Second Rep.

So today we started the load in for the second rep, which consists of one show, for which the only set is a projector screen and their instruments (so a lot of sound work to be done, rather than lights. So it was pretty fast moving.

I guess technically we started it last night, after the County of Kings Show. We had the normal changeover, which went perfectly, a show which went pretty perfectly, and then strike. We loaded out County of Kings and then started bring in the the electrics. We moved around some of the legs and borders and stripped the electrics, dropping from 6 to 2. We pulled off all of the lights and hung only fresnels. Once that was done, we went home for the night at 11:3pm.

Then, this morning we went back in and started circuiting and labeling. It was pretty fast since we already knew the system from last time. We dropped gels, which we had framed and put in order the day before and got everything set. Chris and Sean threw weight to get everything set and we finished the arrangement of the legs and borders.

Then, I went up and uncircuited the catwalks and pulled all the gels. We're now only using 4 of the lights on the 1Beam in the catwalks, so everything had to go. But it was fast moving. We are using the taildown as well,  which is basically what are balcony rail is at SVSU, only there's is at back of house dropping from the catwalks since they don't really have a balcony. So I circuited and geled that as well. Sean, Katie and Chris worked on the Boom poles - we dropped from 6 down to 4 so that was pretty quick too. When I finished my job and went to help, I only had to circuit 2 of them. Everything else was done.

Once that was done, we went to lunch, came back and tidied some things up. We did a channel check and everything was plugged in where it should be and had the right color in it. So we took a quick break and then broke the mult. that had been run up to the catwalks. That took a little longer since it had to be fed down with a tie line, but it got worked out. We packed up all the extra lights and cable that we were no longer using, sorted the gel frames and gels that we were no longer using, and put everything away. We got off at 6:30pm instead of 10 or 11 like we were supposed to, so we busted our butts and got out a little early. It was really nice.

So basically, you can tell we've already learned a lot and we are all in the swing of things. I got to do tasks on my own, which means that Jarrod actually trusts that I know what I am doing and I can get my work done fast. After all my worrying from the first few days, that means a lot to me.

I actually get to program the show that is coming in, instead of the SM requesting that Jarrod do it. So that will be exciting too. Going in at 8am to focus and cue the show. Then we do a tech run, and we're off on the second rep.

I'm really excited about how much I can already tell I've learned and how comfortable I've become with the job that I have.

I can't wait to see what the next rep brings! 

What's Next?

Today was another easy day. I was out late socializing and talking with my house mates so I tried to sleep in. But I still got up at 8:30 or 9. once you're in the swing of getting up early, sleeping in doesn't mean much. But I still got to hang around and relax.

I went to the Robinson at 12:30 to do the change over from Khmeropedies to County of Kings. Sean bet Jarrod dinner that we would get it perfect this time. I got all my stuff done and double checked it. I'm to the point that I know which gel colors go where and I know exactly which circuits change. I just use my paperwork to double check. I triple checked the things that I'd missed yesterday. As I was moving Sean down the 1st electric in the genie so he could do the gel change there, Jarrod walked around and checked everything, trying to catch hiccups before the circuit check. He didn't seem to find any, so I felt pretty awesome.

I went to the board and we started doing the circuit check. I got kind of cocky with my fast programming fingers, and I started screwing up the typing so I had to slow down and get everything accurate (hey, whatdaya know?) but everything went smoothly. There was one light that didn't come on, and Sean almost owed Jarrod dinner, but it was a loose connection in the wires. The cables were all plugged in and in the right spot but the light didn't come one. that shows the importance of doing the circuit check, instead of just checking the plugs and the gels by sight and moving on.

So we had a basically perfect change over. We were done a little after 2.

County of Kings went smoothly as well. The stage manager wanted to run a few cues, and then we went right to house open. We did the show and the audience was really good tonight. I only missed one cue. I zoned out and didn't hear him call it. But we covered it well. No worries. The change over went amazingly fast in to Taylor Mac. There were not circuit or gel problems - just one light was bumped from it's focus. So we had 2 perfect changeovers tonight. Jeff was having problems with his sound stuff, but Andrew let the rest of us go since we couldn't really be of any help to him.

Tonight was another early night off. Tomorrow will be another late morning in. Then I guess, since there's no Taylor Mac show, we're going to hang out and watch movies and then strike until midnight. It should be a pretty easy going night. Tuesday we don't have any shows. Wednesday, 13 Most Beautiful opens (so I'll have another pickle to do!) and then we are in to the 3rd rep. 3rd rep well be a lot simpler than the first, and lot more spaced out. It should be nice. Hopefully I can apply everything I've learned to the second load in/load out. It'll be a nice test.

In other news, we got to talking about what everyone on our crew is doing after the festival. It seemed odd to me. I'm going back to Michigan and I'm going back to school. I have no summer shows officially lined up, and then the fall season and fall classes and craziness of Roberts Fellows begins. But I left it at returning to school when I answered the question. I guess I hadn't really let it settle in that these are the actual jobs of the people who work here. They do theatre for a living. After the festival is over, they probably have some other form of theatre lined up and waiting for them. Katie is working for TTS, so she is going to stay in Charleston and work as a painter on American Idiot and some other Broadway shows. These people are really making a living doing what they love to do...It's awesome. I can't wait for the day that my answer consists of a list of shows and jobs that I have lined up. I still find it really daunting when I think about the people that I am meeting and working with. But it's really exciting too.

