# Could have been a Runaway...



## photoatdv (Jan 22, 2009)

So little poll for all you professionals out there-- Do you think its okay to go into a high school with a group renting the auditorium, reweight the system for your stuff, then leave it out of weight when you leave?

We nearly had a runaway yesterday morning when we were working on some stuff because they left the cyc really arbor heavy. Then of course when I realize its more than I can handle I yell to the people helping me that I need some help and they just look at me. All the while I'm trying to keep ahold of this lineset reaching around some large props that were kinda in my way, then finally I get the teacher's attention and she grabs it and we get it out. Yes, some weight disappeared from that arbor-- and no, I did not wait to get approval, but that was an immediate danger, so I didn't really have to.

Now I just need to get approval to go through with a crew and check weighting on all of the batons-- I don't trust that there aren't others that bad or worse. Oh yeah and I need to have someone fix the loose rope locks too (Don't know that they had anything to do with that, but still is a BIG problem)-- that will most likely happen tonight or tomorrow.

So moral of this story-- 

1. ALWAYS reweight when you do load out-- especially if you're at a school where half the people using the flysystem don't have a clue what they're doing.
2. Performer peoples need to be taught to ALWAYS listen to the crew. If the crew says move, move now! If the crew asks for help, especially if they're saying then need help now!, drop what you're doing (unless that would cause more problems) and help them.


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## theatretechguy (Jan 22, 2009)

Anyone doing ANYTHING with the fly system should be under strict supervision by an experienced tech at the theater. After the group is gone, (like, 10 minutes after they are loaded out) an experienced tech needs to go through and make sure the fly system is in order and everything is weighted properly. Don't ever count on renters to restore your theater to its "default" properties, especially when safety (and potential injury/death may result). 

The fact that your brakes {locks}, rings, etc, may be faulty is scary and your fly system shouldn't even be used until such repairs have been made. General rule of thumb on flylines is to hold the lines together with one hand and CAREFULLY release the brake {lock} with the other. Any movement and the brake {lock} goes back on. 

Performers (actors) should never be expected to "jump in and help" in a tech emergency. Again, only EXPERIENCED techs should be operating flylines.

I hate to be harsh, but your facility sounds like a horrible accident waiting to happen.


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## derekleffew (Jan 22, 2009)

photoatdv said:


> S...We nearly had a runaway yesterday morning when we were working on some stuff because they left the cyc really arbor heavy. ...


So a load was removed from the batten without it being at deck trim? Between productions, aren't all softgoods that touch the deck normally stored at max high trim (or at least head high)?

A very good reason for venue managers to demand that only venue technicians operate house equipment.

More and more I'm thinking counterweight fly systems should NOT be installed in high school auditoriums.

I believe we've had this discussion before... They should be called rope *locks*, not rope *brakes*. The word "brake" implies that the device can be used to slow an object. It's called a lockrail, not a brakerail.


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## willbb123 (Jan 22, 2009)

You said that you were taking the cyc out, was it in to where the batten was on the deck? Whenever a drop is on the deck, its weight is on the deck instead of the batten. 

After you removed the weight, did you check and make sure the lineset was balanced?


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## Sayen (Jan 22, 2009)

No renter may use my fly system without my permission, and nothing gets flown without my okay. Only my crew, trained and under my authority, may operate the system. It's one of the few non-negotiable parts of the rental agreement. Look at the rigging funny without permission and I may kick you out of my building - but that's my attitude after dealing with too many rentals run by people who don't know what they're doing in the theater. Better grumpy than dead.

That said, an outside group should restore the facility to 100% condition it was in prior to load in, plus a little cleaner.


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## Esoteric (Jan 22, 2009)

Sounds like there is some serious supervision needed in that theater.

