Return-Path: X-Real-To: stagecraftlist [at] theatrical.net Received: by prxy.net (CommuniGate Pro PIPE 4.2.10) with PIPE id 41858052; Wed, 31 Jan 2007 03:02:52 -0800 X-List-Processed: mail.prxy.net X-ListMember: stagecraftlist [at] theatrical.net Received: by prxy.net (CommuniGate Pro PIPE 4.2.10) with PIPE id 41858050; Wed, 31 Jan 2007 03:02:51 -0800 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.1.7 (2006-10-05) on localhost X-Spam-Status: No, score=0.2 required=5.0 tests=AWL,NO_RECEIVED,NO_RELAYS, PRXY_USER_BODY_AMBIEN,PRXY_USER_BODY_CIALIS,SUBJ_HAS_UNIQ_ID autolearn=no version=3.1.7 X-Spam-Level: X-ListServer: CommuniGate Pro LIST 4.2.10 List-Unsubscribe: List-ID: List-Archive: Message-ID: From: "Stagecraft" Sender: "Stagecraft" To: "Stagecraft" Precedence: list Subject: Stagecraft Digest #1122 Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2007 03:01:08 -0800 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1" Content-Disposition: inline X-TFF-CGPSA-Version: 1.4 X-prxy-Spam-Filter: Scanned For info, archives & UNSUBSCRIBE, see --------------------------------------------------- Stagecraft Digest, Issue #1122 1. Re: USITT List Get Together? by "Don Taco" 2. High School curriculum by "Eric Rouse" 3. Re: Acceptable truss deflection? by "RD" 4. Re: High School curriculum by "RD" 5. Re: High School curriculum by "Tim Catlett" 6. Re: High School curriculum by "Tim Catlett" 7. Re: Swag at USITT by Noah Price 8. Re: Grain of wheat lamps Redux by Ford Sellers 9. Re: High School curriculum by Risa Strobel 10. Re: Fire Doors .... by "Sam Fisher" 11. Re: Fire Doors .... by MissWisc [at] aol.com 12. Re: Fire Doors .... by "Bill Nelson" 13. Re: Laser Saw Blade Device by RHolen [at] vinu.edu 14. Patchbays (was Re: Movies & PA) by "Andy Leviss" 15. Re: Laser Saw Blade Device by Kyler Glaze 16. Re: High School curriculum (long) by MissWisc [at] aol.com 17. Re: Mike Brubakers pix of Indy by Philip Johnson 18. Re: reparing Altman ground cyc by "Michael Powers" 19. Re: High School curriculum by Kh97925 [at] aol.com 20. Re: Student Introductions and other stuff by June Abernathy 21. Re: All the Montclair students by "Bill Nelson" 22. self-supporting door by "Eric Donaldson" *** Please update the subject line of your reply to use the subject *** line of the message you are replying to! Please only reply to *** one message subject in each reply. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message-ID: <02f701c744eb$2926cb00$e28aaa43 [at] DonTaco> From: "Don Taco" References: Subject: Re: USITT List Get Together? Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2007 19:51:58 -0800 > Oh, it's easy! You just find a place with a sealed concrete floor and > romove all the breakables, fill it with decent cold beer (No Bud, No MGD) > great coffee (No Starbucks) good scotch (preferably old enough to vote), > and some dry, stale chips and bad dip, and VIOLA! Stagecraft party! > Chris "Chris" Babbie Why's the viola so important? I would have thought only a smattering of us played it. Now, the scotch, that makes good sense, I think even the contrariest of us agree on that. ------------------------------ Message-ID: <41f080680701301954y32737e9ch682b7404aa5a3e6 [at] mail.gmail.com> Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2007 22:54:59 -0500 From: "Eric Rouse" Subject: High School curriculum I have two questions: 1. Being in my 2nd year here I am getting heavy into recruiting for our BFA TD program. One of the main issues I seem to have is that few high school students realize that Technical Direction is even an option of a career path. In fact, I was speaking to a senior BFA TD student today and he told me the same thing. He came to school wanting to do something in technical theatre, and didn't know that being a TD was an option. Does anyone know why this is? Can anything be done to help raise awareness? 2. Are there specific technical theatre classes taught in public high schools in the US? If so, what kind of classes are they? Or do they get most of their knowledge from working on their productions? I grew up in Puerto Rico, so I have absolutely no idea. -- Eric Rouse TD-Penn State University State College, PA ------------------------------ Reply-To: From: "RD" References:

Subject: RE: Acceptable truss deflection? Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2007 20:56:42 -0700 Message-ID: <000a01c744eb$d27fe970$6501a8c0 [at] doom1> In-Reply-To: In my Risk Management rigging classes we have had four different truss corporations, two of the European. I have found them very helpful in offering this type of information. Dr. doom -----Original Message----- From: Stagecraft [mailto:stagecraft [at] theatrical.net] On Behalf Of Michael Heinicke Sent: Tuesday, January 30, 2007 8:43 PM To: Stagecraft Subject: Re: Acceptable truss deflection? For info, archives & UNSUBSCRIBE, see --------------------------------------------------- --- Delbert Hall wrote: > I would tink that the manufacturer of your truss > would have this info > on their web site. I wish it were that easy! The manufacturer web site consists of one page with contact information and a couple of photos. Unfortunately the truss was purchased