5-28-2011 EOD

I should start labeling all of my posts like we label the shows at the end of the day in the light board. But that would get super boring.

Anyway.

So we had a show tonight. It went pretty smooth.
I got there, the SM was there. He thanked us all for being awesome. He bought us lemon cupcakes (because the actor's name is Lemon, haha). We fixed some cues and some timing and he went through the cues that I had and marked which ones not to call. So the show tonight went a heck of a lot smoother than it did last night. It helps when the stage manager actually starts getting organized and on top of things.

We had the change over afterwards. There are no lights on the 2Beam that are listed to rep, but I always run through and check to make sure everything is plugged in. So tonight I went through and one of the Taylor Mac lights was not plugged in. Some other extension was plugged in to the circuit. So I plugged it in and moved on. Then I went back to the board for circuit check and one of the lights was wrong and it wouldn't come up and Jarrod was getting frustrated. So I pushed to go check the connections on the 2Beam, thinking maybe I had missed something or screwed it up when I tried to fix it. So he tried a bunch of other things and then let me do it. And what I had plugged in was right according to the label, but I guess the light got switched but the label didn't, so I had unplugged the right light and plugged in the old one. So I felt bad that I had caused the delay. I apologized when I got down to the stage, and Jarrod made it clear that when he gets frustrated it's not at Sean or me, it's just at the situation and not being able to figure out the issue, which is understandable when it should be the same and run smoothly every night. That's why we have the system that we do. So it was okay and we got the problem worked out and moved on.

Tomorrow we are shooting for a perfect changeover, with no stumbles or frustrations during circuit check. So I guess tomorrow will be the time to start practicing my focus and thoroughness on my tasks.

We'll see how it goes - fingers crossed.

Mid-Festival, Mid-Day, Still Learning.

I love it when all of your hard work, frustrations, and learning experiences pay off.

Spoleto Festival USA 2011 is officially open and I have it maaade with my schedule. I am the light operator for the County of Kings show, which means my show call is at 6pm. I also have to do the change over from Khmeropedies to County of Kings, so I have to be in at 12:30pm, work for 2 hours, and then chill until show call. After the show, we change over in to Taylor Mac and I am off by 9:30pm. So I have A LOT more down time. Which is nice, because I can socialize with the people at the festival for once, but also kind of a curse because I don't know what to do with myself and everyone else seems to still be working ridiculously hard.

But I won't complain. I like my schedule. The next rep I will probably be working 2 of the 3 shows so I will be a little more busy.

So we did the change over in to County of Kings and it went pretty smoothly. I have the gel swap and circuit change on the boom poles down to a smooth system. I know which circuits rep and where they go and where they end up. I did forget to plug in the down stage right fresnel, and it threw us off in the circuit check. But I could have swore I had checked it and it was plugged in. There was a little bump where we changed the circuit rep in the catwalks and Sean had forgotten it so we were missing like 5 lights in the check, but again, easy fix and it got taken care of.

So in the grand scheme of things, thinking back to all of the things that got my frustrated throughout load in and set up and all the mistakes I made and what happened today, I learned some really good things to keep in mind. It's not that I lack knowledge of the workings of a theatre; it's not that I am incapable or incompetent; it's not that I can't be good at my job if I try really hard - I just don't think through things enough or pay attention enough to work through and ward off mistakes. I go fast because I want to get things done and usually I am not completely focused on what I am doing. My mind is always jumping ahead to the next thing instead of one thing at a time, making sure they get done right. So I miss things like plugging in the fresnel, or knowing I need a multi with a female break-in, but grabbing one with a male break-out. I'm just not thinking. And it gets  me in to a lot of trouble. Learning to relax and focus and pay attention will help in all aspects of my theatre jobs, whether I am an electrician trying to follow someones instructions precisely, or whether I am a stage manager trying to give precise directions and ensure that all pieces of the production are set up, safe, and running smoothly. It's a personality trait that can benefit me at times because I think ahead to everything, but can also hold me back when it is not in control.

Sometimes the things you learn are not the actual techniques or the terminology or the strategy of your job - they are processes of execution and the fine tuning of your knowledge to be able to direct it and control and use it to your complete benefit.

Good things happen when you get hit in the face with completely new experiences.

On a side note, I have also been forgetting to post about black-wrap and black-tac. Black-wrap is a role of thin metal sheeting that is workable and completely blocks out light bleed. Black-tac is the metal tape that goes with it and secures metal on gel frames or instruments of black-wrap and also blocks out light bleed while holding pretty securely. It's quick and efficient and really cool to work with. It can also replace a barn-door for a lighting fixture if you don't have a proper one.

Learning on all levels? Check.

So I am off to kill 3 hours until show call. I may try to talk to the stage manager even though I don't like his technique at all - it might be worth it to learn how not to stage manage, or how he got to where he is despite his faults. Also, his wife was the production stage manager for "O" once it opened. So. I want her contact information. Yay networking!

Stay posted, loves. 

Happy Opening!

So we were in at 8am again today. I'm getting used to this so its not too bad.

