Where do you call your shows from? (High school especially)

[ishboo]

For our upcoming musical in the fall we're trying to figure out positions. We have two theatre's and this musical is in our old small one that only has a lighting catwalk rather than a booth. We've run lights sound and SM from there before. Since it is a musical our sound guy wants to mix from the floor. Our catwalk is very noisy when walking on it (to take places) so I'm considering running lights FOH with the Sound op and putting the SM backstage. Does this sound feasible?

[Clifford]

If you have tables and can sacrifice the rear rows, it's perfectly feasible. Many, many high school theatres are run in such a way, either because they have no booth or becasue their booth is too small. Also, for the same reason, the SM will be backstage running the show, giving them direct control of the deck.

[chaosLeader]

the HS I graduated from does have an opperational booth where the SM is right there with the light board operator and sound board operator. but I know my HS is above typical HS level in the technical dept. but, thats where the Sm calls the shows from.

[rwhealey]

We have a full booth for lighting (it's quite large and we don't store anything in there) behind the back wall (with quite a large window, of course) on the 2nd story. Sound is in a FOH position in the middle of the house (the best place, IMO). Spots are in dedicated spotlight positions on the catwalk farthest from the stage.

Stage manager sits in the light booth, and we usually have 2 ASMs, stage left and stage right. All on Telex. We also have video to backstage, the pit, the fly rail, and the green room.

[rwhealey]

Yeah, I'm a student, but in the St. Louis area

Now that I'm the senior technician, I've realized I'm really lucky that my high school (a public school!) has such a great theater and arts program. Most of the techs and the student body in general take it for granted and don't realize the value of what the school has to offer.

I feel kind-of guilty reading everybody else's posts- we got a Congo Jr. last year and a Soundcraft MH3 the year before. Our facility was built in 1995 and now brings in enough from rentals to be self-sufficient.

[philhaney]

Our venue has a stage building, but the audience sits outdoors in an amphitheatre. Our Director calls the show from the sound/narration booth in the back of the audience (we're not setup like a "standard theatre).

[ogivol]

We usually go with the sit on the side and see "everything" approach to stage managing. Although now with the expansive set we've concocted for Beauty and the Beast this year, we had to rig up an upper level on the side. Ironically is it right above where the stage manager sat for previous shows.

[WestlakeTech]

Our larger theater... we used to call cues from the stage-right wing. The only way we could see the entire stage was thanks to an old TV and a security camera at BOH and the color was horrible on the TV's screen. After our rennovations are done, the Light Booth at BOH will be larger with bigger windows, so shows will be called from there.

Black Box Theater (AKA "Home"), always from the BOH booth. Where exactly in the booth is SM's choice.

[icewolf08]

Originally Posted by WestlakeTech

Our larger theater... we used to call cues from the stage-right wing. The only way we could see the entire stage was thanks to an old TV and a security camera at BOH and the color was horrible on the TV's screen. After our rennovations are done, the Light Booth at BOH will be larger with bigger windows, so shows will be called from there.

Black Box Theater (AKA "Home"), always from the BOH booth. Where exactly in the booth is SM's choice.

While I think that most people would put together that your BOH=Back of House, it would be a pretty non-standard and possibly confusing term on account of many might think back of house=backstage. Generally anything on the house side of a proscenium is considered Front of House (FOH). Thus you have things like FOH mix positions for sound, FOH Booth, and FOH Cameras. Also, sometimes people like ushers, concessionaires, box office staff and house manager are referred to as FOH staff.

That's all, just some clarification on terminology.

[WestlakeTech]

it's appreciated. Thank you.