IceWolf's Ramblings » theatre

Where does the time go?

Alex — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 19:01:21 +0000

It is hard to believe that the end of yet another season at the theatre is coming to an end. This is going to mark the end of my fifth season at the Pioneer Theatre. That is five years living in Salt Lake City, five years out of college, and five years living in the real world. Five years is not a super long time, but it is nothing to turn your nose up at either. It is kind of hard to believe that I am getting information about my five year college reunion. I probably won’t make it to that since I just went this year to the big theatre reunion, but we shall see.

I often write about how time is such a funny thing. Usually in relationship to camp, but it applies in all things. Here we are at the end of the season and it feels like the beginning was so long ago, a distant memory. At the same time, we actually have to go on a little longer since they added a show, but it will probably just feel like business as usual until we get to the end of that.

At this point I have been feeling like I just want to move on to that last show. Not because I want to be done with the season faster but because I just want to be done with the current show. We are currently working onSunset Boulevard which is to be followed by RENT. There is just something about Sunset and the way that it has all been fitting together that has made it just a nightmare to work on. it is a huge show, but nothing terribly out of the ordinary as far as musicals go for us. It just feels like it has been a constant fight.

We were off to a flying start when the designer got into town early, I was even able to make time in the schedule to go to a Passover Seder. Then the whole thing ground to a halt as hurdle upon hurdle was thrown in the way. It felt like there was just not enough forethought that went into planning some things with this show. I know that I am not the only person who feels this way as our new Sound Designer had to deal not only with the sound but also with projections for the show. needless to say, we all have been spending long hours in the theatre and he was still there working when I left at 1AM last night (this morning). Having a day off today could not be a more welcome thing.

I suppose that work cannot be completely fun all the time though I do try to have a good attitude. It doesn’t always happen, especially when I am running on not the best nights of sleep and frustrating situations. I still try really hard not to just grump around at people, but I know that I do from time to time. Of course the next day I get a good night sleep and come in with a much better disposition which drives everyone else nuts since they are grumpy. Go figure. Sometimes I just have to remind myself that at the end of the day there will just be a whopping pay check with lots of overtime.

On the other hand, I take a day like today off and think about all the things that I still need to do. I have two shows worth of photos to sort and get posted online. There are a bunch of theatre department students who want them. I have wedding things that I should take care of, like calling our photographer or checking the address list. Yet I didn’t really do anything today except make breakfast and watch Stargate Universe. That is how a day off should be right? Plenty of time for everything else, just not today.

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Zachor

Alex — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 05:34:26 +0000

There are few things that truly make me upset. The biggest is ignorance.

“…she [Anne Frank] died three days before the camp was liberated, it makes me ill. They knew the liberation was coming and they still went to the gas chamers?!”

~A Patron after the show

Ok, so you sit through two-and-a-half hours of a wonderful production of The Diary of Anne Frank in Salt Lake City, UT and this is what I hear people saying as they leave the theatre. Go figure.

Go figure also that this comment came from a woman who looked to possibly have been old enough to at least have been born shortly after the war, it would seem to me that someone of that generation should have a little more understanding of what went on.

It amazes me how many people are just completely ignorant of the things that happened during World War II, especially people who are my age or older. Are events from less than 100 years ago so quickly forgotten all the time? Did people not learn about this in school like I did? Does world history not get taught as thoroughly when you move this far west in this country? Seriously. Is Utah just that sheltered?

I can’t imagine that all of those things are true or that this is an isolated case. Mostly because I know that when the show was being produced in Indiana they received similar remarks and questions there. I will be very intrigued to hear the talkback after the student matinee on Wednesday.

I am having a hard time forming coherent thoughts, can you tell….

This is a period of history that I am sure that many people would love to forget, but it is something that we never should forget. Sure, it didn’t happen here, in the United States, but it happened. Even more forgotten is the fact that it almost did happen here, with the Japanese. How does it come to pass that over a span of over 10 years the world was plagued with some of the grossest violations of human rights that have ever been seen. How can we combat the continuing threats of genocide in other parts of the world today when we can’t even remember one of the biggest? Why is it that people just don’t seem to understand history.