We already had County of Kings set up from the night before so we go right in to the set up and focus for the show. I thought it was going pretty fast - I was just matching focuses to other lights. But the stage manager was geting really stressed out that we weren't going to finish. So I kept trucking along. I guess Sean in the genie was having trouble so it was slow going for them, and thatvmay haw been what was stressng him out. So there was a problem with a bulb in a light I was working on and I was aheadish and Jarrod snapped at me when I couldn't figure out what bulb I was using...it was just high tension.

The stage manager requested that Jarrod program because it was faster. So he obviously didn't trust me and I was frustrated because I love programming. But oh well. I observed and learned a little bit about the keystrokes and everything. There was a problem with the gels, but we got it worked out pretty quick and it should be set for the rest of the rep.

So then we got in to the tech reheasal
And the stage manager had more light cues than we programmed. Andhe didn't know which ones were programmed or not. So he called all of them and I hadto figure out when my go was real or not. A lot of the times his cues were off or wrong or he would say the wrong number or the wrong label.  It was awful. He would say standby when it should have been a warn, he said go when there weren't goes, he saidbthe cue number 30 seconds before the go so you're waiting like the cue is imediate and it's not. It was so hard not to like...say something. But we have to be polite. So finally, he called the show next to me in the booth and I just read my cues over his shoulder to clarify what he was calling. It's going to be a long run.

The show was okay. A couple screw ups, but we blamed it on the SM. After that we did the change over to the Taylor Mac show in 30 minutes which was rockin. So we just kind of..hung out until the next show.

I did my pickle before the show and it was awesome :) I will post pictures later. Sean did the Taylor Mac pickle and it was also awesome. But he tried to do three pickles together and only the first one lit. It was too bad, bit it was still cool. The Khmeropedoes pickle is tomorrow and then we're done with pickles until the second rep.

So yeah. I got to watch the Taylor Mac show and it was great- controversial, funny, entertaining. Back at the house now chilling with the house mates, and I don't have to go in until 12:30 tomorrow. Awesome. Easy posting from now on, loves.

Tech It.

Today's been really chill and I'm super enjoying it. We were called at 9 instead of 8, so I got to sleep alittle longer. Sean and I went early to Jack's Cafe which is across the street from our theatre. It wasreally cheap and super delicous and the employees were amazingly friendly. It was great to start the day off with a solid breakfast. Anyway, that's slightly off topic of the work day.

So we got in at 9, talked for a bit about the day, and then jumped right in to the set up for Khmeropedies, the show that is up for preview tonight. We had to move the horsecock on the 1st electric because it was bumping lights (great name for the giant cord, right?), which involved a ton of breasting of other battons and re-picking and tying ad everything. Tedious, really. We rehung some of the legs and then "dressed" them, which basically means you fold the bottom under so it stays straight and pretty. I'd never done that before but it has a neat, clean effect. Once that was done, we added some side gels to the deck lights to stop the bleed, pit some black duvetine on the outside doors so the sunlight wouldn't come in. I guess that's the standard black fabric that they use to cover over things that need to be blacked, but still accessible. We just pull black fabric from the costume shop generally...I didn't know there was something specific you were supposed to use. We did some other minor tasks as well, but nothing too new or strenuous. It was nice, and relaxing.

After that, they started dry teching,testing, and cuing the show. Sean is programming and opperating this one so I was just on standby and I got to work on my pickle. I hate designing...it's not really my strong point and I don't like struggling for ideas. But the show I am doing the first pickle for - County of Kings - gave me some really cool ideas and I can't wait. It's about a New York native who grew up getting in to trouble, doing drugs, drinking, getting thrown in jail, and living on the streets. His set is a lot of black metal - some huge trusses and black metal caging on the bottom. So I have two black stands to weight down and string the pickle across the middle. Then, either I am going to carve the show title in to two pickles and string them across, or I am going to hang a scroll-type thing with the title in between two pickles (one on top and one on bottom), so they light up the scroll. It's going to look sweet. So I have three hours to eat and then head back to the theater to work on that. Then, at 8pm, I have to get back to work. We have to switch the theater over to the County of Kings show so we can focus and tech it in the morning. That show runs at noon and I am light oping, so that should be a busy morning (and fun because I get to display my pickle!) and then we do Taylor Mac at night, so I'll just be hanging out. I think I might stay and watch the show. Or work on the Khmeropedies pickle - I'm not sure what I am doing with that one though. So yeah, easy night, early morning, long day tomorrow. Let's do it. 

Focus!

Today was probably one of the better days. The exhaustion is getting to me and I can tell, but I am pulling through it. Obviously - there isn't really another option.

The morning was ridiculously easy. We did a lot of cleaning, a little bit of re-cabling and labeling, just busy work, basically. We took an early lunch and came back at 1 - and then we focused. I love focusing. It was a good 4 hours of focus, but we worked hard and got everything done. The stage manager was the one who came to focus instead of the designer. So that was cool. He came with a minor plot and spike taped and basically marked on the floor where he needed each light to be. It was a cool system. I've filed it to use later if I ever need to do a focus on a show - regular or touring. I want to sit down and talk with him about like...stage management stuff too. But I don't know that I will get a chance once we are busy with the run of the show. We are teching and doing a preview tomorrow, so we will be with the company all day, so we'll see. But the focus was good. I was nervous at first, focusing with a professional, but there was no need. It was easy and fun.  I learned that you can bang on a light if it doesn't quite do what you want. As long as it's off. Then the bulb wont break. So when I couldn't barrel it to get it sharp, we banged on the barrel. When I couldn't shutter-cut off a curtain because the shutter was caught, we banged on it. It was sort of fun, hah. I also learned that sometimes it's better to not have a sharp focus if there is a lot of light bleed or "flare" as Robert, the stage manager, called it. He was really helpful and eager to help Sean and I learn as we worked on the lights and it was a lot of fun.

