Return-Path: X-Processed-By: Virex 7 on prxy.net X-Real-To: stagecraftlist [at] theatrical.net Received: by prxy.net (CommuniGate Pro PIPE 4.2.10) with PIPE id 21870259; Sun, 17 Apr 2005 03:00:43 -0700 X-ListServer: CommuniGate Pro LIST 4.2.10 List-Unsubscribe: List-ID: Message-ID: From: "Stagecraft" Sender: "Stagecraft" To: "Stagecraft" Precedence: list Subject: Stagecraft Digest #366 Date: Sun, 17 Apr 2005 03:00:22 -0700 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1" Content-Disposition: inline X-Spam-Status: No, score=-5.6 required=5.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00 autolearn=ham version=3.0.2 X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.2 (2004-11-16) on prxy.net X-TFF-CGPSA-Version: 1.4f2 X-prxy-Spam-Filter: Scanned For info, archives & UNSUBSCRIBE, see --------------------------------------------------- Stagecraft Digest, Issue #366 1. Out of Office AutoReply: Stagecraft Digest #365 by Richard Lund 2. Re: Funniest performance you have seen at the theatre or on live stage by Gregg Carville 3. Re: cpu lighting control by "Weston Wilkerson" 4. a unique sfx door by "Frank Kern" 5. Re: theatre company reference by Jerry Durand 6. Re: Wireless intercom by FrankWood95 [at] aol.com 7. Re: a unique sfx door by Stuart Wheaton 8. OT computer question by Steve Larson 9. Re: OT computer question by James Feinberg 10. Re: OT computer question by Steve Larson 11. Re: Funniest performance you have seen at the theatre or on live stage by "Robert G. Anderson" 12. Re: Funniest performance you have seen at the theatre or on live stage by "Gina&Joe" 13. Re: OT computer question by Boyd Ostroff 14. scrim repair? by stage craft 15. Re: OT computer question by Bruce Purdy 16. Re: Funniest performance you have seen at the theatre or on live stage by Pat Kight 17. Re: Funniest performance you have seen at the theatre or on live stage by Pat Kight *** 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: <9E53DD7DC667D311A47A0000F808EC8E034EE35E [at] strandla> From: Richard Lund Subject: Out of Office AutoReply: Stagecraft Digest #365 Date: Sat, 16 Apr 2005 02:58:55 -0700 I will be out of the office Monday 4/18 thru Thursday 4/21. Although I'll be checking my messages daily, I may not be able to get back to you til tomorrow. For immediate assistance, please call me on my cell phone at 310-872-6485. Thanks and Best Regards, Richard Lund Strand Lighting ------------------------------ Message-ID: <2c0e151605041606214c535897 [at] mail.gmail.com> Date: Sat, 16 Apr 2005 09:21:39 -0400 From: Gregg Carville Reply-To: Gregg Carville Cc: bpmunroe [at] gmail.com (Brian Munroe) Subject: Re: Funniest performance you have seen at the theatre or on live stage In-Reply-To: References: I'll throw a story in for kicks, My first season of summerstock ended with the Yeston/Kopit "Phantom" Basically Phantom of the Opera but the Phantom's father is the manager of the theater? (something like that) Anyway touching moment with the father and the phantom, they are DSR and it is quite touching (I think one is dying) Very slowly a balloon starts to cross the stage, it is approximately 9-10' off the deck. You can see the string hanging down - but no other wires. The balloon enters, crosses to CS, goes up and down a bit and then exits. Some of the audience start to sniffle - later we get comments about the symbolism of childhood and innocence, etc. etc. And of course the amazement of how we rigged it. The reality is that the balloon was from a bunch used in a previous scene and escaped its storage spot and did the cross completely on its own. The actors were really confused because they sensed a shift in the audience that they had never felt before - and the actors could not see the balloon. Of course I doubt we could ever duplicate this if we had tried. -Gregg ------------------------------ Message-ID: In-Reply-To: From: "Weston Wilkerson" Subject: Re: cpu lighting control Date: Sat, 16 Apr 2005 11:16:24 -0400 The Jands Vista is amazing. AC Lighting (North Amercia distributor) is doing demos all over the place. I am hopefully going on the road with one this summer or fall for a few months. I haven't heard any reviews of the durability. The Pen Pad scares me a little bit because there is not another way to control it, but I guess the Hog II & III are that way with their touchscreens. Timeline editing is the way of the future in my opinion. I think the challenge is going to be shows that have 400+ fixtures (static or otherwise). When, they are all 'moving' in some manner at once, that is a ton of data that needs to be seen, and, because of the timeline nature, cues and levels are assessed now by relative value to others instead of isolated data values. That being said, I think the ease of access to information and control will drive some pretty inovative new consoles in the next ten years utilizing this philosophy. weston > > If I could change anything w/lighting control, it'd be to streamline >moving > > lights programming in theatre contexts, and to be able to see & edit the > > timeline of cue times directly, w/o having to go into each cue. Some >form of > > representing the cues (and part-cues) graphically w/the ability to edit >might > > be really useful. > >http://www.jandsvista.com/ > >I have yet to put my hands on this console but it is getting rave reviews >by >those that have and it sounds like what you want. ------------------------------ Message-ID: From: "Frank Kern" Subject: a unique sfx door Date: Sat, 16 Apr 2005 15:52:05 +0000
