Stupid Guest Tricks

I am now happily settled into my new booth, back in my favorite theatre. The big bonus here is that the SG can't burst in through the door, as I am behind 2 coded doors, and very well hidden stairs !



There is something to be said for being 200' away, behind glass!

delsdad wrote:I am now happily settled into my new booth, back in my favorite theatre. The big bonus here is that the SG can't burst in through the door, as I am behind 2 coded doors, and very well hidden stairs !



There is something to be said for being 200' away, behind glass!

thats the way to do it. hide control rooms.
can you imagine guests walking into computer central looking for restrooms?
or into a AA lab?

My Dad needs that control booth for the Hollywood Bowl. The booth he has is a small little building in the middle of the Bowl. When he's trying to do the last minute light cues for the show, the Bowl patrons are coming in and there's always someone peering through the glass into the booth. It can be very annoying! I was once in there visiting before a show and there were some people just leaning up against the glass and blocking my dad's view. I tapped hard on the glass and they jumped a mile. :twisted:

I see you have SGTs on the 'puter' to the right.

darph nader wrote:I see you have SGTs on the 'puter' to the right.

Darph gets the prize !!

dazyhill wrote:My Dad needs that control booth for the Hollywood Bowl. The booth he has is a small little building in the middle of the Bowl. When he's trying to do the last minute light cues for the show, the Bowl patrons are coming in and there's always someone peering through the glass into the booth. It can be very annoying! I was once in there visiting before a show and there were some people just leaning up against the glass and blocking my dad's view. I tapped hard on the glass and they jumped a mile. :twisted:

I came dangerously close to being set up down on the orchestra level, next to the sound area. For some shows I like being there, indeed, when on tour I prefer it. Its often easier to see the show to tweak your focuses during the first couple of nights, and there are a lot fewer steps to negotiate. But it is easier being where you dont have to answer questions regarding the location of the loo, the coat check, how long the show is, if Cats ever played in this theatre, and of course "its too loud! can you turn it down please?".
What saved me from being down stairs, where my boss wanted me, was when the producer realized that they would loose 4 more seats for my console area. That's almost 400$ a show. I would have needed a hell of an argument to convince them I needed to sit down there !

Now we climb 7 flights of stairs to the booth each show, but we have all the comforts, a fridge, microwave, and tomorrow one of the spot ops is bringing in a Tassimo coffee maker for us.

I've seen the control position at the bowl. You feel very exposed out there !
I played a similar venue in Kansas City 10 years ago. Minutes into the first show and I had management asking me to turn off the monitors on my consoles, as they were distracting the audience. Hmmm.... how about... NO!
That's like asking a pilot to fly IFR with no instruments. And yes, if I screw up people can be injured. Unexpected blackouts are very dangerous to dancers! In the end I turned the brightness down as much as possible, and put neutral density gel over the screen. Not perfect, but as good as it gets.

delsdad wrote:Darph gets the prize !!

And my wife says I don't pay attention.

(what was the question again?)

darph nader wrote:And my wife says I don't pay attention.

(what was the question again?)

No question. It's like a hidden Mickey...but different !

At my old community theater (based out of a high school theater), we started with a "Not An Exit" sign on the door, but then had to go to the point of actually putting posts and a velvet rope *around* the door to the lighting booth because people were always walking in looking either for the exit or the bathroom.

Though we still had issues... For one of our productions every year we'd do a free matinee for senior citizens groups from the area. The lighting board op found himself trapped in the booth before the show because someone had parked wheelchairs and walkers all across the back of the theater, including in front of his door. He had to radio for help. (I wasn't at my position yet at the sound board outside the booth, 10 feet in front of him)

I was surprised that with my very-exposed sound board location in the back-center of the seating I didn't get many people walking up to ask me questions or interrupt me. (Except for the one time we had some kind of system/amp failure at the end of the overture, and some brilliant audience member came charging up to yell at me because you couldn't hear any of the cast...and then got even angrier when I totally ignored him and continued to pull and re-plug cables like crazy...)

-Rob

Speaking of Doors......
We have an entrance out back that has on it written clearly-"DO NOT ENTER! AMBULANCE STAFF ENTRANCE ONLY.....So guess where patients sneak in after hours