I grew up going to religious school, “Hebrew school” as we called it. I was taught there about the Holocaust. In public school we read books like The Diary of Anne Frank, Number the Stars, and The Devil’s Arithmetic. I know some kids who even read Ellie Wiesel and Schindler’s List in high school. I am pretty sure that at some point in my public school career we watched Schindler’s List. All of this is grounds for not only a great English class, but for great history classes as well. Anne Frank was 13 years old when she was writing, and her words were more powerful and better written than many modern published authors. She wrote a perspective on the war that we see very little of. Most books and movies focus on the ghettos, the concentration camps and the war itself. This look at a life of hiding, waiting, never being able to get away from the people you live with is just so different. It also shows that despite some of the darkest times in our history, there is still some light.

The other day a colleague asked me how watching this play made me feel, did it make me upset, is it hard to watch every night? In all honesty, no, it isn’t really. This is something I grew up with, grew up learning about. I am proud to work on this production, especially on nights like tonight when i know that someone was actually touched by the story. Zachor – Remember. To me, that is what it is all about. We need to remember, and if this helps, then I am happy.

Are there still things that make me upset when I think about the Holocaust, of course. Could I walk through the museum in D.C. or Yad VaShem in Israel without being moved, no. It is part of our history as a global community and it is part of my history. On Passover we remember the Exodus from Egypt by saying “I was there when God took us out of Egypt…” and I think that there are many who feel that the Holocaust needs to be remembered the same way.

As bloggers, many try to leave what they hope will be a lasting impression on the world. Some might actually do that. We all want to be remembered. The real question is, will anyone be able to do it the same way that a 13 year old girl did with a fountain pen and a diary?

Staying in Utah (for now)

Alex — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 20:05:44 +0000

So, I got the call from CalArts regarding the job that I went out there to interview for. After calling all of my references it sounded like they had narrowed down their search to two candidates, myself and one other person. When they called this morning I was in our bi-annual “State of the Theatre” meeting. We are in OK shape, and our artistic director has announced his retirement for the end of next season.

That being said, I called back CalArts and they told me that I was their second choice. They made their offer to the other person. Of course if the other person doesn’t take the offer or doesn’t work out, I am the next on the list. They really liked me, but they felt the other person edged me out. They said I am on their short list, and that they hope to maintain a relationship with me.

Thankfully for me I am not broken up about this, I am in a job that I enjoy and I am happy here. I also later found out (from our family friend who is on the board of trustees at CalArts) that the main reason they didn’t offer me the job was my lack of formal educational experience (teaching experience). That is a good thing to know, and it was something I was concerned about.

So, there it is. At least for now I will still be at PTC in SLC, so come see our shows!

Totally Overwhelmed

Alex — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 05:57:02 +0000

Today was one of the longest days and it was totally overwhelming. The day really started last night after the show when we had to fix a moving light and some other cabling issues. I had to totally strip apart one of the revolutions and re-build it, but it seems to be better now. When all was said and done I think I arrived home around 1AM. I had to get up at 5AM to get ready for the flight out to California to go to CalArts for a tour and interview.

The logistics of getting to CalArts were certainly interesting. Flying into Burbank from Salt Lake City is not an easy thing to do. The flight out today was routed through Oakland, which is about an hour out of the way plus layover. So, I arrive in Oakland to find that there is an earlier flight to Burbank that is about to leave. I ask the agent if there are seats available and If I could get on that flight. Answer: “Sure, but it will cost like $100.” Ummmm… Hello! You have empty seats on a flight to the same destination and I have a ticket but I can’t get on the early flight without more money? That is dumb! Forget all this TSA crap, they don’t make flying a pain, it is the airlines!

Anyway, I resigned myself to the layover waiting and rustled up some food. Not a bad idea. Then I get a call from the people at CalArts about who is picking me up. I had thought that it was going to be my friend from Ithaca who is here in the MFA program, which is what I had been told. This was apparently news to the woman coordinating the logistics, which instilled some moments of panic on her part, but all got sorted out and the original plan went through.

