Getting any show up and running is hard. Layers upon layers of new information are being added to the piece once the actors move from the rehearsal space to the performance venue, and it’s all happening very quickly. As a show’s A1, I am hard at work preparing my script, generating paperwork, programming the console, and in some cases also working as a hand on the shop build and/or load-in. Design elements are coming together throughout the tech process. Ideas are tried, then retooled, and tried again. However, one thing that usually isn’t changing is the actual script of the show. Not so on new work!
My last blog covered tips for touring, but before you truly hit the road, you have to get through tech. Which is hectic and stressful as you try to combine speakers, lights, sets, and props into an actual show.
Within the past couple of months, life has started to pick up, and start dates for live events seem more and more like true beginnings and not the “fingers crossed!” of last year. But after a year and a half, the landscape looks a little different. People who had been on the road for decades suddenly had extra time at home and realized that they didn’t want to head back. Others who were on the cusp of starting their careers can finally see opportunities pop up and are ready to hop on the road.
A Dataton Academy certified trainer with a background in theater technology, Ian Johnson has seen both sides of technical support, asking the questions as well as advising others. In this blog, he shares his three key strategies for maximizing tech support time and quality. Read on!
I was on a job site last week and we were mid-show. The bands were changing over onstage and we were getting into the final stages of the night when all of a sudden one of the network racks started beeping incessantly. The headliner was next and we were under the ten-minute mark. Time pressure builds and the beeping won’t stock. Going one hundred miles an hour like trying to dispose of a bomb, what’s the problem and how do we fix it? Is there power? Is it the breaker? Is the UPS running? Are the batteries dead? If we don’t get this fixed, all the DMX fiber converters and switch racks will be offline, no data network means no show. In short – if we don’t get this right, show’s over.
Amidst all the automated lighting fixtures, automated scenery, and every conceivable high-tech toy now available to a modern theatrical production, the lowly tech table has lagged behind in terms of thought, consideration, and design.
