Technician's Smoking Corner

[SarcasticStagehand842]

Posted: 4/25/08 at 11:34am

So here's the gig; I've been a university theatre student for 3 years now and I've been noticing a trend with the younger students coming in each semester that is causing some concern. It seems lately that people aren't stepping up and doing their part within our department and I was wondering if anyone would care to add an opinion or feedback if their school is going through a similar situation.

When I first started school, it was like a big family and everyone worked together to make sure the shows happened to the best of our ability. Last year, however, a lot of our top notch people graduated and the newer crowd doesn't seem to care. There's an evergrowing rift between the backstage and onstage crowds. People work together, but half the time grudgingly. Theres the "!@#!ing actors" coming from backstage and the "God those techs are so mean" from the performance people.

Our school has a requirement that everyone in the department needs 40 hours minimum (for a D to pass the practicum) a semester for construction of sets and costumes. A lot of kids are showing up (when they do show up), doing shoddy work and disappear as soon as they get their D. I know that shop work isn't everyone's thing and if you haven't had stagecraft and costume tech then it can be intimidating. But there are many who HAVE had the class and show up, lean over to me and ask whats the easiest thing they can do to not have to work a lot. Its gotten to the point where our design staff have had to alter their initial designs because they know that the ten of us who take it seriously won't be able to pull it off by load in.

I can't say much about the acting stuff aside from what I see backstage on shows. Their biggest issue is people actually trying to learn their part and not just reciting lines, showing up late all the time for stupid reasons (I wanted to finish my video game first) and listening to their ipods and missing cues on performance nights.

Now, I think this is a damn shame. We have a wonderful group of wonderfully talented and experienced staff who are trying to give us the very best of their abilities and have worked hard to have a very reputable program and students these days don't seem to appreciate the gift they're being given.

I'm not trying to be a jerk or anything, and I'm by no means saying I'm the ideal tech student, but its more perplexing than anything else. Has anyone else had any problems like this at their school?

[Prisoner 24601]

Posted: 4/25/08 at 10:44pm

Yes, the "actors not wanting to do tech" thing is quite the conundrum. There's nothing our tech supervisor or theatre director can say that will make many kids WANT to do crew work.

Like you said, if you're listening to your ipod and missing cues, you shouldn't be doing theatre. It's apparent that those kids aren't devoted to theatre, so they don't come to crew. Why do any more work than they're given, right? The student who actually cares about their education in theatre will realize that tech isn't "work," it's honing a craft. The trend at my school is the ones who are serious about theatre never question the necessity of tech work, they show up. They put in time. The ones who are in it for fun or because of their friends don't bother with anything but stepping onstage. I say, why bother with them? If they're not serious about it, let them learn the hard way. Show them what dedication is.

[SarcasticStagehand842]

Posted: 4/28/08 at 11:30am

Thanks for the input. I was sure it wasn't just our school, but I still wanted some unbiased opinions and such.

Our department actually wound up having a meeting for the technicians last week to discuss what we can do for next year because its been a whole school year long problem. We ARE caught up in trying to show them what dedication is by being hard asses but at the same time, we still have a show to do. Our Tech director told us something I thought was somewhat inspiring.

"You need to always think about the fact that while right now it might seem as not a big deal, you're all going into a small field across the country and you never know who might help you out down the road. The simple fact is that if you f*** around now and just skate by, thats how people will remember you and they might have a job where you could get it but you won't get the call because that person will look back and think of unreliabile and a no care attitude. The sh****y part about theatre is the people you HAVE to work with. The best part of theatre is the people you GET to work with."

[b=[^.^]=d]

Posted: 5/9/08 at 4:28am

^ that's an intense quote. i'll be sure to share it.

alright, i felt like i was reading about the theatre program i'm currently apart of. we had the same problem, from what i understand, as far as undergraduate schools go, we were one of the best in the state of texas (at one time) now we've fallen apart to all of the most selfish and unobedient of actors and techies. we're talking about not being off book on time, even up to the performances, going against the director's stage directions on the night of the show, stuff of the like.

it's sad because it's mostly the sophomores (it's the other way around in my case) and they've rubbed off a little onto the freshmen (which would be my class) i just got the point where i backed out of that situation before they murdered my passion for pursuing theatre.

i'm kinda spoiled because the theatre department i came from is full to the brim with talent. the directors, the students, everything. and then i leave for college and enter a school where it's the complete opposite.

