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.