Hey guys.  Am having to build a 6 panel door (no glass) for a show that requires quite a bit of abuse, surviving tech and a three week run with a couple of two-show days.  As of now, it must accomplish the following:         -an actor will punch out one of the panels
                                           -that same actor will step back and shoot off the door handle
                                           -and then he will finally kick the door open, upon which it                                              will swing open(upstage) and then fall off the hinges
 
So, my questions are: How do I replace the panel effectively every night?  How can I realistically recreate the action of a door handle being shot off?  How do I control the fall of the door?  Thanks for your time.
 
Frank Kern III
------------------------------ Message-Id: <6.2.1.2.0.20050416095930.035e4230 [at] localhost> Date: Sat, 16 Apr 2005 10:15:41 -0700 From: Jerry Durand Subject: Re: theatre company reference In-Reply-To: References: At 11:07 AM 4/14/2005, you wrote: >I had worked with other, trickier gear, when we used to log the positions of >the controls. This made the assumption that you could do the line-up. It also >showed you to see when the controls were walking off to their end stops, and >you needed to do a major overhaul. Many moons ago when I did qualification testing (both military and civilian items, like Space Shuttle parts), we kept photographs of all test setups with the dials visible. We also logged all settings, calibration dates, and serial numbers (of the test equipment). This all had to be signed and stamped (we each had a personal inspection stamp). The items tagged "For Manned Spaceflight" had to get even more logging. All logs had to be kept for 20 years. A good part of the cost of these parts was all the labor to log them. I had an assistant who was constantly trying to shortcut the rules. She'd write in pencil, use colored ink (black photocopies best and was required), use White-Out correction fluid, not log everything, etc. She never could understand why we kept making her do the log sheets over, I guess it was too much time spent running the marking machine (she loved working on that, the solvents used in those days got her really high). ---------- Jerry Durand Durand Interstellar, Inc. 219 Oak Wood Way Los Gatos, California 95032-2523 USA tel: +1 408 356-3886 fax: +1 408 356-4659 web: www.interstellar.com ------------------------------ From: FrankWood95 [at] aol.com Message-ID: <8c.252923f6.2f92a94a [at] aol.com> Date: Sat, 16 Apr 2005 13:45:46 EDT Subject: Re: Wireless intercom In a message dated 16/04/05 02:20:32 GMT Daylight Time, mseddy2900 [at] hotmail.com writes: > I was going to get into the fast food connection, but thought better of it, > especially with Frank Wood hovering about on the issue. Since you mentioned my name. Our local supermarket is building a new store, next to the old one. This means that the car park has migrated to the far side of the building works, about 200 yards away. So, they are running two shuttle buses from the old store to it. You leave your trolley with staff at the door, and get a numbered ticket, get the bus back to the car park, and hang the ticket on your rear view mirror. The ticket allows you access to a small parking zone near the door, and someone wheels your trolley to your car, and loads its content into the boot. The whole operation is carried out using small, handheld RF intercoms. The two drivers, the guy who controls access to the parking zone, and the guys who wheel the trolley to your car each have a set. They appear all to be on the same frequency, from what I overhear on the buses. They have a very strict discipline, using very short messages. "Driver one ready": "406", from the little parking zone to the trolley handlers, to order up the trolley for the car that's just coming in. Frank Wood ------------------------------ Message-ID: <42615281.3000702 [at] fuse.net> Date: Sat, 16 Apr 2005 13:59:29 -0400 From: Stuart Wheaton Subject: Re: a unique sfx door References: In-Reply-To: Frank Kern wrote: > Hey guys. Am having to build a 6 panel door (no glass) for a show that > requires quite a bit of abuse, surviving tech and a three week run with > a couple of two-show days. As of now, it must accomplish the > following: -an actor will punch out one of the panels > -that same actor will step > back and shoot off the door handle > -and then he will finally > kick the door open, upon which it > will swing open(upstage) and > then fall off the hinges > > So, my questions are: How do I replace the panel effectively