After being picked up I had lunch with one of the lighting design faculty and we got to chatting about the job and such. Informal, relaxed, good way to do things. First impressions, these would probably be good people to work with/for. After lunch I got the first of a couple tours of the day and then I got to meet the person who is temporarily filling this position. Nice kid, just graduated from the MFA program who really wants to get back to pursuing his design career. Learned a lot about what the job is about and how the day-to-day stuff happens.

The theatre program and the school in general are very intriguing to me. As they kept putting it, it is a little arts school. They are making their decisions on acceptance based on portfolio, they don’t really look at test scores and such. So, the school is full of very “artsy” students. Nothing wrong with that, just a different atmosphere. The program is also basically design focused, with tech being something that they know the students need, but not a focus.

What does this mean for me and the position? Well, the position seems to probably be about 70% management, supervising and logistics, 15% teaching, and 15% hands on. Probably nothing that I can’t handle, though when I really started to think about it, my lack of formal training in education daunted me. When i mentioned this to the production manager/Assoc. Dean he said that they don’t mind this as they treat real-world experience with a lot of respect and hope that I can find a meaningful way to pass that on.

In my adventures around campus with the staff and with my friend I got to meet a few of the students and go to dinner with some of the MFA lighting students. They all seem to be having a good time here. They took me to a performance of their current show “La Ronde.” Quite an interesting show, but they certainly have some fun and interesting technology.

After quite a long day I made it back to the hotel and am about ready to crash. I have been totally overwhelmed by the events of the day. This certainly would be a fun and interesting job. I think that I would probably do well here. I am concerned about leaving PTC in the middle of the season and I am concerned about being able to move here on the short timeframe that they are looking at. I know, I have yet to be offered the job, but thinking about all these things is a little stressful. This is quite the big, life-changing kind of decision. I am not even sure that I have the time to think this over. Just knowing that I am one of three final candidates puts on a lot of pressure.

Well, being excited and overwhelmed and overtired means that I will probably sleep very well tonight. I am sure that tomorrow will be another long day before I even get on the plane back to Salt Lake City. If any of you out there have insight, words of wisdom, or thoughts, please, let me know.

Too Much to do, Too Little Time

Alex — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 16:19:41 +0000

This is the post where I am going to tell about the secret project I mentioned a few times, but that is going to be towards the end of the post…. (just to keep you reading)

Some of you may have drifted by the blog in the last couple weeks and wondered where I have been. Some of you probably couldn’t care less, and those of you who actually know me probably spent the last two weeks in the same building as me for the duration of said two weeks. Such is the life of theatre people, when we get into full swing on a show, well, there is nothing else in the rest of the world. Heck, i didn’t even participate in this past month’s Bloggerstock event because I didn’t have time. Speaking of which, we really need to come up with a topic for this month and I don’t want it to be something cliche about the holidays.

Right, holidays. Today is the seventh day of Hanukkah, that means that tonight is the last night. So for those of you who don’t actually know what that means, tonight we light eight candles (unless you follow the traditions of Shamai instead of Hillel) in celebration of the eighth day. I have been keeping my menorah in the booth at the theatre. I thought that it was appropriate as we are working on the nice Christmas musical written by a good Jewish boy, Irving Berlin. The man was smart, he knew what would sell and he capitalized on it! White Christmas was bound to sell way more tickets than White Hanukkah would, though you probably could write a similar story about either. The show is far from dominated by Christmas related songs.

The show. Well, this production is certainly one of the biggest of the season, it might be the second largest. I have a feeling that Sunset Boulevard will be bigger in many respects. However, as I wrote before, this show is so big, it doesn’t really fit in the space. I can’t remember working on a show here at PTC that had so many issues as we were going through tech and into opening. I mean even during Les Mis when things just started to fall apart, we made it pretty well into the run first. Most of the early issues we had with that show were due to operator error or oversight. This show on the other hand, well it never really worked right until last night.

From day one of tech, after three weeks in the shop and $350 of repairs my moving light that died during Hamlet was returned to us and we promptly discovered that it was not fixed. At this point I went to the other repair shop in town, and while it took four trips down there and ordering a part that we didn’t actually need, they fixed it. Turned out to be something so simple that I am kicking myself for not noticing. One of the fans that cools off the lamp housing was broken and a bunch of the wiring had begun to melt together. All things considered this is something that should have been noticed by the first shop tech when they had the fixture for three weeks. Whatever, it seems to be fixed now and we are happy. During the fiasco while we were in tech, all it did was serve to stress me out.

