Curtain call for crew?

[DavidDaMonkey]

Chalk me up for "the crew should never be seen." I view it as very amateurish and it bothers me every time I see it. With one company I work with, the director will usually recognize all of the crew individually when she meets with the cast before opening night, and she presents all the crew heads with a bottle of sparkling wine or some other gift.

 

[Brandofhawk]

Well I've had it both ways and I will do what the director asks of me. I think its a personal question with the crew, if they want one I may push for one from the director but I do not ask. When the director said "hey lets have the crew bow on the last night" (which is usually the only bow for the crew at our highschool if we get one.) I've had this one actor say horrible things about the tech crew. (think about a tech crew walk out!) Needless to say he mopped the stage twice.

I think it does look alittle "amatureish" but at the same time the crew deserves being seen at least once. Depends on the show though. I dont like it... and I know when the audience is applauding and/or/when/if the audience does a standing ova, it is just as much for the tech crew as it is for the performers.

 

[Mather2010]

As a backstage techie, I don't often get recognized. I am ok with this. The reason why I picked to be on the tech crew was because I am scared of the audience. Hmmm. Interesting. The only time when I went for bows was in middle school when they kind of made us, but now in high school its about the actors not the techies.

 

[jongaduet]

hate it. would strike/object/set myself on fire.

 

[willbb123]

hate it. would strike

You'd start taking apart the set?

 

[hklq]

High school theatre is different of course, but names in the program and the actors gesturing to the booth during curtain call is sufficient I feel. Part of the charm of being a technician is that we are unseen. And in my experience most crew would rather stay backstage. Trying to wrangle them onstage for Talkback (Q&A) shows is tough enough...

 

[AndyPandy]

Nothing hurts like not being acknowledged in the program. Everyone else, even the janitors that opened up and made my life hell for a week got their names in!

I feel that the crew shouldn't be seen onstage. It removes some of the magic to see them all out on stage.

 

[Dreadpoet]

Actors get paid to be seen....Techs get paid to be ninjas

 

[Landon2006]

It all depends on how you want to be considered.... If you want to take the "Professional" approach, then NEVER, EVER go on stage if your a tech. If you want to take the Amateur approach, go ahead.

I dare you to find a Broadway show or Tour that allows there techs to come on stage... . Just does not happen. Actors get paid to act, musicians get paid to play music... Both of which can stop at the end of a performance and take bows as part of their job... The stage crew meanwhile should STILL be working at this time. We still have lights going up, sound coming on, mic's to mix, curtains and other things to fly... We don't have time to go out and bow (or you shouldn't if your doing your job).

This brings back a story that I really need to tell you about. It was several years ago, but I was doing SM for a community theater. The Director insisted that the stage crew come out and take a bow with the cast... I was against it from the get go, but lost the battle.

So, the final bows are taken, and ALL the stage crew (even the flyman) went out to take a bow. They were either a) so overwhelmed with joy or b) nervous that one of the flyman left a line un-locked.

Do I really need to continue? The line-set broke free and an improperly balanced load (which happened to weigh close to 500 pounds) came crashing into the deck, missing the entire company by only a few feet.

TECH'S NEED TO BE TECH'S. ACTOR'S NEED TO BE ACTORS. You wanna take a bow? Become an actor...

Sorry for my rather strong view on this, but you can see why I would be biased against this practice. :neutral:

 

[sp010123]

I was ASM for High School Musical On Stage, and the choreographer taught us the last bit of the finale dance and we backstage crews showed up in the finale and dance and bow together with the casts...it was fun but it's not the usual practice here, plus the senior crews and technicians stayed backstage during the bow. Landon2006's right...there are safety concerns!

 

[MrsFooter]

I get plenty of recognition and appreciation.

It's called a paycheck.

 

[NickVon]

High school Crew usually got a bow on the last show. I'm okay with that.
In College/Professional/Community, i think for the Cast to Gesture to the booth, and back stage (after any pit musicians) is fine. I get my jollies when the audience doesn't consciously think we are there. If crew is going to be acknowledged that’s how I prefer it be done, a simple "please direct your eyes behind you an back stage" via an arm gestureJ

 

[Soxred93]

From what I've found, most of the audience has no idea what the actors are doing when they gesture to the booth.

 

[metti]

While I strictly abide by and inforce a techies make actors seen and heard but they themselves are never seen nor heard rule, I understand that with middle school age crews it might be important to help reinforce their feelings of involvement and worth as part of the cast/crew. In general though, I prefer to use an after show cast/crew talk after the last performance and I make sure the cast party is actually a cast and crew party. Depending on the show and how the venue is, I might have the lighting and sound board ops stand in the door to the booth as the audience files out but in general I avoid that too. I tend to find that students enjoy the show more and feel more involved if they can feel like its professional and a huge part of that is understanding that you are still on the job until the audience has left. Then you can turn off the house lights and shut all the equipment down but audience members shouldn't feel like they are being chased out of their seats by an impatient crew. I also have found that most techies don't even want to be on stage to begin with which is likely part of the reason they are a techie not an actor.

 

[bearbehindscene13]

this may have been said before, its a very long thread and i didnt read the whole thing, but think about a television show or a movie. we in theatre do what they are doing, just in real time. you never see the camera men or the sound guys or anyone in a movie or television show, so why should the techs take a bow? by bringing the techs on, it takes away some of the magic the show had. its like magician showing his audience how to do a trick. i feel the audience should walk away having seen barely a glimpse of the tech crew, leaving the affect that the show was magic, making the theatre experience that much more entertaining/exciting

 

[shiben]

I dont see why you need to send a bunch of people out onto stage to stoke their egos... If the crew I am working with has been particularly good, and everyone did well (this being a college electrics department), I will usually grab everyone who wants to and we have a little celebration at a local bar/pizza joint that has half price drinks and appetizers for students at out school. Much better, no need to be seen in the theater, and we dont have to take actors if we dont want to!

 

[Sayen]

I dont see why you need to send a bunch of people out onto stage to stoke their egos...

Agreed. I was always taught the curtain call was the performer's chance to thank the audience. I think it's William Ball who has a lot to say about this in one of his books. At the high school level I've stopped doing most individual bows (one star at a time, or small groups) because I get sick of the destructive egos. Most curtain calls are now a few large groups, a company bow, while my technicians are still safely tucked out of sight.

 

[MillburyAuditorium]

lol, Where I am at it isn't really possible to do so since light and sound people are in the back of the house running the bowing, but I think the hand thing, even though not really affective, is fine.

Sicne half the audience loks back ocne or twice and are like "Hey..theres people back there."

And at the end of the show we are stadning in the back of the house behidn the boards so most people useally get the hint and say "You did a good job!" or whatnot.

lol, Reason I like crew is because I dont like being ifnront of a lot of people. So, yeah

 

[Soxred93]

Sicne half the audience loks back ocne or twice and are like "Hey..theres people back there.

Yeah... you might need to reinforce some backstage rules is the audience can see people...

 

[MillburyAuditorium]

Yeah... you might need to reinforce some backstage rules is the audience can see people...

lol, I meant the light and sound op who are at the back of the house : )