Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Under Secretary of Something-Something


I have pointed out briefly in an earlier post that I had other shows and performances that I worked on during my time at Brockport.
During the school year the department usually produced four full productions.
In the summer there was a large musical and a second straight play which was stopped after my third year.
During the school year the student theatre club, Harlequins, would produce a play each semester plus there were about four music events each year and eight to twelve senior projects.
In addition to all of these scheduled events there would always be a few added special productions, speakers, dance concerts, lectures and even a memorial service or two.
Now I did not design or build the sets for all of these but I did have to supervise what was going on and depending on which group was producing the event my direct involvement varied greatly.
I try not to show favoritism, but it is hard not to.
I have always willing to help those students who need it or ask for it, but I do not like those who demand it or just assume I will do their work for them.
There have been time when students have pissed me off and I did not want to help them, but I did.

I have bitched before and will again about students not picking up after their senior projects.
After four years of college they do their last show and run out the door.
Just this summer my student assistant was bitching about the very same thing as he put away things from the last several shows that students just left in the theatre.
It is nice to know that some things never change, but I have worked hard to stop that and have had some better luck in the past.

During my first year I designed the lighting for a senior project; a nice play about a prostitute, her John and a raincoat.
True art.
Most times I do not directly work or design senior projects but I help point them in the right direction.
I have seen them using a very rough sketch that I did as a working drawing, but with a little help most of the time they work it out for themselves.
It will vary over the years how much I get involved, some years it’s more than others.
Just a year or so ago I took a student’s very rough sketch and did a quick AutoCAD drawing of it so the students could build their set.
I always like to offer several solutions rather than telling what to do, but if asked I will cut to the chase and tell them just what to do.
Most of the time I am just concerned that things are going on safely and that they are not getting the way of my building the Mainstage show.

Every once and a while the students will really surprise me and come up with something special.
About twenty years ago one of the students wrote a play and got Harlequins to support it as a special project.
I am often looking for more things to do but I allowed it to be added to schedule.
It turned out to be one of those very special productions were the students worked together, enjoyed working with each other, worked very hard and did what they said they would.
The set, lights and costumes were all well done and the script was very well written.
It was one of the few productions that I have seen in out Black Box Theatre that was designed to work in the space and at the same time created its own look and pulled you in.
The play was odd but enjoyable to watch.
As with many of these plays I do not always remember all if the details and who worked on them but I think it was called Something Blue and if any of my former students who worked on play and read my Blog let me hear from you.
This may not have been the best play in the world, but the student did what they promised and the extra play did not cause me extra work or grief.

We do get some very good student plays every year or so and the faculty will talk about them in the years to come.
Every student thinks their play is the best, but to be truthful most are just ehh, not good, not bad, just ehh.
Thankful the truly bad student shows are rare and they are always remembered for year to come.
BUT, just because someone does a bad senior project does not mean that they will fail in the “Real” world.
One student did some weird oddball thing with a crazy costume but he has been touring and working professionally for ten years.

So when I write in my Blog that I worked on four plays during the school year and two more in the summer please note that I most likely worked on twelve or more different productions.
My least favorite thing is when an outside group forces themselves on us.
One year a local congressman arranged for some Under Secretary of Something-Something to speak at the college.
With little notice we had to stop everything, clean the Theatre and set up for this speech
The college staff wanted to do a live video broadcast over the internet years before the infrastructure would support it.
That fell apart after have every computer tech on campus spent hours working on it.
A TV crew from CSPAN was here with their big truck with a satellite dish on it parked right in front of the building.
The crew asked me where the media tie-in box was and I laughed at them.
I might have dropped a mic cable from the lighting booth down to them but I do not remember.
It went off well and the one or two classes of student forced to be there had a great time.
There was less than 50 people in the audience.

For several summers we hosted local dance school recitals with dancers from 3 to 18.
Stage mothers and screaming kids, just what I live for and why I work in Theatre.
I was able to stop that Nightmare after a few summers of Hell on Earth.
Could it have been that bad really?
Have you seen Toddlers & Tiaras?

As I remember any other special productions of note I will add them to my Blog.





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Thursday, June 14, 2012

USITT 1985 Conference in NYC


Let me backtrack just a bit in time to the spring of 1985 when I went to my first national USITT Conference and Stage Expo.
The United States Institute for Theatre Technology, USITT, is a group of theatre professionals, designers, manufacturers, educators and students was formed to share ideas and advance the skills of those working in technical theatre.
The conference was held in New York City at the Sheraton Centre Hotel, which is the same hotel in which I interviewed for my job a few years before.
I find it sad that this was the last time that USITT has been able to hold the conference in the home of Broadway but costs have made it impossible from them to go back.
I traveled to NYC with the Mike, the outgoing department Lighting Designer, who was still looking for work at the time and must have used the job placement service at the conference.

The conferences are always a great time with many workshops, displays and the Stage Expo which has all of the major manufacturers and suppliers of theatrical equipment.
Of course the biggest attraction that NYC has is Broadway!

Part of the conference registration was tickets to see a special performance of Dreamgirls.

After the performance all of the members of USITT stayed in the theatre for a talkback with the designers and producers of the play.
It was great to hear from designers; Robin Wagner, Theoni V. Aldredge and Tharon Musser.

To me and the others at the conference these were famous people, but to the average Joe they are often unknown.
The audience had lots of questions for the designers but my favorite question was asked of the show’s producer.
He was asked how much it cost each week just to run the show, called The Nut by some.
This is the cost to pay the actors and crew, theatre rentals and design costs.
This is not what is needed to pay back the backers.
I was surprised that the producer actually gave an answer.
This was 1985 and I think he said something like between $250,000 and $500,000.
When the ticket sales fall below The Nut there is no way for the play to ever make money and that is when they close.
It is no surprise that I just read that the highest ticket for prime seats on Broadway is now $499.

I have always enjoyed the USITT conferences for the chance to hear from and meet the top designers and other top Theatre professional working today.
Sometimes it is hard to chat with them without gushing praise and sounding like an idiot.
Back in 2009 I got to talk with Jules Fisher for a few minutes at a reception and I just chatted and tried not to ask stupid questions.
Fisher has designed on Broadway and the movies for over 40 years and had just finished working in Las Vegas on a Cirque du Soleil production.
While at the conference I went to three other plays; Noises Off, The Real Thing and 42nd Street.
It was four shows in three days, crazy but fun.
Interestingly Tharon Musser, the top Lighting Designer at that time,  designed three of the four shows I happened to see.

On the way back from one of the shows we passed the Winter Garden just as Cats let out and we went in to look at the wild scenery that was mounted all around the theatre.
A few years later I would pop in again to see the scenery but somehow I never got around to see the play.
The conference was great and I always enjoy going when I have the time and money.

In addition to seeing the plays I did make it to some workshops and lectures, explored Stage Expo and all the new lighting equipment and also got to go on a tour of two new theatres.
We toured the Marquis Theatre on 45th street which was then under construction and we also went downtown to see the Union Square Theatre which had just been renovated.
When I worked in the NYC a few years before I walked by the Union Square Theatre all the time but never really noticed it as it was not in use at the time.

To build the Marquis Theatre and New York Marriott Marquis hotel they had to tear down five old theatres including the Helen Hayes.
Some place in my box of odd bits I have a piece of a brick that I took from the site just after they razed the Helen Hayes Theatre a few years before.

Being in NYC is always fun and the conference hotel was near the Stage Deli and of course the world famous Carnegie Deli.

What can I say, both have great food; plies of meat, great cheesecake and classic pickles.



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