Tradition!

[GeneralDoom]

At my High School everyone had a nickname, sometimes it was a varient of their real name, sometimes it was a result of how they acted or something they did; we also signed our "names" into the proscenium; I doubt our TD ever knew we did that

[SAWYeR]

At my HS, before the curtain goes up on openeing night of our musical, some reads excerpts from "The Techie Gospel". It's gets all of us in a good mood and in the mindset to put on a great show. We also have this thing called the Set Switch. Basically, it's a piece of inch thick foam painted with red and white stripes and has a light switch and an XLR plug set into it. We attach it to the set of every show we do, and every night before the show starts, one of us turns it on in hopes that the show will go off without a hitch.
At the end of every year, we go to the local forest preserve and have an enormous picnic. We eat, play frisbee, and talk about the year. At the end, the current foremen/seniors select the foremen for the upcoming year and pass on their keys, which let us into the theatres, cafeterias, and other rooms in the school. Then we go back to our scene shop and the seniors paint their most memorable quote on the wall behind the fire door leading to the stage. We also have a ball of solid Gaff tape that weighs around 55 pounds and is the about 2 1/2 feet tall.

[punktech]

i think my college needs more traditions...everyone's been getting demoralized these past few months...(that may just be the fact that none of us like winter, and the various, a-hem, "droughts" and "shortages" that have occurred, if you get my drift...)

[Toffee]

Well I work in two theatres, though only one really has traditions.

One being before a show we do a circle, with both actors and techs, with arms right over left and send a pulse around the circle by squeazing the persons hand to the right when the pulse reaches you.

Another is the people leaving that year get to sign their names in paint or pen some where back stage. Last year our TD signed his name after he did a huge project that will be there forever. I may try and do the same thing.

[timokay]

We have a lot of fun traditions.

Our shop room has posters signed by all the crew, and any of the actors that helped with the set, or acted as running crew during the performance.

Before each show, the tech and actors all do the circle thing, and sing songs and such.

There was, for many years, a ton of the coolest graffiti in the booth, but last year, the whole booth got painted over.

I have every techs sign the back of some flat used in the production.

If there are any photos on the set, it is always of one of the techs, especially baby pictures.

I have two personal traditions:
The first is that I leave a clamp on some part of the set. This year is going to be hard, since my sets rotate.

The second is that I put a piece of clear scotch tape somewhere visible, preferable holding something together.

[ricc0luke]

we had this god-aweful stuffed fish that would work its way onto every productions set in some way for at least one night.

my personal favorite was when the steward walked out on stage, took the flowers out of the vase and put the fish in for the wedding in Anything Goes

no one understands the fish or even really notices half the time- just alum and such...

seniors also get to sign the walls/ceiling under the stage-

at one community theatre i worked at everyone does a shot of tequilla before (and perhaps during) the show. those were good shows and good times.

[Rhonda]

We really don't have traditions, except for our own little 'don't sit on the sofa in the soundbooth.' Then again, it's probably universal in a high school that any sofa in an isolated area if off limits for casual sitting....

I don't understand, why can't you sit on the sofa?

[punktech]

okay, what is a booth like? dark and secluded. riiiight? who has access? the most highly trusted techs (aka students). what do high school and college students have? horomones! what do people with lots of horomones like to do in dark and secluded places that only they have access to???...get the gist now???

other possibly ucky places: green room couch, dressing room couches. and in my theater the ATD and TD's desks, and apparently the costume shop (i found things that don't belong in a normal costume shop in there). then again any flat semi-dark semi-secluded space in my dept's facilities is potentially gross. two of my friends are trying to get my key so they can use the blackbox grid sometime.

[Toffee]

Our entire theatre has had people having sex in it, I mean in our arena theatre booth if you look over by the sound board and up on the wall, you will see a pen holding up two condom wrappers. We really don't wanna touch them, even though we really, really, really should clean it up.

Really if you touch any where in my theatre people have had sex on it, around it, or next to it.

[avkid]

Our entire theatre has had people having sex in it, I mean in our arena theatre booth if you look over by the sound board and up on the wall, you will see a pen holding up two condom wrappers. We really don't wanna touch them, even though we really, really, really should clean it up.
Really if you touch any where in my theatre people have had sex on it, around it, or next to it.

Thanks for sharing(not!)

[soundlight]

There are some of us who maintain clean school-theater facilities, dispose of "soiled" couches immediately, and then keep the keys far away from anyone with stupid, immature, and disgusting ideas for a "night out" in the theater. Seriously folks, it's not funny AT ALL. It's stupid, immature, and just plain inappropriate.

[punktech]

yeesh, sorry that i caused a fight over this. i was only joking around. someone didn't get it, so not wanting to leave then in the dark or alienate them i explained what was being talked about.

and SL, i'm sorry, but you're on college, unless your theater was built yesterday, people have probably had sex in it.
and what's this about throwing out couches? it's just some fluids, get a sponge, take it to the cleaners, it's not like there's enriched plutonium on it.
it's stupid, sure, whatever, but saying that won't make it stop. just put up with it and loosen up dude.

