Daily Journal Entries
Daily Journal Entries
2/17/2025
Production meeting:
-Good on inventory
-sound monitor off center?
-Amulet Lamps
-12v led for lanterns DS
-3 amulets 2 light up one is Not
-touch base with Michael about speaker placement
Today was pretty productive. Most of strike is done for John Proctor. I touched base with Michael concerning scheduling when over stage hang will occur - scheduled for Feb 24 & 26 during his class time. In the meantime I will work with electricians to continue striking John Proctor and preparing equipment to be hung. This will hopefully eliminate the bottleneck of finding proper instruments to hang during class time. A message has been sent to the scenic designer letting her know that we are going to use the space at that time, I have concerns that she will try to push me to another time. I have confirmed with the lighting designer how the ColorForces should be configured. 1’ sections with RGBW assuming we have the DMX space available.
2/18/2025
Today went well. I wrote out a data plan today. Strike for John Proctor continued and we began prepping equipment to be hung on Monday and Wednesday with Michael’s class. A discrepancy has been found with the 50 EDLT inventory; Inventory says we have 14, I only count 10. Will follow up with Rylie tomorrow and contact Brandon if needed.
To Do Tomorrow:
-Swap luster Y5 to be on 4th electric so can data with be in the same universe as the ColorForces to open a node up
-Continue strike of FOH BB2 & TWG
2/19/2025
Overall today went pretty well. Ended a few hours early due to snow rolling in. We sorted out the barrel discrepancy, they were right in front of us. The finalized plot has been printed today and strike continued in FOH. The TWG has been hung and cabled and is ready to be patched. The BB2 Solaframes have been shuffled up to their proper positions. Kenny recommended we use a pulley from above the TWG and have people on the ground support the weight of the light, that worked quite well. All of the lights have been prepped for hanging overstage with proper barrels. BB1 HL has been hung with the exception of one S4 jr. Electric 4A has been hung and the ColorForces have been setup following the designer's request.
4x mode strobe off.
To Do Tomorrow:
-Bring down 6 50deg S4jrs from the back of the TWG.
-Strike the pile of cable in the corners of the grid over the BB1s
-Hang BB1 HR
-Look at color order
2/20/2025
Completed Today:
-Hung HR BB1, and both BB2, and electric 1A
-Cabled the HL BB1
-Dropped Color in all of the TWG - Still need the Side light color
-Dropped color in both BB1 - still need side light color
Today went well. No major hiccups today besides paints having the drop stretched to the floor blocking the way around. I guess the biggest struggle I had was trying to give lab students the opportunity to hang the Box booms which were rather complicated and they do not have much experience hanging lights let alone doing it while standing at the top of the box boom. I ended up having these students get lens tubes in lights and either C clamps or Side arms on them.
To Do Tomorrow:
-Cable the rest of the box booms
-Call LD
-Pull together Gel order
-Drop color BB2s
2/21/2025
Phone call with LD:
-Order lamps w/ Brandon
-color - open to warm white or cool - leaning warm
-LED tape lengths
Completed Today:
-called lighting designer
-pulled together gel and framed what we have
-installed iCues
-cabled HRBB1
-cabled 4A
-brought down and setup console
-Adjusted nodes overhead to match what is needed in the show
Today was overall pretty productive however it felt very slow. I am ready to have overstage hung and out of the way to not be looming over my head. The gel order was sent to Brandon this afternoon. The ColorForces that are overhead got cabled and patched into the console. They all turn on and off as expected however the color encoders on the console are not mixing the color, only the color picker tab. I need to do some research into why this may be happening. Next week we are looking at completing over stage on Monday - Wednesday. I have the data plan and power plan ready so I know where everything is getting plugged into. I think today felt slow because it was many small tasks that were completed. I also on several occasions got my plans altered because scenic was either in the way or changed what they were doing last second so I could not do what I had just prepared to do.
