"Autograph" wall?

[Chris Chapman]

For each mainstage show my students complete, they sign a portion of the wall in our catwalks in chalk. That way if someone does something inappropriate it can be cleaned off easily. This is our 15th year doing it, and we are roughly 1/2 way around the catwalk. (Out of sightlines of course.) It's neat to see complete crews for shows stretching back in time, and gives the students a nice sense of community and tradition. Especially with siblings. A single student quickly can identify that they are part of something much larger.

Signing the wall is the last thing done at strike, and is an incentive to stay for strike as well.

 

[gafftaper]

The high school I used to teach at had a long tradition of signing the walls and ceiling in the shop and costume storage room. There were names going back to the 60's. One of my students found the section that her dad signed. She did some restorative painting and then added her own name to the same "square" on the wall. When I left that job, my crew "secretly" worked for a week to dedicate the back of a door to me and have everyone sign it. It was a wonderful tradition, but there are a lot of places it wouldn't be acceptable.

 

[tyler.martin]

Our venue has two spaces for signatures, one is in the attic, where the original projectionists signed the ceiling beams from the 1930's-1992, and on the Fly Rail and Loading Rail where our crews have signed since the venue reopened in 1997. Some of the artwork is pretty outstanding for being done with a Sharpie.

 

[MarshallPope]

For venues where signing isn't allowed, maybe a sheet of painted masonite is an option. In my high school, we all signed a luan smiley face hanging in the booth, left over from some show in the distant past. When that theatre was torn down shortly after I graduated, the signature smiley was moved into the new theatre. The roadhouse that I work at allows some of the bigger names that perform there to sign a backstage wall in metallic sharpie. There are names such as Tim Conway and Harvey Korman on the wall, and there is even a framed signed photo hanging there from one of Elvis's concerts there. The college that I graduated from and currently work at doesn't really have a signature tradition, except for the names and dates written in the dust in the grids and catwalks of both theatres.

 

[MNicolai]

You can always paint over it again later if it gets out of control.

This is a bad idea. Once the tradition has started, stopping it is a huge morale killer.

At my college, you got your name on the wall after you finished all of your practicums, something many people don't finish until just before they graduate. Worlds collided when one girl had just finished her pracs and was ready to climb up the scene shop door to sign her name at the top of the wall with the other names. The same day she was ready to do that, a new TD started at the theatre and handed a can of spray paint to a student, telling him, "Go up there and paint over that graffiti." The girl watched, horrified, because she had just reached the "inner circle". She burst into tears and ran across the arts center to the roadhouse theatre to cry in the other TD's office.

Didn't make it through his first week without alienating an entire department's worth of students, and he didn't stay very long before he was forced to resign for an unrelated matter. Once the sentimental ball gets rolling, best not to stand in its way if you know what's good for you.

 

[gafftapegreenia]

MNicolai knows. I could talk for days about the drama, scandal and politics of what happens when an authority figure decides to break with established sentiments and traditions. These are not decision to be made lightly.

 

[JonasA]

Specifically on this kind of stuff happening in schools/colleges/educational institutions of all sorts:

A lot of people have said that this kind of stuff is an absolute no-no in schools/colleges/educational institutions, but I know that everyone - staff included - is really proud of the pro arch in our Drama Centre. Every year, graduating drama students and the occasional graduating tech sign the back of it in the wings. I guess because it's a really strong tradition, people take it seriously enough to avoid being offensive and stuff, and there's some great art on there because of it. It's often a bit inspirational for the kids, because you can see all the past students - some of whom have gone on to professional theatre - and know that they were once like them. So, all up; positive thing. And I know I'll be adding my name next week before I leave the school.

On the other hand, it's totally forbidden in our auditorium. Probably because it's a more public space and more people use the stage, anything more permanent than tape gets you anything from a stern word to a detention. (This means you, juniors who think it's amusing to draw phallic symbols on the music stands!). And that's fair enough, because it's a public space. If we have shows, people stick up programs and posters and sign them.

So, while I agree that it can be graffiti and rules are rules, sometimes schools are the best places for these things to stay: Inspiration is hard enough to find when you're 16, you're stuck at high school and your parents are cursing you for not wanting to take business studies at college. Let them have their little doodles - the positive ones can mean a lot. (But paint over the phalluses.)

