Hurry Up and Wait

That basically describes how the last two days have been going. Us electricians were called in at 8:30 both yesterday and today, mainly so we could get as much done before the carpenters came in and took away our working area. So we work really hard and fast until about 11:30, when all the actors and designers showed up and started tech. And at that point, we all basically adjourned to the green room and took what has turned into a 4 hour long lunch break. Since they're in tech, we can't be anywhere on stage at all, and since the only work we have left to do is on stage, that doesn't leave us with many options.

So as I write this, the entire electrics department (those of us who aren't running the show) as well as half of sound are sitting in the green room taking naps. But personally, I'm too lazy to try to take a nap (weird, I know). So how are things with you? Anything interesting going on wherever you are?

On another note, we have a very large red warning light in our green room, and it has been a source of frequent speculation and curiosity by the cast and crew. And today, we finally found out what it was. Apparently, the sewage system has a nasty habit of backing up, and to prevent the entire tank from blowing up, they installed a "sewage ejector" - no I'm not kidding. When the sewer backs up, it literally grabs sewage from deep within the ground and forcibly ejects it with a considerable amount of force. Unfortunately, the construction workers wisely chose to locate the sewage ejection port directly outside of the green room, under the covered tent. So, as it was explained to me, if the red warning light ever goes off, you should probably run very quickly in the opposite direction, because there is a fairly strong chance that a large wad of sewage may be forcibly projected in your general direction.

Have a great day!

R

First Days of Work

Wow! What a couple days it's been. If I had the time, I would write on and on about everything I've been doing, but I don't - and I'm quite certain that no one would actually read all of that. But, nonetheless, I'll do my best to summarize everything as much as possible.

So yesterday was my first official day of work. I came in at 9am with Breanna, another Electrician, and we started wiring lamp sockets. The main set piece of this show is a giant four-sided marquee that hangs 15 feet above the stage. It's about 20 feet long on each side and 5 feet high. And all together there's about 400 (!) lightbulbs on the structure, split into 7 different circuits. For every one of those lightbulbs, we have to install a socket for them to screw into, and we have to wire a hot and a neutral wire to every socket. So Brianna and I spent most of the morning finishing that, which they've been working on for a few days now. (See the photos below).

After lunch, the other three electricians arrived for the day. The carpenters had to steal the marquee set pieces away from us so they could get them in the air, so we started troubleshooting the actual light plot and getting everything ready for the focus that night. At 6pm, the designer arrived and we started the focus. There are 5 electricians on staff, and to make focus go quickly, everyone was focusing. While we focused overstage, we had four of us in various elevation devices and one person on the ground moving us around. Then when we finished overstage, we all went to the catwalks and focused different positions while the designer just switched between us. It was very intense, but very fun, and we managed to focus the entire ~150 unit plot in about an hour - that's roughly one unit every 25 seconds! After focusing and working out some problems, we went home at 11pm. I was out as soon as I hit the pillow.

Today, my call was for 8:30am - a half hour later than normal because we had worked so much on Sunday. We spent the morning continuing to wire up the sockets, except with one tiny change - we were now trying to do it at 20 feet in the air. Wiring hundreds of sockets, lamping them, and screwing them into a light box is hard as it is, but trying to do it while straddling a ladder with people working underneath you is even harder! One thing that we don't replicate in high school theatre is the concept of departments. In any professional or large community theatre, people and equipment are strictly divided into departments - Electrics, Carpentry, Paint, Wardrobe, Audio, and so on. In general, Carpentry (scenery) work has priority ,with electrics right behind them, and then paint and audio. What that means is that we were constantly having to work around the carps as they finished their own work on the marquee - we're both behind schedule, so it was difficult to try to stay out of eachother's way. We basically spent the whole day continuing to wire the sockets in the marquee, as well as troubleshooting some problems in the light plot and hanging some new units that didn't get hung the previous day. Around 5, the designer came back and we focused some of the new units, and I made some small changes to the units we had focused the day before. Then at 6, the show officially went into tech and I was done. Breanna and Tyler are still there because they're running the first show, but my first show assignment isn't until next week. I start tomorrow morning at 8am, and we'll likely be continuing to work on the marquee - hopefully we'll get it fully working tomorrow!

So I know this is a pretty boring post - sorry. I'm really tired and it's hard to explain a lot of what we're doing unless you really know the theatre. So to make up for it, enjoy these photos!: (click on each one for a larger, more detailed view)


Some of the sockets just after wiring.


The Downstage Letter Box


Another view of the Downstage Letter Box


Red Fred - We have two Freds at the Hangar. FRED stands for "F**king Retarded Elevation Device". They are incredibly old and don't look too good, but they're surprisingly sturdy. They move up and down by cranking a very loud and squeaky hand crank.


Blue Fred


NFG Pile - This is our NFG pile, which currently lives off stage right. If you've never heard the term, NFG stands for "No F**king Good".


Terrace 11 - The dorm building where we're all living for the moment - we'll hopefully be moving soon....


Enjoy!

R

And So It Begins

Well, I'm here. Two months after sending in the applications and finishing the interviews and signing the contracts, I'm finally here in beautiful Ithaca, NY, ready to start my internship at the Hangar Theatre. For those of you just joining us (or for those of you who don't really care), I am a freshly minted Electrics Intern at the Hangar Theatre, a professional theatre in Ithaca. The stage and house is relatively small, but the production value of these shows is incredible, and the people are some of the best in the world at what they do. I drove up to Ithaca this afternoon and stopped by the theatre to say hello to people and get familiar with the layout of the place. I got my keys and my welcome packet, and drove to my dorm on the Ithaca College campus to unpack. I grabbed some dinner at Subway in the commons, and now I'm just sitting in my room waiting to start work tomorrow morning.

The Electrics department of which I am a part is made up of only five interns and the department head, (called the Master Electrician in the professional theatre world). Note that it's not the LIGHTING department, and there's a good reason for that. Electrics is generally responsible for anything that gets or uses electrical power, such as motors, onstage lamps, signs, and yes, lighting instruments too. A perfect example: most of today (and probably most of tomorrow - uggh), Elecs has been/will be working on a giant sign that's going to light up and flash and change colors during the show. It's gonna look AMAZING. Months ago, the scenic designer drew up very detailed plans for exactly how he wanted the sign to look and be built. He then sent those plans to the lighting designer, who worked with the scenic designer to place the electrical components and make everything work together. And finally, all those plans were sent to the scenic and elecs shops, where they are currently being built and wired.

So anyway - I was sitting here and I suddenly had the idea to start this bloggy thingy. For one, it's a great way for me to record what I'm doing so I can look back and see how things have been going. And maybe more importantly, it's a way for my friends back at home to see what I'm doing, if anyone's interested in reading the boring ramblings of an underpaid electrics intern. :) I can't promise how often I'll update this thing, but I do promise to do it as often as I can. If you have any questions for me, or if you like reading what I write, then please COMMENT because it will make me smile and it will encourage me to write more often!

That's all for now. Stay in touch! :)

R