before I was hired into my position, or else I would have pushed to spend the extra money for a name brand so we would have that easily available information and a track record. But I have to deal with what I have. I will be contacting the company tomorrow, but I'm not holding my breath for much useful information, thus my plea for help. Mike Heinicke ------------------------------ Reply-To: From: "RD" References: Subject: RE: High School curriculum Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2007 21:01:17 -0700 Message-ID: <001101c744ec$7a57bf10$6501a8c0 [at] doom1> In-Reply-To: Yes, yes, yes. And yes. Indeed. There are many technical classes taught in the public schools ...some of them extraordinary, some of them ....no so. If we look at all of the public schools, i.e. tens of thousands of them, we find theater in many junior high and senior high schools, but that does not mean that the curriculum for technical theater is great. I used to have ten classes in theater when I taught in both public and private schools ....and the technical was a bear, but to day there are some, and I mean some, not many, good technical people teaching, like Tim Cattlett. I have been in many schools, because of my risk inspections and assessments, and there is a giant need for much better instruction, i.e. the reason for my book. Just my opinion, after 64 years in this industry. Doom -----Original Message----- From: Stagecraft [mailto:stagecraft [at] theatrical.net] On Behalf Of Eric Rouse Sent: Tuesday, January 30, 2007 8:55 PM To: Stagecraft Subject: High School curriculum For info, archives & UNSUBSCRIBE, see --------------------------------------------------- I have two questions: 1. Being in my 2nd year here I am getting heavy into recruiting for our BFA TD program. One of the main issues I seem to have is that few high school students realize that Technical Direction is even an option of a career path. In fact, I was speaking to a senior BFA TD student today and he told me the same thing. He came to school wanting to do something in technical theatre, and didn't know that being a TD was an option. Does anyone know why this is? Can anything be done to help raise awareness? 2. Are there specific technical theatre classes taught in public high schools in the US? If so, what kind of classes are they? Or do they get most of their knowledge from working on their productions? I grew up in Puerto Rico, so I have absolutely no idea. -- Eric Rouse TD-Penn State University State College, PA ------------------------------ Message-ID: Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2007 22:13:19 -0600 From: "Tim Catlett" Subject: Re: High School curriculum In-Reply-To: References: Hi Eric, I think that there is a plenitude of reasons for this but I can offer a couple that might have relevance. The first is that there are only eight states in the US that actually certify teachers to teach theatre curriculum. All of the other states do not require certification because theatre is considered to be extra-curricular. In those states, it is quite often that I find people who have no formal training in theatre and who have been conscripted into the job. What this means is that the students only know what they have been taught and sometimes they have not been taught anything other than a version of the "production process." I do not in any way mean to denigrate the people who are doing this work but there are so many problems with this particular situation that it could start a whole other 100 response conversation in this forum. A possible second reason, very related to the first, is that many theatre classes are not technical in nature. A "Technical Theatre" or "Stagecraft" class at the secondary level is a very rare beast indeed. Part of this is due to the fact that there is very little funding for such a thing. It is hard for many districts to devote the resources of a teacher to 12-18 students in a class that is widely considered to be unimportant from a curricular standpoint. Again, 100 responses would be very easy to garner on this topic and I would be able to write pages about why this situation is a terrible one for so many reasons. Like I said, many reasons certainly exist but at first blush, the two above have my vote as primary. As far as raising awareness, I think that the only way that this can be assured is to change the way education legislation is created and implemented so that the students can be assured of a proper theatre education, even at the secondary level. I wish that the program that I work for were typical but sadly, I work in a secondary theatre fantasy land. I'll tell you and others about it if you are interested but at this point I guess my situation isn't as relevant to the topic at hand. Good luck and thanks for your concern for our students and their success. -- Tim Catlett Asst. Technical Director - Shorewood High School Drama Technical Director - Milwaukee Shakespeare Director of Outreach/Membership - ISETSA (International Secondary Education Theatre Health & Safety Association) Cell: 414.975.4424 EMAIL: catlett.lizardsdream [at] gmail.com On 1/30/07, Eric Rouse wrote: > For info, archives & UNSUBSCRIBE, see > --------------------------------------------------- > > I have two questions: > > 1. Being in my 2nd year here I am getting heavy into recruiting for > our BFA TD program. One of the main issues I seem to have is that few > high school students realize that Technical Direction is even an > option of a career path. In fact, I was speaking to a senior BFA TD > student today and he told me the same thing. He came to school > wanting to do something in technical theatre, and didn't know that > being a TD was an option. > > Does anyone know why this is? Can anything be done to help raise awareness? > > 2. Are there specific technical theatre classes taught in public high > schools in the US? If so, what kind of classes are they? Or do they > get most of their knowledge from working on their productions? I grew > up in Puerto Rico, so I have absolutely no idea. > > -- > Eric Rouse > TD-Penn State University > State College, PA > ------------------------------ Message-ID: Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2007 22:15:16 -0600 From: "Tim Catlett" Cc: doomster [at] worldnet.att.net Subject: Re: High School curriculum In-Reply-To: References:

Thanks for the mention Doom. I try my best to teach and work with my and many other students in the best, most productive way possible. It's nice that people notice. -- Tim Catlett Asst. Technical Director - Shorewood High School Drama Technical Director - Milwaukee Shakespeare Director of Outreach/Membership - ISETSA (International Secondary Education Theatre Health & Safety Association) Cell: 414.975.4424 EMAIL: catlett.lizardsdream [at] gmail.com On 1/30/07, RD wrote: > For info, archives & UNSUBSCRIBE, see > --------------------------------------------------- > > Yes, yes, yes. And yes. Indeed. > There are many technical classes taught in the public schools ...some of > them extraordinary, some of them ....no so. If we look at all of the public > schools, i.e. tens of thousands of them, we find theater in many junior high > and senior high schools, but that does not mean that the curriculum for > technical theater is great. I used to have ten classes in theater when I > taught in both public and private schools ....and the technical was a bear, > but to day there are some, and I mean some, not many, good technical people > teaching, like Tim Cattlett. I have been in many schools, because of my risk > inspections and assessments, and there is a giant need for much better > instruction, i.e. the reason for my book. > Just my opinion, after 64 years in this industry. Doom > ------------------------------ In-Reply-To: References: Message-Id: <5EBFB963-A757-4C40-AF91-BD08C243A87B [at] theprices.net> From: Noah Price Subject: Re: Swag at USITT Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2007 20:17:08 -0800 On Jan 30, 2007, at 10:48 AM, Steve Shelley wrote: > Noah, will you be at USITT? Nope, not able to get away for multiple days with the baby, and I have a show in tech that week anyway. Noah ------------------------------ Message-Id: <6.2.5.6.2.20070130231936.0318c3e0 [at] cornell.edu> Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2007 23:20:17 -0500 From: Ford Sellers Subject: Re: Grain of wheat lamps Redux In-Reply-To: References:

So that's a hundred and ninety bucks a case, right? At 09:11 PM 1/30/2007, you wrote: >For info, archives & UNSUBSCRIBE, see >--------------------------------------------------- > >I just stumbled across strings of LED lites like xmas lites. But I didn't >check for the teeney tiny. Here's a site with "LED C6 mini lights"? > >http://www.residential-landscape-lighting-design.com/store/PPF/parameters/16 >543_0/more_info.asp > >Donno more. I got prices, then the project went belly up. > >shelley > > >On 1/30/07 9:01 PM, "Herrick Goldman" wrote: > > > For info, archives & UNSUBSCRIBE, see > > --------------------------------------------------- > > > > That's what I feared. Thanks. > > > > > > On 1/30/07 5:00 PM, "Stephen Rees" wrote: > > > >> For info, archives & UNSUBSCRIBE, see > >> --------------------------------------------------- > >> > >> H, > >> In my hunt - long ago, I only came up with individual lamps, not > ready-made > >> strings. > >> Steve R. > >> > >> > >> On 1/30/07 2:52 PM, "Herrick Goldman" > wrote: > >> > >>> For info, archives & UNSUBSCRIBE, see > >>> --------------------------------------------------- > >>> > >>> Hey I recall a "grain of Wheat" lamp thread. > >>> > >>> Did anyone ever find a Web or string of these babies? > >>> > >>> No I don't have the time to make one myself. :) > >>> > >>> -H > >>> > >>> > >> > >> > >-- >Steve Shelley >SoftSymbols Designer >MrTemplate [at] Earthlink.net >www.fieldtemplate.com ************************ Ford H Sellers Master Electrician Cornell University Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts 430 College Avenue Ithaca NY, 14850 (607) 254-2736 office (607) 254-2733 fax ------------------------------ In-Reply-To: References: Message-Id: <66ecbd6520cf74f3139be08993dee813 [at] mac.com> From: Risa Strobel Subject: Re: High School curriculum Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2007 20:25:49 -0800 A friend of mine took 2 years of ROP