After that, we switched over to Taylor Mac, the next show in our first repertory set. We took dinner, and then we came back and chilled. Focused a few of the Taylor Mac lights with Andy again, so I enjoyed that. Like I said, focusing is my home base. I know it and I am comfortable with it. Hopefully by the end of the festival, all the rest of the electrician stuff will be just as comfortable to me. Once Taylor Mac got there, it was pretty easy going. Jarrod is light operator for the show and he is programming that one too (Sean and I will get to program for Khmeropedies and County of Kings, which will be cool, and a little stressful). So we were basically on standby for most of the tech. I sat backstage and ran up the house lights when needed, but other than that, it was really relaxed.

Taylor was done with his tech by 8:45 or something, so we switched the rep back to Khmeropedies and get ready to go home for the night. We are supposed to be in show blacks for tomorrow, and Jarrod specified long black pants. I'm a little in screwed, because when I packed, I followed SVSU's rule that you only need long sleeves and long pants if you are seen onstage during a change. everyone else just needs clothes that are black. But that rule doesn't fly here. Everyone has long pants and a t-shirt. So I have yoga pants, and I will tape over the colored part on the waste. Then I will have to go shopping and find more suitable clothes. The little things you learn in the real world, right?

So, all in all, today was a lot better. Hopefully it stays this way.

And I keep forgetting to add! They told us Sunday (us being Sean and I, they being Jarrod and Andrew) that, as the apprentice electricians, we had to work on this thing called the Pickle. Every opening night of the shows, we have to electrify a pickle themed like the show. And I guess the pickles look really cool because they glow because of the salt. So I was really nervous about that because I don't really like designing, and I'd been screwing up so much I didn't want to screw up the pickle too! So I stressed a little. But Sean and I were talking and we have a lot of really fun ideas. I'm kind of excited to work on the Pickle - it will be a nice break from the real work of the shows. But we haven't had any down time to work on it. Jarrod said we were supposed to work on it at the theatre when we had downtime. But we work pretty constantly. And when we had downtime today while we waited for people to get there, we were on standby, so we couldn't really leave to go do pickle stuff. So I don't know. We have to make two by Friday. I'm not really sure how it will work out. But we shall see! Taylor Mac, the drag queen, and Lemon Anderson, the New York jail bird will have pickles! (We're thinking a disco ball glitter pickle and a pickle in a jail cell.) Maybe I'll post pictures when we get it done.

Hopefully I will have time to post in the next few days!

Getting Closer to Home Base

So today we started with a minor lesson on the board. It's an ETC Element, so I am pretty familiar with it after my work on the SVSU summer shows last year. Patching and light checking remained fairly easy going until I opened the wrong show. It's saved by date, but the board is set up on a different date and time, so when we save a show as "5-24-2011" it comes up under the wrong day and gets really confusing when you are trying to find the latest show. So the mistake wasn't that terrible and Jarrod was pretty understanding about it. But still. We continue with the silly mistakes. But I guess everyone makes them, and I am kind of coming to terms with that. Even today, Andy came to focus some lights and it turns out he typed some of the paperwork wrong and we had to re-circuit a bunch of stuff. So it worked out alright.

After that, we dropped all the gels. That was also pretty easy going. We had to jam in some of the Par gels because they had barn doors on them too., and when I couldn't get some of them, Chris's answer was, of course, "you have to." So I kept trying. And eventually we just ditched the frames and stuck the gel sheets in to the barn slots. Not everyone's favorite solution, but it worked. The rest of the gels were easy and went by really quick. We are starting to get in to the work that I am more familiar and comfortable with.

We moved the light board in to the house as well, and had to drop the data lines and VGA cable and everything. Robert, the house TD told me to make sure I put stress relief on the cable before I dropped it. I misunderstood what he meant and just made sure it didn't tug from the connection when I dropped the cable and made sure it had slack and left it. He meant tie it to the beam above the drop area so it pulls from the string and not over the edge and holds its slack. So the sound guy says that cables aren't secured and people would trip, and I can't go up to fix it because I am in the lift working on lights, so Robert goes up to fix it and calls me out on my poor stress relief job on the cable. So I learned how to properly put stress relief on the cable. Sad way to learn - I don't like getting called out, but I know now and will always treat my cables in the best way possible.

We focused a few lights with Andy. Only 14, but it was still a nice break from all the cabling and new information. I like focusing. I know focusing. It's tough to screw up if you know what you're doing and can figure out what the designer wants. I can read them pretty well. So that went well. It was an on and off day with my confidence of what I know in theatre, but it's getting better.

