Our janitors generally leave at around ten, but we often continue past then. I don't understand why everyone is talking like the janitors must be the last people out of the building. As long as a staff member is around to arm the alarm when we leave, everything is cool. Usually a few minutes before the end of rehearsal, an ASM is sent around with the Director's keys to lock all the doors...dressing rooms, musical suite, practice rooms,
auditorium, offices, and exterior doors. And then we leave.
At midnight, the classes-changing bell rings. It's a glitch in the
system, but it's very reassuring. I've heard it countless times.
As for sleeping over, I've never done it. The director sometimes does, when he has to do a lot of stuff. His office is full of sofas, so it's generally fairly doable.
The booth is a good place for naps, though. The thing about the booth is that we rarely use it. We have a mid-house
console where we control lights and sound, and I think it's better for lots of reasons. It's closer to the
stage, which makes for a shorter holler distance, and the technicians can better absorb and feed off of the audience's energy when they're in the booth, where it's sometimes tempting to almost forget that there's even an audience in the room.
The booth does have
DMX hookups and
headset jacks, so we can control lights from there or have the PSM up there if the mid-house
desk is crammed with people (2 sound guys, a
followspot caller, and a light board op and PSM, plus staff at times).