Stagecraft, at Monte Vista High School in Cupertino, CA. He seemed pretty excited and happy with the class, although we never discussed it in detail. I graduated high school from a small high school in a town of 15,000. We had a generic "Drama" class, with those of us interested in the technical side of things just kind of figuring it out on our own. I am shocked and amazed that we didn't destroy the theater or ourselves; we really had no supervision. Then there are things like the Illinois State High School Theater Festival or LA County High School for the Arts, where students can get a much more interested and knowledgeable teacher. I suppose it all depends on what the teacher knows and what the school feels like offering. Here in CA, the budget for the arts has been drastically reduced over the past few years, to the point where I feel lucky that I got the drama classes that I got. I have no idea what we can do to raise awareness. Offer to come in and talk to the students for a day? Offer interested students a way to get industry experience if we have that ability? I've worked with an extremely talented 18 year old recently. He started working at the local high school when he was 12, and began working for the theater company I was working for several years later, as part of a work experience program. He is now employed by that theater company, and a valuable asset to them. I guess at this point I am just rambling, so I'll sign off. Risa PS: Many colleges don't really teach technical skills, either. The place I went to college emphasized design almost to the entire exclusion of technical skills. Students were expected to just pick skills up working on productions (often with minimal supervision). On Jan 30, 2007, at 7:54 PM, Eric Rouse wrote: > For info, archives & UNSUBSCRIBE, see > > --------------------------------------------------- > > I have two questions: > > 1. Being in my 2nd year here I am getting heavy into recruiting for > our BFA TD program. One of the main issues I seem to have is that few > high school students realize that Technical Direction is even an > option of a career path. In fact, I was speaking to a senior BFA TD > student today and he told me the same thing. He came to school > wanting to do something in technical theatre, and didn't know that > being a TD was an option. > > Does anyone know why this is? Can anything be done to help raise > awareness? > > 2. Are there specific technical theatre classes taught in public high > schools in the US? If so, what kind of classes are they? Or do they > get most of their knowledge from working on their productions? I grew > up in Puerto Rico, so I have absolutely no idea. > > -- > Eric Rouse > TD-Penn State University > State College, PA > ------------------------------ From: "Sam Fisher" References:

Subject: RE: Fire Doors .... Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2007 23:32:54 -0500 Organization: Fisher Theatrical Message-ID: <002e01c744f0$e09fb030$0300a8c0 [at] ftoffice.local> In-Reply-To: When I was running a venue, I once had the local government's office on aging set sealed tents up (industrial heaters and all) against the main exit doors of the auditorium. I've never seen anyone so pissed, I had the fire marshal come and make them take it down and no one was allowed to sit in the theatre until the removal was complete. Sam Fisher -----Original Message----- From: Stagecraft [mailto:stagecraft [at] theatrical.net] On Behalf Of Catherine Brumm Sent: Tuesday, January 30, 2007 9:46 PM To: Stagecraft Subject: Fire Doors .... For info, archives & UNSUBSCRIBE, see --------------------------------------------------- I walk through the facility I manage every night during a run and take the tape off the upstage doors, from the stage into small hallways then into a back hall where the dressing room area is and remind people they can not tape the doors open. Everyone says but the doors are so loud and I say it is more important for the fire not to follow them so learn to close the doors quietly. It is not that hard hold the handle down till the door is closed then release. These are also the students who tend to get stumped opening the doors...handle all the way down then pull. Hey from time to time the director of the musical for one of the high schools that uses the space regularly puts towels over the doors so they don't shut at all, but she isn't taping the latch open...yeah I rip off the towels. These are not technically fire exits I have learned from the fire marshal, I mean they open into the stage, but our school system also has these "safety" inspectors and based on the fire plan for the building these doors are exits, so if the doors were unable to close properly I would still get in trouble and the inspectors can show up at anytime. The student who usher regularly are very well versed at closing the house doors so they do not bang, our fire doors are on the theater side of vestibules from the lobby...I didn't design it I just work here. High school students in general want to be in honor societies or service societies more chords at graduation, when they come to usher the occasional ceremony or event and wonder why the doors don't