JChenault
Well-Known Member
Concede nothing. According to Rick Boychuck in his history of counterweight rigging systems. "Nobody Looks Up" fly men were not originally seamen and ships rigging had nothing to do with stage rigging.
Theatre Traditions and Habits
- Thread starterbusparking
- Start date
Concede nothing. According to Rick Boychuck in his history of counterweight rigging systems. "Nobody Looks Up" fly men were not originally seamen and ships rigging had nothing to do with stage rigging.
BillConnerFASTC
Well-Known Member
Fountain Of Euph
Active Member
-Be quiet durring sound check
-when asking the FOH engineer a question while mixing, approach the booth and wait for then to acknowledge you.
-do not disturb a lights programmer at work
-know that the mix is the most important thing for FOH, and everything else is second.
-never enter a booth that is not yours without permission.
-never touch the board, tools, or paperwork of another tech without permission, even if you know how use them.
-don't mess with audio rack settings or patch unless under the guidelines of the house audio tech.
-when unmuting, take the fader to 0 and then fade in.
-actors: Always thank the crew.
-crew: respect the actors
Sent from Taptalk for Android, this was.
-when asking the FOH engineer a question while mixing, approach the booth and wait for then to acknowledge you.
-do not disturb a lights programmer at work
-know that the mix is the most important thing for FOH, and everything else is second.
-never enter a booth that is not yours without permission.
-never touch the board, tools, or paperwork of another tech without permission, even if you know how use them.
-don't mess with audio rack settings or patch unless under the guidelines of the house audio tech.
-when unmuting, take the fader to 0 and then fade in.
-actors: Always thank the crew.
-crew: respect the actors
Sent from Taptalk for Android, this was.
I'd like to preface this with the fact that I am not personally a superstition guy, I just play one when I'm at work 
1. Whistling is annoying and once I teach it the students police it very well.
2. I once toured a facility with a co-workers class and a student whistled. Our guide (a person for whom I have a great deal of professional respect) politely informed the class about the fact that you don't whistle in theaters because it's bad luck. The student whistled again shortly there after and our guide was much less polite with his second admonishment. I know that you can't stop all people from being rude, but I personally teach these superstitions (break a leg, Scottish play, etc...) so that I can be certain that MY students won't be the ones insulting people who go out of their way to share their spaces with us.
I do teach it to my tech students. Generally someone will whisper it in the theater the next opportunity that they get. As a generally laid back guy, when I get serious, the entire dynamic of my classroom changes. So when I inevitably catch them saying it I get very serious, very quickly. Remove the student from the space to be dealt with at a later time. And never have an issue with that group of students again.
This is generally during the first week of class and makes whistling and the Scottish play a non-issue for the rest of the year.
Also, I'll take any chance I get to help teach the youth of our nation to not be jerks and to respect other's beliefs.
I teach it for two reasons.
1. Whistling is annoying and once I teach it the students police it very well.
2. I once toured a facility with a co-workers class and a student whistled. Our guide (a person for whom I have a great deal of professional respect) politely informed the class about the fact that you don't whistle in theaters because it's bad luck. The student whistled again shortly there after and our guide was much less polite with his second admonishment. I know that you can't stop all people from being rude, but I personally teach these superstitions (break a leg, Scottish play, etc...) so that I can be certain that MY students won't be the ones insulting people who go out of their way to share their spaces with us.
I do teach it to my tech students. Generally someone will whisper it in the theater the next opportunity that they get. As a generally laid back guy, when I get serious, the entire dynamic of my classroom changes. So when I inevitably catch them saying it I get very serious, very quickly. Remove the student from the space to be dealt with at a later time. And never have an issue with that group of students again.
This is generally during the first week of class and makes whistling and the Scottish play a non-issue for the rest of the year.
This is precisely the reason why I teach it. Let the students slip up while they are around me so that they can learn not to do so around others. I teach the superstitions less as something to be personally superstitious about and more as a way to show respect to people who work in our industry who are superstitious.
Also, I'll take any chance I get to help teach the youth of our nation to not be jerks and to respect other's beliefs.
I have recently regained full control of my retina's.
It only took about 8 years.balderson04
Member
Yelled "fire in the hole" once, heard no objections, test fired the prop gun and a second later, heard somebody say "Oh, that's what "fire in the hole" means. Scared the **** out of me!"
