Technical Theatre: A Brief Tutorial

What Makes a Techie?

I'm glad you asked. A techie is a bizarre amalgam of adjectives like the following:

• Hard-working
• Smart
• Obnoxious
• Awesome
• Intrepid
• Resourceful
• Overworked
• Underappreciated

And many others.

The literal definition of a techie is anyone working behind the scenes on a play or other kind of production. This includes costume, props, electrics, and stage crews. It also includes a management team consisting of one or more stage managers.

Techies do all sorts of things. We start by building the sets, and this begins at roughly the same time that actors begin rehearsing, depending on its complexity. Then, as the rehearsals go on, more and more tech is added to the mix.

Areas of Tech Theatre

Because tech encompasses so many things, techies are generally divided into several discrete departments. These descriptions are given in terms of a play, but natural extensions reveal the departments for any kind of performance.

Stage Management. Stage managers are involved in the rehearsal process from the beginning, recording everything. A big part of any stage manager's job is to keep detailed information on the show. This includes blocking, notes, and lots of lists. She usually works closely with the director, trying to figure out ways to make everything run smoothly. As tech is added to the rehearsals, the stage manager becomes their advocate and leader through the process. During the shows, she sits in the booth and calls cues to each of the techies. Anything technical that needs to happen, happens with a "go" from the stage manager.

Her assistants are often the people receiving those cues. In shows that don't need a stage crew, they often do simple tasks like flying the curtain, changing sets, and assisting actors with various issues. Basically, ASMs are the eyes, ears, and hands of the stage manager backstage. If there is something the SM needs doing, the ASMs are generally told to do it. This makes their task one of the most boring of all.

The Set. Generally, there are a lot of setbuilders. They work for several weeks, building the set from the ground up. Unless they work in some other capacity with the play, they don't attend rehearsals or performances. They build stuff, and then their job is over.

Props. The term "properties" actually covers far more than most people think it does. Furniture is considered part of props, as is set dressing: curtains, pictures hanging on the walls, and doodads sitting around. The props that everyone thinks of as props are called hand props, and they're vital to the action of the play. A props show consists of two major jobs, which, if you think about it, should probably be assigned to different people. However, it all gets thrown at the props crew.

First, the props need to be found or built; somehow they need to be procured by the props crew. Techniques used to get props include the three B's: Beg, Borrow, Buy, and Steal. Depending on skills and resources, a good number of props can be built. The choice is made chiefly with time and money in mind. Props are one of those things (like all things in Theatre) that just get better when you throw money at them.

The other job that the props crew faces is the management of their props in rehearsals. This usually involves making a props table and keeping the actors from touching the props without being told to do so. Unfortunately, actors tend to be fascinated with other actors' props, and many props are quite fragile. When handled by actor hands, many props break. Thus, the props crew has to be ready for repairs, replacements, and angry speeches to the cast.

The Stage Crew. Stagehands, when necessary, generally get a workout. They are the people responsible for moving the sets during scene changes. They are usually led by one or more Crew Chiefs, who are experienced and strong. When told to by the stage manager, these people work frantically. At other times, however, there are frustrating periods of inactivity. This is possibly the reason that the stage crew is known for making trouble backstage. They're just bored. To amuse themselves, they provoke actors, pull pranks, and smoke.

Electrics. Actually, this is best thought of as two separate departments.

Audio. The sound crew is chiefly responsible for ensuring that all sounds are heard properly by the audience. This usually includes some degree of sound reinforcement. This is the art of putting microphones in places that can pick up the actors' voices (and the orchestra if necessary) and routing those microphones through loudspeakers mounted in places where the audience can hear them.

Another concern of the audio crew is to make sure that the singers, if there are singers, can hear their music in a musical.

In addition to these rather mundane tasks, the sound crew is responsible for any audio effects that happen. This includes sound effects like distant church bells and thunder. Such effects can be recorded and played back through the audio mixing system, or they can be created offstage by using more old-fashioned techniques. The audio technicians usually sit in the sound booth, at the sound board, and there are generally only one or two of them. They are also responsible for any in-house headset communication system.

Lighting. The lighting crew is responsible for all of the luminaries on stage and off. Their job is to make sure that the lighting is consistent and transmits the theme of the play. A lighting designer presides, deciding what lights to point where and how to use them. The master electrician is usually at the lighting designer's mercy, doing whatever he says. However, the master electrician rarely needs to be in attendance for rehearsals or performances. When all the lights are hung and focused, the light board operator takes over, following the lighting designer's instructions, which are given to him by the stage manager.

Lighting can be an exciting part of any play, because it helps to communicate the atmosphere of the scene to the audience. Many different lighting effects can be achieved with the available equipment. More on that later.

What tools does a techie have to accomplish his tasks?

Actors have only one simple tool to do their job. That tool is the script, and it is invaluable to the actor's craft. Techies, on the other hand, have countless awesome tools at their disposal. They begin with the script, of course, just like a lowly actor, but soon they move on to bigger guns.

• The 8" adjustable wrench is used to manipulate a large number of techie-operated equipment. Its most common use is to focus lighting instruments like spotlights. The tilt and pan axes on a conventional lighting instrument can be tightened with such a device, and it comes in handy for all sorts of other things, too.
• The Mag-lite® can actually be any small flashlight. It is used to see into dark places in the absence of nightvision goggles.
• The black gaffer's tape. This is useful for a great deal of things. Taping down cable, making emergency repairs on that pesky set piece or hand prop, covering reflective parts of your clothing: there is no end to the uses of this versatile tape.