stay open on their own and why they can't be taped or whatever to keep them quiet. I tell them it is because we would only be able to give half as many students the opportunity to gain service hours if we didn't need them to hold the doors open and close them quietly...that always gets a rather perplexed look, but they seem satisfied. What really irks me are the people, usually renters of the space from the community, who think they are above the rules and they tie the main doors open to the hooks for the fire extinguishers mounted inside the vestibules and leave the fire extinguishers sitting in the corner. Ahhh the fun of working for the public school system. ------------------------------ From: MissWisc [at] aol.com Message-ID: Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2007 23:47:07 EST Subject: Re: Fire Doors .... ckybrumm [at] msn.com writes: << What really irks me are the people, usually renters of the space from the community, who think they are above the rules and they tie the main doors open to the hooks for the fire extinguishers mounted inside the vestibules and leave the fire extinguishers sitting in the corner. Ahhh the fun of working for the public school system. >> It's not just public schools... Recently did a show at our PAC where the pit was in a mid-way position - not at audience level and not at actual orchestra pit level - hence there were railings around all of it except where the step unit was. The musicians gave me a bunch of flack when we were setting up and I told them there needed to be a 3' wide egress along the side. Then I pointed out that it didn't matter to me (I would be up in the spot booth and can get out of the building in about 20 seconds), but if there were a fire THEY would need an unobstructed way to get to the step unit that led to the pit exit so they could get down the hall to the stairs that led to the stage door to get outside and that might take a little longer if they have to trip over each other and their valuable instruments. During one of the dress rehearsals, the fire alarm tripped. The pianist and one of the woodwind players found me outside and thanked me profusely for requiring they set up with a clear path to exit. Kristi ------------------------------ Message-ID: <1050.205.215.253.50.1170219661.squirrel [at] webmail.peak.org> In-Reply-To: References:

Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2007 21:01:01 -0800 (PST) Subject: Re: Fire Doors .... From: "Bill Nelson" > What really irks me are the people, usually renters of the space from the > community, who think they are above the rules and they tie the main doors > open to the hooks for the fire extinguishers mounted inside the vestibules > and leave the fire extinguishers sitting in the corner. That is the first time I have heard about fire extinguishers in a vestibule. Would it be possible to move the hooks, or change the height, so they don't work as convenient anchor points? Bill ------------------------------ From: RHolen [at] vinu.edu Subject: Re: Laser Saw Blade Device Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2007 23:26:01 -0600 Message-ID: I hought I saw a laser device that attaches to the side of a circular saw blade so that when is rotates it puts out a laser line on the wood you are cutting. Has anyone used this device? How does it work? Rick Holen Vincennes University Somewhere is Southern Indiana In the new Red Skelton Theatre ------------------------------ Message-ID: <4427.69.203.216.247.1170221993.squirrel [at] webmail.ducksechosound.com> In-Reply-To: References: Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2007 00:39:53 -0500 (EST) Subject: Patchbays (was Re: Movies & PA) From: "Andy Leviss" > Subject: Re: Movies & PA In response to my post about loathing 1/4 patchbays for live use, CB wrote: > I think we may be coming to a difference in terminology, here. The term > 'pathchbay' is being used for both the panel on the upstage wall of the > pro > where mics and amps get plugged; as well the input/output - > normaled/half-normaled, etc. routing patchfield in the booth. No, I indeed know exactly what we were talking about, and I did not mean patch panels at the stage, I meant patch bays in the booth. Here, don't take my word for it, I'll pass on some selections from a recent discussion (one of many over the last couple years from the Theatre-Sound Mailing List): Here's one user who replaced a problematic 1/4" bay with XLR, and his reasons why: http://tinyurl.com/ytz8ae Here's John Bracewell, the man who quite literally wrote the book on Sound Design in the Theatre: http://tinyurl.com/295ybk Here's Richard Ingraham, a very knowlegeable sound designer who I believe is now on staff at Stage Research: http://tinyurl.com/ywe2m9 Finally, here's Jim van Bergen, tv broadcast engineer (WWF, MTV, Times Square New Years Eve telecast, etc) and Broadway/off-Broadway designer (True West, Blue Man Group Chicago, etc.): http://tinyurl.com/ytpnmc If you do some digging in the archives over there, you'll find lots more, too, but those are the highlights of the most recent relevant discussion there. --Andy, who really does mean that he does not like 1/4 or Bantam or whatever