[SarcasticStagehand842]

Posted: 5/9/08 at 11:43am

That sucks. I probably will sound like a jerk right now, but I think that Freshman year first semester, there can be some allowances made as people adjust to college life and a new department. But after that, you should step up and do your part. If its your major, what you say you love and want to do for a living, then prove it. By sophomore year, one would think you know the basics of how things are done. Hopefully next year will go smoother *crosses fingers*

And I'd like to put an aside that I didn't create this thread simply as a complain about idiots thread. If people need to blow off steam and get input from others great cool, but I think it could be fun to just swap stories from backstage life and BS a bit :)

[b=[^.^]=d]

Posted: 5/9/08 at 2:11pm

^
nah, that wasn't jerk-like.

here's my story. we just wrapped up Tartuffe for our final show of the year. but, the thing about it was that this show had bad news written all over it. one of my professors, the td, hit his head on a set piece and had to get his head scanned at the hospital, then when he came back about a week later he fell off of a ladder and had a minor concussion. and the following day i fell off the set, let me explain first: i was hanging a portrait on a baton and i was in the way of the ladder so naturally i just tried to step out of the way a little and i fell off the platform..., but yeah, apparently i wasn't the only one to fall off. and basically, techwise, that show was trying to pick us off...

[SarcasticStagehand842]

Posted: 5/12/08 at 11:11am

Damn, that sounds rough. I hope your TD will be ok and you both don't have any permanent damage. This year the worst that we've had happen was people not paying attention and shooting some pneumatic staples in their hands. I had that happen and drove a phillips bit into my hand because one of the actors in shop doesn't realise when someone is working that you're not supposed to come up behind them and talk loudly heh But being me, I just went and cleaned off the blood and got my arse back to work.

[b=[^.^]=d]

Posted: 5/13/08 at 6:10am

^
when i first skimmed through that i read staples to the head... i was in awe about how that came about but i reread it first... wow. i need some z's.

i think professor parker (the t.d. that took the nasty spill and suffered head trauma) will be fine. he's really a trooper, he's the glue that's keeping our department together, along with a few techies, because he'll be onstage every night of tech week until three and four in the morning... it's pretty friggin' inspirational really, and cool.

i was okay within a week of my injury... i was embarassed when it happened because it was such a dumb mistake, but i was sore as heck...

change of subject:
what's the most intense set you've been a part of constructing, provide photos? or a link? and what was your role on the construction of the set?

[SarcasticStagehand842]

Posted: 5/15/08 at 1:17pm

I would have to say that the most intense set I was a part of was for a production of "Brighton Beach Memoirs". Due to some date technicalities, we had to move the opening dates back so we had about 2 months to build. The scene design was a Front Elevation view of a house from the early 1900's, full of trim and intricate painting. The way our shop works, the role you play in the construction process varies. Sometimes you're in the saw area doing cut lists all day, other times you're put on build crew and make the pretty little pictures come to life or when we're done building, we help paint and at load in, everyone works on everything necessary.

I wish I could share some pictures, but our design professors have had copyright issues in the past with people coming to the show and taking pictures for their own production ideas. Needless to say, the only photos around are for public display for show adverts and for the designer's personal portfolios.

[b=[^.^]=d]

Posted: 5/15/08 at 1:23pm

We had problems like that too. A lot of people blatantly rip off of my high school director.

This is a picture from Alice, I wasn't in high school yet when they did this production but I really, really wish I could've helped build this! It looks so fun.

All the sets I've ever built have been very, very simple, nothing too technical, whenever I start designing I'm going to go out on a limb, and be original and creative and create extravagent stages. I want each scene to look like a photograph. Is that dreaming too big?
Alice set