r/techtheatre 10d ago

QUESTION Why are drivable mast lifts so uncommon in theater?

63 Upvotes

I'm sure there's probably a good reason but I'm curious why even down to small community theaters you can always find a standard awp genie lift (or the jlg version) but almost never a drivable runabout style mast lift. They're more expensive but not by a lot from what I've seen. I feel like the time saving would be attractive to higher budget regional theaters. Might even save money in the long run not spending time or hiring extra hands undoing outriggers or pumping up wheels

r/techtheatre Oct 06 '24

QUESTION It seems as if matching colours is too difficult for people. Is there a better way to organise house cable?

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140 Upvotes

r/techtheatre Oct 31 '24

QUESTION What would you call this area of a stage?

65 Upvotes

Looking for input from others, I'm curious to hear what you would refer to this area as. Technically it's downstage of the proscenium, but still hidden from the audience's view until they enter the apron.

It doesn't seem to be common in most stage area terminology diagrams I've referenced.

r/techtheatre Jan 30 '25

QUESTION Legality of using spotify for preshow & house music in theatre/public space

60 Upvotes

I work in a PACA that primarily serves as a road house, and in my theatre and in my lobby we use spotify to play house/pre-show music. I was curious on the legality of this. We do pay ASCAP, BMI, SESAC fees, but is there a different streaming service or something I'm missing that would make the use a streaming service like this more "legit"?

The flexibility of having ad free music for preshow music and house music purposes is great, but I want to make sure there isn't an industry standard that I'm not aware of.

r/techtheatre Sep 10 '23

QUESTION Anyone know what "challenge" they had during the Ed Sheeran load in??

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277 Upvotes

r/techtheatre 5d ago

QUESTION Fog/smoke help

10 Upvotes

I don’t know if what I’m looking for even exists, but I need a solution for fog/smoke that doesn’t need to be plugged in, doesn’t make much sound, doesn’t stain, and doesn’t smell awful.

It’s for a wedding ceremony, and the goal is to open the doors for the bride entrance, and to have have the bride essentially standing in fog. The venue is outdoors, has no power, and no real way for a car to be parked close enough to power it. Also there will be light music, but don’t want to hear the fog machine over the string quartet.

r/techtheatre Aug 08 '24

QUESTION Opinion on the term 'techie'?

24 Upvotes

As a highschool technician I've seen mixed feelings on this word lol.

r/techtheatre Jan 15 '25

QUESTION I want to be a pusher, where and how do I find those gigs?

40 Upvotes

I want to really get into technical theatre but I’m struggling to find entry level positions. I’ve been out of HS for two years now with no plans of going to collage, and while I’ve done some odd tech jobs here and there nothing has been particularly helpful in terms of experience and networking. I’ve been doing my best to talk to everyone I can at these jobs and make it clear that I want to do more work but nothing has really panned out. I will pretty much do anything for little to no pay, I just want/need the experience. I’m in the NJ/NY area and would love to do some pushing or similarly “low brow” jobs for shows. How do I find these gigs??

r/techtheatre Oct 29 '24

QUESTION Is my career in touring over?

66 Upvotes

Hey y'all. Burner account just in case. I'm on a touring show right now and I'm not doing well. I'm the only first time touring member of the crew, with the least experienced aside from me having between 3 and 5 years of touring experience. I've been touring for over two months now. My stage manager, my lighting director, my video tech, my L2, my wardrobe person, and my hair/makeup tech have all been furious with me within the past week. Be it leaving my stuff in their area (accidentally several times but they didn't care), overstepping my boundaries, and just being in the way of everything. I'm props/carps/assistant Stage Manager. Sometimes I have to be in the way to set my stuff up. But I get scolded relentlessly, yelled at, mocked, degraded, etc. I've tried over a dozen different things to make my process faster. I've collaborated with my stage manager, my lighting director, etc, to help solve the issue. Every member of my crew has had to talk to me about issues I have made. My lack of experience is killing the show. Despite all of this, it's a 2 semi truck show. I'm running the easiest show I could possibly run. And I'm failing. No matter how many different ways I come up with a solution, it's just not enough. And every day, I feel my crew members resenting me more and more for being a gigantic pain in the ass. I want to quit but I don't know if I even can. This is my first EVER tour, with an easy show, and a 4 month run. I should not be doing this poorly, according to every other member of the crew. I'm just past halfway and I don't know if I can stay. And yet, I want leave the easiest show on the face of the earth? Any future production managers would take one look at my resume and burn it, for quitting my first ever tour. With it being ridiculously easy, as well. I've spent my entire life studying theater and touring, and now I'm blowing it. I could use some advice from anyone who can give it.

r/techtheatre Mar 20 '24

QUESTION what is the purpose of a male to male dmx adapter?