Yeah, I have seen way too many accidents at high schools with counter weight systems. When I took over at the FAA we had to rehemp all their lines, install new locks, and retighten the system. I had to get a grant to do it because the school district wouldn't pay for it. They had 8 (out of 32) linesets that were broken in various places (broken hemp, broken blocks, broken locks) and they had kids operating it with NO supervision who had no idea the theory behind a counterweight system, muchless how to safely operate one.

I tore the principal and theater teacher a new one and declared the system completely unusable until it was repaired. I bet if I went back now (8 years later) I bet it would be in the condition I found it.

Mike


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## LightingPenguin (Jan 23, 2009)

Esoteric said:


> I bet if I went back now (8 years later) I bet it would be in the condition I found it.
> 
> Mike



Go back and tear them a new one again! While we dont have a fly system, it sounds like they're extremely prone to accidents and danger if not used by a properly trained tech. 

Second, I've learned that if you need immediate help with something and you call on an actor for something tech related, it comes out to be 2 things:

1. They look at you like your a complete moron who doesn't know what you're doing
2. They _attempt_ to help

Theres no "Ill go get someone who knows!"


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## ReiRei (Jan 23, 2009)

We did a one act show last year at my high school and during a rehearsal we had a runaway that was batten heavy. I was in the process of putting an uncle buddy on it after telling everyone to get offstage and the drama teacher obviously wasn't listening. She walked over, pushed me out of the way, released the brake and bam! Only time I've ever had to shout runaway in the theatre and luckily nobody got hurt. However, it turned into my fault because when you put all of your time into something, you become the permanent... patsy, for lack of a better word.

I tore my crew a new one during the next class because it is the responsibility of the people who take off and put things on the batten to reweight them. And now we have an entire two days every semester to teach people how to reweight! YAY!

We also don't let outside crews operate any of our equipment. They can do props, run, costumes, and call cues, but other than that they don't touch anything. And we don't usually do big shows that require hanging things and whatnot.


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## Sayen (Jan 23, 2009)

LightingPenguin said:


> Second, I've learned that if you need immediate help with something and you call on an actor for something tech related, it comes out to be 2 things:
> 
> 1. They look at you like your a complete moron who doesn't know what you're doing
> 2. They _attempt_ to help


Those in educational situations can help with this - train your actors! They don't have to be experts, but they love theater as much as technicians, and a little technical training helps round them out as performers. Outside of big professional shows and union contracts there's no reason performers can't be expected to help with the labor, and then if we're lucky they're better prepared to help in an emergency like the one above.


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## Esoteric (Jan 23, 2009)

ReiRei said:


> We did a one act show last year at my high school and during a rehearsal we had a runaway that was batten heavy. I was in the process of putting an uncle buddy on it after telling everyone to get offstage and the drama teacher obviously wasn't listening. She walked over, pushed me out of the way, released the brake and bam! Only time I've ever had to shout runaway in the theatre and luckily nobody got hurt. However, it turned into my fault because when you put all of your time into something, you become the permanent... patsy, for lack of a better word.
> 
> I tore my crew a new one during the next class because it is the responsibility of the people who take off and put things on the batten to reweight them. And now we have an entire two days every semester to teach people how to reweight! YAY!
> 
> We also don't let outside crews operate any of our equipment. They can do props, run, costumes, and call cues, but other than that they don't touch anything. And we don't usually do big shows that require hanging things and whatnot.



When I taught at the FAA I had a student flyman. He wasn't allowed to do anything without me in the theater, but he knew how to weight things, how to load, etc so much that if he weren't a kid and prone to let his mind wonder from time to time I would have trusted him to do all my loading and unloading. Nothing was loaded or unloaded unless he was on the rail and I was on the deck. All techs got a crash course (no pun intended), but he got enough training that he worked on the flyrail at a local professional theater from time to time (including the hemp house in town).

Mike


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## waynehoskins (Jan 23, 2009)

This thread makes me think that we (the schools) really need to improve our teaching on stage safety and flying. Nothing should ever ever be out of balance. If you've got a loading gallery, you have absolutely no excuse. Spaces with no loading gallery have it a little tougher, but still not that bad. We must teach the children before they kill themselves.