To Do Next Working Day:
-Move lights to be hung from house to stage
-Research more about color changing ColorForces
-Hang overhead with Michael’s class
-Cable what we can
-Cable BB2s
-Production meeting
2/24/2025
Completed Today:
-Chandelier/practical document sent
-Prepped power and data for all line sets over stage hang
-Production Meeting
-Hung cabled and gelled 0A, 1, 3,4
Today was exciting. We got more than half of over stage hung, cabled, colored and patched. This is a big step forward. The ColorForce color encoder issue solved itself this time when I booted up the console so no need to follow up. Today’s production meeting we discussed a lot about the practical lights and lanterns that will be used. We came to the conclusion that I will pick the three that work best for putting an RC4 and battery in and will go from there with the designers. I think some of the lanterns will definitely be easier than others to make light up. Some of the units that the scenic designer has picked are purpose built lights where as others are empty shells, the shells will be significantly easier to work on because it is not going to be retrofitting to make it work it will be a new install system. I was frustrated that the scenic designer assumed I was okay with all of the lights that were picked. I was told by her during a sidebar conversation before the production meeting that the designers were going to decide what fixtures will need to be acquired then you will need to okay them. During the meeting she said to the group that I gave the ok on all of the lights that were picked and that is simply not true. Some of the lights that she picked it is very hard to tell if we will be able to retrofit or not.
To Do From Production Meeting:
-Email Brandon order 2 rolls of LED tape
-Email stage managers to ask for video of Dlights when they come in to Cat and I
To Do Tomorrow:
-Trouble shoot HL ICue
-Trouble shoot Sea changers - Wrong profile in patch?
-Wire up an RC 4 test with lamp
2/25/2025
Completed Today:
-Tested RC4 dimming for locket lantern
-Pulled the chandeliers from inventory and put on LS13
Today overall was rather frustrating. For the first time today I was informed that there are more than 5 chandeliers that were planned for hanging over stage and was told that I should have been aware of it because that is how it was displayed in the rendering. I found this to be rather frustrating because on both the plot and scenic ground plan there are five chandlers on LS13. Today as we went to hang them on the pipe the scenic designer starts talking about having seven fixtures and maybe an eighth if room needs to be filled in. I let the lighting designer know that what the scenic designer wants is different than what is on her paperwork. I was made to believe that this was my fault and I should have accounted for the fact that they are stacked multiple high on the ground plan and not assumed that there is only the number drawn on the paperwork. Tomorrow I will need to figure out where to add 2 maybe 3 more dimmers from. I think the part that is really starting to get at me is the not knowing exactly how many we need. Saying we may add another one later is very easy for the scenic designer to say but when it comes to actually making it light up not nearly as simple. I think a part of the reason I am personally struggling with this situation is because I feel unsupported by the scenic designer through this project. In my eyes it seems very clear to me that she does not have the understanding or care of what it takes to make something light up and that it is not just as simple as just plugging it in. Where is the power coming from? How much cable will it use? So on and so forth.
The other piece I struggled with today was trying to determine where exactly what practical fixture went on the pipe. I took the rendering with seemingly random placement numbers to the scenic designer and asked her to clarify where exactly she wanted each unit, I was then handed a paper with photos of each unit and a blurb saying what line set and if it is SL or SR. To my understanding these two documents conflict with each other but when I tried to ask for clarification I was still not given a clear answer as to where they should be. I proceeded with what she wrote down and explained to me.
UPDATE: The lighting designer is okay with having more units on LS13 however they each need to be individually controllable.
To Do Tomorrow:
-Trouble Shoot HL ICUE
-Trouble Shoot Sea Changers
-Add more circuits to LS13
-Hang the rest of over stage
2/26/2025
Completed Today:
-Hung, cabled, gelled, patched and rest the rest of over stage.
-Corrected the chandeliers that were in fact hung wrong.
-Got LD approval on RC4 LED diming.
Overall today was productive. First thing in the morning the gel order came in however the side light color came in as R3408 when it needed to be R3208. The proper gel is being sent. Following that we hung electric 2A and re arranged the chandlers and added the few that we still needed to get from furniture storage. Kenny and I then hung the second electric but saved the cabling and gel to be done with Michaels class. With Michaels class we completed the second electric, 1B and the speakers got hung. I felt bad that the 132 class did not get to hang many lights but I don't think all of this would have been completed today by 3:00 for the set to start to be placed had we waited for it to be done during class.