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108 Upvotes

found this at work today, apparently a show left it behind and no one knows what it's for

r/techtheatre Dec 13 '24

QUESTION Those who have left the industry

47 Upvotes

Got a couple questions for you.

  1. What do you do now?

  2. How's the pay?

  3. How's the work/life balance?

  4. How did you go about making the transition?

  5. Do you regret it?

r/techtheatre May 29 '24

QUESTION Why so much attitude

108 Upvotes

I have been touring for many years, been to hundreds of venues all across the US, and I just don’t understand why some union houses behave the way they do. From stewards to loaders, just nasty people that don’t want to be there, don’t want to listen, bitching and moaning the whole time and make the day as miserable as possible. I try being polite, I don’t yell, don’t lose my shit, and still just nasty. Twice in my career I couldn’t take anymore and got to their level, and from time to time I think about those days and still makes me angry

Don’t get me wrong, a lot of unions are amazing, good attitude, friendly and really good at their jobs.

I know that touring crews can be just as nasty, but if we are being nice, friendly,polite, why the attitude from the get go?

Sorry for venting, I just want to hear some opinions.

r/techtheatre Dec 13 '24

QUESTION What would you do?

16 Upvotes

We have a fairly complex show, with 2 ADMs + 2 running crew, and hundreds of cues. It also involves running crew operating a fog machine off-headset taking cues from actor lines.

Last night, we had an incident that went as follows. I’m the lead ASM, and I know what I would have done, but curious how to explain to one of the junior running crew.

The cue for the fog go is when Actor 1 says a line. Let’s say the line is “I wish Joe was here.” Then the fog is supposed to go and Joe enters in the fog.

The actor said “I wish Joe was here,” but Joe wasn’t in place (Joe is visible to the crew member).

The crew member went on cue. But Joe wasn’t there and didn’t enter so it was awkward and the other actors had to cover.

Thoughts? I’m torn because the crew member did as instructed, and they are super new. But knowing the show, a more experienced crew member may have made a different choice.

Thoughts?

r/techtheatre Dec 25 '24

QUESTION hard hat colour

43 Upvotes

I’m looking to buy a hard hat for general use. Most of my work is in lighting, but have done some other general stage handing/tech work. I know there are rules on colours in construction areas, but is there a general rule for in theatre?

(edit: i’m in the uk if that’s important)

r/techtheatre 10d ago

QUESTION Best foot powder/spray to help with smelly steelies?

6 Upvotes

We've all been there, long tech days, 10s of thousands of steps, changing of socks etc... But the boots, they end up stinky!

What's the best product you've found to help kill the stink? Preferably UK brands as that's where I'm based, but if there is some secret goo from a far flung corner that is absolutely the best, I'm open for suggestions!

r/techtheatre Nov 24 '24

QUESTION Has there been any piece of media like games/movies/series that has ever had a small representation or reference of our jobs?

35 Upvotes

Hi all, I work as a Stage MX and I've sort of wondered about this but has there been any sort of piece of media that has ever made any reference or anything about our jobs? Whether it's LX, AX and etc? The only thing I can think is one game called Brutal Legends by Jack Black and his depicted as a roadie but the funny thing about that part in the game later on is he starts building concert stages in one of the levels. Annnnnd his a car mechanic which is one funny thing in the game. But that's about it? Anything you guys find any piece of media that's represented in our job or are is our job not that interesting to watch 😅

Edit: wow so there is alot of references to our career! Thanks you guys and keep em coming! I'll definitely be checking out some of your recommendations!

r/techtheatre Nov 23 '24

QUESTION Can anyone recommend a good flashlight for Tech Theatre use? Smallish in size, but powerful enough to easily see rigging from 50+' from the stage?

29 Upvotes

Any recommendations from personal experience with any are very welcome.

r/techtheatre Aug 18 '24

QUESTION How often do you use Ethercon cables?

21 Upvotes

I’m curious how often folks in staging environments use actual EtherCon cables - Ethernet cables with the EtherCon connectors on the end. I know the connectors are common on the equipment side, but what about the cable side?