And also, reading that last one (about the Drama Teacher pushing the student flyman out of the way and starting a runaway), we need to educate our Drama Teachers. In fact, we need to educate all our faculty who use the stage. Just basic stage safety. Before they kill themselves or the children.

I'm lucky, I guess: the high school I came from (and now guest design at) has always been good about teaching stage safety. The director there came (20 years prior) from the same university I went to, and one of the first things he did in Tech Theatre class those nearly 15 years ago was take us all on stage and show us how to fly safely. He also taught us all how to drive the old two-preset board later in the semester. Not bad for a guy whose strength is choreography.


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## photoatdv (Jan 23, 2009)

The locks are now fixed-- I'm sure you will be happy. Plus I finally learned how to do it-- I knew the theory, I just wasn't going to try it until I had someone next to me who knew what they were doing.

No the pipe was not at stage level. It was originally all the way up and was arbor heavy, then a couple of the guys hauled it in, but the teacher wouldn't let me fix it because she wanted to start rehearsal. Then the next day when I went to fly it out we almost lost it. After the teacher say how bad it was (when she helped me) she let me fix it. Now its in weight (doesn't move if released when not already moving-- generally accepted standard at my school).


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## willbb123 (Jan 23, 2009)

photoatdv said:


> The locks are now fixed-- I'm sure you will be happy. Plus I finally learned how to do it-- I knew the theory, I just wasn't going to try it until I had someone next to me who knew what they were doing.
> 
> No the pipe was not at stage level. It was originally all the way up and was arbor heavy, then a couple of the guys hauled it in, but the teacher wouldn't let me fix it because she wanted to start rehearsal. Then the next day when I went to fly it out we almost lost it. After the teacher say how bad it was (when she helped me) she let me fix it. Now its in weight (doesn't move if released when not already moving-- generally accepted standard at my school).



Linesets should never be out of weight and your director needs to know that. Even though you can muscle it in, and the lock might hold it, it is not made to. It should always be balanced, like you have it now.

My highschool didnt have a fly system, and now that I am trained and use it everyday I am glad they didnt. There would have been so many accidents due to lack of training.


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## waynehoskins (Jan 23, 2009)

photoatdv said:


> No the pipe was not at stage level. It was originally all the way up and was arbor heavy, then a couple of the guys hauled it in, but the teacher wouldn't let me fix it because she wanted to start rehearsal. Then the next day when I went to fly it out we almost lost it. After the teacher say how bad it was (when she helped me) she let me fix it. Now its in weight (doesn't move if released when not already moving-- generally accepted standard at my school).



Holy God.

*THIS IS VERY BAD.*

So the lineset was gridded and arbor heavy .. that's fine, not great, but fine. Then they need the pipe in, so instead of getting it in balance first they muscle it in. Then they leave it in, out of balance, overnight. And then the next day you have to put a twist on it to get it out, and your teacher opens the rope lock to get the pipe out of the way for rehearsal and it runs away.

Please stop trying to kill yourselves.


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## LightingPenguin (Jan 23, 2009)

heres a question:

Does any high school theatre without a TD have a fly system? From what I've been reading, if you don't have one and you just know "the big things go down, the smaller one goes up", I really dont think they should use a fly system. But I doubt a high school with a fly system doesn't have a TD........right?


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## photoatdv (Jan 23, 2009)

Not quite -- When we went to fly it out the second day I had a girl helping me fly it out so I could pull the weight and she decided she didn't want to do work, so she quit helping and I started to lose control of it (holding with both hands so I couldnt lock it) , yelled for help, and finally the teacher came over and helped me get it out.

And no we don't have a TD on staff or an auditorium manager for that matter (However he didn't know how to reweight anyway- the one time we had to on a show he was supervising he had to ask me to do it)-- budget cuts. We do have a couple of local pros that come in a few weeks a year and they typically fix any fly system problems we have and train the senior crew on well, everything.