[Van]

God I'm glad I'm married....... Sometimes.

[soundlight]

Sorry, but there's actually a tight hold on the keys here, and sure, maybe it's happened, but hey, it doesn't happen. No evidence, no nothing, no one talks about it, no one says that it has ever happened, no joking about it, and everyone sits on the couch, because they know that the green room is a place where you don't do stupid like that, because everyone knows that people work there every day, and it's rather disrespectful. All in all, it's a very professional place. The whole place goes under lock and key at one in the morning, anyway, so you can't get in. And all of the people who work in the tech department who have keys are or were in the CHOICE (substance free) housing, and are rather conservative on the issue that we are discussing here, so there is really no issue about it happening there. And the actors and other folks who aren't that conservative about this know that it's just a bad idea.

In short: sure, it might have happened under a looser theater department, but it won't happen now, and I'm happy for that. Some people may dismiss the whole idea of a theater department being able to be understanding that the whole theater is the department's space, the department being the professors, assistants, students, janitors, everyone's, and you just don't do that sort of thing.

EDIT: and about the couch. I didn't have it thrown out, I was glad to just toss some muslin over it. It was really thrown out when the new principal got wind of what might have gone on, and had it removed. That resulted in the biggest territorial pissing match between the janitorial department and the theater department ever.

[DarSax]

I think our theater beats any other hands down for sex. Up in the stage left gallery (is that the correct term? We call it the stage left fly ), there was a couch, under the cushions were over 7 used condoms and/or wrappers. That thing was up there for years, so much so that there was a huge spray painted sign on the wall over it, about 10'x10', "WELCOME TO THE LOVE SHACK." Finally got taken out..........ew.


Hell............I even know of techies who have...well...you know.

[PARchild]

Wow... I never meant to cause such a large discussion/fight/argument by mentioning that. Fortunately we bought a new new sofa with our own money (I contributed half) and our current ALD decided that there will be absolutely no fooling around on that sofa. I plan to carry on that idea.

[TechiesDoItInTheDark]

Ya'll make me laugh...we have stories about the benches in the booth and the chair with the stickers in the galley, but nobody seriously gets it on. TimeWarpedSR and I make sure that nothing more than a little fun goes on. We really don't want to be touching things that have nasty stuff on them. And I agree with punktech losen up a bit, everyone wants a little something sometime...just maybe not in and around the theatre. And I think that I started the whole 'don't sit on the sofa' thing PARchild. We can share the title of starting the large discussion/fight/argument.

[bcfcst4]

At my school we have a few traditions. First off, during green room, the Stage Manager gives a speech about the bathrooms. This may sound odd, but the two bathrooms we are to use during the show are located in our shop and the light from them will reach the stage, so we have to go through the procedure of open the door, close the door, turn the light on, etc. This speech includes the ASM standing on a stool at the front of the room and pretending they have to go to the bathroom. Can you say awkward?

Also, after every friday night show we all go to iHop for pancakes etc.

Someone usually brings chocolate covered espresso beans backstage, so the actors can "keep their energy up" and the crew can move set pieces with incredible speed.

Oh and we have a couch like that in our balcony... fun to see freshman sit on it and hear an upper classmen say "....uh..... you really don't wanna be sitting on that..."

[PARchild]

Yeah, I'm just so used to it being my fault....heh heh. We also have a weird purple fluffball on the pinrail now, courtesy of my friend. It has been dubbed the purple people eater.

[bcfcst4]

Oh and first thing i thought of when i saw this thread was Fiddler on the Roof as well.

[punktech]

glad to see all that business from before got sorted out. i stayed away, i knew that if i checked back any time soon after that post i had a good chance of getting my hackles raised.

in my theatre there's a bit more ambiguity about what has happened in our facilities. we have our main building which is new, so hopefully not much has gone on in there. however i do know that two of my friends that have both graduated now, were caught making out in our ATD's office, on his desk no less...our old building, which is now storage, is even more "mysterious"...

we make jokes about it but most everyone knows that it's most likely that hasn't happened (making out maybe, anything more, neeh, don't really want to think about my friends like that). if it has happened (for whatever reason, heat of the moment, you know, anything.) i trust that my friends and predecessors had the good sense, and common decency, to clean up.

ease up though, i mean you aren't going to catch something from even day old stains. and maybe that stain that all of you think came from one think actually is just some split soda. never assume, it makes and "ass" our of "u" and "me".

[bobgaggle]

We have a few traditions in our department.
First is called Circle.

MIKE!!! You're not supposed to tell anybody about our circle!!! its a secret!!! jk,
don't know if you remember me...i was a freshman when you were a senior...how's it goin' at UVA?