Last night I was privileged to be working on a play I had done years ago.  And though the play itself was familiar to me, and the text much older than I am, it was still powerful.  Walking from the theatre, I remembered my initial reaction to it.  Despite its familiarity, it was still moving.  That is the mark of a great script.  When I had originally worked on this play, it was one of the few shows that I would fully watch every performance (those of you who run shows know how rare that is to be just as interested the 30th time as you were the 1st).

I began thinking back to other productions that really struck me.  Most are well known, some not so much.  But they continue to be produced.

So often in this business, familiarity breeds contempt.  Nearly all of us can talk about a production of “The Diary of Anne Frank,” or “The Glass Menagerie,” or “Godspell,” that we have worked on, and immediately have others in the business share their stories of doing a production of the same show.  Depending on the present company, the stories may trend toward problems that happened with technical elements or the actors (if the audience had known that “Anne” delighted in flashing the crew members right before going onstage…).  Or it may go in an analytical discussion of the play and the playwright (hated women, totally unrealistic, etc…).  This makes for good conversation, but also begins to alienate us from how the work is perceived by the audience.

So let us pause for a moment in our “old script” bashing, and consider why these scripts continue to be produced: because they entertain, educate, and connect with the audience.  No artistic director sits down and thinks “hey, that show I saw 15 years ago really stunk.  Let’s see if we can make it better.”  We continue to produce these same plays because they are good, and the audience responds to them.

Many of us in the business may look at that is being the easy way out.   Doing the same shows gets pretty boring after awhile.  But there are always people who have never yet experienced a production of “King Lear,” or “Our Town,” or “The Glass Menagerie.”  Like it or not, these plays are powerful, and never more so than to someone who it experiencing it for the first time.  A good script should not be ignored simply because it is old.  And, like several of the shows I watched intently every performance throughout their runs, they were new once, too.

Many of us who have been working in this business tend to grow complacent over time.  Even though each show is different, the behind-the-scenes work on each eventually seems repetitive.  The floor is still made out of platforms, walls out of flats.  Costume building techniques rarely change, new lighting equipment is rarely all that “new”, and sound plots still come in on paper napkins too often to be considered a joke.  Eventually, we look at an arguable masterpiece, such as King Lear, as just another show.  “Ok, regal to ragged.  We’ll need some strobe lights for the storm, and a gross effect for the blinding scene.  Rain pipe this time?…”  We forget the true story, and we forget the emotion.  We need reminders of why we got into this business in the first place.

Last night I had that reminder.  On a show that not only was old, but one I had worked on years ago.  The story drew you in.  The audience could relate to the characters. Despite the setting being dated, the story resonated, and I was fortunate enough to be part of the group of people that was presenting it to that audience.

That is what we are all really working toward.  Old or new, the script must resonate.  We should certainly support new work, and those companies that only produce new work.  But we should not be looking down on those that present older work.  What playwright wants their work to only be produced once?  A handful of the “new” plays of today will become the old plays of tomorrow, and will be presented again and again if their story still holds up over the years.  We should not discard the good simply because it it old.  That old play will always be new to someone.

Guy on upper level has feet on rail. They are noticeably dirty.
Conductor: “Upper level passengers, please remove your feet from the rail”
Guy does not. Conductor checks lower level tickets, comes back.
Conductor: “Sir, please get your feet off the rail.”
Guy: “Huh?”
Conductor:  “Your feet, sir. You need to take them off the rail.”
Guy rolls eyes, removes feet from rail. Conductor leaves.
Guy puts his feet right back.

Time passes. A station stop is coming up.
A slightly messily dressed, coat slightly open, older passenger on lower
level gets up.

Passenger: “Sir, you gotta take your feet off the rail”
Guy, dismissively: “Oh, yeah…”
Passenger: “Sir, why don’t you take your feet off the rail?”
Guy: “Why don’t you mind your own business?”
Passenger: “Do you want to get off the train right now?”
Guy: “What?”
Passenger: “Do you want to get off the train right now?”
Guy: rolls eyes.
Passenger reaches into coat, pulls out the badge that is hanging on chain
around his neck: “Police officer, sir. Do you want to get off the train
right now?!”
Guy (quietly): “no.”  -takes feet down-
Passenger: “Then keep your feet off the rail. The conductor already told you
three times.”

The other passengers snicker.