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## waynehoskins (Jan 23, 2009)

photoatdv said:


> When we went to fly it out the second day I had a girl helping me fly it out so I could pull the weight and she decided she didn't want to do work, so she quit helping and I started to lose control of it



*VERY VERY VERY VERY BAD*


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## Esoteric (Jan 23, 2009)

I am surprised no one has been killed in this auditorium. Someone report it and have it shut down!

Mike


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## theatretechguy (Jan 23, 2009)

The situation in this particular venue seems to go from bad to worse... Photo, I know you're a student and aren't really responsible, but you have an obligation to bring this to someone's attention (perhaps an anononymous call/email to a school board member). At best, there's possibility of ruined equipment, at the very worst, you're looking at death, lawsuits and bankrupting the school district.


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## waynehoskins (Jan 23, 2009)

Esoteric said:


> I am surprised no one has been killed in this auditorium. Someone report it and have it shut down!
> 
> Mike



Maybe as Step One we should send them a copy of Dr Doom's book?


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## willbb123 (Jan 23, 2009)

I typed a really long reply on my phone on break at work, but it didn't allow me to post...

I am assuming that you are a student and haven't been trained. I am also gonna assume that none of the staff at your school has been trained. Your teacher needs to be trained before there is a serious accident.

There is no such thing as a small accident on the fly rail. Even if the lineset is just a few bricks out of weight and you have a runaway the arbor can be severely damaged, and knowing highschools it probably wont be properly repaired, leading to more damage and more risk.

Your teacher needs to be told that having students "muscle" in linesets and locking them out of weight is extremely dangerous. While the lock can hold the weight, it is not made to and WILL fail at some point. Your teacher is playing a dangerous guessing game, that can easily result in serious student injury and possibly death. The fly system is a safe system when there are trained people behind the wheel, but can be very dangerous when untrained people use it.

Your teacher needs to be trained, period. I would tell her that you don't feel safe that she is making you muscle in the batten. I would also go to an administrator and tell them that it is being used unsafely because of the lack of proper training. There are plenty of trained riggers on this site that will probably gladly give you their number and back you up on this.

When I got trained I gained a new respect for the fly system and realized how dangerous it is. Peoples lives are not something to take chances with. You can probably find more horror stories on this site and online but I just saw this one recently. http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/facility/10449-runaway.html I'd even print off and show this picture to your teacher, to show her the real dangers.

Don't take my message too personally, I have been in your position many times. I am really worried about the lack of training and frankly the lack of safety at your school. I really don't want your next post to be talking about an accident.


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## LightingPenguin (Jan 24, 2009)

willbb123 said:


> Your teacher is playing a dangerous guessing game, that can easily result in serious *student injury and possibly death*.
> 
> *Your teacher needs to be trained, period. *
> 
> ...



Holy crap. Thats a scary picture, and should be a MAJOR reality check. Imagine you body under that. Better yet, imagine being responsible for someone being crushed by that. Its easy to say "I'm putting my own life on the line", but when you realize that its not just you, but everyone is in danger, thats when you should step back and say "I refuse to operate this without training and having it be inspected"

Also I really agree with these sentiments, someone NEEDS to report this. If it goes on like this, then there will be a major incident, and someone WILL get hurt. *DONT LET IT HAPPEN*

In case your too lazy and you dont think the picture is anything important, here it is:


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## Sayen (Jan 24, 2009)

waynehoskins said:


> And also, reading that last one (about the Drama Teacher pushing the student flyman out of the way and starting a runaway), we need to educate our Drama Teachers. In fact, we need to educate all our faculty who use the stage. Just basic stage safety. Before they kill themselves or the children.


