you bring stuff up with you (I didn't bring anything but work gloves and Chris only brought a wrench and his phone), and you have to keep two hands on the bricks at all times, except the split second when you have to slip your hand around the ropes of the line-sets. It was king of scary knowing everything that could possibly go wrong while up there. But we were careful.

We also had to untwist the cables of the shivs for one of the line-sets. It was running okay, but you could see where they were twisted together along the grid instead of running in line like they should. So Chris and I had to go up to the grid and figure out how best to untwist the cables without completely undoing all of the shivs. Then, we would tell the crew on the ground which to undo, Chris would pull the cables up to the grid, we would get everything fed properly and then dropped back through the shiv, where the ground crew would get everything re-attached. It was cool to actually see how everything actually got hooked up in the fly system. Most of the time you just work with the batons or just with the weights - I've never gotten to work with the actual shiv system and all the hardware and cables. It's good stuff to know.

When I got back to the floor, Andrew had me go up in the genie and rehang some things along the apron pipe. It went a lot smoother than the first time I'd gone up. I could actually tell which lights were hung and how far apart they were, and communicate with Jarrod on what needed to be done. I'd already gone up and pulled the gels and cables the day before, so today was just putting the units back in order. It went really smoothly.

After that, everything in the air was reset to the house plot that was loaded when we first got to the Robinson and we were ready to start working on the floor. Sean and I had some cables to re-count and sort because some of our numbers from the day before were a little off, but that didn't take too long. Then we had to pull up all the Marley and roll it up. I requested to work on that project because I'd been so bad at it at the Memminger. Chris and Katie were doing it quickly by attaching the Marley to the roll, and then getting pushed across the stage on a dolly while pushing the roll. Then, they would stand the roll on it's end and push it down to make it even, set it back down, and roll it over a few times to tighten it up before taping it off. This was efficient, but it wasn't the process the tech crew was using at the Memminger. I knew it wasn't the "official" way to roll Marley, so I had Chris show me the way they had been doing it. You have to have two people - one on each end - rolling evenly. And if one person gets ahead, they hold their end tight while the other person bumps their end forward and then pulls the roll tight. If the Marley rolls a little crooked or starts to hang over the end, you pull it tight and then push the roll back in so it stays even. It was really difficult and time consuming. Chris said the guys who were doing it themselves, and quickly, at the Memminger have been doing it really often (like weekly) for years so they have a system to it. So I felt better about not being able to do it. We stuck with the quick way with the dolly for most of the strips, but the last one I tried to do the regular way. It worked for the most part, but we did have to stand it up and even it out at the end still. Oh well. Andrew cataloged the pieces that we used as well so we wouldn't have to go through it all next year to find the good ones. So we re-labeled everything with the direction and placement it had on the stage to make the next year go a lot smoother.

We also had to get the chairs back the way they were supposed to be. This may have been done before the Marley - we had to much to do I can't even remember what order it went it. Oh well. We removed all the chairs we'd installed from the Memminger and then Sean and I went up to the catwalks and retrieved the set of chairs that had been removed for the sound table. I struck that and then Robert helped me reinstall the chairs. It was pretty simple..set it in place and bolt them in to the floor with a power drill. Easy peasy.

Katie painted the floor where it had been ripped up by the gaff tape, we extreme swept when that was dry. We had to take down the motors that were used to raise and lower the sound speakers. We pulled all tie line and gaff tape that was lying around. We finished reorganizing and cleaning the road boxes (and we all got to sign the Robinson electrics box). We organized everything that's going on the truck tomorrow, and we did a final look over to make sure everything had been taken that belonged to Spoleto and that everything belonging to the Robinson had been put back in order. And then we were done. The Robinson was struck and ready to go back to normal procedure. Chris and Andrew are going back in the morning to load the truck, but Jarrod, Katie, Sean and I will be at the X-Hall starting the PRG count in. It's weird that it's over. I feel like we just got here and just started working. But it's been 3 and a half weeks already. I've learned so much, it's amazing. I can't wait to go back to SVSU and put it all to work.

Stayed tuned for the rest of strike! The next few days will be long and tough...6 people loading 3 trucks in two days - And Andrew can't really do any of the lifting or moving because he hurt his hand earlier in the festival and the doctor finally put the block on him using it (remind me to post that story later). So he will manly be calling the pack while we get it done. So it should be fun. We're in the final stretch - keep reading.

