The Civic is a truly incredible building - one of something like seven remaining atmospheric cinemas in the world! I've never actually worked in there, but when I was at drama school we used to go in fairly regularly when the film festival was on (it's used as both a cinema and live
theatre venue). According to my lighting operator, it takes you approximately five minutes to get from the control room to the
FOH lighting ladders -
bit of a rabbit warren - through all sorts of passages and stairways. My favourite
bit, though, is the shooting star in the roof; when you hire the building you have to use the star sequence when the houselights go down; takes about five minutes for the
house lights to go down and the roof to
fade from blue to black with stars, and the shooting star happens near the end of it - very cool! So yeah, if you're ever in Auckland, definitely go have a look - a young colleague of mine was up there on a visit, wandered up to the reception
desk and asked for a tour - there was no show in so they called up a
house tech who gave him the grand tour, right up to the roof.
(Sorry for hijacking the thread....)