other than XLR bays in a theatre, anywhere ------------------------------ Message-ID: <45C03124.3040603 [at] kylerglaze.com> Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2007 00:03:16 -0600 From: Kyler Glaze Subject: Re: Laser Saw Blade Device References: In-Reply-To: It's basically a laser pointer mounted on the saw that is modified to project a line instead of a dot. The laser is supposed to show where the saw will cut, but depending on the thickness of the wood and the angle of the saw (if you're using a compound miter saw) you'll have to adjust the laser with each cut. IMO they're worthless and will cost you a lot of time and frustration; not to mention they're only really accurate to about 1/8" (3.175mm for those across the pond) if you've got them dialed in perfectly. The only use I've found for a laser alignment device that was worth anything was on a drill press. If you've got a lot of holes to drill on one piece of wood (or several that have the same thickness), it makes lining up the holes a lot faster. RHolen [at] vinu.edu wrote: > I hought I saw a laser device that attaches to the side of a circular saw > blade so that when is rotates it puts out a laser line on the wood you are > cutting. Has anyone used this device? How does it work? > -- Kyler Glaze kyler [at] kylerglaze.com Treasurer/Webmaster USITT [at] UTA http://www.usittuta.org/ Webmaster UTA Dept. of Theatre Arts http://www.uta.edu/theatre/ ------------------------------ From: MissWisc [at] aol.com Message-ID: Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2007 01:05:43 EST Subject: Re: High School curriculum (long) For the most part, theater classes in USA high schools are taught by either someone certified in English or Choral Music, not Theatre. Wisconsin has over 425 school districts - each with at least one high school - and I can name maybe 5 people who teach technical theatre competently out of all of them. (Tim Catlett included.) and perhaps a dozen others who are "theatre" teachers rather than "English" teachers. In most cases, the English teacher has called it a "dramatic literature" class (which doesn't need theater certification to be taught!) or directs plays as an extra curricular activity and does the minimum tech things needed to make the show work. In many cases, the choral director does a musical as part of the chorus curriculum. Again - not certified to teach tech theatre. One of my dear friends from college was in that situation and one of his students fell down an open trap. Doom was part of that case. NOT what anyone wants. I know of one person who teaches HS tech theatre and works with the IA as a permit worker. I know of one other IA member who is hired by an Arts Magnet school as an "artist in residence" to manage the auditorium and teach a couple of stagecraft classes, but she's not a certified teacher. I also know of one situation where the auditorium manager has an MFA in tech theatre, but isn't allowed to "teach" the classes. Basically, Eric, it's hit or miss with far more misses than hits. Yet another reason Doom's book was written. _http://www.theaterhealthandsafetybook.com/TSB/About/Welcome.cfm_ (http://www.theaterhealthandsafetybook.com/TSB/About/Welcome.cfm) I'd suggest you contact your campus English, Music, and Education departments and look for people there to add to your program. Also contact high schools with good theatre programs/ good facilities and offer to speak at career day or give a presentation on careers in theatre. Kristi ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2007 00:26:17 -0600 Subject: Re: Mike Brubakers pix of Indy From: Philip Johnson Message-ID: In-Reply-To: Mike If you drive south about an hour you will get to some of them thar hills you were accustomed to. Growing up in southern Indiana, I can attest to hills, curvy roads and spectacular fall folliage. Most Hoosiers from the region or northern half barely realize the dramatic change in topography that occurs as you head south. I miss the hills sometimes living in south Texas, but I don't miss the winters. We'll be watchin the superbowl in our short and t shirts. Go Colts (I remember when we called them the dolts) On 1/30/07 12:54 PM, "Michael Brubaker" wrote: > Frank, allow me to dream that Indiana isn't as flat as it is. I spent 18 > years in hillier (is that a word?) terrain before moving here. -- Philip Johnson Professor of Theatre Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi ------------------------------ Message-ID: <58f67b0f0701302249v17e12d96i2e3b1b38724c2b16 [at] mail.gmail.com> Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2007 00:49:05 -0600 From: "Michael Powers" Subject: Re: reparing Altman ground cyc Ian Schmidt writes: <<.............I would use a wire nut and then the fiberglass e-tape around that since it's a high heat area.............