stlgurl702
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Techie TraditionsDoes anyone work with theatre companies where all of the techies have traditions unknown to the actors?
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pianoman55
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Hmmm.. well this might sound a bit scary.. but I work with a children/teen theatre company. We used to have a tech director who would like to play pranks. I'm the Musical Director at the company now.. but I used to do random tech jobs.. stage-hand or light-board operator. During during tech rehearsals.. we used to turn on people's body mics during intermission to listen to their conversations. Always fun.
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pish123c
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| pianoman55 wrote: | | Hmmm.. well this might sound a bit scary.. but I work with a children/teen theatre company. We used to have a tech director who would like to play pranks. I'm the Musical Director at the company now.. but I used to do random tech jobs.. stage-hand or light-board operator. During during tech rehearsals.. we used to turn on people's body mics during intermission to listen to their conversations. Always fun. |
That's...Kind of horrible of you.
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rcs
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I used to be in a high school theatre group where the techies had a tradition that on closing night they would sometimes hide a tampon inside one of the props. This wasn't exactly unknown to us actors, but it still always surprised the heck out of the person whose prop was "altered"!
I only ever saw this happen once (I believe it was with one of the hymn books for the mission scene in Guys and Dolls), but it was sure memorable.
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Theaterfan101
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hidden prop.
chosen after the first show each year and finds its way into every set, visible or not, for the year
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Brock07
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My high school partakes in the common rubber chicken hidden on stage.
Music Man - Mrs. Paroo throws it in a pot.
Anne Frank - It was in a box of supplies
Singin In The Rain - Somewhere in Make Em' Laugh
And it turns out the group I'm in now at college does it too.
Once Upon A Mattress - The Queen gives it to Princess 12 as the consolation prize (script calls for a bird)
Also, in high school, The Wizard of Oz was our Macbeth (gasp!). So last year during Music Man, McDonalds was doing those little Oz dolls, so we would hide them on stage to freak our crew director. Like we had Dorothy (with ruby slippers) sticking out from under the Paroo's house, the Wicked Witch was in the bottem of the fountain (with running water), scarecrow was among some corn at Dunlop's Grocery store.... fun times.
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javertneedsprozac
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the techies at my middle school just generally screw w/ the actors by hiding their props, mikes, etc. -but we always make sure we get whatever back in time
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Set_Buildin_Dad
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| Brock07 wrote: |
Once Upon A Mattress - The Queen gives it to Princess 12 as the consolation prize (script calls for a bird)
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We did that for our production too. My daughter was princess 12.
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jackissensational
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| javertneedsprozac wrote: | | the techies at my middle school just generally screw w/ the actors by hiding their props, mikes, etc. -but we always make sure we get whatever back in time |
How... nice and helpful of them.
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musikal_geek
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| jackissensational wrote: | | javertneedsprozac wrote: | | the techies at my middle school just generally screw w/ the actors by hiding their props, mikes, etc. -but we always make sure we get whatever back in time |
How... nice and helpful of them. |
Agreed.
Our #1 rule (besides safety first, of course) is that you CANNOT touch a prop unless it's yours. Techies hiding them is just retarded.
As for the listening to conversations... yeah, we do that too. 
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Robinflamingo
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We do the rubber chicken, but we also have the royal order of duct tape. You must wear duct tape somewhere on your body, actors too - inside of costume, on your shoe, somewhere.
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musikal_geek
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We hide a HIDEOUS (but very small) stuffed pig somewhere in each show for the last performance. We try to hide him in as many places as possible without him being seen by the audience. We've done it every show since 1997. Our dear Quigley is 11 years old! Let's see what I can think of...
Aladdin- baskets in the market
Narnia- Father Xmas's bag
Beauty and the Beast- Mrs. Potts' spout; Cogsy's box (aka his costume)
Snow White- Queen's potion table
Uhh... that's all I can think of. 
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tortallcit
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For a long time, we would hide "Creepy Baby" wherever we could. It was this absolutely hideous baby doll whose eyes would follow you around the room. In Oklahoma, we hid it in the hay bale, and before that in savage, it was hid behind the couch...
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kiwitechgirl
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| musikal_geek wrote: | | jackissensational wrote: | | javertneedsprozac wrote: | | the techies at my middle school just generally screw w/ the actors by hiding their props, mikes, etc. -but we always make sure we get whatever back in time |
How... nice and helpful of them. |
Agreed.
Our #1 rule (besides safety first, of course) is that you CANNOT touch a prop unless it's yours. Techies hiding them is just retarded.
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Yep. You do that on my watch, you can forget about working for me ever again! Most of the actors I work with check their props BEFORE the show, not as they need them.
The other tradition we have is that the actors call us technicians, not techies. "Techies" feels a little derogatory to me.
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Kiwi
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With the whole listening to conversations thing, we had a situation like that in a show i performed in. After mic check one day the techies thought it would be funny to turn this one kid's mic on and let everyone in the theatre hear what they talk about in the guys' dressing room. And in their fantastic timing, they turned it on just in time to hear...something that i can't repeat here because you never know what will offend people these days. But there was a six-year-old in the show, and she was in the theatre at the time, and it wasn't good that she heard it. Luckily the doors hadn't been opened for the audience yet.
So, if you listen in on conversations, be aware of who else can hear it. Theatre people are not generally known for their conversational purity.
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pish123c
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| kiwitechgirl wrote: |
Yep. You do that on my watch, you can forget about working for me ever again! Most of the actors I work with check their props BEFORE the show, not as they need them.
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I always check my props before the show. Maybe it's just becauase I'm paranoid, but I just like to have that reassurance in the back of my mind that I won't have to scramble to look for a prop three minutes before I go on.
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Kiwi
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Yeah, same. I once forgot to place a prop on stage before the show that i needed to use later. My director was completely livid. Luckily it was in rehearsal and not a performance, but it was right before opening night so the director was on edge as it was.
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MunkuSwarley
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At one theater group I'm part of, we have two casts so when one cast is on, the other runs tech. Every performance, before the show, the crew gets together and does some yoga.
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QuaxoCoricopat
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We just have cheesecake on opening night before the show starts. It started 10+ years ago when someone brought a slice of cheesecake from the college cafeteria, but didn't want to eat it. So he went around asking other technicians if they wanted it and everyone said 'no'. Then it became a joke.
So now everyone on opening night gets a fork set at their station and after sound and light check we head to a classroom and have cheesecake.
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Brackynn
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At my old school, there are two major techie traditions.
The first involves placing a short piece of black electrical tape under each eye on opening night. Don't ask why. But if you don't have it, the ASM will find you and pin you down while she sticks it on for you 
The second is the soundtrack to The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride. Whenever the chance arises, it gets played. Loudly.
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disneybeauty
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in one show I did, the techies got a hold of my baby doll that I had to sing to and "gothed" her. She had black lipstick and black eyeliner caked around her eyes. They even drew fake tattoos and scars where the audience couldn't see them.
Another crew had a tradition of putting a rubber duck into at least one scene.
Personally, my tradition is checking my props and pre-sets ate least three times. Otherwise I will obsess about them until I check again.
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broadwayxdoll
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Well, im not with this theatre company anymore. But when I was, if you were in the older kids show, we would order a large dinner from I Love NY Pizza and make a dinner table and all sit down and have a “family dinner” on nights before shows.
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lilmissbroadway
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Not nessecarily techie, but in one company I work with we somehow incorporate this fox stole into the show
Annie-Ms. Hannigan
Oklahoma-Gertie
Les Miz-Madame Thénardier at Cosette's wedding
Also during BatB, all the principals taped a little Transformers logo somewhere descreet(sp?) on thier costume.
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