SP Central

Well, let me tell you, a shower has never felt so fantastic.

Today I lived life as an SP - our Special Projects Crew. They do all the odd jobs, load ins, changeovers, and load outs for the outdoor theaters as well as other venues around the festival. All the hard work and long hours that us venue people only pull occasionally. Robinson got farmed out to work with them on the Cistern load out, the X-Hall load out, and the changeover at the Memminger. Lots of work to be done.

We started work at the Cistern at 8:30am.

First off, the trucks arrived and had to be prepped for loading. Easy enough. Then, the whole stage had to be taken down and loaded onto the trucks. Heavy platforms that had to be carried and lifted up to the truck. I was rocking the platform carrying - it wasn't as bad as I'd remembered it being when we put the stage together originally. But I couldn't life them up to the truck. I could get a small corner high enough for the on deck loader to grab and situate, but I was pretty useless aside from that. I didn't let it stop me though. I put all the effort in to it that I could and was just as ready to move everything as everyone else was.

Once that was done, the framework of the deck had to be moved. That stuff wasn't as bad, it was just awkward. The truck bed we were loading it on too was also lower.

After that, all the scaffolding towers were ready to come down. The SP Electricians had been diligently working on getting the lighting instruments and cables down from the tops of the towers and the carpenters were able to move in and begin disassembling them.  Basically, it meant more heavy lifting and carrying for everyone. But I was okay with it. At the beginning of my time here, when we did the load in, I struggled to find my place and find things that I was able to carry. But now, I knew what I could carry. I knew people I could ask for help if I couldn't carry it. It went really well. The towers came down quickly and easily. I started moving the scaffolding pipes with everyone, but eventually they needed the walkboards too, so I Started moving those instead. I basically moved every single walkboard while everyone else worked with the scaffolding. One of my other proud moments - I grabbed an iron I-beam Without realizing how heavy it was going to be, and I managed to get halfway to the truck with it all by myself. When you turn the corner out of the Cistern though, I had to shift it around a little because the sidewalk is narrow and you can't hit the bricks. So then I lost my control over it and Katie came to help. But I was still proud of how far I'd gotten it. Paul Hunter (one of the SP coordinators) and Andrew were pretty impressed with the hard work that I put in to the day. So basically, we did a lot of heavy lifting and moving for the majority of the morning.

We also had to load all the electrics boxes on to the truck, which took a good number of people just to hold the boxes so they don't fall off the truck lift. Not a big deal.

And then (Yes, there's more) we had to load up all the chairs. They are lettered and numbered in order to create the seating system used on the tickets. So we had to stack them in order and load them in to crates which then had to be covered with a plastic sheet and saran wrapped so they wouldn't fall out while in the truck. We had to teams of about 5 people so it went pretty quick.

Once that was complete, we did some general clean up around the Cistern and went to a 20 minute break before we met back at the shop.

Yep. Break. At this point it was only 10:30am and we had the rest of the day ahead of us. During the break, Andrew commented on how far Sean and I had come since our first day - we could lift and do more, we knew what was going on, and we jumped right in ready to work. It was pretty cool.

After the break, we were back at the shop - time to unload all of those trucks we'd spent the morning loading. This went a little faster than the morning because the scaffolding pipes came off as a whole stack with a forklift instead of each person taking one pipe at a time. All the chairs were stored, the decking for the stage got stored. We had to unload the frame for the stage and stand it up in it's storage space, so that took a little time and effort but it wasn't too bad. Just more heavy lifting.

At one point, there was a box that needed to be broken down and thrown in to the dumpster. So Andrew and Jarrod sent Sean and I to go find some sledgehammers. We found one, and I got the honor of wielding it. Mind you, I could barely lift it to swing it, but I was up for it anyway. We started on one side, and I had to swing at the top joint and then the bottom joint to break off one side of the box. Jarrod took the final swing at it though because I ran out of steam pretty fast. Then he did the other side and handed the hammer back to me so I could break off the front piece. It's not every day that you get to swing a heavy tool at a something with the means to destroy it. It was great. Random SPs would walk by and cheer encouragement - it was funny. So that was my big moment for the day. Swinging a sledgehammer at a wooden box. It was pretty awesome.

Anyway, after that I could feel how tired I was. My arms were a little shaky and I was hot and sweaty and gross. I looked dirty - You could tell I'd gone at the day with everything I had and that I'd worked hard and got things done. I was exhausted, but I felt great looking back at everything we'd gotten done.