We got out at 7 instead of 10 like we were supposed to. I went to the Sottile Theatre, which is right next door to the Robinson and watched the preview of the Magic Flute. It was pretty a cool - a German Opera with lots of trap doors, pyrotechnics, neat costumes, and a beautiful but simple set. Everything was pretty cool. It was long, and I was tired and I could barely stay awake for it or focus on it, but I'm glad I went. 

Getting Comfortable...Sort of.

Today was a little better than yesterday. Still feeling like I have a long way to go, and that the people in charge wished I knew more, but it's working I guess. There were a lot of silly mistakes and misunderstandings of instructions even after they were explained and double checked. 

We started the day laying Marley floor for the dancers. That was kind of fun, actually. Everyone said Marley was a pain in the but and tedious, but I enjoyed it. You have to even out the floor first. If there are uneven sections, they get gaff taped over so the differences aren't as intense. Then, roll out one piece, tape down the end, and then tab the end on the opposite side of the stage. Then, when it's all positioned properly, you stamp it out in a straight line so you can flatten it. I guess big theaters have rollers (like mini steam-roller type things) that flatten it faster and easier, but I didn't mind the stamping. You have to do that same process for each strip of Marley. And sometimes, since the Marley was old and had been in storage, there were holes, rips or tears that we had to gaff tape over to smooth them out. Once the whole floor was laid, we went over it with Purple Power solution to get the grime and old gaff glue off of it. Some of it would come up if you went over it with new gaff (working it like a waxing strip), but not all of it. So that was a cool experience. I'd never done that before. 

Then, Sean and I went back to the whole cabling and label process. We ran cable for the side catwalks and then cross beams. It was cool - Jarrod sent us up with the plot and the instrument schedule and we had to find the lights that were in the right spot, run the cable, label it, and make it pretty. Sean was unsure of how to read the plot and confessed that he didn't like the paperwork and the technicalities of everything. I felt perfectly at home. We had a little bit of confusion because Jarrod forgot to tell us that all the house instruments were listed and we were only cabling the bolded ones, once we figured it out, we were on a roll. I think it took us longer than Jarrod wanted, and it was a bit a set back and point of frustration, but we got through it and everything was set up correctly. 

Once that was done, we moved on to the boom poles. There are 4 booms stage left and 4 stage right. We had to remove the C-clamps from all of the lights and then attached them to side arms on the booms. Chris is our Journeyman Carpenter, but he also knows rigging and electrician work and has done a bit of professional theatre work. So he knows what he's doing, for the most part. And sometimes he likes to rub it in our faces when we don't know exactly what we're doing. So we're trying to get the c-clamps off of these lights and I struggled a lot. I am weak to begin with, and my wrench is only a 4 or 6 inch instead of an 8 inch, so I don't have as much leverage. And when I say I can't move it, his answer is "you have to." Helpful. But eventually I got him to get the ones I couldn't and we got the lights on the booms and kept on our way getting things done. It was tough doing the lights on the top of the booms because it was awkward holding them in the air and tightening a c-clamp on a vertical pole and what not - but it got done, needless to say.

Then, the big test came. Jarrod and Andrew had a production meeting. So they were leaving Katie, Sean, Chris, and me a huge list of things to complete (more than we could have been able to do) to keep us busy while they're gone. Once they're out, Chris brings up the idea that it's a test to see that we're working hard and that we can handle ourselves and everything, and that they would come back and check all of our work. So we start busting our butts to crank everything out. We got it done for the most part. One boom downstage left didn't seem to have the right multi, but when Jarrod came back, he showed us where it would break off and plug in for the boom as part of a show rep. I remembered him telling me about it, but I'd forgotten and I felt bad because I hadn't written it down when we'd talked. But he said he didn't expect us to get as far as we did, so it wasn't too bad. Needless to say, we passed the test. Chris was good and organizing and directing us and planning out the tasks. Katie was good at helping and encouraging and everything. We got through it. Solid.

So we're working on running the now found cable to the downstage left boom, and at this point I was tired and everything, and frustrated with the minor tasks I'd been screwing up, and stressed/nervous because I didn't want to screw up again. And Jarrod told me to get a break-in for the multi which would have a male connector to the multi and female circuits. But somehow I got female and male mixed up in my head (stupid, right?) and had to re-do the whole thing. And you can tell when the people above you get frustrated at the stupid things your screw up. So that was annoying. But I wont make that mistake again any time soon, you can count on that. So I've been struggling a lot with little things like that, but I guess it's good to struggle with them now and get it out of my system, instead of screwing it up on a job where I am not an apprentice and expected to be learning. 

And I've been compiling a list of things that would be good to have if I want to work for real in a theatre. Or even just in my regular work at SVSU. Things that we tend to have on hand so I don't get my own, or that we get around not having, but really are necessities. 

Headlamp, instead of trying to hold a flashlight while focusing lights or doing other hands-on work. All the cool, important, experienced people have them. 

8-inch wrench. To get those lights that I am a little too weak to master. 

Good hammer. Mine is little compared to most peoples. And a little bent. 

Bungie coil thing for wrench or hammer. Most people have them for when they work in harnesses or in the lifts. they're helpful, unlike my tie-line on my wrench that is always too short and hangs funny and gets in the way. 

Carabiener clips. They are helpful for holding things. 

Tool belt or belt clips to hold things. I never have enough pockets to carry everything.
Real cargo shorts for women. I've been learning that my cargos have fake pockets when I really need them to be real. 

