Well it's been a hectic week. It all started last Monday when I got a call form this group in town who were doing a staged version of the Buffy musical episode, "Once More With Feeling." Their lighting designer quit and they were looking for someone to step in. The show was going up on Friday and setup was on Wednesday so that left me with about 48 hours to get the equipment and design the lights. Despite my reservations, it piqued my curiosity, so I agreed to meet with the director and discuss things.
The rehearsal was at the Writers Block building on Chicken Alley in Downtown Asheville. For those of you who don't know Asheville, this is area where most of the really bohemian artist types hang out. The group was a pretty eclectic mix of said bohemians plus area punks, burnouts, musicians, and circus folk. There were a couple of people I recognized from local productions, but the majority of them I never saw before.
The director was also playing Buffy. Now there are rare cases in which a director has managed to produce a good show while playing the lead role, but usually it's not a good idea.
I watched the rehearsal with a mixture of slight amusement, mild bewilderment, and increasing dread. Some of the actors weren't off book, (it was five days till the show) some didn't know the songs, and some seemed like they didn't even know what they were rehearsing. I just thought to myself, these people are going to put on a show for money in five days.
It turns out though I can apparently be talked into just about anything. Despite the major trepidations I had about this show upon witnessing this so called rehearsal, I reluctantly agreed to design the lights. I like to help people when I can, but I was seriously afraid I had gotten in over my head.
The play was taking place in the theater at the Asheville Pizza Company. Now to grasp the irony of this one must understand that this is a MOVIE theater, not a real theater. It was designed to show movies, not stage musicals. There is no stage to light, no lights to use, no place to hang lights if we had them, and nowhere to plug in the lights once they're up. I have to round up all this stuff. The director says that she is going to get some scaffolding to hang lights from. I call everybody I know and beg/borrow/ or steal the equipment I need.
Wed night, after the 10:00 showing of Sin City, around midnight we begin to set up. The manager informs us that we can't leave the scaffolding up because it blocks the movie screen. Suddenly I get the urge to run screaming from the building. There is not sufficient time to set up scaffolding and lights each night before the show, and there looks like no other way to hang the lights. One of the people in the group suggests something about using one light mounted on the floor and controlling it with a on/off switch on a power strip. A musical with one light that goes on and off. Ooookaaaay.
Frustrations mount and tempers start to rise. We spend an hour or more arguing about how we should hang lights. Finally someone finds two booms and suggests we hang the lights from them. I reluctantly agree, knowing I can fit no more that four lights on each boom. I start to set up the lights but we are kicked out around 3 am by angry Pizza Company staff who wanted to go home. I have to finish in the morning.
I return to the Pizza Company at 8 am and finish the lights. It is now Thursday, one day before the show, and we are supposed to have a technical rehearsal that morning. Seeing that the stage isn't built, lights aren't hung, costumes aren't ready, and the sound isn't set up, it's a little hard to have a tech rehearsal. I manage to finish setting up most of the lights by 9:30. Around 11:30 finally begin a tech rehearsal, or something like it.
Because of various technical problems, mostly sound and props, we only get through about half the show. We are kicked out around 12:30 because there is a 1 pm showing of Hitchhikers. Tomorrow we are supposed to do a dress rehearsal of the show, and we haven't even finished the tech rehearsal.
Friday looks to be a long day. We are supposed to finish the tech rehearsal at 9, have a dress at 11 and Open the show that night at 10 pm. On top of all this I have a show to do at Montford Park that night. Just thinking about it exhausts me. I'm get to the Pizza Company around 8 am to tweak the lights. It's 10 before we begin the tech again. We don't start the dress until 11:30 and we have a hour to do it in. I'd be amazed if we actually got it done. Of course we don't, we're unable to do the last two scenes. To top it off, we tripped a circuit somewhere and my lights stopped working. It took forever to locate the circuit and turn it back on. It's now about eight hours until the show goes up and we haven't had a full dress rehearsal and I'm not confident my lights are going to stay on, plus my two spot operators haven't seen the full show and don't really know what's going on or where their cues are.