I have been in three different districts now, all at schools with fly systems. None of the districts had a TD or auditorium manager, and none of them required any sort of credentials for a drama teacher to have a technical background. When I was hired, I was simply asked if I was into technology, and "yes" sufficed. At each site I have pushed for safety inspections and rules, and only my current school let me get away with locking off the system to everyone except myself and my supervised crew. At most of the locations I was met with hostility when I tried to explain why we needed more rules.

I'm familiar with the certification for teaching theater in a handful of states, and none of them include theater tech.

I've been at my current site for some time now - and I would probably refuse to work somewhere now if they didn't have proper oversite or give me control. Screw up lights, and they can't see. Screw up audio, and they can't hear. Screw up rigging, and someone is dead.


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## lieperjp (Jan 25, 2009)

It is threads like this that make me glad my school does not have a fly system. Period. 

It is also threads like this that make me sick when people here even talk about home-brewing fly systems.


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## Esoteric (Jan 25, 2009)

I was so glad my one stop as a high school TD the fly rail was actually a fly rail (with seperate loading rail) that we could lock off (and there was only one key, mine).

Mike


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## rwhealey (Jan 26, 2009)

Esoteric said:


> I was so glad my one stop as a high school TD the fly rail was actually a fly rail (with seperate loading rail) that we could lock off (and there was only one key, mine).
> 
> Mike



I agree. We have a fly rail about 15' up and a loading rail up on the top. We haven't, as far as I know, had any problems. 

However, we also have a TD/Auditorium Manager who supervises us during all weighting/reweighing.


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## photoatdv (Jan 26, 2009)

If I were to go to admin or the school board I'd get kicked off the crew. I went to the auditorium manager (before they cut the position) about various problems and lost 1 show and almost lost another over it. My school has the "ignore and intimidate" down to a fine art. Though once I graduate I fully plan on sending an anonomous letter to somebody (high up) about it and if that doesn't work maybe a newspaper.

Right now the best I can do is try to get them to let me fix anything that I can and have our pro guys do the rest when they're here.


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## waynehoskins (Jan 26, 2009)

photoatdv said:


> If I were to go to admin or the school board I'd get kicked off the crew. I went to the auditorium manager (before they cut the position) about various problems and lost 1 show and almost lost another over it.



No offense, but we're talking about people's lives here, and you're worried about losing a show or two?

Please, somebody write the letter...


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## LightingPenguin (Jan 26, 2009)

waynehoskins said:


> No offense, but we're talking about people's lives here, and you're worried about losing a show or two?
> 
> Please, somebody write the letter...



I second that request. This isn't a joke, and waiting that long might be too late.


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## theatretechguy (Jan 26, 2009)

If you've ever been part of the legal process, it's a painfully long and slow experience, sometimes spanning several years. Even if you aren't liable for something that happens in that space, do you really want to be part of a deposition/lawsuit/testimony where people were horribly injured or killed because of something you were a part of? (Even indirectly). You're smart enough to know what's going on is wrong, and yet you're willing to still be a part of it. Staying silent makes you just as guilty (although you may not have the liability of the adults and district) and you'll beat yourself up over it when (notice, I didn't say "if") a person is horribly injured or dies.


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## Sony (Jan 26, 2009)

photoatdv said:


> If I were to go to admin or the school board I'd get kicked off the crew. I went to the auditorium manager (before they cut the position) about various problems and lost 1 show and almost lost another over it. My school has the "ignore and intimidate" down to a fine art. Though once I graduate I fully plan on sending an anonomous letter to somebody (high up) about it and if that doesn't work maybe a newspaper.
> 
> Right now the best I can do is try to get them to let me fix anything that I can and have our pro guys do the rest when they're here.



Take pictures, video...any evidence you can get will help. Find someone in the administration who you know and will listen to you, if you can't find an administrator then find a faculty member, trust me, it always better to have at least one faculty member on your side, you will go much farther. After the administration then I would go to the local building inspector, then if that doesn't work then I would go to the media.


