I am rich, so therefore I am RUDE!!!!!

[BRWombat]

You might want to keep your husband away from me, too. Theatrical lighting is one of my favorite things in the world. I have a hard time sitting through many shows without seeing a transition I could have made fit better, or how I would have lit a section of the stage differently.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who's like this. I'm no expert, but at one point or another I've done just about every job in theater, onstage and off, and I constantly analyze productions as I watch them. My big thing is NO DISTRACTIONS -- wherever the focus of the audience should be to tell the story, no light, sound, prop, costume, action, or whatever else should pull their focus away. IMHO, being on the tech crew should be a thankless job -- because if you do the job right no one in the audience should even notice what you're doing.

[Mayonnaise]

Thankless for the audience yes... but the performers should thank the tech, and often don't. (Crossovers exempt from previous statement.) Round our troupe there's allot of jokes about where the performer-only people think their set and lighting comes from, along the lines of "They think the tech faeries just come in and magic it in!!!!" As a result this past year's tech crew t-shirts (printed black on black!) read "I DO believe in Tech Faeries!!!" (The year before of course was "Techies do it in the Dark.")

When we did the Scottish play two years ago, the director decided he wanted to give tech a bow, because the set was designed to look like one of those professional sets that move on tracks and stuff, but was in fact run by people squeezing themselves into thrusts to push leavers and standing inside trees and pulling them along. Every last techie poked their head out of their wing/gopher hole/booth, ect, and told him NO.

8^)

[BRWombat]

Thankless for the audience yes... but the performers should thank the tech, and often don't. (Crossovers exempt from previous statement.) Round our troupe there's allot of jokes about where the performer-only people think their set and lighting comes from, along the lines of "They think the tech faeries just come in and magic it in!!!!" As a result this past year's tech crew t-shirts (printed black on black!) read "I DO believe in Tech Faeries!!!" (The year before of course was "Techies do it in the Dark.")

When we did the Scottish play two years ago, the director decided he wanted to give tech a bow, because the set was designed to look like one of those professional sets that move on tracks and stuff, but was in fact run by people squeezing themselves into thrusts to push leavers and standing inside trees and pulling them along. Every last techie poked their head out of their wing/gopher hole/booth, ect, and told him NO.

8^)

Heh. Reminds me of my senior year in high school. A friend of mine was helping build the set for a production of Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit, basically a single room but where doors have to open and close on their own, books have to fly off of shelves, etc. The friend brought me in to help engineer all of the ghost effects -- and it was great fun doing so. But on the final night, when the tech crew who operated the effects wanted to take a bow (have the double doors upstage open and them appear in the doorway) I stayed firmly out of sight. I love taking bows and receiving applause, but to me, that's just for performers. I didn't want the audience to have to think about how the effects were done.

[turkeyham]

I am at the Disneyland park most of the time people watching when I have my days off. During this week it has been very crowded and I have seen SG react. Driving into the parking structure, parking their cars and complaining they have to wait in line for a crappy shuttle. Now it is through security check you bags. Buy the tickets and go into the park. Everyone even cast members will know it is crowded during the holiday season. My brother and I went to Disneyland a few years back on New Years Eve! Big mistake, the crowds were bad. We went on 10 rides in 12 hours. We left before the fireworks. But, yesterday it was mega crowded. The resturants, attractions and restrooms had big lines. I over heard someone complain that they were in line for a turkey cart and they had to wait 1 hour for food. I don't know about that. We ate at the Mexican resturant and 20 minutes. That was a short line for us. We went and ventured out in the park and the small lines were at the following: Mark Twain, Columbia, Golden Horse Shoe, Disneyland train station-New Orleans square. My sister and I sat down at took notes. I did a tally sheet with complaints and came up with the winners: 1. Restroom lines, not enough stalls. 2. Better guest control. 3. The prices of food are too high. 4. Disneyland should close park when it is crowded. 5. The park should Dr. Pepper.

[delsdad]

Well, it's interesting that you say that... in his spare time, he makes chart after chart and report after report.
Also, all through the parks, my husband keeps an eye out for the type of lighting each attraction uses. He sells sound and lighting equipment. Finally at one point I said, "yeah I know those are Par cans ____" and he got the hint.
:)

I must admit that i too am guilty of this. I work as an Entertainment Electrician and lighting programmer full time, and was one of the electricians who built the rig for the first Wicked tour. I love seeing the use of theatrical equipment in the parks, especially in the non theatrical uses, such as lighting the castle for Wishes and the other fireworks shows.

I try to keep from driving my family nuts with my observations of the gear in use, but do occasionally slip up, such as when I saw the use of the DL-2 projectors at Playhouse Disney Live, and they used the moving video to advance and support the story, and not as a gee-whiz effect. My wife just rolled her eyes !

And Hobie, yes my house IS DMX 512 compatible, (and wired for same, thanks to a generous production electrician :rolleyes :) and I run Hog3pc on my Iphone too :D: !

[kurtisnelson]

And Hobie, yes my house IS DMX 512 compatible, (and wired for same, thanks to a generous production electrician :rolleyes :) and I run Hog3pc on my Iphone too :D: !

How many universes do you have? :)

[breathless]

Heck, even watching the Christmas day parade he was sitting here saying, "look at the LCD color banks...."

[drcorey]

I must admit that i too am guilty of this. I work as an Entertainment Electrician and lighting programmer full time, and was one of the electricians who built the rig for the first Wicked tour. I love seeing the use of theatrical equipment in the parks, especially in the non theatrical uses, such as lighting the castle for Wishes and the other fireworks shows.

I try to keep from driving my family nuts with my observations of the gear in use, but do occasionally slip up, such as when I saw the use of the DL-2 projectors at Playhouse Disney Live, and they used the moving video to advance and support the story, and not as a gee-whiz effect. My wife just rolled her eyes !

And Hobie, yes my house IS DMX 512 compatible, (and wired for same, thanks to a generous production electrician :rolleyes :) and I run Hog3pc on my Iphone too :D: !

nice. I love Playhouse, and Bear. do you know how Bear works?
He was made by the Creature Shop, and using what they learned making Bear, they made the Coke Cola Polar Bear with that tech. he is so cute.
he can run and play with people and dance around and do all kinds of neat things. and I do feel sorry for the puppeteer....
out here coke-cola was holding audtions for the Polar Bear, this month.

[delsdad]

How many universes do you have? :)

Only one. Who can afford more ? the Hog pc widgets are way to expensive for more than one in a hobby situation.

[delsdad]

nice. I love Playhouse, and Bear. do you know how Bear works?
He was made by the Creature Shop, and using what they learned making Bear, they made the Coke Cola Polar Bear with that tech. he is so cute.
he can run and play with people and dance around and do all kinds of neat things. and I do feel sorry for the puppeteer....
out here coke-cola was holding audtions for the Polar Bear, this month.

I have not seen Bear up close. I had just assumed his head was radio controlled, with one or more operators off camera doing the puppetry. Basically a manually operated AA puppet, run by very skillfull puppeteers.