I go home and rest up for the night. Comedy of Errors ends around 9:00 and Buffy begins at 10:00. Before Buffy opens I have to set up the lighting board and the followspots, fix the power problem and go over the cues with the ops. I don't have much time to do this. I leave Montford around 9:10 heading for the Pizza Company when I suddenly realize I left the script with the cues in it at home. I must have it, so I race home to get it. I finally get to the Pizza Company around 9:30, and of course everybody was worried that I had bailed on them. Luckily my followspot ops had already set up the followspots, and solved the power problem. They were so good, I was lucky to have them.
Ironically in my mad rush to leave Montford, I forgot the headsets they were letting me borrow. Without them I couldn't talk to my followspot ops. I had to call back over to Montford and pray someone was still there. Fortunately someone was, and they brought the headsets to me.
It is now close to showtime. There are a lot more people than I expected. Sort of the crowd you'd expect, freaks and geeks. Everyone looks nervous; are the actors going to remember their lines, is the sound going to work, are there going to be enough lights, will people be able to see/hear? It feels like waiting for a natural disaster, an electric feel of impending chaos somewhere off in the distance.
Well the show went on. There were some technical glitches, most notably the microphones were on the fritz, so it was probably hard to hear. The actors gave it the best that they could, and the audience seemed to appreciate it. For my part, all I could say it that the lights came up and went off on cue and that for the most part the actors could be seen. That's all I could hope for. The show was definitely not the most professional performance ever; scene changes were slow, cues were unsure, volume was poor, and acting was cheesy, but it really didn't turn out half as bad as I thought it would, and despite of how much of a pain it was, I kind of enjoyed it.
Saturday's performance was just as big and seemed a little better. There were still lots of things that needed to be improved, but for a band of bohemian types whose theatrical experience is questionable, the put on a decent show.
So it ended, I broke down the lights, and returned them to there respective owners, and breathed a sigh of relief. Now if you managed to get through this whole tale, you probably have some feel of how tired I am.
Thanks.
The rehearsal was at the Writers Block building on Chicken Alley in Downtown Asheville. For those of you who don't know Asheville, this is area where most of the really bohemian artist types hang out. The group was a pretty eclectic mix of said bohemians plus area punks, burnouts, musicians, and circus folk. There were a couple of people I recognized from local productions, but the majority of them I never saw before.
The director was also playing Buffy. Now there are rare cases in which a director has managed to produce a good show while playing the lead role, but usually it's not a good idea.
I watched the rehearsal with a mixture of slight amusement, mild bewilderment, and increasing dread. Some of the actors weren't off book, (it was five days till the show) some didn't know the songs, and some seemed like they didn't even know what they were rehearsing. I just thought to myself, these people are going to put on a show for money in five days.
It turns out though I can apparently be talked into just about anything. Despite the major trepidations I had about this show upon witnessing this so called rehearsal, I reluctantly agreed to design the lights. I like to help people when I can, but I was seriously afraid I had gotten in over my head.
The play was taking place in the theater at the Asheville Pizza Company. Now to grasp the irony of this one must understand that this is a MOVIE theater, not a real theater. It was designed to show movies, not stage musicals. There is no stage to light, no lights to use, no place to hang lights if we had them, and nowhere to plug in the lights once they're up. I have to round up all this stuff. The director says that she is going to get some scaffolding to hang lights from. I call everybody I know and beg/borrow/ or steal the equipment I need.
Wed night, after the 10:00 showing of Sin City, around midnight we begin to set up. The manager informs us that we can't leave the scaffolding up because it blocks the movie screen. Suddenly I get the urge to run screaming from the building. There is not sufficient time to set up scaffolding and lights each night before the show, and there looks like no other way to hang the lights. One of the people in the group suggests something about using one light mounted on the floor and controlling it with a on/off switch on a power strip. A musical with one light that goes on and off. Ooookaaaay.