Thetechmanmac
Active Member
-Don't be a know it all. Even if you think you can do everything.
+1 to that!
Thetechmanmac
Active Member
I mean besides that. But part of the point of having a [Mute] is so that you can turn the source on/off without changing volume. If I'm in the middle of a show, the last thing I want to do is try and pickup each entrance/exit (or worse, each line if you prefer to mix line by line) by moving the fader (losing my previous level), unmuting, then bringing the fader back up. That's a recipe for loosing the first few words of every line, with no noticeable gain. If I've got people sharing mics or I know they're going to be noticably louder than before, I'll pull it down a little bit, but never to 0 (-∞).
I totally agree with you, I don't see the point of pulling a fader all the way to -∞ and then muting under normal circumstances. I hardly ever mix and when I do I usually just use the mute button and leave the level where it is. Though, I did work with a sound designer once that swore by faders, and he had all his auxes configured post-fader and left all channels unmuted the whole show, and just manipulated the faders to bring up mics. Seems kind of over-complicated though considering he had roughly 50 channels to mix.
Last edited:
kenact
Active Member
Unfortunately, I typically work in a theater where each production has their own tech "staff", typically the director, or an actor the director hired to run lights and sound. My first hour in the theater, for a new production, is typically spent making sure the last "tech", didn't re-patch the entire booth.
-Do not offer to do anything requiring a power tool, unless you actually know how to use the tool
-If it's your responsibility to tear down a set, never leave screws, nails or staples sticking out of anything, even if you're the one building the next set
-Only because this actually happened to me, if you're helping out by patching something backstage, like cementing over a weak spot in the floor, don't do it right before a performance, especially without telling everyone that has a need to be near that location
-To expand on something said earlier, never touch anything backstage, unless you're absolutely certain it isn't part of the show, and it isn't someone else's personal property
-Always knock, and wait for an invitation, before entering any dressing room
-During a performance, never talk backstage unless it's necessary. Even if you speak softly enough that the audience can't hear you, the actors on stage might, and it could distract them
-Practical jokes are not cool
-If you're not making a boatload of money, you better be having fun, as long as you're safe and respectful of the production
Fountain Of Euph
Active Member
With the obvious exception being if you performing with a company where the entire cast greets departing patrons in costume - assume this is NOT the case until told otherwise be the director, stage manager, or producer.
NickVon
Well-Known Member
True. Case in point I saw Deaf West's "Spring Awaking" and they greeted everyone after in their starting dress for donations for the Equity Fights Aids fundraising. (I think that what it was.) I think the general rules stands unless a specific audience or show calls for the a director to choose differently. A lot of children theatre casts will usually meet kids in costume. Or sometimes Productions like Beauty and the Beast, were Belle and Beast may take photos with kids afterwards if that's the audience your show is geared for.
Brandofhawk
Active Member
I learned very early on (when my lead got up in my face and yelled at me front of all the other technicians) to not put my hands in my pockets. At first I was taken aback... we weren't really doing anything, and it was kind of cold out so you know... trying to warm them and such.
Later, while reflecting on the situation, I was being paid to be there, be present, and be ready to work (even if nothing is going on at the time). You need to be ready to lend a hand and you just cannot do that with your hands in your pockets. Similarly, if a client sees you or part of the crew with hands in pockets, it seems as if there are too many people on the gig and they may question why they are paying for someone who isn't working.
I don't put my hands in my pants pockets anymore... I do still however put them in my sweatshirt / jacket pockets.
Later, while reflecting on the situation, I was being paid to be there, be present, and be ready to work (even if nothing is going on at the time). You need to be ready to lend a hand and you just cannot do that with your hands in your pockets. Similarly, if a client sees you or part of the crew with hands in pockets, it seems as if there are too many people on the gig and they may question why they are paying for someone who isn't working.
I don't put my hands in my pants pockets anymore... I do still however put them in my sweatshirt / jacket pockets.
Toffee
Active Member
dthomas32308
Member
Please for the love of everyone who will use it after your production is finished... teach them how to PROPERLY roll drops where it prevents the tight creases and wrinkles. Can't tell you how many drops I've received from a rental house that had the previous renter ship the drop straight to us and it wasn't rolled but folded then have to call the drop company to get permission to steam it so it will hang flat and not have shadows.