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## rochem (Jan 27, 2009)

photoatdv said:


> If I were to go to admin or the school board I'd get kicked off the crew. I went to the auditorium manager (before they cut the position) about various problems and lost 1 show and almost lost another over it. My school has the "ignore and intimidate" down to a fine art. Though once I graduate I fully plan on sending an anonomous letter to somebody (high up) about it and if that doesn't work maybe a newspaper.
> 
> Right now the best I can do is try to get them to let me fix anything that I can and have our pro guys do the rest when they're here.



I'm going through the same exact situation as you in another thread, and it is an extremely hard decision to make. For many of us in high school, tech theatre is all that we have. And unfortunately, the more you know, the worse things become. It's a horrible decision to make, and one that will impact you for the rest of your high school career, if not further. You are basically challenging your supervisor and telling them that you know more than them about the system, and that they are risking the lives of their students by allowing this to continue - something that no teacher wants to hear from a student.

Think of it this way. Imagine what would happen if an accident did occur. Could you live with yourself knowing that you could have stopped someone from dying or becoming seriously injured, but chose not to? I personally could not. I have an enourmous amount of respect for my TD, as I worked with him before he was ever hired at the school, and am on a first-name basis with him. However, I would not hesitate to get him fired and even taken to court if he continued doing something that had a high chance of killing or seriously injuring someone. Obviously it's a decision that you and you alone have to make - but you are not alone in the fight. I contacted a number of industry professionals, some of whom are listed in that thread above, and I have recieved responses from all of them. Two of the biggest and most respected names in theatre have offered to personally call my TD and explain to him why this would be a bad idea.

This is the internet, and presuming that you have told no one at school too much about this, it can never be traced back to you. So the question becomes - could you live knowing that you could have prevented the death of your classmate, but chose not to because you didn't want to get kicked out of a show?


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## LightingPenguin (Jan 27, 2009)

I too am in high school, but I would not hesitate to report this. If it was something more minor, I would bring it up with my TD, then proceed down the line. but something as major as this, even though it could cost us a lot, is not worth nearly as much as someone's life. NOTHING is. 

If you value your friends opinion over you more than someone's life, you shouldn't be in tech. PEOPLE'S LIVES ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT THING. PERIOD. 
You really need to understand this.


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## FMEng (Feb 1, 2009)

The school board is not the place to start. They don't deal with day to day details like this, nor should they. Perhaps we have some school employees that could comment, but I would start with the Principal. From there, I would think that most school districts would have an administrator that handles health, safety, and risk management (legal and insurance stuff). This issue should be of great interest to that person. It could be that those responsibilities fall to the Director of Facilities or an Assistant Superintendent. Failing that, go to the Superintendent.


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## DracoBengali86 (Mar 25, 2009)

LightingPenguin said:


> heres a question:
> 
> Does any high school theatre without a TD have a fly system? From what I've been reading, if you don't have one and you just know "the big things go down, the smaller one goes up", I really dont think they should use a fly system. But I doubt a high school with a fly system doesn't have a TD........right?



In my high school, the theatre was an open part of the school. During school hours, students were passing through it constantly--there were at least three class rooms that were behind the theatre, and the only way to get to them was walk through the audience. All in all, the theatre was completely insecure.

When it was actually being used as a theatre though, we had two people who would come in and run the tech side of it. They were responsible for "hiring" the student techs. By hiring I mean deciding if they would allow you to volunteer. The first day we were on stage was all about safety--what you were and weren't allowed to touch. If you hadn't been trained and given the ok from them, you weren't allowed to touch the flyrail except under their direct supervision. If they caught you doing something you weren't supposed to, you were off tech.