 

[bobcatarts]

Once the tradition has started, stopping it is a huge morale killer.

I hate stopping people from doing things they really love if it's generally harmless. The camaraderie/morale built within a production department is invaluable, and remarkably fragile. I don't want to be put in a position to damage that, so I won't let it start. That just means there needs to be some other way!

 

[cpf]

Another idea I've seen that can be a "safer" alternative than marking up walls is to have a copy of the show's program printed in large format, and let all-concerned do the signing in it. Once complete, laminate & bind. Where I saw this, a whole bunch were "on display" in a binder back stage.

 

[ravenfan91]

At the high school I work at now, we allow the seniors to sign a part of the wall after their final show. It used to be more out of hand, but we changed it to help keep it under control. Alas, we are running out of space. One of the directors wants to paint over the signatures, but I, perhaps selfishly, do not want to, since this was where I went to high school and my name is up there.

 

[JFRHorton]

When I was in highschool, we had a wall of signatures going back to the 40s, along with scribbled cartoons, poems, and all sorts of other fun stuff. My senior year, I found out they they were going to gut backstage and replace almost everything (it needed it badly). So, half an hour and a sabresaw later, I liberated a piece of history. The best part is that it has Dennis Leary's signature on it.

I think keeping an orderly autograph wall is a great idea. It builds a sense of community and history, which is pretty central to a good working theatre. Most places I've worked have had one.

 

[FTKD]

When I was in high school, we had a couple of bricks designated for each show down in the orchestra pit. We also took a cast photo and all signed the matting around it--it was a nice way to display it in the halls. Now working in a roadhouse, I think that they are very valuable. When we show our space to potential donors, it's nice to take them over and say "this is where B.B. King signed the wall" or whatever that person's favorite artist may be. For anyone who may be starting a new facility, or a signature wall, make sure to ask the artist to date it or do that yourself after they're gone. If you're really diligent it's also nice to keep some documentation about who and where people have signed. Cinder block and sharpie don't always go well together so that helps to remember who's been there.

 

[Dreadpoet]

I'm a huge "fuddy dud" when it comes to this topic. In my estimation, especially in educational theatre, you are teaching students wrong headed ideas if you allow them to put there name on anything other than a playbill. Theatre is temporary at best and all together allusive at worst. We build sets-we break sets....we never keep sets; having people place there name on things is similar...nothing permanent. A right headed approach to theatre is "what's next" not what bush did I tinkle on 10 years ago. It all takes me back to junior high when billy bob and sally sue want to write there name on everything just cause they could.

 

[DuckJordan]

I'd agree but I know of several Pro venues that ask performers and crew to sign the walls that they've performed in.

 

[josh88]

Dreadpoet actually reminded me of something. I'm actually fairly used to saving sets. Packing it all up and saving it for another performance in the future or for moving it to a summer stock theatre. One example is Christmas carol. Without fail my old university would do it every two years or so. Always with the same set, so it had collected all the casts over the years on the upstage sides. That was kind of a nice perspective.


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[techietim]

We have a wall near our DSM/ASM Desk that people are welcome to sign for each show - other than that no-ones ever written elsewhere....to my knowledge!!

 

[Dovahkiin]

At my High School, seniors get to sign/write a quote on a small wall in the room where we store our props and they get to scratch their name and year into the paint of a vent going down into one of the tool rooms. When four year members graduate, they get to paint a brick in the paint room. Up in the booth behind all of the sound equipment is a little space that only the sound and lighting techs usually know about. They sign their names and the musical/UIL One Act that they worked on. That's the one I really care about.

 

[JonCarter]

When I was on the Jr. High crew we signed the ceiling of the scene shop/trap room. In High School we signed the proscenium wall someplace--I picked above the grid. (Everybody wanted to sign next to Eleanor Parker down at floor level--very crowded!) This was in the late '50s--both buildings (built in the '20s and '30s) are gone now. Does it matter?

JC

 

[len]

I like seeing names on the walls, etc. It reminds me of the talent that has come before. Knowing you were lighting the same stage where the famous, the soon to be famous, and the unknown but deserved to be famous played keeps things in perspective.

But a school is a different thing. Something permanent but not part of the building would be more appropriate.