>> Nix on the wire nut unless it is one of the solid porcelain types. McMaster lists high temp wire nuts for 302F temps and the porcelain for higher. Regular wire nuts are rarely rated for temps over 190F. Temps inside striplights and cyc lights can exceed *451F* in some locations depending on the particular unit in questions. It would seem from the damage description the conductor in question has found one of those locations. " Ultra-high temperature connectors are made of porcelain so they can withstand temperatures up to 1200=B0 F. " ....quote from the McMaster web catalog. "High-Temperature Butt Splices. If your environment is too hot for your butt splice, these crimp-on, non insulated splices are for you. Designed for stranded copper wire and ready for temperatures up to 900=B0 F..........." Again a quote from the catalog. IMHO This would be the way I would go. Crimp-butt splice and then the fibre glass tape. Michael Michael Powers Director of Operations Central Lighting & Equipment 1720 Fuller Rd. Suite 150 West Des Moines Iowa 50265 515-277-4190 877-977-4190 Fax 515-277-2295 515-557-0178 cell michael [at] clelights.com ------------------------------ From: Kh97925 [at] aol.com Message-ID: Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2007 01:49:03 EST Subject: Re: High School curriculum Many counties & school districts have a magnet school for the performing arts, and many of them have technical theatre programs of some sort. If you Google 'performing arts magnet' you'll find a bunch of them. My daughter went to one of those schools here in Georgia (North Springs) and is now at North Carolina School of the Arts in the school of design & production as a lighting design major. We were fortunate that tech theatre was offered as part of the curriculum, they ran a block schedule so there were only 4 classes a day of 1-1/2 hrs each, & they hired a professional TD as the instructor who had worked some of the Cirque shows & the Utah Shakespeare Festival. He is also the co-artistic director of a black box theatre company here. Graduating seniors this year have been accepted in the sound design program at Cal Arts and into the costume design program at NCSA. Part of the difficulty in offering a tech theatre class is funding (no surprise there). Woodworking tools, decent or at least mediocre lighting & sound facilities, and building materials are competing for funding with the sports programs, the band, and just about everyone else. ( The North Springs TD has had to padlock the tool cabinets so the school maintenance people won't use his tools because they're better than what the maintenance staff has!) Another is understanding what tech theatre is. Even at North Springs the principal turns a few shades of white at the idea of students using power tools, dealing with electricity, and operating a scissor lift. a 3rd facet of the problem is fear of liability. Most High school students are under 18 so there are a lot of things they can't do in many states, like operating a lift, or even climbing more than a 6' stepladder. If you want to find a large group of high schools with good tech programs, look at SETC (The Southeastern Theatre Conference, _www.setc.org_ (http://www.setc.org) ) They have a secondary school division that is made up of the 10 state organizations: Alabama Conference of Theatre and Speech. Florida Theatre Conference Georgia Theatre Conference Kentucky Theatre Association Mississippi Theatre Association North Carolina Theatre Conference South Carolina Theatre Association Tennessee Theatre Association Virginia Theatre Association West Virginia Theatre Association Each state organization has an annual 1 act play competition, and the best from each state goes to the regional competition. (It will be in Atlanta this year, March 7-11). There's also the American High School Theatre Festival held every summer in Edinburgh in conjunction with the Fringe Festival. The schools that attend that are pretty serious about theatre because it takes a lot of time, logistics, and money to develop a show that can be taken overseas to perform. They're at: _http://www.ahstf.com/pages/index.asp_ (http://www.ahstf.com/pages/index.asp) ------------------------------ Message-ID: <20070131075308.63781.qmail [at] web34501.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2007 23:53:05 -0800 (PST) From: June Abernathy Subject: Re: Student Introductions and other stuff Man, of all times to move the show. I get back to the list and have to spend three days breezing through all kabillion messages to catch up. One thing I'm curious about - We're all happy that classloads at a time of kids are being forcefully added to the list, and Noah is sending Stagecraft info cards/buttons/stickers somethings to the various conferences - are we recruiting? Hard up for members? Looking to expand? Because some of the other messages I got were about how Yahoo, AOL, and some other ISPs were treating the list as SPAM because there were so darn many recipients, and how truly big it really is. I'm not saying I don't welcome new input. But too many folks can gum up a discussion as well as too few. I wouldn't mind hearing some different voices and opinions now and again. OTOH, I often feel like I'm in the small minority compared to the educators (and apparently, students) on the list, and that proportion doesn't seem likely to change. Maybe we should expend more energy on convincing what is obviously an army of current lurkers to post some more, rather than sending out recruiting drives