Today is a 5pm-2am shift again, this time it's the third technical rehearsal for "Madame Butterfly", where i'm told all of the technical elements start to come together. Since "Butterfly" is the show i'm in charge of, I need to be here to make sure all the tech requirements are met. For those interested, the tech rehearsal process seems to be:
• Lighting Session (which i'm guessing is show-specific focus with the designer? I'll let you know, i'm doing three of them next week)
• Technical Rehearsal #1 (The lighting designer begins designing for the first act)
• Technical Shift Rehearsal (The stage crew rehearses intermission shifts and scene shifts. My roommate (Juan) said that they timed their first intermission shift, and it was 40 minutes. Since intermission is only 25 minutes long, the rehearsal helps tremendously in knocking down that shift time and becoming more efficient)
• Technical Rehearsal #2 (The lighting designer designs the second act)
• Technical Rehearsal #3 (The lighting designer designs the third act and the show is reviewed)
• A "Run" through (really a stumble-through of the entire show)
• Piano Dress Rehearsal (A full-blown production rehearsal with costumes, but just a piano instead of full orchestra)
• Dress Rehearsal #1
• Dress Rehearsal #2
• Open
Since i've only experienced the first half of this list, I can't say what the stumble-through or dress rehearsals entail, but I will surely let you know.
In the meantime, I've done jack-squat today. I chatted with Caitlin while she ran errands and got ready for work, and I went to Trader Joe's for a few groceries. Made a sandwich before heading to work at 5pm.
As the sun was setting, the stage crew was putting the final touches on the set pieces for "Madame Butterfly", including some nice telephone poles. The wires between the poles had to be attached first, then raised into the air. Soon after, the sun went down completely, the theatre dropped it's house lights, and the cueing process began.
There's not a whole lot for A/V to do during a technical rehearsal. Tonight, we babysat the intercom system, and made sure that all video monitors continued to work. After a few hours, you go and swap a battery in a wireless intercom pack. We did have a brief bit of fun when a brownout hit and the entire theatre went dark for a few moments. Electrics had to pause while scrollers reset themselves, and they figured out if their HMI's went out and had to be relamped.
At midnight, we have a tradition called "Grey Lady". Nobody is really sure where it came from, but it means at midnight, all work stops, and we dine on a "fourth meal". My first Grey Lady was last week, and we had pizza. I've been told that each Grey Lady gets progressively better and better. Tonight's Grey Lady?
Fried Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, and Mac & Cheese. Booya! And it was made in the Cantina, too. Homemade tastes even better.
Although i'm about to pass out from exhaustion, I promised last week I would try and put to words what it's like when the sun goes down and tech begins. When you arrive at 5pm, the hustle and bustle of the work day is still alive, the sun is still beating down relentlessly. Everybody who has been there since the morning is eager to finish up and go home. You drop off your bag, prep your evening work, and hang out until people come to fetch intercom headsets from you.
The electrics crew begins focus before the sun sets, and it takes about an hour and a half. After that, stage management and props show up and prep what they need for the technical rehearsal. The lighting designer needs to see the final show props and costumes so they know how light looks on them, and the assistant stage managers and props running crew play stand-ins for the actual performers. After the light crew finishes up, the stage crew preps the stage for whenever in the opera the lighting designer needs to begin working. At this point, the sun is very low in the sky, very amber, and very bright. It's almost impossible to look upstage without blinding yourself.
Around 8:15pm, the intensity of the sun abruptly changes. It begins to duck behind the distant mountains and a very rapid pace. What was only a few minutes ago threatening to trip you up is now distant. The heat, the blinding light are gone. The ambient light begins to drop very rapidly, your eyes barely responding quick enough to adapt.
And then it's twilight, and the stage crew is complete. The entire theatre becomes quiet. The feeling is serene. The temperature is crisp, just enough to warrant a hoodie or sweatshirt. When you're working during the day, you can easily forget where you are, and how this is just a regular theatre. It isn't until the sun goes down that you realize how different this place is. The sun still grasping onto the mountains, the utter silence, the coolness of the air. It's immersive. You can't escape it. The environment surrounds you, in the audience, backstage, on the back deck. No matter where you go, the presence of the Opera is with you.
It's not sticky, or humid, or uncomfortable in any way. It's just...perfect. Every night. In Maryland, you cherish evenings like these, because you can count on one hand the number of evenings like this. But in Santa Fe, they are limitless. I had made a comment during my first evening tech rehearsal to Tracy (Assistant to the Production Director) about how unreal this was, and she said after doing this for so many years, she couldn't imagine going back to a dark, indoor theatre for 10-out-of-12 rehearsals.
I can't blame her.
There's a spot on the back deck, to the left of the B-lift behind the Costume Crafts shop that no light travels. Anywhere else on the theatre campus, there's stage light, or work light, or some kind of light pollution. Not behind the Costume Crafts shop. Tread carefully until you're immersed in darkness.
Now look straight up.
Words cannot describe how powerful it is to be immersed in the starry night sky. The longer you stay, the more your eyes adjust, and the more detail you never thought was possible becomes real. In Maryland, you have great night if you can see the Big Dipper. In Santa Fe, the Big Dipper nearly knocks you over. It's just so breath-taking.
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