In regard to the chandeliers, I got another drawing now listing the dimension of chain that the scenic designer wants. I asked if it was possible to get an exact measurement but she was not willing to give me that. Instead, she wants to mess with them while they are hanging. This in my opinion is touching things multiple times and seems rather in efficient to me. I expressed that concern and it was not very well received. The ordered chandelier also came in today. I will need to do more work to figure out how to hang this unit. It has no chain and does not have an obvious way to add one. Kenny and I will brainstorm to figure out a safe way to hang this.
Some of the practicals came in today as well. Most of these are straight forward and will need a lamp socket added. The two hurricane lanterns have a plug and an in line switch. I think the easiest course of action will be to cut the cable above the switch and wire it directly to the LED driver on the fore stage.
On another note, the lighting designer approved the video I sent of the RC4 LED dimming. I passed a lamp along to the scenic desinger so she can model the locket piece. I requested that there is a place to be able to chase wire up to the chain and that the locket is serviceable in the event that something goes wrong.
Overall today was alright. I tried my best to not get frustrated with the scenic designer. And we got a lot accomplished today.
To Do Tomorrow:
-Set Trim
-Cable HR + HL bb2
-Drop lamps in chandeliers
-Trouble Shoot HL ICUE (low priority)
-Trouble Shoot Sea Changers (low priority)
2/27/2025
Completed Today:
-Researched idle power draw of RC4 Dimmer
-Cabled HR & HL BB2 with the exception of the Lustrs
-Installed 7th Chandelier on LS13
-Put lamps in and tested all chandeliers
-Cut and dropped Side light color
-Set Trim of electrics
-Trimmed the Chandeliers
Today was smooth. I had an extra hour that I got to spend working because one of my classes today was canceled. First thing in the morning the box booms got cabled and the chandelier got hung. In the afternoon the priority was getting the Chandeliers squared away because the only way to access the pipe was to get the genie behind the wall and extend the basket over it. We started with setting the pipe to trim then the scenic designer wanted to change the height of every single unit. This was mildly frustrating because she could have just given me the dimension from the pipe to begin with. She wanted to hang them and have me adjust in place. Personally I would rather not work on the same unit twice if not absolutely needed and I would much rather work on the ground instead of almost at max genie height with the basket out.
Today I was also able to do a little bit of research on the RC4 power consumption, their forums have an awesome article detailing how much power they use constantly. https://rc4wireless.com/knowledge-base/rc4_power_draw/ . For a 12V system we are looking at 0.75 / 12V = 62.5mA constant draw for the electronics inside the dimmer. I also was able to clarify that channels 161, 162, and 163 are going to be wireless. I also found that the scenic designer has added a few additional units on deck level that we will need to provide power to.
At next week’s production meeting I need to ask about if we are wanting to use haze. This ties into why the lustrs did not get cabled today, we have run out of nodes in the TWG and need to provide data to 2 fixtures. We are also starting to run low on DMX cable so that is a slight worry for me. If we are not using haze I will run data from that node to the HR lustr. I think I may use the portable Node for the HL lustr unless I can scheme up a way that uses less cable.
I also had the chance today to rig the purchased chandler to be safe to hang. I drilled two holes in the metal cap of the light and added 2 pieces of 1/8” aircraft cable and put stopper swages on the ends so they cannot pass through the hole. I then swaged those two together to form a bridle and ran the lamp wire up the lift line.
To Do Next Working Day:
-Data to Lustrs
-Lamp order information to Brandon
-Production meeting
-Repair mover?
-Trouble Shoot HL ICUE (low priority)
-Trouble Shoot Sea Changers (low priority)
3/10/2025
Completed Today:
-Fixed icues and seachanger - patch issue
-Hung rail lights
-Inverted movers pan / tilt as needed to make them operate the same
-Cabled FOH Lustrs
-Placed Booms except DSR
-Production meeting
-Channel Check
Today felt incredibly slow. This is not shocking considering we all just had a week off. This morning we started out with trouble shooting the data issues with the sea changers and the I cues. Both of the problems were patch related. The proper dimmer was patched to the channel but the wrong intelligent part of the fixture was patched. Following that we got the lights hung on the fly rail. The DSL most boom is proving to be problematic because of how small that area is. After a conversation with the lighting designer, she is willing to put the sea changer that is supposed to be at 8’6” on the lowest pipe on the hand rail. The shin unit will be placed on a floor plate. Tomorrow I need to chat with Kenny and find a way to get the 6’ unit placed. Today we also had the opportunity to do a channel check of the whole system. Everything that has been hung is functioning as it should.
