What I Fear

[Ricky Smith]

So this is my senior year, and for anyway that we cut it I'm the "technical director" for the highschool theater. As most of you probably have read in the previous discussions about having a professional ect.. and what not.

Well what i'm afraid of here is after I leave although I do have someone to take over (my assistant he registered on here yesterday), i fear that the group is going to fall apart. So before I leave my task for my self is to get this thing off the ground and get a dedicated team together for next year, wether they're paid or not (agreement we had with the school), i want to create an Actual Tech Team. now we're not going to beable to get a professional teacher or anyone to run the group, or really any funding except out of the drama budget each year. so how would you recommend going about doing this. I wan't the students and the group / program to expand, where they'll actually learn about the instruments and hanging, light design, ect...

I'd like to make it so for next year when they do the play we can have an actual lighting setup, sadly i've been too busy just trying to get this off the ground and running with the basics, we have our lights gelled but nothing special for this play in april. so for me it's too late to do anything big and special but i want to again get this so for next year they can.

recomendation of things to go over so i can come up with some sort of outline maybe, some type of books to look into, software, ect..

[astrotechie]

At least im not the only person that is fearing the same. It feels like there are only a few people that are interested and they sometimes cant be trusted with everything. I fear even more that once me and you leave that everything is going to go through the cracks.

[Footer]

You would be suprised, given the opportunity people will step up.

[Foxinabox10]

I can say that one of the biggest things you can do to make sure the program continues to go forwards after you leave and not backwards is to make a reference manual of how all the systems are hooked up, user manuals for every unit (you can print them online if you don't have them), designs from previous shows, past rental orders, instructions for anything else you can think of, and more. When I left, I made three 3" binders and passed them on. It really helps when the people that step up have basic questions.

[soundlight]

Stop doing things, make other people do them. Just answer their questions, and don't always try to do everything yourself. Make sure that others get plenty of experience.

[chrizEHS]

My suggestion is (and i am sure you hear this a ton) is find your local community theater and go down, work some shows,get to know the people and develop a good working realtionshp. I have found most theatrical adults more than willing to share thier time and talent for the (and I know this sounds odd, but you get the point) .... common theatrical good.

Good luck and always ask, thier are people in your community with a lot of knowledge gurannted, you just have to find them


Chris

[dvlasak]

I agree that you should put together some sort of manual of your school's equipment, the proper way things are hooked up and connected, and the proper way to operate the equipment. Include anything you've learned about troubleshooting any problem. Perhaps include a section about "if this happens, then..." Include a FAQ section, warranty info on your equipment, where to get equipment repaired if it is needed, where you have purchased your existing equipment, who installed the equipment, what AHJ inspects your space and what they have said/required you to do in the past. If you have any info about any of the applicable codes, include that. Include info about who your school's insurance carriers are, include who from the school to get a hold of if there is a problem. Include a section on safety, like what to do if the fire alarm goes off, what to do if there really is a fire.

A great thing to leave at the school might be a copy of Dr. Doom's book on school theatres. You can find info on it here - http://www.theaterhealthandsafetyboo...ut/Welcome.cfm

I am assuming that you are computer savvy, maybe not everything has to be a typed document. Perhaps a video on a hard drive, flash drive, or DVD on how to bench focus the light fixtures, how to program the light board, how to hang/focus/gel fixtures, how to relamp a fixture, how to wire a mic or speakers/monitors, how the sound board works.

Really, if you think about what you would like to know if you walked into your space and didn't know how things operated, that's probably a great place/way to start. That's what you should leave for those taking your place. Good Luck - this could be a HUGE undertaking! But, it also can be very rewarding knowing you have helped keep the tech "program" alive in your school and hopefully advanced in a couple of notches - that can be your legacy!!

Dennis

[gafftaper]

On one hand I fully agree with many of the ideas here especially the create a manual and trying to build connections with some adults in your community (maybe you can find someone who is willing to donate their time to help retrain students each year).

At the same time, this is the way things go in High Schools. You get tech people who know what they are doing, they go away and then no one knows for a while, and eventually a knowledgeable person comes back. When I stopped teaching at my high school my tech students worked really hard to keep things together for a while but now things have changed, they have grown up and moved on. The point is while it's admirable to try to help and to care that things don't fall apart, in a couple of years you will be so removed from the situation that you probably won't care as much. It's just life. You grow older and move on.

So yes do what you can to help out the generations who are to come. But don't feel guilty because the manual will eventually get lost and things will eventually go down hill. You have a future path that probably lies in a direction other than high school. Help those you leave behind but don't let that disrupt your movement forward. Others will come along to replace you. It's just the way things are.

[Van]

Just as the young fry eventually must leave the safety and familiarity of their rivers and creeks, and make their inevitable journey to the sea, You too, my child must let go of the past and abandon the next generation of small fry to their fate. For as it has always been Small fry come and small fry go, How do they know what to do ? How do they survive? This my son is a question for the ages. Oft it is all we can do to simply stand on the bank and watch them swim by.

< 'course watching them swim by with a fly rod in your hand is a whole lot more fun. >

When you can snatch this crescent wrench from my hand then, you will be ready.

[gafftaper]

Or, here's another old movie reference you probably aren't old enough to get...

Miyagi say... Gaff on, Gaff off, Gaff on, Gaff off, Gaff on, Gaff off, Coke the floor, Paint the Set, Gaff on, Gaff off, Paint the set, Gaff on, Coke the floor, Gaff off, Paint the set...