every > night? How can I realistically recreate the action of a door handle > being shot off? How do I control the fall of the door? Thanks for your > time. > > Frank Kern III If the door is not used normally before all this it will be easier... The punched out panel is not held in by mouldings, but instead by magnets or little clips. It pops out easily when punched. If it needs to be busted and not just popped out, then it's pre-broken balsa. The door handle is spring loaded, and held by a pin on a string, the offstage operator pulls the pin and the handle pops off. If the door is kicked open, it will be approximately perpendicular to the wall, how does the door fall? Who sees it? In any event, the door doesn't fall free, it is still hinged and falls in a controlled fashion in a pre-designed manner. If the door operates normally before the effect, you may need to slip in a new hinge pin, or pull out some pins immediately prior to the effect, probably the door is in two frames, one for normal operation and one for falling. The two frames are nested. One is attached inside the other. You might need a screen door closer or something to help keep the speed under control, unless you really want the crash. Or, if the door falls off it's hinges after if gets kicked out of sight, you could rig a second 'stunt door' that falls back into view, identical to the hinged door. Stuart ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 16 Apr 2005 15:36:31 -0400 Subject: OT computer question From: Steve Larson Message-ID: I have a 200GB external hard drive on which I store the bulk of my large files. The computer (iMac) to which it is attached via firewire does not recognize the external unit. Evidently has lost it's address. I keep getting a message to initialize the external unit, which, of course, I don't want to do. How can I get the iMac to recognize the external unit? Which disk software could find it? The external unit is currently holding about 100GB of files. Some are backed up on CD, but some very important ones haven't been backed up yet. Last resort is to take it to someone who can do it. Thanks, steve ------------------------------ In-Reply-To: References: Message-Id: <9A300E68-AEB1-11D9-9D02-00039396D590 [at] sandiego.edu> From: James Feinberg Subject: Re: OT computer question Date: Sat, 16 Apr 2005 12:56:20 -0700 Steve, Did you recently update your OS? According to the Apple Knowledge Base, that might be the problem: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107914 Good luck, --jamesf On Apr 16, 2005, at 12:36 PM, Steve Larson wrote: > For info, archives & UNSUBSCRIBE, see > > --------------------------------------------------- > > I have a 200GB external hard drive on which I store > the bulk of my large files. The computer (iMac) to which > it is attached via firewire does not recognize the external > unit. Evidently has lost it's address. I keep getting > a message to initialize the external unit, which, of > course, I don't want to do. > > How can I get the iMac to recognize the external unit? > Which disk software could find it? The external unit > is currently holding about 100GB of files. Some are > backed up on CD, but some very important ones haven't > been backed up yet. > > Last resort is to take it to someone who can do it. > > Thanks, > > steve > > ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 16 Apr 2005 16:10:43 -0400 Subject: Re: OT computer question From: Steve Larson Message-ID: In-Reply-To: No, no updates. I'm running OS 9.2.2. It worked fine for the last month that I've had it. Suddenly I got the unrecognizable message. Steve > From: James Feinberg > Reply-To: "Stagecraft" > Date: Sat, 16 Apr 2005 12:56:20 -0700 > To: "Stagecraft" > Subject: Re: OT computer question > > For info, archives & UNSUBSCRIBE, see > --------------------------------------------------- > > Steve, > > Did you recently update your OS? According to the Apple Knowledge > Base, that might be the problem: > > http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107914 > > Good luck, > --jamesf > ------------------------------ Message-ID: <005801c542c4$09025c20$214b3b45 [at] 0016599365> From: "Robert G. Anderson" References: Subject: Re: Funniest performance you have seen at the theatre or on live stage Date: Sat, 16 Apr 2005 15:36:52 -0500 Just for kicks... My graduate advisor reported that while he was teaching in a Missouri high school, he found himself a cast member short for the Senior Play. After an "exhaustive" search, he drafted a football player to take the role of the butler in an English mystery. The butler had two entrances in the first act, he served coffee. In the second act, he was sent on a search for the upstairs maid, who had disappeared. He was supposed to return with the unsurprising information that he had searched the entire house and the maid was not to be found. When he returned from the search, he came in, carefully shut the doors behind him and reported, "Sir, I've been all over the maid and I can't find the place!" ------------------------------ Message-ID: <000b01c542cd$4dfecbc0$77b627d8 [at] com> From: "Gina&Joe" Subject: Re: Funniest performance you have seen at the theatre or on live stage Date: Sat, 16 Apr 2005 14:43:18 -0700 Someone posted a link > telling a story about some premiere of a play involving druids or > somesuch on a rake that, instead of being treated with you > garden-variety soft drink to make it tacky, was mopped with the diet > (read: non-sticky) version of the stuff. Usual mayhem ensued, with the > additional remark that the show that night got its first (and only) > standing ovation. > > Does anyone still have the story? Frank Wood wrote: >Yes, I do. It's written by Bernard Levin, and it refers to a performance at >the Wexford Opera Festival. Frank is mostly correct. The festival was indeed Wexford, the opera "La Vestale". (The Vestal Virgins- which, for obvious reasons, has not one single druid in the cast.) The enchanting original story by Bernard Levin is "The Year of the Missing Lemon Juice". It was published in Opera News and can also be found in his book "Conducted Tour" ISBN:0224018965. The story below is what was posted to the list. It's my hazily recalled version from a single reading over twenty years ago. Thank you once more, Frank, for recognizing the story in spite of the driuds & providing the link to Mr Levin's much finer tale. "A town somewhere in the British Isles decides to mount a vaguely Druidic and deservedly obscure opera primarily because it's based loosely on local history. The production is graced with very fine professional artists in all departments and is rounded out with support from many enthusiastic and talented volunteers. It's also provided with starkly beautiful, monolithic scenery which consists of a starkly beautiful, monolithic sacrificial altar perfectly centered on a rather steep, but starkly beautiful full-stage rake. (Sort of Appia meets Stonehenge. ) Rehearsals proceed without incident and even though "historical significance" is heard rather too often, the company seems headed for artistic and financial success. It may never be known whether it was the wrong brown carbonated beverage or a diet version of the brown carbonated beverage that was used in the mop bucket on opening night, but it was definitely not the one used during rehearsals and it was definitely not as sticky. Opening night, the overture receives more polite applause than it deserves and the curtain rises on a swaying Seer Woman up center who has just flung open her arms for balance. As opposed to dramatic emphasis. She makes a controlled slide to the altar and, being an alto and therefore having some sense, stays there to sing her "...something bad is going to happen..." aria. The Sacrificial Virgin, being a young and agile soprano, does a modified grand jette into the arms of the Seer Woman, sings her "...something bad is going to happen to me.." aria and then lays down on the altar. Which was sort of the blocking anyway. The Hero, being a tenor, sets one foot on the rake and promptly falls to his knees- unfortunately about 10 bars before he's supposed to. He crawls to the altar, sings his "... something bad is going to happen but I'll get my revenge..." aria and clings to his beloved Sacrificial Virgin. The Wicked High Priest, being a bass, moon-walks to the altar using a borrowed spear for balance, sings his "... something bad is going to happen to everyone but me..." aria and anchors himself to the last remaining bit of altar. The Temple Priests organize themselves and gingerly enter down right, in a line, holding hands, signing "... something bad is going to happen but we didn't do it..." and attach themselves to the Wicked High Priest. The Kindly Villagers decide this is a good idea and enter down left, in a line, holding hands, singing ".. we should have listened to the Seer Woman..." and attach themselves to the Hero. Imagine tug-of-war being played on a slippery hill by two groups of very noisy Druids. Actually, the resulting stage picture was not too different from the original blocking except that the effect was rather marred by the (now dead) Sacrificial Virgin center stage who had developed an unfortunate case of hiccups. Meanwhile, the orchestra could hear the extraordinary passion in the singers' voices but they couldn't see the stage. When the conductor's face started turning red and tears began streaming down his face, they began to play with great abandon and gave the performance of their lives. As the curtain finally fell on the first act, the audience rose as one and proceeded to give the show it's first, longest and only standing ovation." -Gina Gagliano ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 16 Apr 2005 18:48:00 -0400 (EDT) From: Boyd Ostroff Subject: Re: OT computer question In-Reply-To: Message-ID: References: On Sat, 16 Apr 2005, Steve Larson wrote: > No, no updates. I'm running OS 9.2.2. Aaarggh! OS X is so much more robust, but I can appreciate it that some older machines may not be up to it without costly upgrades. It may be hard to find software that will work under 9.2 for