There were some other small things to move - pipes, wooden barricades, empty flats, etc. Everything had to be put away. But pretty soon after the sledgehammer fun, it was time for lunch and to move on to the next project. All I wanted to do at that point was curl up and sleep and take a shower. But there was no time for that. I figured I should look semi decent if we were going out in public, so Katie lent me a clean shirt to throw on over my tank top, I washed up a little in the bathroom, made my hair look a little cleaner in my ponytail, and we were off to lunch. Gotta love the dirt and grime!

While we were all standing around waiting to go to lunch, Jarrod made the joke that he should leave me in charge of the show at the Robinson and he could go to the beach and enjoy his evening. Obviously it was a joke, but it's a joke that's been made multiple times - that I can handle my job at the Robinson and I can do the channel check and run the shows and everything. It's a nice confidence booster, even if it isn't really going to happen. Hopefully it all carries over and I can be in charge a little back at SVSU. We'll see.

After lunch, the day went on. Hard to believe, I know. We moved on to the X-Hall so we could strike everything that had been up for the Trombone Shorty After-Party. Basically, there was a stage with some lighting on it, a TON of purple curtain that had been hung floor to ceiling around the whole room, and a lot of piping and booms with black curtain on it. So team Robinson got put on the black curtains and the booms and piping that went with them. Simple enough. Andrew had the idea that instead of getting a ladder and having to climb up and down it every time we had to move it, Sean and I would get up on a rental box and he would push us from point to point. But I was fast at untying the knots than Sean was, so he had to get down and I got to ride around and take down all the curtain. It was a fun time and fast work. When we had long moves while I was on the box, I pretended I was surfing. It was fairly enjoyable.

After all the curtains were dropper, we folded them up (which there is a system for!) They would get laid out all nice and even, face up. Then we would all get on one side and fold it long ways in half twice. Then, It would get folded to center with about a foot space between the "fold to" point on each side. Then, each side would get folded over until there were two neat stacks at center, and then it would get folded in half at the center line so it made a nice, neat, roll of curtain that slid in to a bag. It makes a lot more sense doing it than typing it - but everyone seemed to know this system so it's probably a good thing to remember if I want to keep working in theatre.

After that, we had to go back and take down all the piping. So I got to get back on my box and roll around and take them down. Each pipe was cheese-burrowed to a boom on both sides, so two people would get up and undo the cheese-burrows and then pass the pipe down to the others who would move it to the rack.

Then, the booms came down and the boom poles would come off the base and everything would get stored on it's proper rack, ready to be loaded on to the truck. We continued to do this for the rest of the boom poles around the hall that had been used by other crews as well. Some of the booms I could get undone, but some of them needed a pipe wrench, which I still couldn't undo the booms even while doing it. But I was super determined and Katie and I worked together on one, and it still took all of our strength. It was ridiculous. But we got it.

After THAT was done (well, more around 3 o'clock. The project wasn't done, but Andrew, Katie, and Sean stayed with it), Chris and I went off with some of the other SPs to do the change over from Circa to Emilie at the Memminger. I was the only girl that got sent with them, so I felt a little outnumbered. Going over to the Memminger took me out of the comfort area that I had found in the rest of my work with the SPs. The group going had already done the changeover once, so they knew what to expect and they knew the process already. I had no idea what was going on.

We got there a little early, while the show was still going on, so we had some time to sit around for a bit. Then, we went in to strike Circa. There was a bunch of Marley that had to come up and a bunch of rigging that had to be taken down. So we started ripping up tape. Easy enough. The guy tarted rolling the Marley up as it came free - I was still working on tape at this point. But then there was one bit not getting so I stepped up to roll it. I'd never rolled my own roll of Marley before, but Andrew had explained the technique to me when we were working with Marley at the Robinson. So I tried it, but couldn't get my roll to go straight and had to start over a few times. Raj (in charge at the Memminger) got someone to help me and said not to worry about making it perfect, just get it rolled and don't break the Marley. So with the second person we got it in good shape and got it out of the way.

Then, a group started working on taking up the gym mats that had been below the Marley. I joined the crew that was working on west coasting the RP screen and the legs. Easy enough. You hold your arms out and catch the screen as it comes in so it folds up in your arms and then you tie it to itself so it's nice and folded up and then it got threw in a hamper. The legs got tied up and then folded over the top of the truss they were on. Then, the truss got taken down of the rigging, folded in half, and rolled in to the shop on a set of dollies.