I got a chance today to work with the costume designer to show him what is needed on electrics end for the wireless lockets. A dual mic pack rig will work perfectly, one pouch for the battery and one for the RC4 / cable.
I am starting to get a little bit worried about the amount of cable we have left in the electrics room. We only have 10’ DMX remaining and are running pretty low on Edison as well. I was asked to wait to install the sconces and lanterns until the set has been painted, and I have heard that the scenic designer wants to do something to the foot light trough. I also have the ground row and floor units to install but again, I can’t install those until the floor is painted. I am worried that this is going to make next week absolute chaos trying to get it all done because I couldn’t do it sooner.
To Do Tomorrow:
-Continue on booms
-Touch base with Brandon about repairing the mover
-Touch base with Bridgette about timeline for paint and trough
3/11/2025
Completed Today:
-Hung all booms except a few jrs
-Cabled SL Boom 3
-Gel in all lights on boom that were hung
-Floor plates on US Pars
Today was much better than yesterday, I feel like I am getting back into the swing of things. The day started with an electrician putting floor plates on pars and cutting the color for them. In the afternoon we hung all of the booms with the exception of 3 S4 Jrs. When they got pulled from the TWG 3 36deg were accidentally brought down instead of 50s we will need to swap them out tomorrow, but no big deal because they are all low to the deck. Originally I was planning to pull power for SR boom 3 from the back wall however the opportunity presented itself to drop power and data from the third electric so I took that option instead. This path used much less cable. I’ll need to adjust the node but that is no worry.
I need to touch base with the designer, but I think the best course of action will be to wait to install the ground row until overhead focus is complete to allow for US ladder/genie access as well as keeping the new color forces in the best shape as possible with paint and dust in the area. I also had a chat with the scenic designer about letting me know when I am good to start installing the lanterns on the set. The scenic designer mentioned that I can do what ever I need in the trough so forward movement on led tape, birdies and lanterns will begin shortly.
To Do Tomorrow:
-Set 3rd electric node right hand port to univ 2
-Patch SR Boom 3 (45-48)
-Swap 36jrs for 50jrs and hang
3/12/2025
Completed Today:
-Cabled the rest of the booms
-Swapped out the Jrs and hung them
-Installed and cabled Birdies
-Patched everything that is circuited to date
-Hung 3 practicals on DS walls
-Prepped more practicals to be hung tomorrow
-Addressed ground row color forces
Today went swimmingly! The morning we started off with finishing out the booms and getting that world finished up. Following that we installed the Birdies DS and got them cabled and patched. We also added the LED Driver and power supply to the trough to be ready for the LED tape and the 12v Lanterns that will be also in / on the trough.
As a part of installing the practicals today, we had to find a way to install a lamp and a base into the “candle holder” fixtures. I prototyped having the base on the bottom of the unit in a block however I found that it was best if the lamp wire came through a hole drilled in the top of the housing and the lamp base was suspended from the top of the unit with a zip tie that is strung through. I think this provides the best light output through the glass and It seems to be a pretty straightforward way of illuminating these fixtures. At the end of the day we worked on getting some more of these practical fixtures ready to be hung tomorrow. The units have a longer lamp wire, a base, and a lamp all installed and ready to be hung once paint is complete.
Lastly, we had a few extra minutes at the end of the day where we were able to set up the profiles on the color forces so they will be ready to lay out at focus.
I felt that today went really well in terms of time managment and having tasks ready to go that fit the amount of time at hand. At the beginning of the week I was a little nervous having two weeks until focus however now I feel we are in a pretty good spot rollng into the week before focus.
To Do Tomorrow:
-Set up LD table / RVI
-Count DMX
-Mask off lower lights from paint sprayer
-Continue hanging practicals
3/13/2025
Completed Today:
-Mocked up wireless practical
-Masked off lights in harms way from paint sprayer
-Set up LD RVI
-Got DMX Count
Today was okay. We did not get a lot done due to the set not being painted. We did get all of the lights that are in the splash zone that could be painted masked off. We also got a count of how many DMX cables we have left. Currently we stand with 14 10’ cables remaining. Doing the quick mental math we should be alright on DMX.
