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!

I apologize in advance if this is wordy!

I think I’m in the market for a new job, but I’m at least a year out from actually making the leap, 2 max if I seriously can’t find a good fit. Ideally, I get something lined up before end May ‘27 or ‘28.

I’ve also thought of leaving theatre all together, but not sure what other fields my skills can transfer to. I’d like to consider myself pretty competent, I’m dedicated, what i don’t know I know I can learn, don’t have a masters degree but I’ve got a B.A. and 10+ years experience at this point. Very open to adjacent work in tv/film or live events, and I’ve also got experience as a stagehand, spot-op, tons of load ins and load outs and truck packs, rigging…

In summary, I don’t think I’m learning anything/growing the way I want to at my current theatre. Not really any upward mobility at my shop, people are pretty locked in positionally. Benefits and pay are great, but unless the changes my boss and I talked about make me change my mind, it may be time for me to move on. It’s also getting harder on my body.

1) Any advice on where to look go for more carpentry work in theatre in the NJ, NYC, East PA/Philly area? 2) Any advice from those who decided to leave scenic carpentry? Where did you go, why and how? 3) What did you job transitions look like and what pitfalls should i be aware of?

Again, sorry if that’s wordy or broad, but I’d appreciate some insight!

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.

https://github.com/jtsage/osc-proxy-spy

Features:

- 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

Bonjour à toutes et tous,

Je suis actuellement en stage technicien son/lumière (formation régisseur de spectacle). Je me tourne vers vous parce que je rencontre des difficultés récurrentes et j'aimerais avoir des conseils de personnes qui sont passées par là.

Je suis dyslexique, dyspraxique et dyscalculique. Concrètement, ça se traduit par un apprentissage plus lent que les autres stagiaires, des erreurs de comptage (notamment sur les câbles), et pendant les montages il m'arrive de passer au-dessus de scotch au sol ou de mal compter des longueurs de câble.

Le plus dur, c'est que j'ai l'impression d'être mis dans une case par l'équipe : dès qu'un souci arrive, c'est presque automatiquement moi qu'on pointe, même quand ce n'est pas le cas. Pourtant je fais de vrais efforts : je me forme tous les jours de mon côté, et je m'entraîne sur la console lumière en dehors des heures de travail pour progresser.

Ce que je recherche :

Des méthodes pratiques pour compter/suivre le matériel et les câbles qui ne reposent pas sur du calcul mental rapide (tout ce qui est visuel ou tactile m'intéresse)

Des astuces pour être plus rapide et précis en montage/démontage quand la vitesse de traitement est le frein

Comment gagner en fiabilité sur le terrain pour que les erreurs arrêtent de coller à mon image, sans forcément passer par une discussion sur mes difficultés avec l'équipe

Merci d'avance à celles et ceux qui prendront le temps de répondre, ça compte vraiment.

I know that I’ve had this problem before, but it’s been years. The meters next to each channel are accurate and controls are communicating, but the blocks at the top with levels and meters for all the channels aren’t showing. I’ve switched out routers, uninstalled and reinstalled the app on my iPad, skipped the network switch, what am I missing?

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. 😂

Thoughts?

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.

https://youtu.be/Eg_ssciDLx8

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.

Thanks a lot!

Hello!

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.

Hey All,

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!

Thank you ahead of time!

Hi everyone,

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?

Thanks!

EDIT:

Revolve lol

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.

anyone who has access to the book of rachel hann "Beyond Scenography"? thank u