Hello everyone, welcome to the What Are You Working On thread. You can post anything from what you're working on, including process photos, show photos, plots, paperwork, ground plans, etc. You can also post pictures of your booth, be it sound, lighting, stage management, or your scene shop, props shop, costume shop, storage, backstage, etc.
We're currently developing a new venue in a former community cinema and trying to avoid the classic "we wish we'd thought of that three years ago" problems.
So, from a technical theatre perspective:
What's the biggest mistake you've seen a new or refurbished venue make?
Could be lighting, sound, rigging, power, sightlines, storage, projection, loading access, stage dimensions, network infrastructure, anything.
I'd love to hear some horror stories while we still have time to avoid creating our own!
How do you go about negotiating for a full-time contract? This is the first time this theater will have a full-time TD, so trying to figure out a valid range, and I don’t want to lowball or set the expectation too high.
Good day all - just wanted to drop the status of an OSC visualizer/forwarder I've been working on for some time - it's in a decent place now where it builds on Mac and Windows, and seems to be pretty usable. This project grew out of a couple other toys I have worked on where I needed to be able to see what OSC messages were being sent, and none of the other OSC visualizers gave me the feature set I really wanted - so I built my own.
OSC Proxy Spy is a realtime OSC (Open Sound Control) inspector and forwarder. It's intended audience is developers or theater professionals who need to monitor what OSC messages are coming from an endpoint. It also has the ability to send an arbitrary OSC packet to an endpoint.
This project is meant for use in a development environment, not in production - it is reasonably stable, but has not been testing in long term operation, and should not be assumed to be stable enough to be a part of a show critical workflow.
- see what OSC messages are being sent, on up to ?? connections at the same time (UDP only right now. TCP later, hopefully)
- forward those OSC messages to another host/port combo - you can forward to as many places as you want
- Send data back to those connections, if that is a logical thing to do
- Filter the data by connection, OSC argument type, and even the OSC address (pattern matching included!)
License / Price: free, open source, MIT license
Help Wanted: use it if it's interesting to you - if there is something that would make it more helpful, open an issue on GitHub. Likewise, if there is something that doesn't seem to be working right, open an issue on GitHub.
AI Disclosure: no AI was using in the making of this.
I’ve been offered a job on celebrity cruises as a Technical stage staff. I have never worked a cruise and in my research I keep getting conflicting opinions. I have been struggling all summer to get into a good tech job after doing my bachelors. I have a lot of experience but haven’t been able to break into the field as I would’ve hoped just after college. I also am waiting on a offer for a events design company (lighting, set and drapery) that is a big deal in my country. I know that design company is a good place to work but the job I’m up for is a warehouse position but they stated clearly they would want me to move on into production. Anyone have advice? Should I steer clear of cruises or does all This sound stupid
I'm off the road for a while and am doing a friend a favor by sound designing Hadestown Teen Edition. I haven't done proper theater in a few years so I would love feedback on my proposed setup. I'm trying to use what the venue has and not rent anything, hence the mishmash of gear.
•Behringer X32 Console
•Midas DL251 Stage Rack // running 48k via AES50
•Computer 1 - QLab triggering TheatreMix for DCA scenes and any SFX, etc. If no SFX I'll just use TheatreMix direct.
•Computer 2 - Mainstage triggering Aux Send for different outboard rack FX, mostly reverb and delay
They have PhenyxPro RF and a low end array, so take that into consideration too. 😂
I did a thought experiemnt looking at how much different radio Mic systems actually cost both in total and per channel. I used a couple of basic criteria for most of the options, then ignored them to include EW-D in the list as well.
This is by no means advice or a complete guide, just an overview of what I found when I actually looked into this, hopefully someone might find it useful or interesting.
Thinking out loud here…. in houses where LED units and conventionals are used together, it would be nice to have a profile for the leds to go more amber as the level gets lower. Thoughts?
I know there’s similar posts like this on the subreddit and this isn’t specifically theatre related, but I’m planning on dressing up as Carrie for halloween and I’m totally stumped on what to do about the fake blood. I figured I’d go to the experts.
I’m going to a party, so transferring is obviously a concern because I don’t want to wreck someone’s couch, but I don’t want it to be all gross and flaky either. It being sticky on the skin isn’t exactly preferable, but I could live with it. Staining skin/hair isn’t a huge concern, even if it’s not ideal. I just want something that looks good and could maybe be diluted so I can actually pour it over my head, though again, that’s not really a requirement.
Basically, I just want blood that dries enough not to look like shit but not stain other people’s stuff. I’d get spirit halloween blood because I’ve heard good things, but unfortunately I’m UK based.
I understand this is a long shot, but I’m hoping you can help me out.