From “The Late Show with David Letterman,” 1993

If you happen to be calling Chicago Spotlight today, be sure to wish her a Happy Birthday!

Check over the list below, and feel free to add suggestions in the comments (e-mail address is required, but never published, sold, or added to a mailing list).

• RSS feeds.  Hopefully with some filtering, so you can get just the Chicago feed, or the Lighting Designer feed, etc…
• Advanced search option to not display unpaid jobs. (There is already the option to not display internships, or only display internships)
• Saved searches option (you know, that thing we talked about having 2 years ago…  )
• Activation e-mail resending.  In case you didn’t follow the instructions the first time, or your company e-mail system spiked it.
• Ability to change or reset security questions/answers.
• Easier access for webmaster to edit or remove Contact Sheet listings, especially reported ones.
• New requirement of an activated account to post Contact Sheet listings (too many spam listings being posted).
• Work on forcing browsers to actually check the site when using it, instead of only reading local cache.  May require hardening security.  (Trying to end the frustration of browsers/systems that simply refresh the page when you attempt to log-in)
• Some additional categories of jobs.  Suggestions?
• Mobile version?
• Addition of more snark. Also adding the Wilhelm scream every time a user encounters an error, and more cleavage and pectoral muscles visible.

Now, the chances of everything being implemented are slim.  But we will try to prioritize items that will benefit the most people, and items that are simple to add/correct.  All suggestions are welcome.

There has been a lot of uproar over Chicago losing 2 large conventions to other cities.  Claims of outrageous charges for simple items, unfair union rules and costs, and the ever-popular refrain of “if this was a right-to-work state…” have been passed through the rumor mill and media once again.  The so-called “economic benefit to the region” has been cited over and over as a reason that these conventions are important.  Conveniently overlooked, however, is the driving force behind these conventions: making money.

No convention or trade show would exist if the organizers and exhibitors didn’t think they were going to make a profit from it.  Conventions are nothing more than giant advertisements for products, sometimes with classes, lectures, and “networking” thrown in to make them seem vital and important.  So no-one should be surprised that those that work on these conventions are asking for a cut of that cash.  No-one is going to volunteer their time to make some private company richer.

Now, does McCormick Place have some odd union rules or other labor issues?  Possibly. It certainly wouldn’t shock me, as those rumors have been going on for years.  But here’s the thing:  if everyone thinks that the existing union contracts suck, then why did management sign them? And if you, as an exhibitor, are paying to have X number of laborers move your things, and they aren’t doing it: don’t just stand there and complain after the fact, go find their f-ing steward and get them replaced.  You are paying them. If exhibitors would start complaining to McCormick Place and union management about some union members not doing their jobs AT THE TIME OF THE PROBLEM, you can bet that things would start to change.  Waiting until afterward doesn’t do you or the union management any good.  No union wants to have a reputation of coddling lazy or ignorant members, regardless of all the jokes to the contrary.

Plus, let’s look at one more possibility: Chicago just isn’t as much fun as Orlando or Vegas if you are only there for a convention, especially in the winter.  Orlando is family friendly, and Vegas is adult friendly.  Chicago is great and all, but if you are dropping some serious cash to attend or exhibit at a convention, it either has to be at a town with some relevance to the convention subject, or a place that is fun.  USITT at least roams around the country to show it’s attendees different theatres.  Why should any city assume they are getting the same conventions every year?

Regardless, those that are complaining about McCormick Place costs “suddenly” being the problem are only upset that they are going to lose money because of others wanting that money.  This isn’t as though someone is gouging the children’s hospital.  Everyone is simply looking for their cut of a profit-generating enterprise.  To pretend otherwise is lying to the public.

Everett is a technical theater specialist, and she works full-time for the Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation’s Roadside Theater on Patton Barracks. She and her team of stage crew volunteers are responsible for making the beloved stage play come to life for audiences in the Heidelberg community.

Check out the full article on the US Army Garrision’s Baden-Wuerttemberg website.

As a response to the recent FCC announcement, Shure is extending 700 MHz (698 – 806MHz) Trade-in & Trade-up rebates of up to $1,000. Purchase a new Shure wireless system and trade in Shure 700MHz frequency band wireless systems and related components or any other manufacturers’ qualifying 700MHz wireless systems and related components. For complete details on qualifying products and rebate amounts, download the Rebate Form.