At some point in that set of tasks, I was looking for a job to do. So Raj sent me to go finish loading the Marley cart. I don't really think he was thinking when he told me to do that. A roll of Marley is heavy when two people are lifting it - even two strong people. So me going to lift 10 rolls of Marley on my own was ridiculous. So I went down and started struggling with a roll. But there was no way I was going to get anywhere with it. But when I looked up for help, everyone was working on their own projects. Finally, Gillian - a girl I'd met a time or two before on the porch - came over and offered to help. So we got all of the Marley loaded and pushed in to the shop. If she hadn't stopped to help though, I don't know what I would have done. When I told Andrew and Jarrod about it after we'd gotten back and gone to dinner, they just laughed and said Raj doesn't always think.

Anyway, once the stage was clear of all the Circa stuff, we tarted loading in Emilie. This is constructed of 3 raked stages that had to be put together. So we had to move the raked framework from the shop on to the stage a long with the black masking flats and the deck pieces before we started working. Each frame got put on it's spike mark and then fit together with wooden locks. Then, once we made sure everything got put on the spikes properly, we started laying decking. Which was pretty much more of what we'd been working with at the Cistern. After it was all laid out and put together, the masking had to go up to hide the raked framework underneath. There were also a series of cut out projector screens that had to be rigged and flown above the stage.

Raj put me to work with a crew on the screens, but there were so many of us working on it, eventually there wasn't really a job for me. I started out well working with the rigging and everything, but then it got taken over and I found myself searching for a job again. Another guy on my crew and I got clearance to move ahead and set up the next few screens while the riggers flew out the ones we'd already done, so that occupied me a little bit, but I know I still did a lot of standing around not knowing what to do.

After those were flown we moved on to masking. I could place it in the right spot, but everything had to be secured with a screw gun, which I didn't have. So I got back to standing and trying to help where I could, but mainly watching other people do a lot of little tasks. It was at that point that Tom said they usually had clearance to leave because the bulk of their work was done. So we hung out by the stage and waited for Raj's approval - which he gave and we headed back to the X-Hall. I left feeling a little less confident about the things I could do, and I felt like I had been in the way a lot at the Memminger. Some of it was because I had never done that changeover before, but I wish I had been able to jump right in and get everything done. Raj still thanked Chris and I and said he'd appreciated the extra hands though, so we'd at least helped a little bit.

I was surprised to find the Robinson crew and the other SPs still hard at work there. They had just finished loading all of the trucks, but the piping from the curtains and booms didn't fit. So we had to load all the pipes off of the carts and put it on a flatbed. It wasn't too bad. With everyone who was left there working, it went really fast. The truck came again for one box that needed to be loaded in, but other than that we were done. Many of the SPs had been cut before we had to reload the pipes. The other SPs had to stay and finish up the cleaning and everything. But team Robinson was done for the day.

It was a long day - we got a lot done and worked really hard. I finally realized how much I'd learned during my time at the festival, and how much I'd grown just in general. I'm beat - I put in a good days work, but I feel great at where I am right now as a worker in my field and as a person in general. I like working hard. I would rather work like this and have something to talk about and than do the easy show calls like we've been doing at the Robinson. I love the Robinson, and all the tech work I've done there has been awesome, but I like being able to come home and say look at all of this work I did! It's great.

Tomorrow we are back at the Robinson  for a half day. We are striking the Recital Hall and then preparing for a full strike and reset of the Robinson on Monday. It will be a long few days, but if the strikes go anything like they did today, I'm happy. 

The Random Test.

Well, today is going to be another nobrainer of a post. I did have a minor, random test from Jarrod today though.

Call was at 6pm for the final showing of Cedric Andrieux. I got in and Jarrod put me right to work. I had to go in to the catwalks and count every light and keep total based on type. Functional lights were anything hanging on the beams or in the meat racks. Nonfunctional lights were anything sitting along the walls or in the light booth. I got to test my knowledge of light types and everything, as well as my counting skills. It was fun. Most of the lights had labels of I didn't know what they were, and the ones that didn't I was able to describe to Jarrod and he knew what they were. I now know the difference between 6x9s, 6x12s, and 6x16s a hell of a lot better than I did before. So it was a good exercise that occupied the hour before the start of the show.

