Performing Arts Technicians
Provide technical and other assistance for the production, recording and broadcasting of artistic performances.
A festival stage and a thunderstorm
You are the lighting and sound technician on a small outdoor festival stage, with a headline act due to play in twenty minutes. It is 6:40pm on a Saturday. The crowd has been building all day. To the west, dark clouds are stacking up. The band's tour manager and the festival organiser both want to talk to you.
Choose what you would do. Then see what happens. There are often good reasons for each choice.
I have seen the clouds, but we have sold out and the headline act is already here. Cancelling would be a disaster. I need you to tell me this stage is safe and the show goes on. You are the expert.
Tell him it is fine, since the sky is still clear overhead
Ten minutes into the set, lightning is close and the crowd, the band and your equipment are all exposed. The show stops in a hurry, with no plan and a lot of people on edge.
Check the radar, then give Vince a clear decision point and a backup plan
You agree a point at which the show pauses and a shelter plan for the crowd. Vince can make a calm decision with real information, and everyone knows what happens if the storm arrives.
Tell him it is not your decision and leave it to him and the band to work out
It is true that others share the decision, but you know what the equipment can handle. Vince decides without that knowledge, and the safe option is chosen later than it should have been.
The singer wants her monitor much louder, and the guitarist wants more bass. Also she hates the blue light on her face. We have soundchecked, but they have changed their minds again. Can you do all of it, now?
Do everything they ask quickly, so the band is happy before they go on stage
The band is happy for the first song. But the louder monitor causes feedback and the changed lights leave one musician in the dark. Quick yeses create new problems.
Go through the requests with her, do the safe ones and explain the rest
The singer gets a louder monitor, the light is softened, and the bass request waits until the first break. Simone appreciates being told which ones were realistic.
Refuse any changes, since the soundcheck was done and there is no time
The band feels unheard and plays tense. The singer waves at the sound desk during the first song, and the crowd can see she is unhappy.
I have just noticed a cable crossing the walkway between the stage and the tent where people will be walking. I did not put it there. It is a power cable. Should I leave it, or tape it down?
Tape it down quickly, as the volunteer suggests, and leave it
The cable is no longer a trip hazard, but it has been taped without anyone checking it. You spend the rest of the night wondering whether it was damaged, and who put it there.
Leave it where it is, since you are about to start the show
A volunteer carrying a case trips on it halfway through the first set. Nobody is badly hurt, but a power cable across a walkway on a wet night is a hazard that was already known.
Check where it comes from, cover it properly or reroute it, and tell the crew
It belongs to a food van, and a better route is found in five minutes. Kit learns that spotting a hazard is part of the job, and that it is always better to check first.
How it went
The storm passes to the south, the band plays a full set and your crew packs up at midnight, tired and wet. Stage technicians create the show the audience never sees. Would you rather be the person on stage or the one making it work?
This is a simplified, fictional situation to help you explore. It is not professional instruction or a test of your ability.
Case study: The hum that came with the crowd
A fictional case set in a community theatre and a small outdoor festival stage, where technicians run lights, sound and cameras for live shows.
The situation
Lena, the sound technician at a community theatre, had mixed a school musical for two weeks without a problem. On opening night, with a full house, a loud buzz started in the speakers about ten minutes into the first act. The director, Mr Cassar, whispered urgently from the aisle that it must be her fault and asked her to fix it at once. Two hundred people were waiting, and the buzz was drowning the singers.
What they did
Lena stayed calm. She muted channels one by one and found the buzz came from a lighting dimmer that had been added to the same power line for opening night. She did not stop the show. She turned down the affected channel, brought up another microphone for the lead and told the stage manager what she was doing through her headset. At the interval, she asked the lighting technician to move the dimmer to a different power supply.
How it turned out
The audience hardly noticed the problem, and the second act was clean. Mr Cassar apologised in the foyer for his whisper. Lena went home with a sore back and a note in the show folder about that power line.
What would you do?
- Why do you think Lena muted channels one at a time?
- How would you stay calm when someone is blaming you in the middle of a show?
- What does it mean that a good technician is not noticed by the audience?