Then we had Thanksgiving. Once again, the holiday fell right in the middle of our tech schedule which is a mixed blessing. We only get one day off, so there would be no visiting my family, but luckily I have a girlfriend with a wonderful family who was happy to add me to their festivities. There was one stipulation by one of her cousins though and that was that I make my chocolate-butterscotch pudding pie. Well, not only did I make that pie, I made a gluten free pie for one of the aunts (the host of the festivities), I made a chocolate free pie for Ruth’s mother, and one other pie for a total of four pudding pies. Needless to say, between Ruth’s father’s deep fried turkey and my pies, Thanksgiving was quite a hit. Ruth also made some home-made hummus that went very well (I am not a big hummus person, but everyone else like it) and her brother made a blue velvet pomegranate cake that has become a family favorite. Lots of good food, as it should be.

The next day we were back to work bright and early to try and keep up with the demands of our eccentric and stubborn lighting designer. This was a day that I won’t forget for a while as somehow I managed to injure my left knee while, of all things, I was walking up the stairs to the stage. I can’t remember what actually happened, or if I tripped, I just remember getting to the top of the stairs and being in pain. My knee felt like it was popping when i tried to extend it fully and it really hurt. I was literally floored by it. My crew managed to get me off the stage and into the house where I spent most of the rest of the day on the floor, icing my knee.

“Why didn’t you go to the ER?” I hear you ask. Well, it turns out that one of my crewtons is good friends with an Orthopedic Surgeon who also happens to be the head doctor at Snowbird. We had been introduced last year and skied together, but I didn’t know at the time that he was a doctor. In any case, we called him and I described the injury and he said that it wasn’t worth the ER trip. Do what I was doing and follow the principles of RICE and then see him on Monday. Of course after seeing him, he wants to get an MRI because he can’t make a definitive diagnosis based on the exam he did. This is fine with me save for now trying to get workman’s comp to OK the scan. Yeah, exciting. The good news is that he thinks it is just a torn meniscus, and this could probably be fixed and healed in time for me not to miss the entire ski season.

So, now I am hobbling around the theatre not able to climb ladders and barely able to do my job. Then we run into yet more snafus. The network node that is our main control output for the lighting system seems to have died. I spent a day trying to cobble the system back together into a workable state. We did it, but it sure isn’t pretty. I tried getting in touch with the manufacturer but they have yet to respond. I did get int touch with the competition, who happen to have some of these nodes stashed under a desk in the factory, so they are sending me one at no charge. I don’t know how to thank them for that. We will hopefully be back in operation at full capacity by the end of this week.

To cap off things with the show, my grandparents came in for a visit on opening weekend. They got to see the show on opening night, which was one of the better performances of the weekend and I got to visit with them before they head to Israel for the better part of the winter. It was nice to get to seem them as I was not able to join my family for Thanksgiving. In some ways, not being able to ski on account of my knee made it a lot less of a dilemma on spending time with them or skiing! We had a good weekend together.

So, the last major thing. This probably could deserve it’s own post and may get one in the next couple days. I applied for a position at CalArts, they are looking for an Electrics Department Supervisor. I didn’t want to talk about it here before I told my boss at the theatre. I wasn’t really looking for jobs, this one just happened across my desk and it seemed like an opportunity that should not be passed up. At the time, things were moving slow with their process, but now they actually are flying me out there for an in-person interview. It is both exciting and nerve racking at the same time. I think that I job like this could be a step in the right direction for me, I will certainly know more after I go there to visit. Working in the educational arena is something that I have thought of for a while and this would probably be a great way in to that. So, as things move along with this I will keep you all updated.

Yup, that is where I have been, stressed out, tired, injured, baking, and going to California. By the way, what day is it?

You want to fit that where?