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## MNicolai (Mar 25, 2009)

DracoBengali86 said:


> In my high school, the theatre was an open part of the school. During school hours, students were passing through it constantly--there were at least three class rooms that were behind the theatre, and the only way to get to them was walk through the audience. All in all, the theatre was completely insecure.
> 
> When it was actually being used as a theatre though, we had two people who would come in and run the tech side of it. They were responsible for "hiring" the student techs. By hiring I mean deciding if they would allow you to volunteer. The first day we were on stage was all about safety--what you were and weren't allowed to touch. If you hadn't been trained and given the ok from them, you weren't allowed to touch the flyrail except under their direct supervision. If they caught you doing something you weren't supposed to, you were off tech.



Sounds like, and very well may be, what I knew as my middle school. That sounds exactly like the old auditorium across the street from the existing high school. Fortunately with the new arts Center we just built, we have a designated arts center manager, and unless a school group (with teacher) or experienced student tech is doing work in there, the house and stage are usually locked off. They even went to the extent of alarming the doors to the center so anyone entering from the school during times they shouldn't be in there, sets off a really loud alarm that's impossible to tell whether or not it's armed unless you've set it off.

In the old auditorium when students would walk through the audience, it was always fun to show up to that night's rehearsal and see what the students had screwed up or vandalized. I remember piecing back together my sound system once or twice and cleaning up paint some kid threw all over the set and border lights for giggles. The worst thing was the study halls they would hold in there. 

Now the middle school has been shut down and divided into two new intermediates which both have cafetoriums. One of the strangest rooms ever conceived, but they work well for age groups that have no grasp for respecting their performance venues. Both intermediates were upset that they wouldn't, by default, be allowed to perform all of their shows at the new theatre. Granted, these are groups that are used to two months on stage for rehearsals, [have asked that] the rehearsal hall or scene shop become their dedicated costuming area for two months, and so on and so forth. The harsh reality is that in a roadhouse, it's load a show in, maybe one rehearsal, two if you're especially lucky, and then performance(s) and "get the heck out of here." Roadhouse budgets, seasons, and overall success simply doesn't coexist well with groups like that.

Ironically, I ended up cleaning up the mess of our two people that came in and did everything. They always emphasized safety, but I truly am surprised they were never the cause of someone getting killed. This past summer when I cleaned out old equipment left in their wake, I had huge piles of orange and brown extension cords that I had to throw away. Many of the cords that were intended to have ground pins, had the ground pins removed, or exposed conductors. I remember finding this brown extension cord that had been sliced and diced with zip cord to create essentially a 60' brown extension cord of ungrounded doom, which is perfect for taking that household lamp into the middle of a football field and turning it on, but belongs no where near a stage. I also remember finding flash powder that had been sitting in a coffee can for nearly 10 years, painting chemicals that were leaking on the floor of the storage room, fixtures with lovely asbestos insulated [or] exposed conductors. If confronted, they'd turn around in a heartbeat and say "It's not included in our contract to deal with those problems" even though they had been sitting on that junk for ~28 years.

They taught me one significant thing; the only thing worse than no technical management is poor technical management. I made a stand against them on a production when they were yelling at the entire crew, accusing them that the emotional distress of one female crew member was all their fault, and they were the reason this person had quit the show. I then refuted that(as the stage manager), stating that some people just shouldn't be involved in theatre as their existing emotional conditions are only going to become worse as a direct result of their involvement, and that the crew in no form had been the cause of this girl's emotional breakdown(which we'd later find out was because of her finding out she was pregnant with her graduated, military ex-boyfriend's child). Yea, that was when they told me I was terrible person, suggested I shouldn't be on the show, and then threatened to revoke my access to their tech theatre scholarship program, which I appropriately refer to as blood money due to the number of times I've seen them hold it against people. I took a few days off from the show and came back, but they were all into politics. They couldn't go through a show without making their objections to the director's plans publicly known to the crew. 

