(3089/898) Inside baseball theatre

23) Back in the old days, as a stage manager, I had a lot to do during the show. On big shows on Broadway, we had 40 or 50 people working backstage, all running around like crazy. I had to use a flashing light to signal cues, talk to people on headsets and follow the script on paper! You know, in some ways, I almost miss those days ... I didn't get quite as bored during the show then.

Now we have these voice and music recognition systems, and they interface on the network to the lighting, sound and automation systems. There's only a few technical people backstage, mostly in the wardrobe and props departments, because they haven't quite got the robotics cost effective yet.

The only reason I'm even here is in case something goes wrong, and the press the 'Authorize' button on the dangerous cues, once the actor is in the right position. Other than that, I watch a lot of HDTV and play 3-D video games!

John Huntington
"Methods of System Synchronization and
Interconnection for Live Performances"
(master's thesis, Yale U, 5/90)
quoted by Charlie Richmond in
"Automated Redundancy(through Redundant Automation)" in
TD&T magazine (Winter 1991)

24) There are other problems with putting the [sound] operator in the house, however. Reel-to-reel decks, currently the primary sound source for these shows, make a loud 'kerchunk' on start-up as relays fire and the pinch roller slams into the capstan. Tom Mardikes has come up with a novel solution to this problem which, with the cooperation of the producer, enables him to put the operator into the theatre's house. 'I've had operators in booths before' explains Mardikes, 'who made mistakes and didn't even know they made a mistake [because they couldn't hear the show]. So I pretty much insist on operating in the house.' All of the decks which Mardikes uses are equipped with auto stops, which stop and re-cue at the end of each piece of tape, and are placed in a sound-isolated room. The operator then controls the decks via a remote control, and watches the decks on video monitors. 'We get these inexpensive black and white video surveillance systems,' Mardikes explains, 'and we'll put a camera on each deck, and then put a video monitor in the house that could have four cameras feeding into it. We'll set it up so that the operator can see the actual cue number written on the leader tape.' The only time this creates a problems for the operator is when jumping around the sequence of the show during a tech rehearsal, when the operator must go upstairs and change reels. 'That's no inconvenience,' the designer explains, 'because the whole set crew is having to get set pieces and props in place to do that, so it works out great.'

John Huntington
"Working With the Sound Operator"
Theatre Crafts magazine (9-10/91)

25) The 'Scenographic Revolution' succeeded in achieving the total liberation and integration of scenic and lighting design. Scenography today is free. It can be anything - architecture, painting, obviously fake, composed of real elements, fog, light or sound. But costumes always start out, or wind up, as clothes. That just seems to be the way it is. But why should it be that way?

Delbart Unruh
"Postmodern Issues in Action Design,
Part III: The Problem of Costumes"
TD&T magazine (Winter 1991)

26) Danger is the word heard again and again in relation to [George] Tsypin's sets. There is often a physical danger, the risk of actors falling through gaps in the floor or tumbling from overhead structures, but there is also an artistic danger ... 'The stage is a dangerous machine,' he says. ...

A working model was made of paper and given to [Peter] Sellars to play with on the all-night flight from New York to London just before rehearsals began. Obviously, paper can twist and turn more than normal walls, but by the time he arrived, Sellars was so enamored of the flexibility that he insisted on a set that could function like the model.

Arnold Aronson
"Contemporary American Designers: George Tsypin"
TD&T magazine (Summer 1991)

27) 'These days you don't really need an artist to make a record,' agrees Rodney Mills, whose production credits include albums by Gregg Allman, .38 Special and Lynyrd Skynyrd. 'What was done with Milli Vanilli could be done any time you make a record with a new act. In some ways, it would make it a lot easier to start with the visual image and then fabricate a record to go along with the video. It'd make things a lot easier - you'd product cut a lot faster and cheaper, and you wouldn't have so many egos to deal with. It's totally wrong, but as the technology becomes more available the temptation to use it in a dishonest way.'

Howard DeMuir
"The Emperor's New Lycra Bicycle Shorts"
Pulse magazine (2/91)

Note: "3089/898" is the designation I've given to the project of posting all my collected quotes, excerpts and ideas (3089 of them) in the remaining days of the Bush administration (of which there were 898 left when I began).

As of today, there are 894 days remaining in the administration of the worst President ever.