Alex — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 16:47:36 +0000

We are working on what will probably turn out to be the second largest show of the season at the theatre and it has got everyone at the end of their rope. The show is Irving Berlin’s White Christmas, the wonderful christmas musical by the good Jewish boy. Smart guy, capitalizing on the prevailing American culture! Probably wouldn’t sell as many tickets to a show called “White Chanukkah…”

That being said, the show is amazingly huge, and will look great, but we are working with two of the most stubborn designers. I like them both, but when they get their minds set on what they want, there is no room to negotiate. So, there really isn’t enough room for all the lights and scenery in the air. In fact, we had to move an entire electric last night to hopefully make room for one piece of scenery.

So, going in to work can be an adventure. People are stressed out and snarky including myself. Many are just tired, the scene shop actually worked an extra day, coming in on a Saturday. It is amazing how much blood, sweat and tears go into the shows that we build only to be destroyed four weeks from now. Such is the life of theatre.

I had hope that this week I would be able to spend more time with Ruth before she has to work on The Nutcracker since her show closed this past weekend. Doesn’t look like that is really going to happen. It certainly was not a great week for her family, though her show closed on what I thought was a pretty good note. Hay Fever was an excellent show, and for any locals who didn’t see it, you missed out. I went to closing night with Ruth’s sister, and we just about died laughing at points. It was very well done.

I have another “project” that I have been working on that I mentioned once before that I still don’t think it is the right time to blather all over the internet about. in any case, it is starting to become a lot more real and with that sitting on my plate it is just one more thing that I am concerned about. I think that the time to really talk about this will come sooner rather than later, I just want to make sure that the right people know at the appropriate time.

The other thing that I really need to do is learn the Haftorah for this week. I am supposed to read it at temple this coming Shabbat. I can already stumble through it, so it should be that hard to get it down. Lots going on and seemingly not enough time.

Returning – Reunions

Alex — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 21:47:16 +0000

It has been quite the busy couple weeks. Last week started as tech for Dracula at the theatre and then ended with my flying out to Ithaca for the first ever All Theatre Alumni Reunion. The impetus for the event was the completion of the renovations on Dillingham Center, the home of the Department of Theatre Arts at Ithaca College. Ithaca College (not to be confused with Ithaca University from the movie Road Trip), or IC, is my alma mater for those who don’t know. Since graduation I have done my best to give to the college as my time there really made an impact on my life. My family and I were part of the 430-some-odd donors who raised over $80,000 for the renovation project. As such, I felt that it was important for me to go because of that and because it would be a fun opportunity to reconnect with friends from school and network with other alums.

The road to my getting to the reunion started well before waking up at 5AM to get to the airport last Friday. There are not enough words to express my love for my girlfriend who also got up at 5AM to get me there. However, before that I had to make sure that it would be OK with the powers that be in the theatre since I would be leaving town on opening night of one of the more technically challenging shows of the season which happened to be directed by our artistic director. I got the OK to go and was able to make the appropriate travel arrangements and fit into some semblance of a budget, so I was pretty happy. I sacrificed a ski pass to make it happen though, which I think was a decent trade off.

I flew into Syracuse, NY where I picked up a rental car and drove the rest of the way down to Ithaca. It was kind of fun getting on the highways there and remembering driving them so many times over the four years that I spent in school. Driving past the landmarks that I remembered and getting closer to Ithaca was very fun and very exciting. Driving down the last hill alongside Cayuga Lake and then through town, it almost felt like I had never really left. Realizing that the hotel that I had booked a room at was way on the opposite outskirts of town was a little disconcerting, but it wasn’t like I was going to be spending tons of time there!

The weekend kicked off with a welcome reception for all the alumni which was a little funky, but a good time. People drifted in slowly as they arrived in town so there were waves of excitement as people recognized old friends. It was a lot of fun to see all the people from my year and around my year and hear about what everyone is up to now. Then there were the people who “know” me on account of my father (who is also and IC alum). the most interesting of those people was my father’s college girlfriend Betsy. She was quite excited to meet me, and I have nothing against this on account of her buying my friends and I drinks!

Saturday brought the real festivities. The morning started with a tour of the newly renovated building. It was almost a private tour as there were only three other people who showed up at 9AM and they still sent out multiple tour groups. The new spaces look amazing, and the theatre department now has the use of the entire building, all the other departments that used to have offices there have been moved to other buildings on campus. It looks fabulous even though they say that for a program of that size they are still a few thousand square feet short of what they really could use.