And I'm sure it will get longer as time goes on. 

Capability Versus Competency

So today was another long day - in at 8am, out at 9pm. But it was a lot easier than yesterday. No outdoor work - we stayed strictly inside the Robinson Theater. The warm outdoor air was actually welcoming after the hard work inside. Even with the AC running, it wasn't chilly - just a comfortable working temperature. I kind of missed the sun, though.

Anyway, we got right to work where we left off, labeling cables and circuiting the units. It was pretty dull. I had to keep asking a lot of questions about the system and had to redo a few labels because I misunderstood what the M.E. wanted. I am perfectly capable of doing the work, but when his system is so different from what I'm used to, it's hard to switch over. I feel like he might label me slightly incompetent as he keeps correcting me. But I always get it right in the end. Maybe it's just me being paranoid because I don't do it right the first time, but I don't know. I still have a lot of things to learn. Even when it's just the proper way to do something that I've been half-assing since I got in to theatre.

After the cabling, the boys wen up and started throwing weights so we could take the batons up to the right trim height. I started labeling multi-cable with Katie so we could power the electrics as they went. It was pretty easy going work. Eventually, Sean and I went up to the catwalks and ran some multi from the circuits there to the floor level where it could be used to power electrics without raceways. I've never worked with multi, really. It was cool. The breakouts come from the multi which is plugged in at floor level, and then the breakouts are run with extension across the baton so the units can be powered, rather than having a box and running extension or having the actual raceway. Anyway, Sean would often go to run a piece of cable, or we would discuss how to do a certain piece of the work, and we would talk it out and do it the way I thought would be most efficient, and then the ME would come over and fix it to the way Sean had been wanting to do it. It was a joke at first and then it got frustrating. I wanted to make the right decisions the first time. And I kept feeling like that was another reason for the team to get frustrated with incompetency, although it wasn't really a big deal in the end. One we had to run a lot of connector cables, and I asked the TD to send some up, and I just assumed they were the proper gage because he was the TD and I thought he'd know. And we ran all this cable and when the Jarrod checked it, I had to go back and re run some of it because it wasn't the right gage. It was mostly Sean and my fault for not checking, but we didn't even think the guy in charge would have handed us the wrong stuff. But he's not the lighting guy. He knows all the big stuff, Jarrod knows all the specific lighting stuff. We got the work done and made the cables look pretty and everything got done. If we ever have to do any of it in the future, I'll be ready.

After that work, I went up to the apron bar (which was a lot lower than the one at SVSU, thank god) and started to run cable there. It was also frustrating then when I needed things to be reexplained to me, and I could just come down or have someone come up and show me what was going on. I had to find the lights that were already up there, move and space them properly, figure out where the breakouts were so we could have circuits for the units, and then run cable when things were out of reach. It wasn't honestly as bad as it sounded, but it took me a while because I'm short and a little out of reach of the apron pipe in most cases. I had forgotten a flashlight and a drop line and tie line at first, only going up with my wrench like I would at SVSU. We don't usually run cable in the air - our apron pipe is so high it's sort of  an "it is what it is" basis, unless Tom wants to go change it. Once I got the tools up that I needed, it worked out decently. I got the cable tied up, though some of it isn't in a proper clover-hitch. But I think it's okay. The ME seemed pretty understanding that the apron pipe wasn't really worker friendly.

So anyway. It was a long day. Not as hard as yesterday. I don't feel as starved or dehydrated. But it was frustrating because there is so much that I have to learn about real world theatre, and I am working with so many people who already know a lot of that stuff. They've worked on Broadway or in real theatres or have theatre degrees and lists of experience. It's crazy. It's great to be able to work with them and make the connections, but it's intimidating, and it really makes you realize where you're at in your line of work.

I have a long way to go.
Lets hope the next 4 weeks are a good jump-start to where I need to be.

But. I'm peacin' for the night. Off to the porch to hang with the housemates until bedtime.
Back tomorrow at 8am. Supposedly we might get out early. Here's hoping.

Diving In

Alrighty.

First day on the job and it was looooong.

We started our day at the Cistern Theater, helping with their load in. This is an outdoor theater that needed to be completely built - the stage on the actual cistern, the 4 scaffolds used for lighting and sound, the sound equipment area, etc etc. We were to do this from 8am to 12pm and then move to the Robinson Theater, which would be our main location for the duration of the festival. We were told we would be there until 9pm.

Yep. 13 hours. Minus 2 for lunch and dinner, so 11. Not so terrible, but not a walk in the park either.

The first thing you notice when you get to the work site are the newbies, like myself and my fellow electrician Sean. The kids who came in not wearing carhart shorts and work boots, lacking the proper tools, not knowing what to expect, looking fresh and clean rather than warn out from a month of arduous work.

But despite that, we got right in to it. The trucks needed to be unloaded, the stage needed to be built and leveled. Lots of heavy lifting. Summer stock theatre is not the place to be if you can't tough it with the best of them. So we lifted and moved and unloaded stacks upon stacks on materials, sorting them and prepping them for the building.

