I was contracted in to a high school many years ago to "fix" their spring musical. They, as a lot of schools do, let the kids do everything, which was great for experience and a disaster in terms of actually getting things to work. I had the tech kids walk me through what the situation was, and after we decoded that the director was a dancer and really had given them no
clear direction, we started fixing. The lighting was pretty straightforward, just teaching them how to program the board (Ah, the
ease of the old
ETC Express 72/144...) since all they knew how to do from her was turn down the grand master, manually adjust the faders to the next scene, then turn the grand master back up...
The sound...
The head custodian was in charge of the sound
system and equipment. Only he had a key to unlock the rack, and he insisted that only he could have the key. All the microphones and cables and stands and whatnot HAD to be stored in his closet NIGHTLY. When I went to ask him a few simple questions, he grumbled about how all this stuff gets stolen and broken and kids don't know how to do this and do that and when I assured him I was going to be taking responsibility for everything, he got nastier and refused to give me any of the equipment and threw me out of the office. After revising my quote to add in the cost of renting all the equipment, he called to tell me I could
pick up the equipment daily. I revised my quote to add in an additional 4 hours a day to set up and tear down. He called me to tell me I'd be issued a key for the run of the show and I'd be personally held accountable for any broken equipment.
Long story short, none of the equipment had ever been used. Brand new wireless units, hanging mics, PCCs, two 414s, all still brand new after 4 years. The only thing used were three
boom stands, three cables, and three handhelds that were Radio Shack brand. He didn't understand any of the equipment and probably didn't want the job of taking care of it, but prided himself on his inventory being perfect every audit.
After the run of the show, there was a well-trained student crew and a very happy school board president who heard his daughter and son clearly through the state of the art
system that "never seemed to work" before. Everything was returned (with pictures taken just in case) and locked away. And I was not invited back because I was "difficult" to work with. And since he sets up for everything, he won. And they went back to the three handheld mic setup, and everyone complained, especially the kids, but that's the way life happens.
Believe me, some of my favorite people in the world are the custodians that understand how the building works and all the ins and outs of the place. The majority of them are good people who work hard but sometimes get things dumped on them that they don't understand. This guy wasn't one of those people.
This electrician I'm working with now is a very nice guy, very knowledgeable in his craft, talked me through the pros and cons of the major rewiring and pointed out some things with a new panel I hadn't thought of. I don't think he's a bad electrician, but I think that he's not knowledgeable in the theater world, and he's probably following a
template that was set out by the architect, who probably knows his craft in general terms but not in specific terms. I still have my union card, so I'd be happy to labor and do work since it will be a building I'll be working in. I just get scared when I see what's on the paper as well as what's been done elsewhere and accepted as standard.