A week or two ago I was given an opportunity by the head of lighting to shadow the techs for a show. Last night I did it.
I arrived on site and was greeted by “Joe… your not on the list”, so I reminded them why I was there.
My boss took me into the big top and had me sit near one of the doors and reminded me not to sit people. I was OK with that but was twitching when I saw a flash go off. There were a lot of them last night. When Andrew, the tech, got to the booth he set me up with a headset and gave me a brief run down of the equipment.
I had a good time listening in on the comms. There were three things happening at the same time. One comm channel was for the lighting techs (the two follow spots and the booth) and the second was for the stage manager. I was listening to both of them and they sometimes collided with each other. I also noticed a female voice mixed in with all the others. It turned out to be the music director giving ques to the band.
Most of the lighting ques are in time with the music so the tech takes most of his ques from the music director. There are a few that are taken from the stage manager. During the 1000 hands dance the turn table and the Gobo units (lights that swivel and turn) are in sync. This is done the old fashion way of two people hitting a button at the same time when told to.
It was a good night, I was able to watch some talented people doing there job and making the show work. I also didn’t have to keep watching the audience. I had to keep reminding myself that.