Still in Day 10, it's currently 1:53am. We're in technical rehearsals for "The Magic Flute". But here's how the day began...
I got a text from Mom talking about some mail I had received, and one was from Towson University. Thinking she could take care of whatever it was from home, she opened it. It said I made the Dean's List last semester.
Someone at Towson made a mistake. I'll have to call them and rectify the situation.
First thing today was a production meeting for "Madama Butterfly", the show that i'm the A/V point person for. They went over the model design, the scenic changes, and the needs from props, A/V, etc. It was a quick meeting (15-20 minutes), and I was back to the theatre in no-time. The next A/V need was for a video camera pointed at the conductor. Apparently in Opera, the conductor makes many of the entrance cues, and the maestro needs to be seen at all times backstage. There are also monitors in the catwalks for the actors on-stage to see him as well.
The initial position of the camera was too far away, creating an obstruction during rehearsal. We moved it closer and zoomed out, making a nice, tight focus. We also needed to move the video connection to the stage left wing due to my futzing with stage right for the past few days.
Next around 11am was time for our respirator fit test. Every employee needs to do a fit test, due to the amount of chemicals and particulates around the campus. Everyone doesn't have to wear a respirator, but you get fitted for one just in case. The first thing we did was put on a hood (like a bomb squad hood) and a dilluted chemical known as Bitrex was sprayed into the hood. It was done for a future reference, so we knew what it tasted like when it was time to really test the respirator.
For the record, it tastes like you put coins in your mouth, but it's a subtle (yet overwhelming) taste in your cheeks. Not pleasant.
Next we put on the respirator mask itself, and did a vacuum test. It's where you hold your hands against the filters and suck in, and if the seal around your face is correct, no air should make it's way in, sealing the mask against your face. Mine took a little adjustment, but I got it to work. The final test is the hood goes back on with the respirator on this time, and full, 100% Bitrex is sprayed into the hood. If you can't taste it, then your respirator is working! The cool thing about this process is that all apprentices receive a free respirator mask AND free filter cartridges. The Opera only buys one type of cartridge, which is the one that filters the most types of particulates and dust, etc.
So cool.
The rest of the day was cleaning up, dressing cable, and re-organizing. Around 5pm we set up the tech table, setting up intercoms, etc. One discovery we made was the ICA system wasn't working from the tech table. The ICA is a broadcast system hooked up to an intercom channel. It's tied into loudspeakers in the catwalks, and allows someone on-stage (or anywhere with an intercom) to talk to those in the catwalks without having to shout. Pretty cool idea, actually. We did a little bit of troubleshooting, but it was time for me to go to dinner and everyone else to go home.
On my break, I took a few photos to help everyone get their bearings (and because Mom asked):
Above is a shot from behind the orchestra seating, just underneath the balcony.
Here is a photo from the top of the balcony, house right. There are about 2100 seats in this theatre.
Another view of the balcony, you can see on the right side the "wind walls" from my early blog posts.
In front of every seat is a screen which can show the subtitles of the show, in real time, in English or Spanish.
Coming back from dinner, the electrics crew started light focus. Now is what we call "Hurry up and Wait", where you're on standby in case something breaks, but you don't really have a task to do. So you keep busy, like writing blog posts. We had another intercom box that was just sitting on the table, which would have been much more efficient and easier to use if it was mounted in our audio rack, so with the Boss's permission, in it went.
At midnight, there's a tradition called "Grey Lady"; nobody's explained it to me yet, but it consists of a late night meal, as a thank you to everyone who stuck around since 5pm (or earlier, like many of us) for the late technical rehearsal. There was pizza, soda, candy, chips, everything a body needs at midnight (yeah, right).
But now, it's 3:37am, and I have to be back at work in a little more than five hours. So good night.
-Matt
P.S. - Sorry to make you wait for this one, Jay, but my day wasn't over until just now. :)
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