Ever been on a stage that scares you...

[Wallab]

That's because the money goes to redo the football field every four years and to the other sports teams

Do I have a horse in this race? Sort of.

I am with you on that. At my high school all funds for the auditorium come from choir and band budget. But get this Football and wrestling gets there own budget and buys brand new uniforms every 4 years.

People have to learn life is not all about sports.

 

[photoatdv]

Got another one from an event at a different high school (note I wasn't involved in the tech stuff on this production)
1. the hand lines for 2 of the line sets were really slack (enough so that I saw it from across the stage)
2. One of the slack ones was really out of weight because the back line was really taut and the front one was really slack.
3. A different hand line was caught on it's arbor (couldn't see how)
4. The couldn't run their lights (okay not a safety issue, but it was annoying). It was constantly lights up, down, flicker, BO, to full, down some, ect.

 

[Esoteric]

One thing people often forget is that football gets a seperate budget because it supplies its own funds (and often spill over to fund other departments).

Mike

 

[kiwitechgirl]

There's a theatre here in New Zealand (I'm not going to be any more specific) which is a deathtrap waiting to happen. Apart from the fact that no-one told me it was a raked stage the first time I went in there (nearly lost a pair of flightcased StudioSpots off the front edge!) it's nearly 100 years old and hasn't had any maintenance work done on it for years. The issue is that it hasn't been used as a theatre for years, but has had the stalls seating stripped out and is used for dance parties mostly with the occasional rock concert. The flying system has three or four bars which are still useable, but no-one with any sense hangs anything more than a few parcans on them - unfortunately some of the gigs that come through have cowboys for techs and I've seen enough weight on those bars to scare me. The rest of the bars are unusable, but haven't been decommissioned so if you were really determined and tried hard, you could get them in to the deck and hang something on them. There was a gig in a couple of years ago which was so loud that chunks of plaster were falling out of the roof onto punters. Most concerning of all was when a colleague of mine was in the venue, up in the dome (it's a 3-level theatre) on a walkway and went through it when it gave way underneath him. He landed knees first onto a stained glass panel in the roof, up to his armpits in the walkway - he said it was truly one of those moments when your life flashes before your eyes. Somehow he managed to extricate himself and came down a very lucky and very shaken man. To be fair, essential repairs have been undertaken since then, but it's still not a place I would choose to work. It breaks my heart though, because it's a beautiful, beautiful 1920s art deco venue, with gorgeous relief brass friezes in the foyers, a huge gorgeous marble staircase up to the circle, and could be an absolutely beautiful venue. It has a historic places classification on it, which means that it can't be demolished and has to be kept up to a "reasonable" standard, but it needs millions spent on it. One day hopefully it'll get the refurbishment it deserves, but I'm not holding my breath