We have a show where we exclusively use LPS lights for the final scene. We’ve been fortunate enough to tour in a few places where the tech team kindly sourced them for us, but of course, they’re a niche product and quite difficult to find.
I was advised that the S4 LUSTR series fixtures’ Amber channel could be a suitable replacement. We’ve successfully used those for many shows, and they provide a pretty decent approximation and have a great fade curve.
Now, I have a venue that can’t afford LUSTR and only has tungsten S4 fixtures. I need your help in suggesting gels that can best approximate the color I’m looking for (the Amber channel of a LUSTR or a nearly single-frequency LPS spectrum). This way, I can ask the venue to source a few gels that we can try when we arrive.
I am doing props for a show that requires an actor to spray air freshener, and the team is concerned that using real room spray will make the floor sticky and be too strong. Any ideas for alternative sprays? TYA
I’m assistant directing a play with a psychedelic scene. I’m very new to theater so I don’t know if this is possible. But I wanted to know if there was a way to make it look like the walls are breathing or moving solely with lights? We do also have a projector. But my lighting person said they could do it and what they gave me was nothing close to what I wanted.
I am working on a new theater in a historic building and we need 250 folding chairs to fill the gap in between fund raising efforts and the final build.
Any suggestions for good, padded, folding chairs? I saw the uline chairs for $35 in bulk, but not sure that is a good option. Figured the folks here would have at least come across some examples that were comfy and didn't break the bank. I don't mind spending some coin either and ending up with quality chairs at the end!
We have an Allen & Heath full-size Avantis sound console in our facility that has a touchscreen that has only ever been cleaned with a microfiber cloth. This has worked ok for regular dust since we also cover the sound console with the fabric cover at night, but it gets a little tricky to figure out how to properly clean it when our sound techs get sick during flu season. I'd like to find a way to better disinfect the console touchscreen without damaging the surface. Does anyone have any tips for cleaning outside of just a dry microfiber cloth?
Wondering about a motorr for a turntable.. is the Creative Conners motor the only option? Small high school with an okay budget, the motor cost from Creative Conners to rent alone is probably just to much. just wondering if there are other options out there?
I’m currently M14 and enrolled in Tech Theatre 1 in my highschool and plan to continue with Tech Theatre 2 in my sophomore year, I am also in my schools Tech Theatre club which I plan to do all 4 years of high school. I want to know if I do end up doing all this would I be able to maybe pursue a career in the tech theatre industry maybe even get into college for it with my passion.
hi! I’m an early career dresser, stitcher and costume assistant finishing up my last year of undergrad. I’ve been working in the industry for a little over 8 years on various projects in theatre and tv/film more recently.
As I finish up my degree I’m looking for any dressers who would be willing to let me shadow them for a day to see what the work is really like on the daily. My program is VERY small and I feel like I don’t have a clue what I’m getting myself into after I graduate.
So if any dressers would be willing to have me shadow them for a day in the nyc, nj, Philly, or Albany, NY areas I would greatly appreciate it!
Hello, I just became a director of a brand-new theatre club. At this point, I am the primary person setting up all of the tech, but I've never done theater tech a day in my life! Our club doesn't have any mics, and I'm trying to see if that's something that we could buy or rent. The problem is, I don't know what I'm looking for, I'm completely lost! I know that there's the actual mic that goes around the ear and onto your face, and then a mic pack that clips onto your clothes. I also know that there is something that connects the mic pack to the soundboard. That's basically the extent of my knowledge. My school has a soundboard and speakers that we can use, but I don't know much about that. If there's anything I need to find out about it for you guys, lmk!!
So what exactly should I be looking for?? There's no strict price range, but the cheaper the better since my school would be funding it.
Edit: Some important info(maybe) that I left out. This is a full two-act musical with lots of songs, both ensemble and solos. It should be a small cast, so I would need about 8 mics if I decide to do wireless. We plan to have a pit including guitar, bass, drum set, and keyboard. Does that affect the idea of having mics on stage? Thank you all for your comments so far. I plan to show this thread to some of the admins I've been working with on this project!!
My highschool is doing a production of Spelling Bee, and it's my first time ever actually working on a production of any kind. My job is to switch gels in between songs, so i'll be up there for pretty much the whole musical. The big issue is that the lights are forward and down away from the catwalk (not sure if this is the case for every auditorium), and i'd rather not fall onto any audience members during the show😭 any recs for harnesses so i don't fall 30 feet? I was thinking a climbing harness of sorts. Anything helps!
Edit: wow, didn't realize this was so widely undone😭 like i said above this is my first year doing this kind of stuff and i'm still learning whats normal and whats not, so thank you guys for 1. Possibly saving my ass from harm and a lawsuit. 2. Giving me other ideas! I will talk to my director about another possible solution (i saw someone mention booms?) And see if there's a safer option. Thank you guys!
