Back in the control booth/scene shop after 25 years

[jneveaux]

Hello. Please be kind while I shake off the cobwebs (we used to use rubber cement) and the dust (some DE-diatomaceous earth?). Jack

[icewolf08]

Welcome to the booth Jack. Ask questions, answer them, and you may find that you never want to leave this great community.

[Van]

Welcome Aboard! Hey Technical theatre is just like riding a bicycle, you never forget how, no matter how hard you try you just can't forget. Believe me I've tried several time over the years to forget, it never works, it just keeps pulling me back ......

Ask what you want answer what you can.

[gafftaper]

Welcome back Jack. What sort of work are you doing in your return to the theater? What type of theater is it? Are there any questions we can point you in the right direction to get you started?

[derekleffew]

2008-25=1983. Were you running lights in the booth, jneveaux? Kliegl, Strand-Century, Berkey-Colortran, or Electro-Controls?

[Spikesgirl]

Originally Posted by jneveaux

Hello. Please be kind while I shake off the cobwebs (we used to use rubber cement) and the dust (some DE-diatomaceous earth?). Jack

Welcome, Jack! Nothing wrong with taking a break for awhile. While there have been many, many changes, I think you'll be surprised at how little things have changed on a basic level.

Scene shop, huh, you're singing my song - I was a foreperson (man, I hate that word) for 13 years and loved the time spent there. There's just something about the smell of pine and sawdust that warms me to my toes.

Share your knowledge and we'll try to keep up! (I may be bugging you about non-funtioned button light switches)

[jneveaux]

thanks for the replies. actually I left the theatre in 1981 to go to law school. now, after getting 4 kids to and almost all through college, I took a small part in a community theatre show and made the mistake of mentioning my theatre degrees and experience. now I'm getting a chance to answer a lot of questions with the group and may need to lean on some of you for help "refreshing my recollection" as we attorneys sometimes say.
spent quite a bit of time in a college scene shop working with students and trying to make sure they left with as many fingers as when they came in. did carpentry, metal work and some plastics (foams and sheets). we started making free form sandwich platforms using kraft paper honeycomb cores. also loved the smell of sawn wood (and gelatin glue), but not the smell of rotten casein.
on the side did lighting design and run with dance troupes and summer theatre.
Rosco was a fairly new company - at least outside of LA and Century was Century (before Strand).
tech concepts seem to be coming back to me - like riding a bike - but the bike is more electronic/virtual now.
for instance, I asked one of the young guys working on our lighting crew, what lighting equipment would he buy next for this theatre, and he said "intelligents". we don't have enough instruments to light the actors across the entire stage, but we could do a rock show. am i too conventional?

[Van]

Originally Posted by jneveaux

............for instance, I asked one of the young guys working on our lighting crew, what lighting equipment would he buy next for this theatre, and he said "intelligents". we don't have enough instruments to light the actors across the entire stage, but we could do a rock show. am i too conventional?

I'm right there with you. " Hey we bought 3 VL's..." Um that's great, could we get some lights on the actors now?

[derekleffew]

Originally Posted by jneveaux

...for instance, I asked one of the young guys working on our lighting crew, what lighting equipment would he buy next for this theatre, and he said "intelligents"...

Explain to him there's no such thing as "intelligent lights". Programmers/BoardOps want obedient lights--we'll provide the intelligence. We highly endorse The Gafftaper Method around here, especially for educational and community theatres. I'm currently on a crusade to convince these theatres (and almost every else) to rent moving lights when they need them, don't buy them.

Welcome to the booth (I forgot that the last time) and it's nice to have someone else who knows who Century Lighting is/was.

[Spikesgirl]

[QUOTE=derekleffew;91836] We highly endorse The Gafftaper Method around here, especially for educational and community theatres. I'm currently on a crusade to convince these theatres (and almost every else) to rent moving lights when they need them, don't buy them.
]

Whomever you're speaking to, our theater listened and decided that additional body mics and new sub woofers would be better than a moving mirror, robotic, whatever... We're also looking at new box office software. There's always something to spend money on.

jneveaux - I'm right there with you. I even predated Rosco. We still were actually using real 'gels' when I started. Those things were so fragile! Our theater had about five lights, but you could only turn three of them on at a time or you'd overload the system...ah, the 'good' old days.

I work in a small community theater as well and have to admit that it's a realy change of pace. Are you having fun? that's the important thing!