I just got home from working for a regional theatre that shall remain nameless… They asked me to set up their turntable system for their present show, because, well, I’m the only one in the area that knows how their system works… I was staff there when the system came into being, so it makes sense… So this time around, I built everything into a single box, that you simply plug in, and it works from the electrical end… You do still have to actually set up the motor/drive system, and the unit that tells you how far the table has turned…
At any rate, I headed in today to set the various settings on the unit that are buried in the electronics units with the director and stage managers present… That way, they should be basically happy with things, and will only change the speed setting a little to get it just right… I didn’t need to stay after that… I asked the young assistant stage manager if she was comfortable with the controls, and she was very hesitant… So being a semi-nice guy at the very least, I said I’d stay for a while to make sure she was ok… No big deal, I didn’t have anything going on at my shop really except cleaning the place after my last event… So the actors come on stage and start rehearsing the show… Honestly I still don’t know the name of this show, but let me tell you… It is DULL!!!.. I will however, give them the benefit of the doubt that this was their first day on stage, so they were off somewhat… It would take some seriously amazing acting to give the lines I heard any life, but I’ve seen it done before…
The turntable only turns 4 times the whole show, so I had lots of waiting to do… I figured that I’d go sit out in the audience area so I could see it from that perspective… As I crept quietly out there as I am accustomed to doing, they stopped rehearsal… They told me to get what I needed and get out… I was not welcome out front… The fucking arrogant director will not tolerate the likes of a technician to be out front during a rehearsal… Needless to say, I was shocked… I mean this isn’t the first show I’ve worked in that theatre, or the first with that director, or the stage manager, or any of the other artistic staff members that were out front… They all know me, and we address each other by our first names… But that old, ugly line between “technician” and “director” reared its ugly head… So now, I’m home… I left the girl that has to run the equipment there in an uncomfortable situation, because those people out front don’t deserve the time of day from me… I don’t think I’d piss on them if they were on fire… I did leave her my cell phone number to call me with any problem since I’m literally 5 minutes away… I feel bad leaving her there when it was obvious that she didn’t fell good about pushing the buttons, but really she’ll be fine… I’ve shown many people this system over the years since I put it together… Its pretty simple… Set the direction, and push green to go, and red to stop…
What really set me off was that, what do these people think I was going to do sitting out in the house?... I certainly wouldn’t consider making phone calls, or eating potato chips… I hadn’t intended to fall asleep and snore… I hadn’t planned on moving around a lot to make a distraction… I mean for heavens sake, I’m a professional here folks… I have a clean track record in that department… What are they afraid of?... Could it be that the show sucks, and they don’t want me to know it?... Hell, I wouldn’t recommend it one way or another to anyone… I don’t do reviews on the shows… I have been known to offer an opinion on scenery, or lighting, as those are my areas of expertise… Yes, I said the script was dull… That’s just a reaction from someone who has seen a lot of shows… I wouldn’t tell anyone that since it was as I said, their first time on stage, and I was listening from backstage where I couldn’t see much of anything…
I swear… Every time I go back in that place, I am more and more glad I stopped being a staff member there… I also wonder why I keep going back… I suppose I do since they are literally right down the road, and I like to get an “artistic fix” now and again… There’s just not much “art” in the corporate productions I do…
Posted by Backstage at October 9, 2003 07:13 PM