A is for Apple

In an earlier post I talked about how once I got past my first few classes and had worked on several productions in college my responsibilities grew.
I first became a Master Electrician and Master Carpenter then a Technical Direction and Lighting Designer.
What I had not planned on was that I would be asked to grade my fellow students.
First I was just asked how well the student had done working on the various crews but later I was asked to give them a grade.
I always found this a bit hard but I found that I enjoyed teaching the new students what to do and how to do it.
I did not know at that time that I would become a teacher but the thought had crossed my mind.
I remember one time there were a couple of girls working on a crew, I believe that they were nursing majors.
One day they gave me an apple one day with a note tied to it that said “A is for Apple”.
I ate the apple and gave it back to them with a new note “C is for Core”.

Unlike the previous summer I had not made any plans to work when I went home after my junior year at UB.
I ended up working at a small professional theatre just a few miles from where I lived on Long Island.
The Theatre, The Airport Playhouse was in a bunch of industrial building near the Long Island MacArthur Airport.

(Trivia: The old airport building at MacArthur was used in the opening of the 1970 movie The Out of Towers with Jack Lemon.)

The Theatre was not big, the stage was plywood resting on a bed of 55 gallons drums and I could reach the lights with just a short ladder.
I was hired to be the Lighting Designer for two shows; Rogers and Hart, A Musical Celebration and The Sound of Music.
I also had to be the lighting board operator and follow spot operator, a juggling act that I found out later has been done by many young designers.

The shows were OK, my Lighting was "Spectacular" of course, but more important is that this is where I would meet Richard Logothetis, the owner of Lycian Stage Lighting.
Logothetis’ shop was still on Long Island at that time and by luck was just next door to the Theatre.
OK, you would have to take a short path and go through a small break in the trees, but the parking lots basically backed up to each other.
He supplied the Lighting equipment that was used by the Theatre and I met him when he came by to fix something.
We talked and became friendly and I would work for the next summer after I graduated from UB.
I will talk more about that in future blog entries.
http://www.lycian.com/Home/index.htm

Because I was not making much money at the Theatre I took temp day jobs working through an agency.
I worked a variety of jobs, some for just for a day but one lasted several weeks.
You would have to show up at 6:00 AM and wait to get sent out if there were any jobs.
On the first job I was sent to as I drove up to the area of the place I saw picket signs and was very concerned, I was not going to be a scab and cross the line.
It turned out to be the business next store.

Over the summer I worked in several warehouses moving items and filling orders to be shipped out.
I also worked as a cleaner for a couple of days, something I was used to from my high school job.
The most memorable job was being sent to paint the side of a large fuel storage tank. I had a safety harness on and climbed up the side of the tank, not the biggest, but still large enough.
It was hot, hard to do and very scary when one of the trucks in the loading dock caught fire.
I did not know that I could move so fast as when I tried to get down and away from the fire.
I was invited back the next day but chose not to go back, but found out later that I was the only one who ever came back from lunch to the job.

I was able to get my younger brother a job as the prop master for The Sound of Music.
He worked very hard and did and good job and was very happy when he got paid at the end, $100, the same as me.
I knew that both of us were being under paid, but at 14 he was very happy with the money he got.
What surprises me is that the theatre is still there, thirty plus years later.
They have gone through many staff changes and are still in the same building, and the last time I drove by it does not look like they have expanded at all.
http://www.airportplayhouse.com/index.html

I just found out that Airport Playhouse is closing as of December 2010

Senior year in college and making plans for the future was just ahead for me.