"Oh," you may be saying, "you're exaggerating. Everyone who has a job goes through that now and then." I'm not whining or trying to play the martyr, but I promise, I am not exaggerating. Behold:
- Sunday. I have a final performance of our theatre's more-or-less resident dance company. I go to work at 12:30 pm. After the show we have to strike (which is a really funny word for "work really really hard and take all the lights and set and crap down as fast as possible"). Wrap up around 8 pm.
- Monday. Day off for me; coworkers are beginning to load in (set up) the lights and stuff for the next show. I am not having a restful day. It's always a bit of a toss-up: sit around and try to enjoy a day off but end up stressing about all the non-job work that needs to be done (laundry, dishes, taking down Christmas tree, grocery shopping, etc etc et effing c), or do all those things and not have any time to sit and enjoy a day off. Either way, I'm screwed.
- Tuesday. Continue load-in. "Normal" work day, as in we start in the morning and finish in the late afternoon just like the rest of the world. It is, however, a day of pretty continuous physical labor, so we're all bone-tired by the end of the day.
- Wednesday. Same as Tuesday, only we work a little later, into the early evening, because the next day requires that we have a certain amount of things finished.
- Thursday. FOCUS DAY. Sometimes it's not bad. Sometimes it suuuuucks. It generally goes like this: morning and early afternoon, tidy up loose ends from day before. If we're quick, we get a longish break before beginning focus at 4 or 5 pm. That usually doesn't happen. As soon as the carpenters/painters/props folks get the set more-or-less ready for us to take over, we starting focusing lights, which is a fancy word for pointing them where they need to go and making them look the way the designer wants. If it's a small plot with easy shots, this may be a four-or five-hour process. If it's a big plot, or the set creates a lot of difficult shots, or the lights are shoehorned in, it could take two or three times that long. This particular plot was on the small side, but the set created enough difficulties that the lights are really crammed together. We wrapped up at a quarter after midnight. (My longest focus to date was a few years ago, when we called it quits at six in the morning.)
- Friday is spacing rehearsal, which means the actors get to go onstage for the first time since starting rehearsal. They've been working in a rehearsal room up to this point, with only tape lines on the floor to represent the set, so this is where they get comfortable with the walls, stairs, and different levels. They take the stage at 2 pm, which means we usually come in at 9 or 10 am to continue wrapping up loose ends. This usually involves "practicals," which are props or set elements that light up, like table lamps, car headlights, appliances, things like that. May I note here that 9 or 10 (depending on how much we need to do) is non-negotiable; if we finished at 3 in the morning the night before, we still have to be there on time to make sure things are ready for the spacing rehearsal. The aforementioned 6 am finish? Yep. We were back at 9. I didn't even go to bed. I went home, showered, had a massive breakfast and a bucket of coffee and went right back to work. If the shower wasn't necessary I wouldn't have even gone home, I'd have just gone to Steak & Shake for a couple hours. ANYWAY, once the actors start onstage, the lighting designer may start writing cues. They are allowed to work until 10 pm, and they usually do. This week, we lucked out; the designer chose not to cue through the second half of rehearsal, so I was done at 6:30 and I made it home in time for dinner with Jason. That rarely happens, though.
- Saturday and Sunday are the same thing: "ten-out-of-twelve," which means the actors' union allows them to work ten hours in a twelve-hour span. At my theatre, it's always 10am-10pm with a break from 3-5. For the technicians, that means we come in before "go", usually at 9, to make sure we're all ready to start and to take care of any notes that came out of the spacing rehearsal. Once we start, I sit at the light board, with my headset, programming the cues as the designer dictates them. At the break, we take care of notes that come up in the morning session. My boss is good about making sure we all get an hour away from the building, which is awesome. Sometimes I'll go for a walk, even if it's crappy weather, because it's the only daylight I'll see. The evening session is more of the same. The actors leave at 10; the production staff always has a meeting to discuss the next day's schedule and goals, which usually takes a half-hour or so. If I'm lucky, I'm home by 11 or a little after. Sunday comes along, lather-rinse-repeat. IF we are able to work our way to the end of the show, which happens about half the time, we will do a run-through on Sunday evening and often are released once we finish. That didn't happen this time. We worked right up to the bitter end.
- This brings us to today, Monday, which is my day off. Hallelujah.
Last night, as we were approaching the end of the show, there was a lull in my programming and I was sitting in the booth working on a crossword puzzle. After a few minutes I glanced up at the stage to see what the holdup was, and there was a goddamned Nazi on the stage, pointing a gun at the family. Okay, it wasn't a real Nazi, it was an actor in a (fucking terrifying) black SS uniform, but my stomach still lurched and I started shaking. Yeah, I knew it was coming, but I was tired and they caught me off-guard with their sneaky silent entrance. I can guarantee you, when we get an audience in the theatre, there will be audible gasps and quite possibly tears when that happens.
Huh. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to ruin your Monday with Nazis, but they tend to ruin everything so I guess I'm not surprised.
So yeah. That's what I have to look forward to this week. 70 hours on the clock and Nazis. Now I'm depressed.
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