A few weeks back I remember seeing a thread about what traits are good to technical directors, and I thought to myself that these two were the exact opposite of anyone that should ever fill those positions. Especially that part about not pitting techs against other techs. In their later days in theatre, they were simply embittered people that sucked students into their embittered black hole of inexperience and harsh attitude problems, surrounded by a cloud of maladaptive and inappropriately political tendencies. I now emphasize to all of my students that the entire premise of live theatre is constantly changing details that you need to be prepared for and willing to take head on without complaint. That last (and hopefully final) show that those two "technical directors" worked on, during strike, said that it was OK for a crew member to call a cast member an ________ for helping out incorrectly, and that the cast member probably had it coming to them. Those are not people that I ever want as role models in my school.

The only aspect of theatre they approached safely was rigging. They took rigging very seriously, but it's still OK to run 3/4 of the lighting system with orange extension cords and for one particular show use miles of orange extension cords to run stage lighting and 40 circuits of Xmas lights. We put a couple people in the hospital from time to time, be it a staple in the thumb that permanently damaged nerves, or the kid throwing lenses in the dumpster who sliced her hand so wide open we had to get a mop to clean the blood up with, or that time one of them went up on a 14' ladder to focus lights, which it was stacked on two sets of 48" risers and he stood on the absolute top "non-step," but I'll be darned, you were safe when the arbors were being reweighed. Oh man, I miss the days when they would store the asbestos-wired lights in all of their frayed goodness inside of a cold air return duct for the high school. Mustn't forget that blue polystyrene they fought with our fire marshal to use on stage. I know that stuff is relatively OK when you have five layers of paint on it and it comprises about one piece of 'furniture' or prop, but they used it like it was muslin or plywood. They made chairs out of it, walls, fireplaces; entire sets were built in blue polystyrene. You know, that same stuff that killed some 17 people in '97 in Dusseldorf Airport and harmed many more due to smoke inhalation and caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. Yea, these people _argued_ with the fire marshal about that. IF there's anything any intelligent person in tech theatre knows, it's that you _never_ argue with the fire marshal.

Also ironic, is that they're also the same people that made a stand against winches(winches were the original proposal for our new center), which is why we have a counterweight system.

Be careful what you wish for, just because there's a TD on the premise doesn't really mean they're qualified. In many schools there's a person with that as their job title, who just so happens to be someone who originally applied for their English teaching position and when posed the question responded with, "Yes, I can manage the theatre," even though they're making it up as they go along in hopes they get hired. I now never even make assumptions that my employers know what they're doing, or are using safe practices while they work. I have one TD who wraps his lighting power cables around the pipes of the electric, another who uses a single-man lift with the outriggers removed, coworkers who laugh at the prospect of using a harness while in the lift, and another employer who uses a staple gun to secure [wiring] for practicals to set pieces. Nobody's perfect, but some are signicantly more dangerous to the general public more than others. The overall point being that just because someone fills a job title, doesn't mean that fill the job description, as stagehands, it's our responsibility to not take the practices of others as assumed to being unquestionably safe, regardness of who it is or how experienced they are.


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## DracoBengali86 (Mar 26, 2009)

It is the old auditorium across the street. Unfortunately I haven't had a chance to see the new PAC, but I've heard it's amazing...at least compared to the old studyhall--I mean theatre.

I'll admit that I didn't learn too much other than generic tech (walk with purpose, etc) but I do remember rigging--I never realy paid much attention to the lights, except wanting to run the "computerized" board. I haven't run fly's for a show here at college, but I am one of the smaller group of people that will load the flys.

I agree completely with the second part of your post. The theatre here used to be run by a TD--and I use the term lightly--that was a house builder. Things were poorly designed, supported and wired, he threw out working equipment because "it wasn't needed," and he had no respect for our space (the concert hall). The theatre group once used the good black concert chairs as paint stands...we weren't too thrilled about that. But now we have a TD that actually knows what he's doing and things have been improving. They aren't perfect yet--probably never will be completely perfect--but there's a lot of students that have to have their bad habits broken, or just wait for them to graduate.

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Alex Hummel
KC9NSG


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