this. Maybe someone has an old copy of Norton or DiskWarrior? I'd suggest finding someone running OS X and see if it will mount on their machine. You could use Diskwarrior to repair any problems there. If no luck after that, you could pull the drive out of the firewire box and swap it into another one (or an empty bay if someone has a G4 tower). Maybe the problem is related to the firewire interface, power supply, etc. If that doesn't work then you may have a drive failure unfotunately... | Boyd Ostroff | Director of Design and Technology | Opera Company of Philadelphia | http://tech.operaphilly.com | ostroff [at] operaphilly.com ------------------------------ Message-ID: <20050416225215.32196.qmail [at] web61305.mail.yahoo.com> Date: Sat, 16 Apr 2005 15:52:15 -0700 (PDT) From: stage craft Subject: scrim repair? Hi all- The other week someone posted a request for reapir instructions for their scrim. I haven't seen anything posted and it turns out I'm in the same position (did you know that putting a chair with metal legs on a folded scrim can put _several_ holes in a folded scrim?)... Yes, that aside was tongue-in-cheek! Maybe now we'll store the scrim in a road box or hamper and not on the floor of a back room... Anyway, I need instructions if someone has the re-weaving info. Please??!! -alex- -alex- Alex M. Postpischil, Technical Director Department of Theatre Arts University of Mississippi University, MS 38677 662.915.6993 662.915.5968 - fax __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Plan great trips with Yahoo! Travel: Now over 17,000 guides! http://travel.yahoo.com/p-travelguide ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 16 Apr 2005 19:54:50 -0400 Subject: Re: OT computer question From: Bruce Purdy Message-ID: In-Reply-To: > No, no updates. I'm running OS 9.2.2. It worked > fine for the last month that I've had it. Suddenly > I got the unrecognizable message. Have you tried simply re-booting the computer? I have one of those "Key chain" USB storage devices, and sometimes my iMac fails to see it when I plug it in. Re-start the computer and by Jove, there it is! Bruce -- Bruce Purdy Technical Director Smith Opera House ------------------------------ Message-ID: <4261CDA3.3090805 [at] peak.org> Date: Sat, 16 Apr 2005 19:44:51 -0700 From: Pat Kight Subject: Re: Funniest performance you have seen at the theatre or on live stage References: In-Reply-To: Gina&Joe wrote: > "A town somewhere in the British Isles decides to mount a vaguely Druidic > and deservedly obscure opera primarily because it's based loosely on local > history. The production is graced with very fine professional artists in > all departments and is rounded out with support from many enthusiastic and > talented volunteers. It's also provided with starkly beautiful, monolithic > scenery which consists of a starkly beautiful, monolithic sacrificial altar > perfectly centered on a rather steep, but starkly beautiful full-stage > rake. (Sort of Appia meets Stonehenge. ) Rehearsals proceed without > incident and even though "historical significance" is heard rather too > often, the company seems headed for artistic and financial success. > > It may never be known whether it was the wrong brown carbonated beverage or > a diet version of the brown carbonated beverage that was used in the mop > bucket on opening night, but it was definitely not the one used during > rehearsals and it was definitely not as sticky. (snip) > > Meanwhile, the orchestra could hear the extraordinary passion in the > singers' voices but they couldn't see the stage. When the conductor's face > started turning red and tears began streaming down his face, they began to > play with great abandon and gave the performance of their lives. > > As the curtain finally fell on the first act, the audience rose as one and > proceeded to give the show it's first, longest and only standing ovation." Oh, my. Is anyone else reminded of Jack Hitt's rendition of the great Peter Pan fiasco on NPR's "This American Life" a few years back? (From the program description: "... the story pf a small town production of Peter Pan in which the flying apparatus smacks the actors into the furniture, in which Captain Hook's hook flies off his arm and hits an old woman in the stomach. By the end of the evening, firemen have arrived and all the normal boundaries between audience and actors have completely dissolved.") The whole piece is available in streaming RealAudio on the show's Web site: http://thislife.org/pages/descriptions/97/61.html It's 23 minutes long, and worse every second of it... -- Pat Kight kightp [at] peak.org ------------------------------ Message-ID: <4261CF4E.8040908 [at] peak.org> Date: Sat, 16 Apr 2005 19:51:58 -0700 From: Pat Kight Subject: Re: Funniest performance you have seen at the theatre or on live stage References: In-Reply-To: Pat Kight wrote: > It's 23 minutes long, and worse every second of it... Hee. Freudian typos R us ... -- Pat Kight kightp [at] peak.org ------------------------------ End of Stagecraft Digest #366 *****************************