Frustrations mount and tempers start to rise. We spend an hour or more arguing about how we should hang lights. Finally someone finds two booms and suggests we hang the lights from them. I reluctantly agree, knowing I can fit no more that four lights on each boom. I start to set up the lights but we are kicked out around 3 am by angry Pizza Company staff who wanted to go home. I have to finish in the morning.
I return to the Pizza Company at 8 am and finish the lights. It is now Thursday, one day before the show, and we are supposed to have a technical rehearsal that morning. Seeing that the stage isn't built, lights aren't hung, costumes aren't ready, and the sound isn't set up, it's a little hard to have a tech rehearsal. I manage to finish setting up most of the lights by 9:30. Around 11:30 finally begin a tech rehearsal, or something like it.
Because of various technical problems, mostly sound and props, we only get through about half the show. We are kicked out around 12:30 because there is a 1 pm showing of Hitchhikers. Tomorrow we are supposed to do a dress rehearsal of the show, and we haven't even finished the tech rehearsal.
Friday looks to be a long day. We are supposed to finish the tech rehearsal at 9, have a dress at 11 and Open the show that night at 10 pm. On top of all this I have a show to do at Montford Park that night. Just thinking about it exhausts me. I'm get to the Pizza Company around 8 am to tweak the lights. It's 10 before we begin the tech again. We don't start the dress until 11:30 and we have a hour to do it in. I'd be amazed if we actually got it done. Of course we don't, we're unable to do the last two scenes. To top it off, we tripped a circuit somewhere and my lights stopped working. It took forever to locate the circuit and turn it back on. It's now about eight hours until the show goes up and we haven't had a full dress rehearsal and I'm not confident my lights are going to stay on, plus my two spot operators haven't seen the full show and don't really know what's going on or where their cues are.
I go home and rest up for the night. Comedy of Errors ends around 9:00 and Buffy begins at 10:00. Before Buffy opens I have to set up the lighting board and the followspots, fix the power problem and go over the cues with the ops. I don't have much time to do this. I leave Montford around 9:10 heading for the Pizza Company when I suddenly realize I left the script with the cues in it at home. I must have it, so I race home to get it. I finally get to the Pizza Company around 9:30, and of course everybody was worried that I had bailed on them. Luckily my followspot ops had already set up the followspots, and solved the power problem. They were so good, I was lucky to have them.
Ironically in my mad rush to leave Montford, I forgot the headsets they were letting me borrow. Without them I couldn't talk to my followspot ops. I had to call back over to Montford and pray someone was still there. Fortunately someone was, and they brought the headsets to me.
It is now close to showtime. There are a lot more people than I expected. Sort of the crowd you'd expect, freaks and geeks. Everyone looks nervous; are the actors going to remember their lines, is the sound going to work, are there going to be enough lights, will people be able to see/hear? It feels like waiting for a natural disaster, an electric feel of impending chaos somewhere off in the distance.
Well the show went on. There were some technical glitches, most notably the microphones were on the fritz, so it was probably hard to hear. The actors gave it the best that they could, and the audience seemed to appreciate it. For my part, all I could say it that the lights came up and went off on cue and that for the most part the actors could be seen. That's all I could hope for. The show was definitely not the most professional performance ever; scene changes were slow, cues were unsure, volume was poor, and acting was cheesy, but it really didn't turn out half as bad as I thought it would, and despite of how much of a pain it was, I kind of enjoyed it.
Saturday's performance was just as big and seemed a little better. There were still lots of things that needed to be improved, but for a band of bohemian types whose theatrical experience is questionable, the put on a decent show.
So it ended, I broke down the lights, and returned them to there respective owners, and breathed a sigh of relief. Now if you managed to get through this whole tale, you probably have some feel of how tired I am.
Thanks.
VIEW 3 of 3 COMMENTS
No, I didn't get to eat there. What kind of food is it?
Wow, that story was wild. It kinda makes me glad I don't do tech work anymore, though.