# Tech Traditions



## DarSax (May 11, 2006)

I hope there hasn't been a thread on this somewhere else that I'm missing.

Do you guys out there have traditions that you do before each show/just traditions in your theater, etc?

I'll start.

>Before each show, all of the booth crew licks a 9-Volt battery :shock: 

>Every Saturday night show (our shows run Thursday-Friday-Saturday), the Booth Crew and select backstagers paint their faces with blue acrylic (acrylic.) paint to WOAD, which is basically the facepaint that they had in Braveheart. (Note to everyone: Acrylic is a PAIN to get off of your face. Just a little.)

>For SOME reason, at some point we acquired a gobo of crucified Jesus. Don't ask me why; keep in mind, we are a public school. Anyways, tradition dictates that the seniors each year hide the gobo somewhere in the auditorium, and leave vague clues for the rest of tech to find it.

The only semi-tradition we have is that if you're in the booth, you're SUPPOSED to buy/wear a black flight suit...but now everyone is lame, and I'm the only one who still does it. (The people who initiated it, during tech's "glory days," have since graduated. LAME.)

So, what about you all? I'm sure with all the crazy techies (technicians) out there, that there will be some crazy hijinks to follow. (If I think of any more, I'll be sure to post them too)


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## kingfisher1 (May 11, 2006)

for particularly nerve racking shows a habit has been made of screaming at the top of our lungs the obsenity that begins with f and terminates with k. Our schools longest running trtadition is "innitiation" inwhich teh newest member to teh schools acting community recieves a punch from each member of the cast and crew. (5th grade, my year, my arm turned a shade a blue that evn rosco or GAM would envey.) this innitioation must be auditorily accompanyed but music selected by the graduating seniors and ollofactoraly acccompanied by the sweet smell of Axe, or a similar cologne.


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## Willy Wonka (May 11, 2006)

Your theatre sounds like a mad house. Doesn't sound like a very dignified place to me with all the wild profanity and violence. Sounds like tons of fun though.


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## Willy Wonka (May 11, 2006)

whatever you do, dont say the word Macbeth.


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## DarSax (May 12, 2006)

Heh. It never really caught on, but a couple of the techies have taken to saying "Get SARS" instead of "Break A Leg." 

Hmm, what else. We used to pick a select freshman and wrap him up in tape (not duct, that'd be cruel; not gaff, that'd be expensive; so lamely, it was usually masking). Hmm. What else...

Oh we do have a game, we haven't played in a while, named "Challenge." The challenge: Get from the stage to the back door without touching the floor. You can place one chair. Over the seats its fairly easy, but it's pretty much a 7+ gap between the railing overlooking the pit and the chairs, and jumping, you have the risk of breaking something. (Your limbs,that is. We've broken numerous seats, before I came, playing Challenge).


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## Foxinabox10 (May 12, 2006)

We always play music in the house and the dressing rooms before the auditorium opens and one song that we always play and everyone sings along with is the classic Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen.


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## LightingChild88 (May 13, 2006)

oh my sweet home(theater), if only it wasnt getting renovated(i miss it so) 
we have a few tech traditions of our own 
before every show i buy cream sodas for all the head techs and we toast! 
and for dance concerts its the sparkling cider!!!!! 
we always have closing night pranks where we stick condoms/soft porn in random places on stage as so only the actors can see them(a nice surprise)! 
we play techie ball with the used dutchman tape after a show is done. and house music is a staple for us. ooh we also joust with 2 by fours after closing night 
next year will rock!


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## audioslavematt (May 14, 2006)

We play just about any sport you can think of with balls of gaff tape during strike.


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## saxman0317 (May 20, 2006)

Blasting music on the system, chinese food, and randomness before the first show. Some strange hat for sound... linda... And of course...BIG BERTHA!


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## SLC Tech (Jun 5, 2006)

Food is the last thing that we think about, so many people are demanding!, lucky if we even get a cup of tea. I do another health & safety check of everywhere, even followspot before the show, I started doing this more due to a CAST member slidding on a grape and blamed us for it!, no a light didn't fall, nor anybody falling over a cable but someone slidding on A GRAPE. We are probably the most dis-liked people during showtime!


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## pattrick1 (Jun 5, 2006)

Someone already mentioned it, but we too play music with the amps running to their max, then the whole cast and crew gets on stage and dances untill someone of higher authority tells us to quit it and get ready for the show (generally doesn't happen opening night due to the high levels of unpreparedness)
Additionally, we have a small no-noise kettle in the booth which we make green tea and select herbal teas regularly. As a matter of a fact the tech crew recieved two boxes of tea as a small gift before a recent show!


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## Peter (Jun 6, 2006)

About turning our amps to the max.... before a big indoor concert.. it has kind of become a tradition to crank up the volume and find the resonant frequency of the building. This is kinda not out of tradition as much as diagnostics so we know to set everything so we dont go louder then that and possibly cause damage to the building.


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## JPcrew109 (Jul 6, 2006)

Well my school has a rubber chicken that we all kiss before a show. Don't ask me why czu nobody knows! And the crew gets glitter on the their chest/shoulder by the costume crew cheif...and ofcourse crew warm ups...


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## TechyKyle (Jul 8, 2006)

Foxinabox10 said:


> We always play music in the house and the dressing rooms before the auditorium opens and one song that we always play and everyone sings along with is the classic Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen.



How odd I have a scene like that in my new documentary..."The Chatham Adventure" which follows our play that we entered in the Sears Drama Festival and it was random and a new thing for the cast and crew. I had never seen them do it and before the big show it just happened (them singing Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen). weeeiiiiirrrrrddd


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## TechyKyle (Jul 8, 2006)

As for other traditions well...I've got a documentary coming out that'll pretty well tell all about how we do our shows. Most of us have certain "pump up" music that we listen to to get in the right frame of mind. I do a general walk around the stage make sure theres no random items in places. All that good stuff.


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