We did channel check with know issues. We did the show with no issues. And the changeover out of Cedric and in to East 10th street went really smoothly. We got our stuff done and then the lighting designer went through and changed the boom lights with me. Originally, he had them run out of focus and then shuttered where he wanted them. It made the whole effect really muddy and unclear. So today, we went through and sharpened all the lights and then reshuttered the lights and dropped a frost in with the color. Tha way, the light is still soft edged like h wanted it, but give a good, clean, sharp look to the light. It makes the whole picture cleaner and brighter. It looks a lot nicer now.

So we got that done and I was free to go. Sean convinced me to check out Trombone Shorty at the Cistern since he coulde make it because of East 10th... so I'm sitting on the street checking it out. And it's amazing! Jazzy, funky, pop with trombone...it's a great dance beat and a great energy and I'm loving it.

Working at 8:30am to strike the Cistern tomorrow and continuing to work with tthe SPs all day. Should be lots to post about tomorrow- stay tuned!

Here We Go Again...For the Last Time.

8am day today, but it wasn't so bad. We got in and got right to work. Sean and I reset the tech table and got the board ready for focus. Edgar Oliver, the actor for East 10th Street, actually had his lighting designer come for focus instead of having the stage manager or one of Team Lighting do it. So that was new. There were very few lights to do, but it the focus seemed to take longer than most of them. The lighting designer seemed to know what he wanted, but he struggled vocalizing it. He had a very thick accent, so I wonder if maybe he didn't have the words. But then again, he always got them eventually. Maybe he was just thinking a lot about what he wanted to do. It was weird. It took me a little longer than it should have to focus the front of house lights - I had to keep moving unused lights out of the way so I had focus space. I've never had to do much of that, so it was weird and annoying. It just means resetting the house plot will take that much longer. I got to utilize the technique of beating lights with my wrench that I learned from the stage manager of Khmeropedies in the first rep. A few of my shutters wouldn't cooperate...so I hit them and got it to work. I was proud.

Once focus was done, it was Sean's turn to program. But I guess he didn't really program the last shows we did. He just fixed preexisting cues (since Khmeropedies brought all their cues on a flash drive and loaded them in). So Jarrod had me "backseat program" and sit with Sean while he worked in case there were problems or questions. So I got to test my programming knowledge and walk Sean through a few things like copying cues and changing timing and doing follow cues and the like. It made me really confident with what I know about programming and the ETC Element and stuff. There were a few things I didn't know that the lighting designer had to prompt us on, but for the most part I was good to go. I felt good about it, and I was glad that Jarrod trusted me to know my stuff and keep everything under control.

While we were focusing and programming, we were also waiting for the rest of the company to arrive and start tech. According to the lighting designer, they "liked to sleep." So they were just...not there yet. It was strange to me, that you would waste the time that was set aside for tech. Wouldn't you want to use it and get everything down pat so you could be confident about it? I wouldn't want to show up late and rush things together and not get it right.

But they showed up at 11:45 for a tech at noon. They got there. Just kind of late. And they forgot the costume so we had to do a bit more waiting so that could get there. It was a lot of sitting around. Not a huge deal, but still.

Then they started tech. The artist came across really strange..weird..creepy...not the kind o guy you'd want around your children. So I let my judgments get in my way and I didn't watch. Instead, I worked on my pickle rig. I covered a milk crate in black fabric and hung a stand in the middle. I wanted to use 4 pickles and make a E shape (for East 10th Street and for Edgar Oliver). The the E would light up on the black background and look pretty sweet.

Once tech was done we were off on a 4 hour break until show call. I had time to get lunch/dinner and relax a little so that was nice.

We came back and did a show of Cedric Andreiux. It was still odd..flat..dull..but a little interesting. I payed attention to different sections tonight so I got a little bit of a different stuff from it. I'm still unsure of how I feel about it. The Cedric has an interesting story as a dancer, I just get bored so easily watching it. I wish he had music. But the whole thing is that he learned dance without music. So I don't know. We'll see how I eel at the end of the run. But everything went smoothly...no hiccups or problems or flukes.

We smoothly changed over into East 10th Street - go the blackout and then strip lights set. No issues.

I did my pickle - the E shape didn't hold very well but the pickles lit up nicely, so it still worked out. Last pickle of the season..it was kind of sad.