After the tours there were dedications of named spaces around facility. I went to a few of these, but was not actually able to attend that one for named lockers, which I donated on of. Could be worse. I was at one of the student interaction panels where alumni got to talk to students pursuing similar fields of study. This really was a great thing, and I wish that it had been a little more organized and structured. I think it was probably a little overwhelming for both the alumni and the students. For me, this was one of the big reasons that I wanted to go to this event, to get to talk to the students, so I hope that in the future this is something that gets a little more planning.

Following a barbecue lunch a group of us headed off on a Finger Lakes wine tour headed by one of the faculty. This was a real hoot. We tasted some good wines, a bunch of bad wines, but in the end, it probably didn’t matter as everyone was having a blast. After two wineries we were definitely on the party bus as soon as Norm decided to put on some Lady GaGa. Yeah, the whole bus was dancing and singing and drinking.

Upon arriving back at IC, there was a little time to change before heading to the cocktail reception and gala dinner. I was smart enough to have put my nice clothes in my car when I left the hotel in the morning so I just found a bathroom and changed. There was a little more schmoozing and boozing with the alums and I had a chance to meet the new President of the college who seems to be a good guy.

The dinner and festivities were nice. Sitting with old friends was great. Here are most of us. The only thing that bugged me was the the photographer who was walking around would not take our picture with my camera. I thought that it was a rather stuck-up move as he kind of scoffed at my little point-and-shoot. I didn’t feel like lugging the nice camera around all evening. But really, I am a professional photographer and I would never hesitate to take someone’s photo picture with their own camera, it is just a nice, polite thing to do. Whatever.

Friends from my class and the years around it at the Reunion Gala

After dinner the Musical Theatre Majors sang for us, a song that I don’t actually remember. I do remember thinking that it would have been much more meaningful and memorable if they had chosen something different. The song that I would have picked would have been “What I did for Love” from A Chorus Line. I think that would have been very appropriate for the occasion, and would have made everyone cry.

After the singing, the party moved down the quad to Dillingham for the special Alumni-only performance of Chicago. It was an excellent show. The designs for the show were done by some notable alums including Paul Gallo (lighting) and Tony Meola (sound). The students were excellent and the show was so much fun. It was really cool to see Chicago at IC because it was the first show that I worked on after I graduated and moved out here to Utah. I enjoyed the show so much, I went back to see it again the next day!

After the performance we shifted venues one last time for the “Sherry Party” redux. Just one last occasion to schmooze with everyone before people started to go their separate ways. AS I was staying through until monday morning, I said goodbye to a bunch of people. Overall, it was a great time.

The rest of the weekend was a lot of fun. I had time to talk to a couple students, the chair of the department and my old professors. I saw the show again, and just generally enjoyed being back in Ithaca. It was a great weekend, and hopefully the first of many such events.

Stage Moms

Alex — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 02:50:59 +0000

There probably are not too many people who would say that they like stage moms. All things considered, there probably aren’t too many people who really know what many stage moms are like. Everyone knows a soccer mom, they are the subject of many stereotypes. Stage moms are on a completely different level. I mean, when you think that your kid is going to be the next big thing on Broadway or primetime TV it is really a whole different ballgame. I think that stage moms are probably in the same world as skating moms (who think their kid is going to be the next Michelle Kwan.

I have been very lucky in my theatre career in that all of the shows that I have worked that had child actors the parents were not crazy. However, unlike some people in this industry, I have a great appreciation for stage moms. Why? Well, as a photographer, working shows with kids equals guaranteed image sales. One thing that parents can’t resist is photos of their kids in shows.

As I am not trying to make a living on my photography, everything I make is a bonus. All in all, I don’t make tons of money on my photos, most people want one or two to stick on their website and that is about it. So, when I shoot shows with kids, or kids shows, it works out pretty well. I do my best to be fair and accommodating, and it seems that people are happy. Hey, if one of these makes it big one day, and one of my photos is in their portfolio, that would be pretty cool. To be able to say that I knew them when they were kids is a neat idea.