In practical land, I started tinkering with the hurricane lantern. They are a little bit problematic because the base is not a standard size that is found in America. It is a sightly larger than candelabra base. To work around this, we took that base and wiring assembly out and installed a candelabra base. The next step we took was to open up the base of the lantern for battery storage. The 3000 mAh battery are just slightly too large and wont fit. We are talking with the LD about other possible battery options. After doing some digging online I found that to run the RC4 and a 2W lamp at 100% it will use 230 mAh or roughly 165 mAh for the lamp and 65 mAh for the RC4. On the 3000 mAh battery this set up should be able to run for 13 hours. Im wondering if we can find a trusted battery that is maybe half the size and still get pretty good run time out of them.
I am frustrated because when I went to talk to the scenic designer about what she though about the problem with the lanterns she immediately wanted me to go with her to talk to the director about what is going on. She then proceeded to over run the conversation and speak on my behalf and turn this into a “teachable moment” in front of the director saying “When Matt brought me this problem I told him oh this is when we sit down and have a conversation with everyone on the team” making me look like I didn’t know to go talk to the team. I am probably just looking too far into the situation but it was frustrating to be talked down upon like that in front of faculty.
To Do Next Working Day:
-Continue hanging practicals
-Work farther on Wireless projects
-LED tape? If it is in
-Repair mover?
3/17/2025
Completed Today:
-Installed LED Tape in trough
-Installed all Lanterns / practicals in trough
-Repaired and hung Solaframe
Today was pretty straightforward. First thing in the morning we took care of the LED tape in the trough while the floor was being sealed and unable to be walked on. Following that we worked on the mover! Hooray! This was an interesting process of learning how to take a solaframe apart. It was a fairly straightforward fix once we figured out how to get the side panel / handle assembly off the base of the unit. For future reference… the 4 rubber feet need to come off which allows the black plate with writing on the bottom of the unit to come off in turn exposing 3 screws. There is one screw on either side of the unit under the plastic cover. Once we got into the base we labeled the 3 “input” wires and 5 “output” wires to make sure they got replaced in the proper order. The power supply was simply held in with 2 screws, popped it out, wiped up the old head sink compound, put new down, and installed the new power supply. The wires went back quite easy and it got all sealed up. Following the production meeting we plugged it in and it fired right up!
The production meeting was fairly uneventful. I asked when the amulets would be ready and I was told they are currently being printed, I will try to get an exact date if they do not appear within the next day or two.
The trough was a fun little project. Most of the lights were not a problem, however 2 of them did need to be a little bit dramatic. The 2 black lanterns were shipped with a battery pack and a low voltage lightbulb already installed. Upon taking them apart I found that the units themselves did not actually have a light bulb base, instead they came from the factory with a wire soldered to the tip of the base and a wire soldered to the ring of the base. I replaced this with our 12v light bulbs that we had in stock because I did not see a reasonable way to add an actual lamp base to the housing.
To Do Tomorrow:
-Mask off LED tape from painters DS
-Install practicals as paint finishes
-Road case back to 210
3/18/2025
Completed Today:
-Installed two more practicals
-Kept LED tape out of harms way
-Channel check
-Tinkering with Hand held lanterns
-Sent message to Brandon about batteries
Honestly a pretty slow day. We are finally at the point where we don’t have much to do. The practicals USR ended up being powered from the third electric and dropped down the USR boom to keep the cable off the floor. I kept tinkering with the lantern that is being wirelessly controlled. Nothing new has been discovered, just getting the unit to be able to accept the 12v candelabra base bulb.
To Do Tomorrow:
-Install final three practicals
-Wireless fixtures?