Once the platforms were together for the stage, we moved on to the scaffolding used for lighting. This work required experienced workers in harnesses climbing 30 or 40 feet in to the air with heavy metal poles. Scary, sort of. I didn't get to be one of the harnessed workers - probably a good thing. There's no way I have the balance, strength, and focus to be up there working. Instead, I stayed on the ground, passing up materials to those high above me. It was tough work, but cool to watch. The systematic movement of the harnesses, the placement of the scaffolding. A team leader was placed with each scaffold, whom I would assumed was a certified rigger. They watched the other workers and informed us how to properly pass up the pieces. It was incredibly safe and incredibly well managed. The cooperation was integral to the entire process. When putting up vertical poles, no one could move. Everyone got in to position, got set, the pole was handed up and placed, and then they could reposition for the next one. People on the ground had to be constantly aware of the possibility of falling poles, or the necessities of those in the air. Someone would pass up a pole and you would hear a "got it" from above, and the passer would reply "I'm off," meaning he had let go of the pole and it was in the air with the harnessed workers. Without these minor phrases, the whole process could go to chaos, with poles dropping all over the place. But enough people knew what was going on and the new ones caught on quick, and the whole process went fairly quickly and safely.

Once we were done there, we move to the Robinson, which was a lot nicer than work in the blazing sun and humidity of the outdoor Cistern Theater. The Robinson is a tiny little indoor theater, and it's air conditioned. I don't really want to stay inside for 13 hours, but it's better than dying of heat exhaustion. We got right to work once there - we stripped the electrics and had a worker in the grid throwing weight to keep everything safe and even. We did some new things too - we move the electrics to different lines, requiring us to drop pipes and re-hang them later. It was tough work - the pipes were heavy and required the whole team to lift them in order to remove the chains. But it was something I'd never done before. One of the other workers, Chris, and the TD, Andrew were working on the grid and in the fly system throwing weights and keeping the rigging safe. I wish I could have worked with them because that is a huge void in my knowledge of theatre. Every time something comes off or goes on a pipe, the weight has to be altered so the pipes can go up easily, but don't go flying to the ceiling when you let go. Once, Andrew thought Chris had cleared a pipe, but he hadn't yet. We took off all of the lights and it flew about 5 feet. luckily, a couple workers caught it in time to weigh it down. It was super dangerous...probably like 900lbs overweighted, which is not safe. That thing could have hit the grid and pretzeled and destroyed everything in the theatre, including us workers. We always talk about things like that at SVSU, but it's never actually happened. It's a good thing to experience, so you know the dangers, but we were lucky in that situation.

After that, Sean and I continued to hang lights along the newly arranged electrics, while Chris and Katie went up to the grid to "kick shivs," which was a term I was unfamiliar with. each pipe is hooked up to a counterweighted pulley system, and each pipe is tied up with cables and pulleys that are attached to the grid. These are the shivs. And when you move electrics around on pipes and want to rearrange the spacing of the fly system, the shivs have to be moved. And when they are stubborn or there is limited space to move them around in, they quite literally have to be kicked. Interesting. Supposedly this is something that very rarely happens in college theatres (we never do it at SVSU). It's mainly something that would happen to touring shows staying in the area for an extended period of time (like Cirque Du Soleil...). If it was onloy to be in the area for a day or two, the tech would just deal with the space provided. But when taking over a theatre for a long period of time, or at Spoleto aparently, we things get moved around. It's probably a good skill to have, or at least know what's going on, if I want to work for a major touring company like Cirque.

By the end of the night, we got down to the more tedious work of cabling the lights we'd hung and labeling all the connections. This is standard in a theatre, but everyone has their own system for cabling and labeling. We don't normally tape or label at SVSU, so although I knew the theory behind it, it was a good experience to actually put it in to practice and get in the swing of it. Cabling was a lot easier here, too, since each electric had a raceway (also a new term I learned - the piece with the circuits on it that runs the length of the bar) unlike at SVSU. At home, only our 1st electric has a raceway and the rest have boxes that can be added or removed from various pipes. Here, we just moved the raceways. Tough, but made the end job a lot easier.

Anyway. Today was long. I learned a lot, got refreshed on a lot, and observed a lot. And I asked a lot of questions when I could. It's been crazy. Working in the sun all morning wore me out. I drank tons of water and tried to eat regularly, but I still think I got a little dehydrated and a little staved. You don't realize it in the heat until it's too late and then it sticks with you all day. and 13 hours is a long time to feel rundown from the heat. But hopefully tomorrow will be better - I know what to expect, and I'll be indoors out of the heat for most of the day.

Considering everything I learned and experienced today, I am excited to see what tomorrow has to offer. Even despite the fact that I'm dog tired. These people get home at 10pm, party until 1am, and then get up for work at 7. I don't know how they do it. I'm ready to curl up and sleep for like 12 more hours, and this is day one! We'll see. I'll sleep well tonight, work hard tomorrow, and maybe earn a night to relax and stay out late despite the daunting schedule of the next day. Step by step, right?

Working 8am-9pm tomorrow. Stay tunned :)

Step Two: Getting Acclimated

So, they pick you up at the airport, give you a welcome packet and room keys, drive you around the city a wee bit to show you the main spots you will be visiting, help you get your baggage up the stairs...and that's it. You're there. In Charleston. Ready, go.

I took some time unpacking, walked down to the local CVS to get some minor supplies, and got all settled in.