So, despite the stigma that might surround stage moms, I am very grateful for them! Besides, we would never get new actors if there were not any stage moms, so I suppose they keep me employed!

Theatre on Thursday: Diagnosis

Alex — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 04:14:36 +0000

For the past few days I have been trying to track down a phantom problem. It is only phantom in the fact that I can’t reproduce the problem outside of the show. That, I suppose, makes it definable is an intermittent problem. This of course, is the most difficult of problems to diagnose and to solve. Certainly a very frustrating problem.

What is the problem? Well, I have a moving light that seems to intermittently decide to just quit. For those of you who are not theatre people, or don’t work with many moving lights, this particular fixture uses an arc discharge lamp. That means that the light is created by maintaining an electric arc between two electrodes. It is very similar to the arc that is used in arc welding except that it is contained inside a lamp. Here is a photo of the lamp, just so you can see what I am talking about:

This is the HTI 700/D4/75 arc discharge lamp. This particular lamp has 99 hours of burn time on it. You can see the "arc gap" in the center of the globe, this is where the electric arc is created. The arc excites gases in the globe and emits light.

So, a few day ago this problem showed up. We made it through tech and most of the first week of performances before the problem began. The fixture drops the arc (douses out) and displays a lamp error message. So my initial thought was that it was a bad lamp. While this is rare, it is possible, and the least expensive problem to fix. In fact, with a lamp this “young” (only 99 hours into it’s 1000hr rated life), if the lamp failed I could make a warranty claim for a new lamp.

Unfortunately the lamp seems to not be the problem. I installed a brand new lamp and the problem persisted. Thanks to my friends over at controlbooth.com I had lot of other suggestions of things to try. Some are not really feasible at this point in time, but after the show closes I can try them. Today I actually got up in a focus chair to string a new circuit for this fixture that takes it off of the dimming system to eliminate any power issues that may have occurred there.

Well, I have been unable to solve the issue, which leads me to believe that the problem lies in the fixture and not the lamp or the power feed. This probably means a more expensive fix, but I am sure that I can have it fixed. Though I would certainly take any advice any theatre folk may have! Such is the nature of life in the theatre. I just like to look back on my favorite quote about the theatre from the movie Shakespeare in Love:

“…allow me to explain about the theatre business. The natural condition is one of insurmountable obstacles on the road to imminent disaster!
…Strangely enough, it all turns out well.”

Theatre on Thursday: Bad habits

Alex — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 03:37:21 +0000

I find that when we get deep into production, my eating habits get tossed aside. It is possibly worse for my wallet than for me as I still try to eat decent foods, but no matter how you spin it, it isn’t the best of habits. I like to cook and I like home-made food, but I often find myself on a schedule that doesn’t leave me enough time to go home and make something. I also often end up needing to eat at odd times due to when I need to be at work. Ah, the joys of working in theatre.

Look at a day like today. Fairly typical for a production week. I tend to have breakfast sometime mid-morning, usually consisting of cereal and a bagel. Sometimes, when I think about it I get some bananas to toss in my SpecialK. I don’t usually eat lunch, and then, since I have to be at the theatre at 5:30 I end up eating an early dinner or a rushed dinner. Dinner usually comes from someplace local to the theatre. Every now and then, when I think about it, I will throw something in the slow cooker in the morning and then run home and grab a bite. Sometimes, when I am lucky and our schedules are not similar, Ruth makes dinner, which is great.

I know that I have at least one crewton who will read this and tell me that I should just bring more “fuudz” with me to work. It isn’t that easy, though it should be. I am often more diligent about not eating out when I am not in production. I keep lunch stuffs in my little fridge in my office regularly. It is really just dinners that I need to figure out better. I haven’t quite worked out how to re-work my schedule so that it is more conducive to creating better food habits. Aside from leaving earlier in the day or making some of our calls later in the evening I don’t have any great solutions.

Beyond that, things at the theatre are going quite well. I have done two of the three photo shoots for Hamlet and I have also done photos for the U of U Department of Theatre’s production of Alcestis. We have started to think about our next show, Dracula and I am expecting to get the plot and paperwork tomorrow. No rest for the weary yet, just heading from one big show to a bigger one!