The assistant director gave the cue "Ok, fade up lights on cue 142. Go sound effect 26."
I raised the main power slider to full and hit the computer key to cue the lights to their preset intensities. The lights on stage illuminated and the play continue after the intermission.
The sound of a window smashing and the tinkling of glass hitting a floor can be heard as Paul cued sound effect 26. An actor climbs through the window frame located stage left. He's dressed in 1990's jeans, tee shirt, and an open plaid long sleeve shirt. He's got dirt on his face and he is out of breath.
A woman comes running on stage as if she was in another room reacting to the break in.
She screams! Not in terror, but in recognition. It's her boyfriend. He looks like he went 10 rounds in a street brawl and lost badly.
Shelly, our makeup artist, did a great job on the cuts and bruises. She had a talent for blending the different colors of red, blue, purple, and black to make the actor appear like they were hit by a freight train and walked away.
This was the 5th month that the play had been on the road and it was our second week in Rochester. Everyone in our production company had learned this play inside and out. During the second month the crew would mouth or say the lines along with the actors. By the third month the crew was passed the mock the play phase during the performance. By month four everyone was working on autopilot and just hanging out anywhere the audience couldn't see or hear them.
Every now and again the AD, that's the assistant director for you non theater types, would call out a different cue and Paul or I would execute it.
"So after the show and the wrap up, where do you want to head to dinner?" Ad asked.
Ad was short for Adriana. We called her this for three reasons. One, it was shorter to say over the headsets, two, we had a back stage hand also named Adriana and three, she was the AD so it made sense to truncate her name to Ad.
"How about that BBQ place near that big venue downtown. You know, the one near the river and bridge. I think a big library is near there too." Paul suggested.
"Do you mean the one where we waited like an hour last time and we didn't even get a table since it was so packed?" I asked.
"I don't know guys. I don't want to stand around for another hour and go hungry again." Ad said. "Lighting cue 156 and go."
I pushed the button on the lighting board for 156. "What about that Indian place we went to the other night? It had really good curry chicken. The nan was good too!"
"Still have the heart burn from the last time." Paul grimaced thinking about the spices in the food. "Besides, once we get done here it's going to be late and they'll be closed anyway."
"Wings and pizza?" I suggested.
"Had that last night" Ad reminded me.
"Chinese?" Paul proposed.
"Night before" I recapped.
"Lighting cue 157, and go" Ad directed.
I stabbed the GO button on my control board. "We need to decide. I'm not going back to the hotel room for another microwave meal for one again. There are only so many nights a man can take of that!"
"Sounds like a personal problem!" Paul chided.
I gave Paul a look.
"Paul, sound cue 29 and GO" Ad instructed.
"Hey guys, are you thinking about where to go for dinner tonight?" Mark our backstage coordinator asked over our headsets.
"Yeah Mark, but we can't think of anything new. Any ideas?" I asked.
"What have you already thought of?"
"Pizza and wings, Chinese, BBQ, Indian..." Paul trailed off.
"Oh God! No more Pizza! That BBQ place was impossible too!" Mark exclaimed. "What about Thai?"
Everyone in the control booth looked at each other and nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, that works. Why don't you figure it out and we'll meet you on stage after we rap for the night." Paul instructed Mark.
"Sounds good" Mark agreed.
The play continued and everyone worked through it. The entire crew just wanted to finish up for the night and get out of there. People were hungry and getting tired. If you have never worked in back stage theater, there is a lot of standing around while the play is going on.
"Ok guys, lets finish this one off" Ad said. "Lighting cue 246 and sound 123 GO!"
Paul and I looked at each other and counted down from 3 out loud. The last cue had to be perfectly timed to give the proper effect to the audience.
At the moment we hit one, both of us stabbed our respective GO buttons. Paul's sound effect was of Chinese fire crackers going off and my lights started to strobe as if you could see them going off.
"Audio to standby and BLACKOUT!"
Cue 247 was to turn all of the lights off in the theater. Paul turned all of the mics to mute so none of the actors could be heard as they setup for a curtain call.
"And bring up the house lights and cue 248. GO." Ad instructed.
The stage and house lights faded up together and the curtain call started. The actors took their respective bows while the audience applauded and cheered. The final group ran off stage and I turned off the stage lights officially ending the show.
Paul turned to Ad and I "Good show folks, good show."
"You too Paul and Ad" I congratulated. There weren't any errors in the show like always, but you still acknowledged it.
"Let's close down and stow the equipment and get something to eat" Ad instructed.
Everyone cleaned their work areas and turned off the different consoles and equipment. Desk lights were snapped off and we made our way from the back of the auditorium to just in front of the stage where the rest of the group was waiting.
The small group and I headed to the Thai place, ate, and headed back to the hotel. Everyone said their good nights in the lobby and we all headed our own separate ways. Not terribly exciting, but that's really the life on the road for a lighting tech.
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The next morning the technicians and I gathered in front of the stage for our ritualistic box of Dunkin coffee and a brown bag of bagels from a local bakery. Depending on what city we were in would depend on how good the bagels were. Today's Rochester bagels weren't half bad. They weren't as good as New Jersey or New York City, but they weren't the plastic bag type that you normally get farther west.
Everyone finished up and threw their garbage into the can. Each team broke off and went to their respective areas. Paul, Ad, and I went to the booth to run through the entire show. We always did this to check the equipment. If something went wrong or broke, we typically had time to fix it before the shows. Today, one of the lights blew when we were at lighting cue 246, the strobing effect. Now keep in mind that this is very improbable. All of the stage lights were LEDs and have a long life span. I guess it was just the time for that one to go.
"Ad, did you hear the pop?" I questioned.
"Yeah, must have been one of the lights" Ad acknowledged. "I'll go down and watch as you turn the lights up one at a time. Start stage left and work to stage right."
Ad got to the stage, we sequenced through the lights and found the culprit. One of the hanging lights over the audience area had blown. I hid my head in my hands. Normally when a light went over the seats, we'd just lower the lighting rig by winch and correct the situation. Not this theater. Even though they had totally revamped the theater in the last few years, this happened to be one of the last lighting mounts that wasn't upgraded to a winch system. I had to get a man lift and hang over the seats to get at that one. It wasn't the height that scared me, but the bouncing of the lift arm as it extended. That thing would rock over a foot at times. Even with the fall protection it made me nervous.
Theaters are really weird when it comes to how to get into the house. Some have oversized double doors to let equipment in. Others have hidden gates behind the curtained side walls. This venue was a true pain in the ass. The only way to the sound and lighting rig was to use a cherry picker rolled onto the stage itself. You know, one of those ladder systems with the hydraulic arm that swings out with the basket. They're similar to what linesmen use to fix power when it goes out in your town.
I guided the monster through the wing doors to the stage after the behind the scenes crew made a pathway. Climbing into the basket, I clipped my harness in and powered up the goliath with the control panel. Ad handed me the replacement LED stage light and I rose into the rafters on my metal giraffe. Up towards the ceiling I went. Over the first, second, third, forth, and fifth rows I stretched the machine out. I stopped at my lofty destination smoothly, but the cherry picker's basket continued to sway with its momentum.
Before I removed the suspect light, I checked to make sure that it was still plugged in. Like anything electrical in your house, if it's not plugged in, it just won't work. No such luck, the socket was properly secured. On my command, Ad raised the lighting channel to full to see if the light would go on with a shake of the wire. Again, the light stayed dark. It was time to replace the light, unfortunately. The work wasn't difficult at all, just it felt like a pain in the ass to get all of the equipment out to loosen and tighten some bolts.
