What did I walk into.

[nuttytechy]

Hey guy's and gals I am wondering if anyone else has fallen from the top of the fly right down to the stage!

 

I have been resident electrician/technician for some quite large theatres and due to personal health issues I have had to give up on most of the bigger stuff I love doing http://www.blue-room.org.uk/public/style_emoticons/default/giveup.gifhttp://www.blue-room.org.uk/public/style_emoticons/default/pissedoff.gif I have recently transferred to a small theatre with the "That will do" way of things. They have virtually no money and most of the equipment is donated to them.

 

Their previous stage manager virtually left all the technical side of things in disarray and I have had to turn a joke into something more respectable.

 

Has anyone else had this issue or are a resident stage manager who has walked into a complete joke at the start ?

[sunray]

Yes I did this a year ago but it is only a local AmDram in a church hall, I'd purchased tickets to see a show and got talking to AmDram members who came to my quiz that I run in the same venue.

 

One of their usual techs was ill and the other was away on holiday for the fortnight leading up to the show and only returning a couple of hours before curtain up. Suddenly I'd become volunteer stand-in tech which now seems to be somewhat more permanent.

 

There is a rather lovely stage for such a hall with a decent dark pink house curtain & valance and black cyc & border, there were some random lightweight black drapes to form legs which had to go.

 

Already done with items stripped from a school being demolished during the summer holiday 2017:

4 masking legs on rotating spring bars,

Added a second track just behind house curtains with narrow black travellers,

Speakers upgraded from a pair of 4x10" columns to 4 monitor 1's, this alone has resulted in many positive comments from audience members!

 

I'm currently working my way through fitting FOH lighting bars (rather than individual fittings on studs through the suspended ceiling then bent at right-angles into the roof trusses) to make it more useable and much safer,

replacing the FOH 0.5mm lighting circuits with 1.5mm cables and adding extra, and generally tidying the dimmer area and the rest of the stage lighting cabling, much has the cores showing at the plugs.

 

Next will be improving the scaffold tube 'grid' above the stage which at the moment is quite springy and the lights shake when curtains are drawn.

 

Then hopefully upgrading the incoming supply to 3 phase (which exists in the service head) and even more hopefully upgrading the feed to stage lighting.

Then adding an additional track in front of cyclorama/backdrop, that will only leave the navy blue velour house curtain unused from the school.

 

I imagine this is nothing compared to what you seem to indicate Nutty but for a modest church hall I don't think 'we' are doing too bad.

There is some encouragement and some opposition but costs so far are only around £80 with all the bits and pieces I am pleased to get rid of now that I'm 'nearly retired' and need to have a good clear out.