3/19/2025
Completed Today:
-Installed the last 3 practicals
-Adjusted the patch of practicals to logical order
-Installed base into wireless fixture housings
Yay! All the practicals are on the set! The morning started with installing the remaining practicals, this was very straightforward. Following that I made the chandeliers and practicals flow across the stage in order, like they originally were channeled before the additional units were added. After lunch I got to see what the scenic designer 3d printed as the amulet housing. It is simply an open bowl that is getting a neckless glued to it. I asked if it was possible to add 2 internal knobs to keep the lamp in place and got lots of push back, I asked Kenny for some assistance and he was able to get through to her.
The handheld units all have proper candelabra bases installed into them. The wireless lantern with the flat base I drilled a hole in the bottom of the housing and used the threaded rod to bolt it into the unit. For the pointy base lantern, I had to invert the lamp. The lamp base is in the top of the unit and actually was added into the ring to hold the fixture. This will make it so there is no way for the base to fall down into the light.
To Do Tomorrow:
-Set up for focus
-Floor plates on 2 source 4s
3/20/2025
Completed Today:
-Assembled under costume portion of amulets
-Set up for focus
Another chill day. The table for focus has been set up and is all ready to go for this weekend. I have an idea of how I would like to break people apart task wise for this weekend but that could all change if people don’t show up for whatever reason.
I have the RC4 and 12v battery assembly set up for the amulets. It is simply a jumper wire from the RC4 to the battery then a pair of 20 gauge wire twisted together that is set to go up the performers back. I will chat with the costume designer about what color wire he would prefer to be snaked up through the chain of the amulet, black and white are our current options.
To Do Next Working Day:
-Focus!
3/22/2025 - Focus Day 1
Completed Today:
-All of focus!
I arrived about a half hour early to get everything powered on, and set up. Once everybody arrived we started with Rylie in the Genie working on some of the more complicated places, Percy on bb1, and Rebecca, Niko, and a Tech Prod student in the TWG to learn the ropes. The goal of the first hour and a half was to crank through as much of the complicated genie maneuvers as possible while Rylie was around. After 11:30 when Rylie needed to leave we had finished the grid and almost both BB1 positions. After break, Percy hopped in the genie and started getting everywhere she was comfortable getting to. At the same time Rebecca worked on the FOH BB2 positions. By the time lunch rolled around, we had all of the TWG, half of over stage done, and all of the box booms.
After lunch we started working on booms and more overhead while I started to work with the light board opperator to get them up to speed on how to run the iPad. Eventually Percy got to the point where there were a few lights that she could not maneuver the genie to, at that point I swapped out with her while she worked on the booms that we had not yet got to.
Overall focus went very smooth. I have a list of notes that we can work on as we get time. Stage management also asked if they could have the lanterns to rehearse with. I requested that they return by Wednesday morning so I have all day to wire them up before tech on Thursday. Additionally, we will need to put the ground row down, but that will be a quick project to take care of. I also wanted to mention that we did all of focus without using an orange ladder! The genie absolutely sped things up and it certainly can get quicker as we get more people who are comfortable operating it.
To Do Tomorrow:
-Install ground row
-Install US pars
-Cable 2 deck S4
-DSL head high install
3/24/2025
Completed Today:
-Set up and tested new RC4 devices
-Production meeting
-Instal DSL head high
-Install US pars
-Installed ground row
Today was extremely productive! This morning started out with installing, patching and focusing the US pars. After that we set up the ground row. This was a very easy install, the fixtures simply got laid out, plugged in, and patched and they worked perfect. After the production meeting we got the new RC4 dimmers set up to work with our system, this involved getting the Genie up to the center of the 4th electric, luckily the archway was big enough to let the Genie under.
We installed the SL cue lights today. Tomorrow we will install the SR, I wanted Percy to be around to know how they get installed for next year. The DSL head high unit was installed. We bolted it directly to the unistrut that holds some of the buildings mechanical equipment.
To Do Tomorrow:
-Make LED Tape
-Train LBO
-Set up follow spot booths
3/25/2025
Completed Today:
-Frosted DS lanterns
-Trained LBO
-Set up spot booths
-Masked LED Tape
-Masked US ground row and pars from paints
Today was mostly uneventful. The frosting project, LED tape, and spot booths went very well, we will see what the designers think about it tomorrow. We also got to set up the other half of Qlights. I was not able to cross paths with Percy, but I will be sure to touch base with them about the Qlights when I get the chance.
