PeterBuchin
Member
Light and technology have always fascinated me.
I'm a relic of a bygone era - before last week I'd never heard of PRG, Source Four, or Eos. Trusses were limited to R&R. You prepped a show by making cable bundles. If you wanted a color changed during a show you did it by hand. There were few Go buttons.
Went to Cass Tech HS in downtown Detroit which had a Performing Arts curriculum. I went to class the first day of each semester and showed up to class after that to take exams. The rest of the time I was backstage with a Ward-Leonard auto-transformer board and units from Hub. For really big shows we supplemented with Edkotrons and Capitol lekos. We did about eight productions a year. Worked on musicals at the Windsor Light Opera, lit for a local dance company, picked up a few gigs through the IA.
Attended IU-Bloomington in the mid-'70s and worked in the Musical Arts Center (an all-Kliegl house with a Q-File, monstrous patch panel, and 5 lighting bridges.) Six operas, 2 ballets, lots of chamber operas. Lit a couple of student-produced musicals at the Student Union which had motor-driven auto-transformers.
Moved to NYC at 20 not knowing a soul. Worked mainly dance and Off-Broadway doing electrics and special effects. Two-scene presets with TTI back ends were all the rage.
Was the Electrics and Special Effects Department for Staging Techniques for two years. Mostly industrials. Worked on projection for several Broadway shows. Showed a film on the face of the Met. Super Simplexes and Ektagraphics with xenon lamphouses from Optical Radiation.
Went on the road with a couple of ballet companies. Was the electrician for the world's largest Nutcracker (2-5k Panis, 12-1200w Buhls, 300 focusing units, 2 Dilor racks, and a Performer II. No trusses. No multi-cable. All from BASH.)
Worked for an industrial producer as their Stage Manager. Lots of multi-projector slide shows. Pulled at least one all-nighter a week and once stayed up an entire week. Went around the world twice in a six-week period, the first time in 10 days. Slides were my life.
Had a good rep because I was a perfectionist but I had no people skills. My motto was 'My time is your money.' No matter how hard I tried I never was able to get an IA card. In my career of over 2000 performances I had exactly two go down the tubes.
That takes me up to 1985 when, for a variety of reasons, I left the business.
A couple of pieces of advice:
1.) Theatre is not your life. It may be your job, your hobby, or your calling, but it is only one part of what makes you, you.
2.) Get the widest possible set of experiences that you can. Do as many shows in as many different situations as possible.
3.) Become the master of something that fascinates you so that when someone asks, "Who do you know that is an expert at ____?" your name immediately comes up.
I wish each of you All the Best!
I'm a relic of a bygone era - before last week I'd never heard of PRG, Source Four, or Eos. Trusses were limited to R&R. You prepped a show by making cable bundles. If you wanted a color changed during a show you did it by hand. There were few Go buttons.
Went to Cass Tech HS in downtown Detroit which had a Performing Arts curriculum. I went to class the first day of each semester and showed up to class after that to take exams. The rest of the time I was backstage with a Ward-Leonard auto-transformer board and units from Hub. For really big shows we supplemented with Edkotrons and Capitol lekos. We did about eight productions a year. Worked on musicals at the Windsor Light Opera, lit for a local dance company, picked up a few gigs through the IA.
Attended IU-Bloomington in the mid-'70s and worked in the Musical Arts Center (an all-Kliegl house with a Q-File, monstrous patch panel, and 5 lighting bridges.) Six operas, 2 ballets, lots of chamber operas. Lit a couple of student-produced musicals at the Student Union which had motor-driven auto-transformers.
Moved to NYC at 20 not knowing a soul. Worked mainly dance and Off-Broadway doing electrics and special effects. Two-scene presets with TTI back ends were all the rage.
Was the Electrics and Special Effects Department for Staging Techniques for two years. Mostly industrials. Worked on projection for several Broadway shows. Showed a film on the face of the Met. Super Simplexes and Ektagraphics with xenon lamphouses from Optical Radiation.
Went on the road with a couple of ballet companies. Was the electrician for the world's largest Nutcracker (2-5k Panis, 12-1200w Buhls, 300 focusing units, 2 Dilor racks, and a Performer II. No trusses. No multi-cable. All from BASH.)
Worked for an industrial producer as their Stage Manager. Lots of multi-projector slide shows. Pulled at least one all-nighter a week and once stayed up an entire week. Went around the world twice in a six-week period, the first time in 10 days. Slides were my life.
Had a good rep because I was a perfectionist but I had no people skills. My motto was 'My time is your money.' No matter how hard I tried I never was able to get an IA card. In my career of over 2000 performances I had exactly two go down the tubes.
That takes me up to 1985 when, for a variety of reasons, I left the business.
A couple of pieces of advice:
1.) Theatre is not your life. It may be your job, your hobby, or your calling, but it is only one part of what makes you, you.
2.) Get the widest possible set of experiences that you can. Do as many shows in as many different situations as possible.
3.) Become the master of something that fascinates you so that when someone asks, "Who do you know that is an expert at ____?" your name immediately comes up.
I wish each of you All the Best!
Glad to see not everyone is dead yet. Be sure to answer 
Hey you kids, get offa my lawn.
