Heh. This is to me the shame of Tech Week; it is the time when everything is actually in the same room for the first time and there is a chance for the sparks of collaboration and inspiration to be struck. But, alas, there is no time; every theater insists on planning out 12-hour days to start with, leaving them no-where to go for the inevitable missed deadlines. And lights is pretty far downhill; they inherit the results of the missed deadlines of many of the other departments, meaning they are pushed into insane hours just trying to catch up to the old schedule.
That said, I'd like to think I'd be more flexible. I tend to be the kind of lighting person who respects the other departments and will compromise as necessary. (Perhaps that comes from working so much sound, where no-one realizes or respects that you need time to work and you end up compromising all the time!)
it takes time, and money, to make scenery and props and effects that stand up to use. A lot of theaters scrimp, and end up paying for it in exasperated cast and staff as every pre-show becomes a round of hasty hot-glue and gaff-tape repairs and every performance a nail-biting nightmare of what will fail next. Sounds like you have a good one. I really, really respect a shop that has the time and the expertise to properly actor-safe a set. Those are the kinds of shops that problem-solve -- that anticipate problems and test things properly in-shop, rather than reach into the bucket of tie line and drywall screws for a "this is good enough" and ship it that way.
That said, I'd like to think I'd be more flexible. I tend to be the kind of lighting person who respects the other departments and will compromise as necessary. (Perhaps that comes from working so much sound, where no-one realizes or respects that you need time to work and you end up compromising all the time!)
it takes time, and money, to make scenery and props and effects that stand up to use. A lot of theaters scrimp, and end up paying for it in exasperated cast and staff as every pre-show becomes a round of hasty hot-glue and gaff-tape repairs and every performance a nail-biting nightmare of what will fail next. Sounds like you have a good one. I really, really respect a shop that has the time and the expertise to properly actor-safe a set. Those are the kinds of shops that problem-solve -- that anticipate problems and test things properly in-shop, rather than reach into the bucket of tie line and drywall screws for a "this is good enough" and ship it that way.
