The art of the board operator

[Logos]

I am currently working as resident tech at one of the venues for the Adelaide Fringe Festival. I am sharing operating duties for the 6 in house shows as well as helping out visiting companies.
It's a mixed bag in many ways. One of the shows is all timed cues stacked on a programmable board with a go button most of the others we program cue states to subs and run the show that way.
I was however presented with a fascinating and throughly enjoyable task by a Japanese Company called Theatre Gumbo. They gave me cue points and some states and a couple of specials and after the tech more or less told me to busk the show. I loved it amd apparently so did they as they have asked me to light them again next year when they return and I may even go to Osaka later in the year to work with them.
This brings me to my point. As an LD I love much of the new technology. The ability we now have to store hundres even thousands of cues for a show allowing for subtlety that was much more difficult before and of course ensuring the same look every night is a godsend. The use of moving lights is amazing, but ...
What about the art of the operator? I grew up operating boards in situations where we had to make a great many more decisions than we do now. I love "busking" a show and (with modesty) I'm good at it. But the opportunities of doing that are dissappearing or are they? Are we doing the new generation of operators a disfavour by not allowing for more "busking" or are the opportunities still out there.
I reckon I learned more about Lighting Design by live lighting shows without a plot than from any other situation.
What do you reckon out there in techie land?
Love to hear from you.

[DarSax]

By "busking" are you referring to running a show live off of subs, as opposed to off of cues?

[stantonsound]

Good point. I recently worked for a small theater group and had to design, circuit, focus, and program the board almost by myself. I actually had two trashcans on top of each other and moved them around the stage to focus the fixtures on.

Now on to the point.....I could not be there for the run of the show and was told by the stage manager that they would find a "Go Monkey" to run the board. It took me a minute, but I realized that the board operator these days is little more than a glorified version of the "clapper". Clap twice to change cues.... Good boy, here's a banana.

Oh well.....the good old days are gone. Bring on the GO Monkey.

[icewolf08]

First off, in this day and age, with complex shows and equipment, from LEDs to moving lights a board op is not a monkey position. Many people hire board ops because it is important to have someone who is fast a programming and knows the intricacies of the console so they can translate the designer's desires into cues that work. It also leaves the ME free to troubleshoot issues as the arise during the tech process, and keep up with day-to-day maintenance.

On the other hand, there is something to be said for the enjoyment of running shows on the fly. You may be right that opportunities to do this are dwindling, but I am sure that you can find them. I actually had the opportunity to run shows on the fly on a nightly basis while I was working for the Holland America Cruise Line. I would get one, one hour-ish rehearsal for the act each night where I would come up with looks on the fly and put together a good looking show. I have to say, in two performances each night they didn't always come out the same. I agree, it is a lot of fun, and sometimes amazingly stressful. It is a good skill to have.

[Footer]

You have to remember, as Icewolf said before me that running todays show with todays timings and precise cues would be nearly impossible on a 2 scene preset, not saying that you couldn't do it, but it wouldn't be any fun. Besides changing how the show is being controlled, what the show is controlling is a whole other ball game. A few operators could control 96 dimmers without a problem, but rarely do theaters have less then 192 anymore. First, the console would have to be gigantic to control this many dimmers (express 72/144 anyone??) and it would be a nightmare to run. I think the biggest thing that has been affected by computerized control is money. It allows people to take a sick day, be fired, etc... because in reality all they are doing is pressing a button. It allows one highly skilled person who gets paid big bux to come in and enter all the data, and one less skilled person to operate the show. This board monkey does however have to know somewhat of whats going on. If something gets messed up (scroller stuck, board crashes, what not) they have to be able to work past that. I have said this before (look at called shows vs non called shows) that it scares the hell out of me when there is a board op that feels they need to think. A programmer that thinks doesn't really bother me (if they are thinking the same as me) but a board ops job is to press that little button when they are told to, period. They have the same job as the flyman, stagehands, etc... do what you are told to do when you are told to do it.

[Logos]

I do agree that the technology has made an LD's job much more rewarding creatively and the board op does need to be more than a button monkey. They need to be an intelligent knowledgeable technician who can plot quickly and accurately on instruction from the LD as well as push that button and trouble shoot. And I was talking about running on the fly sometimes with subs and sometimes not. Harder without.
Obviously things over there are a bit different from down here. Outside of the major houses in each state you'd expect to find on average 60 to say 96 dimmers in theatres. I don't remember evr working a house with 192.
I used to work in a receiving house in the UK where we'd get about 40 minutes tops to set and rehearse lighting we'd then have to light the show on the fly. I'm talking mostly variety style stuff. Sometimes we'd just get a list of songs with mood written next to them. I loved it.

[DarSax]

I did a production of Miracle Worker on the fly last year, on our 24/48 preset board with nothing but subs. I've never gotten better compliments, actually; I loved the control it gave me. I could react each night to the nuances of the stage and everything. (The show was not called.) I loved it.

[len]

I can't speak to theatre, because I don't do it. But in music events, I busk every show (but call it punting). Most of the acts I deal with aren't touring, they're semi-local, regional, etc., and glad to have anything. Since I don't usually get a set list, and even if I did I don't know all the songs or their versions of them anyway, I have to punt the show. Which means lots of cues, lots of general focuses, and lots of color palettes. Fortunately, I save every palette for every brand and model of light on my pc, so all I have to do at the venue is create focus points and write some sub-cues for specials.

The larger, arena size shows/tours are way different, even synced to midi or some other code so that all the elements are coordinated. But because the artists tend to improvise some things, you still need a human or three to make sure that things stay with the performers.

[soundlight]

Sub busking is a true art, I think. I usually set up front and back wash subs, with each color, chases of each color, some combo chases, one crazy chase (everything), and one sub for each set of punch lights (usually S4's) on each performer. I also usually have a drum chase sub in case he decides to go crazy.

If ACL's are available, three or four ACL pod bump subs to have fun with, and an ACL chase sub.

I haven't done moving lights yet, but I really want to busk a show with moving lights with gobo, color, focus, and position palletes. That'd be fun! And I hope to be able to do that while here at bucknell, because we most definitely have the stuff to do it (100 S4 par's, 20 scrollers, 2 I-cues, 12 gobo rotators, and the pride and joy of the concert and musical bound LD's - 6 Intellabeam 700HX's).

I've found that one can do very, very interesting things with gobo rotators in source fours. For example, put two 15-30 zooms on floor stands in the back corners of the stage, lamp 'em up to 750, zoom 'em all the way down, put a gobo with three or five holes in a circular pattern in a rotator and drop that in, focus it hard edged, and make the beams meet over down center stage, or over the first few rows of the audience if you so desire. Run some haze in there, and you're good to go!

[SteveRader]

If a board op is goin to be true to the LD wishes, I'd recommend cueing. Live acts such as bands or even dance groups may allow for a show to be run live, as the show will often change on the fly.

Most nationally touring LD's and board op's have general cues and then add to them live with desired effects.

All about preference and how well you can stay on top of the show.