Then what. I don't start work until 8am the next morning.

I wandered a little. Tried to find the production office. Got lost. Found my way back...Just getting used to the city. I stopped by the Robinson Theatre to introduce myself - if anything I at least wanted to know what my crew looked like. They showed me around briefly and told me what to expect the next day. Warned me about work clothes, and that I might ruin the clothes I wear. Reminded me about tools and work shoes and water and the like. It was pretty easy going. They're a cool bunch and I think they will be fun to work with. The M.E. has an electric blue mohawk. I like him already.

So, I guess, tomorrow we, and the rest of the festival works, are meeting down at the Production Office behind the Gaillard Theatre to do a hug project at 8am. Out doors. Be prepared for heat, they warned. And bring a wrench and a hammer and strength. Awesome. Good thing I've been working out, right?

Then we reconvene at the Robinson around noon and eat lunch and get to work there. Sunday is multi-cable day. Tomorrow, we climb trusses. Yay. I looooove heights...not. I'm starting to wonder what I got myself in to. I'm sure I will have a lot to learn in the next few days...it will be exciting and scary and everything all together. They said we'll work until about 9pm. Cathy Roe's Dance days in their 15 hour glory may prove to have been good preparation.

Tonight, I relax I guess. And hope for the best. Dinner with Tommy at 7pm and meeting a few people, trying to feel at home.

And then we're off. 

Step One: Packing

Now, this hardly seems like the highlight of a theatre experience. But it is. Honest.

Not only am I packing for a month long trip, I'm packing to work in multiple professional theatres, of which I have no idea what to expect.

I need my Stage Manager's Bag. That's a given. It has all my tools and precautionary elements. I called Delta Airlines, and they said it would be fine to go through baggage check. So that's settled. One bag down.

But, clothing? Shoes? Linens? Miscellaneous supplies? Here comes the fun part.

I stared thinking back to what I wore at SVSU.

Er...whatever I felt like. I mean, close toed, comfortable shoes - working theatres and lifts and the like are dangerous in other shoes. Long days suck if your shoes aren't comfortable. But...tank tops, basketball shorts, jeans, t-shirts...whatever. I always knew the green room would be open if I wanted to eat or get some water. I could break whenever I wanted. I could stop and go home if I forgot something. It's pretty laid back. 

Now, any normal person would just go with this and pack that stuff. Water bottle since there's not a said "green room." Money for food. But clothing wise, whatever. But me, I worry. I worry that I need to pack "the right clothes." I want to look professional and prepared. 

Susie Preuter said, "work hard, play hard."

I checked the orientation packet. It said plan for hot weather, but plan to be professional. No spaghetti straps, no vulgar images or sayings. Also, bring stage blacks. 

I called the production office. They said sleeve length and pant length didn't matter for stage blacks. As long as they weren't tank tops and shorty-shorts. 

My M.E. emailed me. He said work "shoes/boots." Various tools, which I already had planned for . Stage blacks, and a water bottle. 

Okay, so clothing. I left the basketball shorts at home. I planned for cargo shorts or jean shorts and capris. "Real clothes" as my mom would say. And t-shirts. Comfortable things, easy to work in, lightweight. Got all the bases covered. My biggest worry then became the shoes. "Work shoes/books." I don't have work boots. I don't really need them, nor can I afford them. So I had my black tennis shoes that I always wear in the theatre. And I bought some similar brown ones. I mean, they aren't thick soled, hard toed, heavy duty work shoes. But they are comfortable, closed toed shoes to work in that will protect my feet. Worst case scenario, I will buy new shoes in South Carolina, right? Right. 

Finally, I just started packing. I made a checklist and put stuff in my suitcase and checked things off as I went. I had to take things out - pack for less days and plan for more laundry, but everything fit. The hardest thing was packing my own blankets and towels (staying in a dorm instead of a hotel kind of throws that mean wrench in there). But it worked out, luckily.

Now, all of this seems kind of trivial. Which shoes to pack. How does that matter?

But when you think about it, what happens in the real world? You have a dress code for your job. Certain pieces are required - they are your "uniform." You might need dress clothes for an office, or real work boots for construction. Getting the right things to wear and prepare with means a lot in the business world.

The theatre scene is pretty laid back at SVSU...is it like that everywhere? Does it really not matter what you wear, as long as you are ready t get through a day of hard work? Because if that's the case, I'm ready. And honestly, that's probably the answer. But I over-think and I worry and I want to fit in with the crowd down there. 

So, long story short, working around the rant on the difficulties of packing, my first lesson will be dress codes in a professional theatre. I always think about the clothes first. Priorities, right?

Step two: STOP WORRYING. Just go with the flow. If I show up with all the wrong things, I'll buy new things and UPS the other things back to Michigan, right? Right. They picked me for a reason - they think I can handle it. So I can handle it. End of story. Besides, it's the work I do and the things I learn that count, not the clothes I wear or the things I show up with. So I'm a heavy packer and I have a clothing fettish. I accept it. Aside from that, I work hard in the theatre and I'm ready to have the time of my life doing it professionally. Accept it. 

Next on the list: 

Fly to South Carolina

Check in to work on time

Dive in to the world of Stage Electrics

Work in some lessons on Stage Management

Go through the experience with me here, at South Carolina, Please.