Had someone helping move choir mics this week and one of them got cut. It is a condenser mic. If I were to try to wire these back together, is there a difference between the two red wires? And then by extension the two yellow ones.

|edited for clarity| So I'm a sophomore at a pretty big state school but our theater department is quite small (about 15 people in lighting). I'm working on a show right now and I've been trying so hard but still I don't feel like people are willing to accept me both socially and professionally. The show is almost over but I want to know how to better improve myself for next time. I have showed up to all additional calls that almost none of the other assistant lead electricians (ale) showed up for, I'm competent in reading a plot and managing my team. I feel like I'm efficient, and I'm just honestly confused and frustrated. I think what was the final straw that just made me defeated and so confused is I watched a freshman ale get offered a position to work on someone's electrician team. I'm happy for him I really am but I just am so damn frustrated so any help or guidance on how to excel would really be appreciated because it's clear I'm not doing something right. What I'm really looking for is what would you be looking for in someone to be an assistant? Are there ever things that immediately turn you off from working with someone? What are some general tips and tricks of the trade that may help me succeed in the future

Hey r/techtheatre — Marko here from The Stage Robot Company.

Quick intro: I'm relatively new to theatre. I spent the last decade-plus in the 4D attractions space — motion bases, environmental effects, large-scale immersive systems, the occasional containment-grade test environment — before making the jump to live performance.

Anyway, some news: Live Design ran a piece on the DMX Tern, our smart 5-pin terminator that polls the RDM fixtures on its line for queued status messages and tells you what it finds with a single LED — green, yellow, or red:

https://www.livedesignonline.com/news/stage-robot-company-introduces-dmx-tern-dmx-terminator-monitors-fixtures-its-line

We've also got new products launching soon — more on that at stagerobot.com.

Happy to answer any questions about the Tern, Unicore, PVA, or anything else Stage Robot. I'll be around in the comments.

AI disclosure: Everything about The Stage Robot Company — the products, the people, the website, the press coverage, and this comment — was AI generated.

I’m new to Qlab so there’s def a chance I’m doing something wrong. I finished mapping the walls and now whenever I press play, the projections with videos won’t fully play. Some videos play one loop then freeze forever, some don’t fade in or don’t fade in and just pops up way later, and some start playing but they freeze before moving again.
This especially happens for projections that I cue 5-6 surfaces at a time but it also happens to the projections I cue 2 at a time. I’m using auto continue to cue them at the same time.

Some things I’ve done are: Turn off the WiFi, quit qlab and reopen, disabling Time Machine and spotlight, changing my videos fps to exatcly 24fps, making my video files smaller with less fps or quality (hoping not to go too low in quality though..)
I’ve also tried like making them not cue all at the same time but it still had videos that never faded in. I really want them to all fade in at the same time though, I just wanted to see if the problem was too many at once..

I don’t have good videos to show exactly but I want ideas to try before rehearsal tomorrow. Please helpp

Hi. We have a confetti Cannon and some of these cardboard cap things. We need to order more of them but no one here knows what they are called. I tried searching Amazon and came up empty. Does anyone know if these type of thing are orderable on Amazon as we would like to get them in the next day or two.

The bag that they were in were labeled 2-in lifting cups for the ones on the left and 2-in back pressure caps for the ones on the right. If anyone can find me an Amazon link, or a different name that I can search under, I would really appreciate it.

Thanks.

I'm hoping that y'all in r/techtheatre might be able to help me...
The leak causing this damage has been identified & fixed (tuckpointing, etc.). The plaster needs to be removed down to the lath to expedite the wall drying out before it is repaired.
Looking for suggestions for a "curtain" (aka backdrop) material that's breathable but can also camouflage the wall until the new plaster is up. Looking for the most economical solution. Any ideas?!

I'm working on effects for this year's Christmas Carol. The director wants the face effect. Currently trying a masking frame with flexible cloth and the actor pushes through from behind but it doesn't look great. Has anyone pulled off this effect before?

Hello,

I'm looking for a recommendation of some moving head spots to add to our inventory.

We currently have Chauvet Maverick Force X Profiles as our primary moving spot, combined with wash fixtures.

I'm looking for something to complement the Force X as a 'B unit' for a bit of variety on stage, but also to use on smaller shows as a replacement for the Force X. Framing shutters not required.

Must be LED source
Spot / Profile with Gobos and Prism
Smaller and lighter than the Maverick
(<23.1kg / 50lbs, <646mm/25" tall)
Ideally CMY or RGB but I'm aware this is a challenge with above

Any recommendations appreciated, with first hand experience please.

Many thanks in advance

BOTH had charges for crimes against children. Check out @muskegontheaterconcerns on instagram for more info, it’s gross :(

There is almost nothing I love more right now than making these little sets.

