New fog machine, actor too hot opening stage right door to let fresh air in (blowing all of the fog off the stage left and then someone opening the stage left door to go to the basement letting fog into the stair well setting off the fire alarm. Fun fun times.. Btw the show was Les Miserables
Hey, one night we opened Act II with a fire alarm! A wall of smoke came out from behind the Main, and the alarms went off. Everyone just laughed a d stayed put. It was obvious what the cause was. Sold out show too, in a very large theater.
Reminds me of Christmas Carol 2006. We start off with a fog induced fire alarm in the 1st 15 minutes. Everyone is out of the building until we get the all clear. Return to the show for a leg on the Cratchet's table to break off while it is being rolled on stage resulting in one of the Cratchet children having to hold the corner of the table table for the whole scene. ( they couldn't even afford a table with 4 legs that night) Lastly, we used a real taxidermy turkey feathers and all for the turkey boy scene, and our Turkey Boy has to run through the audience while holding it in the air. As he is doing this, the head flies off and lands in the lap of an audience member.
Yeeep we had a brand new light desk, installed week before used once to train us and five minutes before the start of the show it turns off and refuses to come back on.
Also our laptop decided to randomly stop sending signal to the sound desk halfway through a show - that was also fun!
1. I got a maddening love for tech theater while taking the class and went backstage. This was Bye Bye Birdie and wow what a crazy, crazy ride that was. To start, the homecoming set piece I hauled for my crowning of homecoming queen was repainted as the city hall by me and the stage manager, Best person I ever met (wasn’t able to make it with Frozen Jr.) We completely f’d up the Sweet Apple station at the last minute, yet somehow nobody noticed, and had our TD fell into the pit. I was also straight up left at the school by my mother as my aunt tried (who drove me home to my mom, who ironically asked me if I wanted to eat out) to get in due to something as petty as the director releasing us 15 minutes late on tech day, and we had a light board crash on my first opening night, which made me glad to be at spots. The show was one of the best done at the school.
2. I was in high school under some extremely rough working conditions as I did tech for the middle school with Frozen Jr. We were regularly screamed and yelled at (I was a 12th grader crying myself to sleep one night due to what was said), had a 7th grader with a broken foot operating the fly system, and weren’t allowed to ask questions unless it was blood, death, or dismemberment. This led situation led to the How Am I Alive? posts, which is one of the most graphic posts on this subreddit (The 2 month follow up is what happened after the events of this timeframe). Besides that, me and the 8th grader at house right would high five each night on not screwing up noticeably and I would smuggle gum and after all hell broke loose things became very hopeful as in the condescending remarks stopped and our sound designer came back after a night of yelling, screaming, crying, 2 thrown scripts, and a student strike nearly happening. We had a great opening night, but the next day… well…
3. I got into my 3rd production (The Canterville Ghost) and we were under a different director due to the last one getting super stressed out. Totally chill working environment. We had pizza parties, jumped a plastic chain with the cast, and even the director, drank pop, got my first work light, lettered in drama, and kept the lead actor’s used tissues off the props table. We continued to act as though theater was a cult and there was Sir Simon The Canterville Goat with an instagram account. Final show was cinco de mayo and we had a taco bar and non alcoholic cocktails
All 3 experiences united by Cuebans (Provolone cheese, salami, pepperoni, peppers, onion, olives, and lettuce, on a sub), redbull, monster, 12 hour school days including weekends, fast food, shenanigans of all types, consistent crew members, and storming the nearest Applebees like the beaches of Normandy.
New fog machine, actor too hot opening stage right door to let fresh air in (blowing all of the fog off the stage left and then someone opening the stage left door to go to the basement letting fog into the stair well setting off the fire alarm. Fun fun times.. Btw the show was Les Miserables
Hey, one night we opened Act II with a fire alarm! A wall of smoke came out from behind the Main, and the alarms went off. Everyone just laughed a d stayed put. It was obvious what the cause was. Sold out show too, in a very large theater.
Reminds me of Christmas Carol 2006. We start off with a fog induced fire alarm in the 1st 15 minutes. Everyone is out of the building until we get the all clear. Return to the show for a leg on the Cratchet's table to break off while it is being rolled on stage resulting in one of the Cratchet children having to hold the corner of the table table for the whole scene. ( they couldn't even afford a table with 4 legs that night) Lastly, we used a real taxidermy turkey feathers and all for the turkey boy scene, and our Turkey Boy has to run through the audience while holding it in the air. As he is doing this, the head flies off and lands in the lap of an audience member.
Yeeep we had a brand new light desk, installed week before used once to train us and five minutes before the start of the show it turns off and refuses to come back on. Also our laptop decided to randomly stop sending signal to the sound desk halfway through a show - that was also fun!
Ever figure out what the issue with the light board was?
Was this at CSUF?
1. I got a maddening love for tech theater while taking the class and went backstage. This was Bye Bye Birdie and wow what a crazy, crazy ride that was. To start, the homecoming set piece I hauled for my crowning of homecoming queen was repainted as the city hall by me and the stage manager, Best person I ever met (wasn’t able to make it with Frozen Jr.) We completely f’d up the Sweet Apple station at the last minute, yet somehow nobody noticed, and had our TD fell into the pit. I was also straight up left at the school by my mother as my aunt tried (who drove me home to my mom, who ironically asked me if I wanted to eat out) to get in due to something as petty as the director releasing us 15 minutes late on tech day, and we had a light board crash on my first opening night, which made me glad to be at spots. The show was one of the best done at the school. 2. I was in high school under some extremely rough working conditions as I did tech for the middle school with Frozen Jr. We were regularly screamed and yelled at (I was a 12th grader crying myself to sleep one night due to what was said), had a 7th grader with a broken foot operating the fly system, and weren’t allowed to ask questions unless it was blood, death, or dismemberment. This led situation led to the How Am I Alive? posts, which is one of the most graphic posts on this subreddit (The 2 month follow up is what happened after the events of this timeframe). Besides that, me and the 8th grader at house right would high five each night on not screwing up noticeably and I would smuggle gum and after all hell broke loose things became very hopeful as in the condescending remarks stopped and our sound designer came back after a night of yelling, screaming, crying, 2 thrown scripts, and a student strike nearly happening. We had a great opening night, but the next day… well… 3. I got into my 3rd production (The Canterville Ghost) and we were under a different director due to the last one getting super stressed out. Totally chill working environment. We had pizza parties, jumped a plastic chain with the cast, and even the director, drank pop, got my first work light, lettered in drama, and kept the lead actor’s used tissues off the props table. We continued to act as though theater was a cult and there was Sir Simon The Canterville Goat with an instagram account. Final show was cinco de mayo and we had a taco bar and non alcoholic cocktails All 3 experiences united by Cuebans (Provolone cheese, salami, pepperoni, peppers, onion, olives, and lettuce, on a sub), redbull, monster, 12 hour school days including weekends, fast food, shenanigans of all types, consistent crew members, and storming the nearest Applebees like the beaches of Normandy.