If you have any questions, please contact (800) 25-SHURE (800-257-4873).

Hat-tip to Stage Directions for alerting me to this.

A BackstageJobs.com user’s e-mail lead me to this discovery

This seemed odd to the user, as well as myself, for the simple reason of extreme water damage to a given room, if not the whole building, just to put out a small fire.  After all, few fires start out large.  It is much better to stop a fire before it gets large enough to activate a sprinkler system on its own.  The user asked me if I knew what the fire code said about extinguishers.  Off the top of my head, I don’t even know the exact regulation for Chicago, but I was willing to look it up.  I knew it was complicated, but what I discovered about simply finding the pertaining codes astounded me in its difficulty.

Fire codes differ from state to state.  Most states use the National Fire Protection Association’s code as a base, either adopting it completely and creating additional sections, or adopting sections of it and adding their own sections. But: (online, anyway) they won’t reprint the NFPA 1 code (or sections they are using), they just reference it.  So, you must start with getting a copy of the NFPA 1 code.

But wait!  They want you to buy it for $71.00.  Or you can read it for free on their website, and when they say “read,” that is the only thing they will let you do with it online:

GRANT OF LICENSE. NFPA grants you, the NFPA visitor, a nonexclusive and nontransferable license to view online the content of the Online Document. The Online Document is designed to be viewed online only – there are no “print,” “save,” or “cut and paste” options – and the license granted to you by this agreement does not include the right to download, reproduce, store in a retrieval system, modify, make available on a network, use to create derivative works, or transmit the content of the Online Document in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise.

User friendly, huh?

But wait, there’s more! You should also have a copy of the National Electric Code, as well as other NFPA codes that might relate to your venue.  Such as NFPA 10 (Fire Extinguishers), NFPA 101B (Means of Egress from Buildings), NFPA 102 (Grandstands, telescoping seating, and tents), NFPA 160 (Flame effects for an audience), and NFPA 1126 (Pyrotechnics for an audience).  And that’s just the ones that pertain to the possible stage operations of a theatre.  Have a costume or scene shop?  Well then you need to the ones about static electricity, aerosol sprays, paint storage, and many others.

Once you have your national codes, it’s time to move on to getting your state’s additions and modifications to it. Good luck with that.  Some are easy to find, some seem not to exist.  But then it gets better!  Each county in your state may have its own additions or variations on the state code, or it may be exempt from the state code completely because it has its own code.  THEN, your municipality may have additions or variations to both the state or county code, OR may be exempt from all them because the municipality has its own code.  It is up to you to find out.

Codes may or may not be available online, and many are only available in print for a fee (the Chicago code appears only to be available in print for $85.00, though you can read all the codes online for $350.00), which is not very helpful to low budget companies or individuals simply attempting to follow those laws.

Is it any wonder that we find so many violations of fire code in theatres?

I believe it is time for local governments, especially those of large cities, to create either webpages or booklets containing all laws specific to theatres and other performance venues in that area.  One should not have to dig through four different codes just to find out the requirement for fire extinguishers in their theatre. I am not saying that every law that would pertain to the entire building be included, but it shouldn’t be that hard to find laws written precisely for performance venues.

It is certainly time for all fire codes to be available online, free of charge, from the government body that is using them.  The adoption of a private group’s guidelines as public law should allow for the viewing of those laws by the public, without restrictions on maintaining a personal copy, or requiring a payment to know those laws.

On behalf of theatre professionals, theatre-goers, and our families, I call on every theatre trade and industry group to push for for this simple goal: make the laws that we are obliged to follow easily identifiable and easily available.  Doing so can make our jobs easier, inspectors’ workload lighter, and our audiences safer.

And for those of you wondering, the NFPA code says that nothing within it should be used to restrict the use or placement of the appropriate type of portable extinguisher.  Extinguishers should always be placed in a visible location, never obscured, and not stored in emergency stairwells in lieu of placing them on each floor of the building.  Minimum distance calculations should not include stairways, as stairs are considered an obstruction to rapid obtaining of an extinguisher, as well as obstructing the view of it.  However, as noted above, the state or local codes may supersede the NFPA code.

This ruling will affect everything and everyone from Broadway to the Flat River Community Players, churches, high school and university theatre departments, corporate meetings, concerts, and sporting events, as well as nearly all existing wireless mics, headsets, cordless phones, and baby monitors.