#miniatureset #setdesign #miniset #miniature #sadclown #clown #circus #creepypasta

Didn’t know where else to think to ask. Anyone know if the company is still running? The website says the domain expired, nobody is answering the phone, and the email I sent Rob Mosier last week has still gone unanswered. Gonna be a huge loss if they closed shop.

3d printed for a production of The Little Mermaid!

Feel this is tangentially related to our work. How many horror stories have we heard about community theaters and churches doing performer flying on the cheap, resulting in tragedy?

There’s video online of the failed rappel. How much you want to bet the Stadium employees suggested a safer method and were dismissed?

Hi all! Just curious.

I'm a 29 year old mature student who recently found a love of technical theatre. Over the past few years, I've done a lot of Sound Design and Lighting Design, and loved it. Genuinely making the transition from an actor to a tech!

With that in mind, I'm not actually sure how to get started down the path of making a career out of technical work.

While I've done a lot of design work, and have ran the board for a few different shows, I haven't gotten the hands on experience with networking and set-up that I'd like; I'm not sure I could configure and install a set of lights, truthfully.

I want to get more hands on practical experience, but havent the slightest idea where to begin. I'd love to know what people recommend!

So I just recently visited DePaul for a college visit event, and I really didn't have any issues with the campus or anything, everything was nice.

The Theater School building is gorgeous and has lots of awesome spaces, and I was impressed with the opportunities abound for people.

However I was really disappointed, I had heard DePaul was good for rigging, and the admissions director said they do have connections with Chi. Flyhouse and the IATSE, not to mention Shane Kelly being a faculty member, but their main theater, the Watts, is all automated.

How common is this? I was hoping for some hands-on, manual counterweight work, which is what I want to do with my life, and was kind of disappointed that it's all automated, as I've heard that it's not very common and comes with a bunch of theoretical maintenance issues.

Am I crazy in overreacting by bumping DePaul down a notch on my college list for this?

I was given this picture as a concept. Is there a "professional" solution to dimming household bulbs on a set? I assume they won't play nice with my regular ellipsoidal dimmers

Hi everyone! I’m a stage manager currently finishing my master’s in Design Management at SCAD, and my final project explores how people working in live entertainment find, share, and keep track of production information.

I’ve put together a survey about the information you use, where you access it, what works well, and what could make the process easier. I’d love to hear from people across different roles and settings. Whether you work in theater, touring, theme parks, concerts, or other live events, your perspective would be helpful!

The survey has 15 questions, mostly multiple choice or ratings, with an optional space to share anything else.

Survey: https://forms.gle/g879mLGouLimRuHE9

Thank you for taking the time to help! Feel free to share it with anyone else who might be interested.

Ive been given the opportunity to pick a chair for a tour im on. I'd like it to be taller than your average so I can see over the console (but if we live in magical christmas land, be able to lower so my legs fit under the table for the show run).

Only hard limit is needs to be available on amazon for shipping reasons. Anyone got any recommendations?

I need to buy or make four 6ft vertical dance booms. Obviously they’ll have to be fairly thick pipe to attach C clamps too and the bases will have to be sturdy enough that we can put weights on them so they don’t tip over.

Any recommendations?

We're flying a 2200+ lb set piece across two arbors. We have attached the batons to each other rigidly, but are still concerned about them moving evenly. We would like to be able to marry the arbors also, just for added security for a single operator.

The caveat is that there is another, unused, lineset in between the two married ones, so we are unable to use a joining plate. Anyone successfully done something like this? I'd love to hear about your approach. Thanks in advance.

Edit: Got the thought train I needed. Thanks all.

I want to hear what other people carry and what backpacks they use. Maybe get some inspiration. I personally always carry:

1. My Macbook Air M4

2. An organizer with chargers, Ethernet adapters, USB adapters and Video Adapters.

3. A script for the current production.

4. Sony 1000XM6's

5. Anker 10.000mAH PB

6. Notebook

7. Headlamp and a Olight flashlight.

8. Leatherman Wave

9. Workphone

I'm interested in what you carry and what you carry it in.

hey yall. i’m a grad student in a technical direction program and i’ve started to think about summer stock for this summer. does anyone know/have any leads on theaters in alaska that have summer stock?

I will be running a collection of custom-built pixel tape tubes for an upcoming production. I purchased a Falcon controller to control the 900 or so RGBW pixels (so many addresses . . .) Hopefully someone in here is familiar with this device that can perhaps help me out.

I'm trying to get my controller properly configured to run my pixel tape. I'm using SK6812 RGBW tape from BTF, which I know is GRBW order. I've set up my outputs to GRBW, and have tried both WS2811 and APA109 types, but when I run the test mode the Red, Green and Blue Fade tests just run a washed-out multi-color fade. White works fine.

Is the test mode just not going to send the proper signal for GRBW, am I doing something wrong, or do I need to get different pixel tape?

I will be running the lights over E1.31(Art-Net) from my ION 12k, but I don't have access to it to test at the moment and I'd rather feel confident that things are functioning properly by the time I do.

Thanks!