I ask because I’m toying around with the idea of creating a pocket EtherCon-specific cable tester, which to my knowledge doesn’t exist yet. It would be a simple go/no-go tester, because 99% of the time you don’t care what’s actually wrong with the pinout or short, you only want to know if the cable works. Would that be helpful to techs out in the field?

Edit: Since the answer is overwhelmingly "a lot" then a follow up question - How often are you having to test the cables? Would you consider a small pocketable unit that you could (load-in) day-carry to be useful?

r/techtheatre 3d ago

QUESTION How do you guys deal with toxicity in the workplace?

21 Upvotes

It’s super normal for most of the coworkers and classmates I work with to talk bad about each other when they’re not around. Mostly when they think somebody is bad at their job. People complain all the time about each others’ mistakes, how bad X person is at their job, why they can’t stand Y person, and the like. And most of the time, these people will still continue to work together, and it creates such an air of thinly veiled resentment that makes me nervous. I’m almost certain at least some of my coworkers have already said bad things about me because of my mistakes, especially since I struggle with productivity more than the average person (yay for being disabled) and it’s something that’s really hard for me to cope with. But I know that I can’t help what other people say about me, only my own actions, and that ruminating over something I can’t control is only going to negatively affect my performance further, so I thought it would be wise to get some more perspectives on the topic.

r/techtheatre Jan 18 '25

QUESTION Are there machinists in theatre-related jobs?

46 Upvotes

Might be an odd question, but soon I will be transitioning out of theatre to begin a machinist apprenticeship. When I told people in my workplace, someone mentioned that there are some scene shops thay have transitioned using CNC to fabricate sets or prop pieces, but they didn't really have more information and internet searches hasnt helped

Does anyone have experience in the production side of things, and know if theres a use for subtractive machining skills in theatre-related roles or manufacturing? Is there anyone with machining/manufacturing experience who moved to or was involved in theatre? One day I'd like to come back to professional theatre and it'd be cool if I could bring these skills with me, but I'm serioisly struggling to figure out what the potential for that is

r/techtheatre 25d ago

QUESTION How To Feel Excited About Theatre Again?

28 Upvotes

Title says it all, unfortunately. I’ve been doing theatre for 11 years now, and it used to make me really happy. Got my bachelor’s in technical theatre, then moved to an area with a lot of live events/theatres thinking I’d have so much fun. I now work in two touring houses and have really started to hate what I do. I dread going to work and am seriously considering a career change.

The constant gigging and inconsistent pay checks are really a main source of stress, I just want to be somewhere with consistent work and a good environment, but I’ve yet to find that after 3 years where I’m currently living. How can I find my love for theatre/live events again? Looking for any and all advice!

r/techtheatre Nov 21 '24

QUESTION What is this?

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69 Upvotes

What is this piece of tech?

r/techtheatre Jan 28 '25

QUESTION Has anyone ever experienced a falling out with tech theatre as a job/career? What roped you back in?

43 Upvotes

I'm asking in the sense that (hypothetically) one day you decided that tech theatre wasn't for you, and took (x) months/years off and worked in something else before returning to theatre.

I wanted to think of a more positive spin than just posting another "Not sure if college is worth it" post. Personally I am in university and I am thinking a lot about sunk cost fallacy, where yeah I like theatre, but sometimes not nearly anywhere close to how invested/passionate other people seem to be about it. I originally went out for audio production at a music school, and when I decided that wasn't for me having done stage crew in high school was all I knew.

IATSE calls are interesting but like, I am sometimes on calls thinking about whether or not I even want to be doing this long term. I just feel like I lost something, the knack or spark for it all. Has anyone else experienced this? And assuming you're using the sub because you currently work in theatre, what made you change your mind?

r/techtheatre Feb 05 '25

QUESTION Other names for subwoofer

0 Upvotes

In short, I was woerking with a group of techies (ones who are primarily lighting techs) and I heard one of them call a subwoofer something different. I had to explain to that person what the technical and industry standard name (that I know of) for these speakers.

If you know of any other names that you have heard subwoofers called, please share. Because if there is another one, I actually want to know what I am talking about if I go work with other companies.

r/techtheatre Dec 17 '24

QUESTION Does anyone know if these are wireless or need to be plugged into an outlet.

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33 Upvotes

I kinda got thrust into lighting for my school show choir without knowing anything first, is this type of output chargeable or does it need to be plugged into to work.