Hello, ControlBooth!

I stumbled across this site a few weekends ago, and immediately fell in love with it; I can see an obvious presence of a strong community. So here is my brief introduction as I very much want to become active on this site:

I am a rising High School senior, and this upcoming school year will be my second year as the Stage Manager of my school’s moderately-sized stage crew. Our theater program is very old (our school dramatic association was officially formed in 1863!) and has a great reputation for putting on near-professional quality shows.

Our theater was recently renovated, upgrading nearly every piece of equipment. Now with the newly expanded functionality of the theater, I am devoted to the improvement and expansion of our capabilities as a crew.

This site seems to be the perfect forum where I can ask many questions and get thoughtful and knowledgeable answers. My ambition is to incorporate more professional practices into our eager and hopefully capable Stage Crew.

I hope to post more about our theater/crew, along with several questions.

I have a simple ending question: What are some of the most important resources or aspects of this community which I should take advantage of?

Thanks!

Welcome to Control Booth!

The most important aspect is what you just did; Join the conversation! As a student you will likely ask more than you answer, but that's fine, we all start somewhere. I guess the hope is that when you have more to say you will help others along the way. On a more practical note: look for the little underlining of terms. Those are links to help you learn about the word. The wiki articles are also a good way to brush up on an area.

A bunch of new equipment will definitely bring up a lot of questions. There are wonderful links here to training resources all around the web. But the 'why' of some choices is hard to get from a 'how' format. Asking good questions will bring answers from a huge range of folks. That now includes you.

Thanks, Rick!

I will definitely take your advice; your response was well written with good suggestions!

Welcome to CB and may your senior year be filled with "the best show ever" moments. If you haven't come across it yet, check out this classic thread since you won't want to be this person:
http://www.controlbooth.com/threads/king-queen-of-the-booth-complex.9503/#post-108955

JohnD said:

Welcome to CB and may your senior year be filled with "the best show ever" moments. If you haven't come across it yet, check out this classic thread since you won't want to be this person:
http://www.controlbooth.com/threads/king-queen-of-the-booth-complex.9503/#post-108955

Click to expand...

Thanks! I took a moment to read through the thread you linked, and greatly appreciate the advice. I definitely try hard to make sure that i do not appear as a "king-of-the-booth," but this has been one of the most significant challenges for me. During my Freshman year, I came close to upsetting several of the seniors who labelled me as a "try-hard," sometimes justly so. I have learned to be careful and realize the dangers of sounding obnoxious or too bossy.

I have done my best to pay special attention to the other tech managers and their separate duties. For example, if there is a sound related issue that I could easily and quickly resolve myself, I will still try to notify the sound manager to take care of it himself.

But yes, I must always be aware of the "king-of-the-booth." I will admit that I often strive to be too professional in how I approach theater at my school. This can be problematic largely because not everyone shares my work ethic and ambition; i fully understand this and strive to accommodate those who enjoy the more club-like aspect of High School Drama.

I believe that I am the only one right now at my school who is seriously considering pursuing a Technical Theater Career, and I have to be conscious that in my pursuit I do not ignore the ideas of others or develop a self-absorbed view of myself as superior or dominant.

Once again, Thanks for the link and the kind welcome!