This afternoon when I arrived, all of the upstage lighting equipment was being masked. After further investigation it is because the scenic designer wants to paint the drop and ground row. I find this rather frustrating because I made sure multiple times that scenic was ready for this equipment to be down on the ground. Not only are we risking damaging this brand new equipment by having a painter that is possibly in experienced or does not care, as an electrician, this equipment was focused and ready for tech. Now we will need to re focus several lights and un mask everything putting more work on our plate. It is discouraging the lack of consideration for other departments that can go around that could have easily been solved by waiting to put this equipment out.
To Do Tomorrow:
-Set node to proper universe for QLights SR
-Amulet
-Lanterns
3/26/2025
Completed Today:
-Set node to proper universe for Q Lights
-Wired amulets
-Wired lanterns
-Put gel in TBD units
Today was rough. The morning started out with wiring the amulets. The length of the chain was set after a conversation with the Scenic Designer and Stage Manager and confirmed once it was cut. We soldered the wire directly to the pins of the LED and chased the wire up the chain. We left about 3” of extra wire once it met at the top of the chain and added an Anderson connector. Once they were tested and functioning, I showed them to the scenic designer. Her immediate reaction was freaking out telling me that the loop is too small and I need to re make them. This was very frustrating to hear because I spent three hours creating this assembly to immediately be told I did it wrong and needed to remake them after making it the size she asked for. Her argument is that when the wire got chased through the chain it made the chain shorter, this is not entirely wrong, but the amulet sat maybe 3/8 of an inch higher on my chest than it did before. She also thought I rolled my eyes at her and started to get defensive claiming that I was not listening to what she had to say. We settled on taking a note on it later and getting the rest of my list worked on today.
Following the lighting designers arrival, we got the TBD color on the booms sorted out. It seems like we will have a few lights that will get the color pulled at intermission.
The lanterns went quite well this afternoon. It is a little bit of a challenge to hide all of the gak for lack of better terms inside the two yellow glass lanterns because they don’t really have a compartment to hide anything. We have started to wrap components in black wrap to make them less visible inside the lanterns. The hurricane style lantern was very easy to hide the smaller battery in. We used the Dremel to cut the base open, tossed all the electronics inside and attached a cover with heavy duty velcro.
To Do Tomorrow:
-Clip back main rag
-Notes from spacing rehearsal
3/27/2025 - Tech 1
Completed Today:
-First day of tech!
-Few focus notes with cat on BB1s
-Put Anderson connectors on rest of batteries
-Clipped back main rag
-Flushed out and patched wireless units
-Trained spot ops
Overall today was good. This morning started with a few notes here and there with the lighting designer, noting super crazy. Once dark time started I sat down again with the light board operator to familiarize themselves with the console. I did this a second time for Percy as well when she was programming. After Farmers shift programming, I gave her the run down on how the batteries and wireless equipment works.
At the top of rehearsal, I went up into the TWG with the spot ops to give them the run down of how to operate a follow spot, use the telrad, and the kind of helpful notes that they could be taking until they get final paperwork. During the first hour of tech, I was around to answer any questions and help around as needed. I eventually wondered into the electrics room to get the Anderson connectors put onto the other three 2600 mAh batteries.
To Do Tomorrow:
-Notes as needed
-Organize battery chargers?
3/28/2025 - Tech 2
Completed Today:
-Fixed sconce that would not light up
-Touched focus of a few boom units
-Focused the US Pars
-Updated Paperwork
-Worked with Light Board Operator on channel check
Today was pretty straightforward. This afternoon we started with a few little notes from the lighting designer then worked on the upstage pars. We moved a few of them around left to right and then re circuited some so they were twofered differently than originally drawn. During dark time, I took the opportunity to step away for a little bit and update all of the paperwork. I started with updating any changes that were made during focus on the plot, I then took the updated drawing to the CAD lab and updated the LightWright file with those changes. I also added all of the DMX address information to the paperwork directly from a copy of the show file.
At the light board operators call, I assisted with her first channel check. I made sure to emphasize that it is not a race to get through every light and to actually look at where the light is landing. I then walked her through how to check all the NIP’s. I think she has a good understanding of what is needed.