Then, I decided to get over my judgments of Edgar Oliver and watch his show. And it was great! I mean, I still think the guy is creepy. He scares me and makes me a little uncomfortable. He has a very strange sense of humor and has had a very strange life. But the way he tells his stories, and the scenarios he found himself in, and the people he came across..they were hilarious. Strange, but told in such a matter of fact fashion, I had a good time and had a few good laughs. I'm glad I got over the first impression and went.

I wasn't the biggest fan of the lighting though. There were lots of shadows and I couldn't always see his face. The strip lights faded in and out at weird times too. I found myself searching for meaning behind it instead of really focusing on Edgar. I love the music they played though. Pre-show was weird and kind of jarring. But they played an opening song and then played it again at the close and it was really pretty. It kind of made his life seem sort of fictional or mythical. It was a cool effect. So the tech was a mix of decency and things that I didn't understand. But that happens with a lot of shows.

I have most of the day off tomorrow. In at 6 for show call and the final show of Cedric. Then I am going to see if I can't make it over to the Memminger to see Circa. We'll see. Saturday I am working with the SPs all day - 8am to 7pm. I wanted to see Emilie, but I don't think I will make it on the SP schedule. Oh well. Then we head right in to strike...It's weird how close the end of the festival is. I don't want it to be over already!

But alas..there will be new adventures soon.

Keep checking back!

Same Old Same Old

Well. We got in at 9am today. We focused at 9:30. But Andrew, the lighting guy not our TD or the SP (haha) did the lights on over the stage and then front of house, instead of doing them together, so I did a lot of sitting around for the first bit. I wasn't the biggest fan of focusing with him either. He wasn't very vocal. And I guess technically you don't have to be - he stood where he wanted the light and I focused it to him and he was happy, but I had to stop and ask if it was good and then prompt him for the next step instead of him being snappy with what he wanted. It worked out okay, and it went fast, but it was just different and it wasn't a manner which I preferred. But the focus was really repetitive so we got into a good system and we got it done, no worries. So no big deal.

The cues were really easy, so Jarrod did the programming and we took a long lunch. When we got back, the artist was in and we looked at the cues and stuff. I got to sit at the bored with Andrew and fix a lot of the cues. He was more fun to work with that way. We talked a lot about the different types of boards and what he'd worked with and problems he'd run in to. It was interesting.

So yeah. The artist want a bunch of front light though which was weird. Andrew classified him as "shadow-phobic" in that he wanted the front lights to wash out the shadows on his face and on the back, and that he though side lights would throw more shadow. When in reality, the side lights would wash out the weird shadows and give him a little dimension. But we work a the Festival of Yes, and we gave him what he wanted. 3 rows of face light at 90% and 4 rows of back light/top light at 70%. The stage was so bright it kinda looked like house lights were on a low glow as well. But the artist was happy, so so were we.

We rebuilt the cues that Jarrod had programmed in order to include this uber-bright effect. So I did get to program a little. Then we teched. The show was built around the bare minimum and focused  a lot on waiting. There was a pause and slow cues and lots of dead space with silence. It was very weird. So a lot of the cues were taken just a few seconds after something happened, or he would enter a few seconds after the lights came on. It was a very awkward affect, but it kind of worked. It was interesting to see how the audience reacted to it.

He starts the show monotone, talking about his life. And he continues that way. He does some example dances with no music - sometimes he kept beat through them, sometimes he talked or cracked small jokes. And he went on like that. At the end, he did one dance to music. But the dance was him looking at the audience (the dance does what the title says: "I'll Be Watching You by The Police"...so you get it). So it was the same awkward bareness. I dunno. I didn't completely dig it but you could see what he wanted everyone to get out of it and it worked for him. There were funny moments and sad moments and interesting moments and dull moments - it had a lot of levels, honestly. Just  a different way of achieving them.

No colors in the lights, no sound but his voice, no set, just a blank stage and blank movement. Very much the reality of dancing..what's behind the movement without the music.

I got to do a cue and everything though. My inner stage manager shining through. There is no stage manager with this show, so Andrew (the TD) gives me the house and lets me call the pre-show announcement and start the show. And I take all my own light cues. So I sort f get to do a little SM work. I felt proud of it, at least.

So yeah. I get to do that for the next 3 nights. And tomorrow we load and tech East 10th Street so that will be going on too.

Long day tomorrow. Then it evens back out. Check back for how tomorrows focus and tech goes.