Day 26 (Friday, for those keeping track)

Today is the first dress rehearsal of "Madama Butterfly", with a piano instead of the full orchestra. Even without an orchestra, the rehearsal is considered a real performance, with makeup and costume calls, places calls, and a strict timeframe for all departments.

My first task was to get wireless intercom up and running, because electrics crew needed to begin focusing. Once that was set up, I went down to Orchestra Services and got my Stieren Walkway monitor up and running. I went around the rest of the theatre and made sure the roving video monitors worked as well. The energy around the stage was very high, everybody focused on bringing this production alive. Shawn (the stage manager) was at the stage manager's desk, making places calls, gathering information and wrangling the whole production together. All of his calls were crisp and clear, and his professionalism renewed my confidence in my own work; it made me want to work harder to deliver my department for this production.

During focus, we hung two flat-screen conductor monitors about chest-high just inside the proscenium, something that was requested during rehearsals and needs to remain throughout every performance. Unfortunately, other shows need that same position for lighting instruments, the flat-screen has to be taken down after every performance of "Butterfly". So we get the monitors hung and working, about two hours before the run starts. However, throughout the pre-show process, we're told repeatedly that the monitors have stopped working. Apparently, as the electrics crew were getting to the lights near the flat screens, cables were getting unplugged. What I need to do in the future is hang the screens, but leave the cables unplugged until focus is complete, so they won't get unplugged or damaged.

We started on-time, but the pre-show work still took too long; focus ran over, which means stage crew started late, and props started late. It's why we do dress rehearsals, and hopefully the next rehearsal will be much tighter.

As for the run itself, when you're in the A/V control room, you're in the center of all the communications for the theatre. You hear all the intercom calls, and the show runs like a well-oiled machine. Several times throughout the run, we stopped so the director could make a few changes, but the run went well. Definitely a learning experience!