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.
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.
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