for more members. Also, common nettiquette usually asks for new list members to lurk for a certain period before posting, to get a feel for the list and it's regulars before jumping in the pool. I understand that the Montclair kids didn't get a choice, as their postings were required, but I'm in agreement with the folks that thought a heads up from the instructor beforehand would have been nice. I'm pleased that the "How OLD are you people?" rudeness turned into a primer on machine language. *That's* the spirit of this list! Female stagehands can't also be ladies? I beg your pardon. Rude assumption. Besides being untrue, it implies the idea that ladies can't or shouldn't be stagehands, which enters into very bad territory, in my book. And I understand the distinction between women and ladies. There are certainly a good proportion of female stagehands who would not, by anyone's definitions (including their own), be considered ladies. As there are a good proportion of male stagehands who would not, by at least MY definition, be considered gentlemen. But being a stagehand is not, in and of itself, unladylike. It may, however, require that you revise your personal definition of what is ladylike. Consultants/Architects/Owners - Oy! Has anyone ever been in a theater that really did it right? That came out without glaring errors or omissions or budget non-solutions? My take on it is that the money - the major donors/the owners/the administrators and so forth like what they can see and are familiar with. So, the FOH gets great carpet and snazzy water fountains. But the stuff they can't see or understand or care about gets short shrift when the budget hits the fan. Has anyone ever worked in a new theater where backstage systems were great, but FOH looked a little cheesy? Ever? And if you are going to have a snazzy looking FOH, isn't it in your own best self interest to design a way to get gear where it needs to go (sound boards, light boards, FOH cameras, balcony rail lighting, box boom lighting, FOH trusses, spotlights, merchandise booths, stuff to stock and restock concession booths and merchandise booths, programs, booster seats, etc.) without undue trauma to the lovely interior? Pathways, a route for cables, places for storage, etc.? Just yelling at us for doing our jobs and uttering dire warnings if we so much as touch the gold leaf is not the same as designing a solution, BTW. Preshow announcements - my one beef with forbidding flash photography in the announcement is that MANY patrons feel like that means that non-flash photography is OK. It's certainly less annoying and distracting, but it still isn't OK. I like wording like "No Photographs - especially flash photographs - will be allowed" Anyway, this was too long, but then again, Whew! - a lot to catch up on. June Abernathy IATSE #321 (Tampa, FL) FOH Electrician The Lion King National Tour (Gazelle) ____________________________________________________________________________________ Food fight? Enjoy some healthy debate in the Yahoo! Answers Food & Drink Q&A. http://answers.yahoo.com/dir/?link=list&sid=396545367 ------------------------------ Message-ID: <1256.205.215.253.50.1170232246.squirrel [at] webmail.peak.org> In-Reply-To: References: Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2007 00:30:46 -0800 (PST) Subject: Re: All the Montclair students From: "Bill Nelson" > Avenue Q will be touring and I hope to get to see/work it, but frankly, I > expect it to have a similar reception as Urinetown. There's a lot of NYC > humor that folks in the rest of the country don't "get". And even if others did "get it", I suspect that much would only be humorous to people from NYC. Bill ------------------------------ Message-ID: <266c01660701310048g1e12e1el78528ed9d400e20b [at] mail.gmail.com> Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2007 02:48:50 -0600 From: "Eric Donaldson" Subject: self-supporting door Hello everyone. I am new here. My apologies if this has been asked and answered before but I have seached the archive without success. I did run across a thread about building a "rehearsal door" but that is more than I need. (it called for a steel frame and casters) I am looking to have a self-supporting door onstage that can open and close and withstand a bit of jostling. I bought a cheap hollow door ($25) and it comes in a frame. I believe it's what they call a pre-hung door. I have built a 2x4 frame around it and attached that to a plywood base. But it's way too shakey and needs some more support - gussets, more 2x4s or something. I would like the asssembly to be relatively lightweight so it can be moved on/off quickly. Before I continue with my picnic table construction methods, I figure this has been done a thousand times in theater before so I'd like to find out if there is a standard way to do this? Perhaps even some plans or diagrams already posted? I have searched the Google but no luck yet. Any help is appreciated. Thanks a bunch. - Eric Donaldson Rochester MN USA (eric dot donaldson at gmail dot com) ------------------------------ You are subscribed as stagecraftlist [at] theatrical.net End of Stagecraft Digest #1122 ******************************