To Do Next Working Day:
-Notes as needed
3/29/2025 - Tech Day 3
Completed Today:
-1hr of programming before tech
Nothing to say, programming went well.
To Do Tomorrow:
-Program before tech
3/30/2025 - Tech Day 4
Completed Today:
-1hr of programming before tech
Nothing to say, programming went well.
To Do Tomorrow:
-Notes as needed
-Replace lamp in chan 68
3/31/2025 - Tech 5
Completed Today:
-Added bubble machine & fan
-Moved DS most shin units to make a different shot
-Replaced lamp in chan 68
Today was good. We had a few small notes that we took care of before dark time. The biggest was adding the bubble machine. After trying a few spots, we ended with hanging it off the hand rail of the fly rail just upstage of legs 2. The machine is accessible with an 8’ ladder or from leaning off the rail. We also added a box fan hung down from the pipe that the tabs hang on. This fan pushes the bubbles more onstage instead of up into the fly tower and other lighting equipment/soft goods. The two lights that got moved were very simple moves and re focuses. Once dark time was rolling we did not have much going on. This evening I got the follow spot operators situated with little lites to minimize the extra light being thrown around in the grid.
To Do Tomorrow:
-Notes as needed
4/1/2025 - Tech 6
Completed Today:
-Installed FOH fresnels for recording session
-Focus note on DSL foot light
Today was pretty slow, the notes seem to be winding down, which is certainly a good thing. This moring we installed 4 of the Inaro fresnels in front of house. 2 pairs that are twoferd together, one on center of FOH 1 and the other is on center of FOH 2. The lighting desinger says that theese will be very helpful during the recording session. The only other physical note we had was to touch the focus of the DSL S4jr that got kicked during rehearsal last night. It has now been screwed down so hopefully if it is kicked again it wont be knocked far out of place.
To Do Tomorrow:
-Notes as needed
-Move tables
4/2/2025 - PWYC
Completed Today:
-Struck LD tech table
-Moved RVI to back of house
-Cleaned cable in TWG
-Secured DS lanterns
-Moved console to the booth
Today was again fairly straightforward. This morning was elder study so we started around noon. First thing we did was get the tech tables situated. After that I checked in with the lighitng desinger and got a handful of notes. The majority of them were fiddley little things that were good to get taken care of. For example cleaning up the TWG cable a little bit, securing the DS lanterns, and tying up the cables going into Chan 101 & 102 on the BB2 positions. Once dark time was over at 5:00 we got the console and tech table struck/moved upstairs. I hung around until channel check was complete. By pure luck, there was a boom unit thats lamp was dead so I got to teach the light board opperator how to change a lamp in a spot that she could very easily see what was going on.
To Do Tomorrow:
-Hopefully nothing!
4/4/2025
Completed Today:
-Replaced 12v Lamp
The rehersal report asked that a 12v lamp in the DS lanterns be replaced. This unit was one of the lanterns with no proper lamp base so we had to solder directly to the base of the light bulb. This was not a repair that could have been completed at channel check when it was discovered before doors were supposed to open.
4/11/2025
Completed Today:
-Settled discrepency about run lights
Last night I was contacted by the light board operator asking if I could come in tomorrow afternoon to meet with her and the stage manager to help look at why the run lights are not in some scenes in act two. I told her that I would handle it and that there is no need to have the light board opperator or stage manager be present for this. When I went to take a look at the show file, I first checked that the proper file was loaded, I then looked at what scenes the run lights were not on for, then I looked at when the file was last saved. I compared all of this information to the backup flash drive. I did not make any changes because the last time the file was saved was PWYC. I also noticed that the scenes were particularly dark so it is understandable that the run lights were off. I let the light board opperator and stage manager know that this is an intentional decision by the lighting designer.
4/13/2025
Completed Today:
-Called in to help replace a lamp
At 1:00, I received a phone call from the light board operator saying she needed help changing a lamp overhead and the genie was the best way to access it. Once I arrived at the theatre, I found that this unit (209) was located on the fly rail handrail. This is not accessable by the genie and is very easily changed from the rail. I am not certain why I was needed to change this lamp, however the performance report said that I was called "due to time constraints." The next call I recieve I will make sure the light needing a new lamp is actually a location that is accessible by genie.