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Date Posted: 15:03:58 12/07/10 Tue
Author: Bill
Author Host/IP: 71.250.59.198
Subject: Re:"running the scene"
In reply to: Kelsey 's message, "Re:"running the scene"" on 05:50:19 12/07/10 Tue

Nope wasn't in the theatre department at FC . I was a graphics arts major then though I was in Dow when the theatre department started taking over the building and did have quite a few friends in the department.

I fell into the job at the NJ Shakespeare festival quite by accident as I had applied for a job doing historical document conversion ( microphish ) camera work through the state job service and when that fell through they suggested the training program for theatre support occupations as a consolation so I became a student learning to be a scene shop tech then took over the shop first as foreman then when the scenic designer left they put me in charge at the end of the program year.
It was a great learning experience and once you were done you were theoretically qualified to work in theatre anywhere. The problem with that of course , as I told the p[eople running the program , was that there was a waiting list to get into the union of near 2 to 4 hundred people and you needed to be sponsored into the union by an active member at the time. next was the buy in which I believe was some250 bucks before you even began paying your dues then wait for an opening which was about the same as performers waiting to get into theatre in NYC so you might as well just train as a waiter or cabby instead.

It was a good summer though with lots of great people and fun todo. When I first began after we built the sets I voluntarilly was the guy who was there to fix things that went wrong during performances... loose nails , bad connections etc since it was a repertory company and the sets were breakdown so they could be changed for the next production then changed back and so forth.

We did Hamlet with Tony Booth ( yes that booth family ) playing the lead and a few other professionsals along with the theatre students who not only were learning to be actors but also how to work in the scene shop and be stage hands as well to change scenes around with dispatch. great fun.

I also got to do some of the lighting work and work the booth with some of the students at the end of the program when they did their " student production " for which I was both props master and was running the shop for repairs etc.

We had a good shop space below the theatre which was originally the pool located in the basement. It was a bit odd working with a sloped floor but the deep end space was flat so only assembly was done on the sloped part except for using the table saw locatred in the middle but movable. there was a long table for the miter saw on one side that was leveled of course for cutting long boards and angles and plenty of storage space though the finished sets needed to be kept out back protected from the weather while the shop was in use building the new ones.
The costume shop was in a room on the floor level above the pool floor with a railing from the back door near where the steps to get down were located all the way to the other end of the building where there were also dressing rooms which was quite convenient for last minute repairs and so forth. that area was undet the entrance forum where people came into the building. The theatre room itself was rather large but not too large and the stage platform ( the first thing we worked on when I got there and rebuild and refloored ) projected out into the audience area with two traps from under the stage and the seating sloped from the entrance down to the stage area with plenty of lighting bars above the audience for fixed lighting positions.
Our designers were both Obie winners so the lighting and scenic designs were first rate and our professional actors were from the NY soaps but all had plenty of stage performance credits behind them . all nice people as were the students.
All in all a great summer experience and a very educational time in my life.

CAn give more if you are interested of course but thats the short version.

b

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