So we’re halfway thru the run. Tomorrow we pack up most of the set and dressing and all of the key props for a one-morning-only performance at a nearby high school. That aspect of the production has been its own adventure.
This is the first show that I’ve “called” where I’m running sound and light cues from QLab. So mostly I’m just pushing a GO button like George Jetson. In the booth, I have only a sound board operator (to turn body mics on and off) and a staff member from the center (on hand in case anything goes south). On the deck, I have two crew members, an ASM (Michal) and a running crew member. I have good visibility for what’s happening on stage, so the only comms I have with Michal are to send actors on stage at the top of each act.
Hearing what’s happening on stage is another matter. There’s a huge rumbly A/C unit running all the time. I’m reduced to hand-cupping my ear that isn’t on headset.
Michal has been my rock. She has handled detailed rehearsal reports as well as plotting the peregrinations of what has turned out to be a lot of props.
Some takeaways:
- The batteries in my solar-assisted watch are probably due for a changeout. A few days ago the watch started flashing a low battery signal because I kept looking at it in the dark, silly me.
- Now that I’ve run with QLab, I think I might be able by myself to handle lights on one board/laptop and sound on another. This is the setup we had for Dance Nation, with Nadia running the sound board.
- My outdoor headlamp that I use for owling is way too bright for use in the booth.
- For these last two shows, I’ve stayed in a motel in Maryland for the last days of tech week, so that I don’t have to deal with crummy rush hour traffic. This time I checked that the motel had a business center so that I could reprint pages for my book, but I didn’t bring a 3-hole punch. Fortunately, motel staff scared one up for me.
- Jeff (sound designer) lent me a 6-key device with a dedicated GO button. Much easier than trying to find the spacebar on a Mac laptop (without scooching the trackpad).