Overview
The Technical Director, TD for short, is responsible for the construction of the set, organizing builds, keeping track of hours, Put-In, Strike, and the safety of everyone involved with the show. The TD has FINAL SAY in all matters related to safety, from the set design to props to audience placement.
Before Tech Week
Set up the Google Drive with the producer (templates can be found here)
Acquiring material
The TD is responsible for procuring all the raw material for sets. A trip to Home Depot and Backstage Hardware usually takes care of most needs (but there's some stuff in the office if you need e.g. 2x4s or plywood). A list of materials should be compiled as soon as possible during the production process so it can be updated quickly and easily- you don't want to spend an extra hour of travel time because you forgot to buy the dowel pins when you had a U-Haul. Make sure you're aware of Home Depot's and U-Haul's hours before scheduling this trip. Home Depot's Pro Desk (for delivery) is only open during business hours.
Any materials that need to be shipped to campus should be ordered with at least a week's grace period between their expected arrival and Put-In. 2+ week shipping times are normal, especially for heavy items.
All the masonite is now kept in the E33 office in W20-3. It's unclear who owns what of it. (Never cut masonite unless you can't help it. You can always paint "not-stage" a different color than "stage" to make up for not cutting it to the right size/ shape) Audience railings live in the Ensemble office. Additional audience railings live in the Walker Sets Shop and formally belong to MTG.
Gaffe tape and flame retardant can be purchased from Backstage hardware. Flame retardant is ~$25 per gallon of paint. MAKE SURE you have enough of both gaffe tape and flame retardant before Put-In. Additionally, make sure that fire retardant is added to each gallon of paint as it is opened. ProGaffe tape is better than ShurTape.
Make sure you have 5+ sharpies. They're really useful and people need them to measure things to cut and such (although colored pencils also work for this). Worse, people never return them to you when they're done with them, so it's hard to get by with just one or two. We also now have pencils (they are wide and in a cylindrical case somewhere. Make sure the sharpener exists.
If we want to borrow the signs that block out the windows from MTG, we should contact them in advance.
Builds
The TD should begin scheduling builds as soon as possible. This varies from show to show, but builds should start at the latest the weekend after final set design is due.
All actors are required to complete some number of Pre-Put-In hours, the number of which vary from show to show (and which you get to decide). 3-5 is a good average. Tell actors in advance (3-5 days is good) when builds are going to happen.
These hours are completed by working at set builds, at costume builds, or in any other way the TD sees fit.
Builds need not be dedicated to the completion of a given set piece. It is often advantageous to measure and cut lumber at builds, especially as put-in approaches. Keep in mind that anything constructed at builds must live in the office until Tech Week and must fit in the freight elevator.
Things to check with respect to set design
- That it meets fire and safety regulations
- That the exits are wide and straightforward
- That the entire set can be seen from booth
- That it fits in la Sala (It's also helpful if it fits in 491/ 407, since anything larger tends to be pointless, since blocking is never done in rooms larger than 491/407)
- That it requires less than the number of existing Germans (24) (because some WILL be broken; 7 of them were broken as of Fall 2015.)
Meeting with CAC
The TD is responsible for meeting with CAC to get final approval for the set design a week or two before Tech Week. Our current contact at CAC is Meredith Sibley (mfsibley@mit.edu). The producer should also attend this meeting, and it can be helpful for the set designer to be present. The meeting typically consists of a short summary of the set from the set design and a quick run-through of the technical design of any particularly challenging or unique set elements.
This is also when we request tables, chairs, Germans (the large audience risers), and butterflies (larger but shorter risers). You will need more tables than you think, ask for 10 + number needed on stage. They are used for booth, changing room, and keeping backstage tidy.
Sleep
No seriously. You will be up late on Saturday putting up monument, and up early on Sunday for put-in. During Tech Week you should expect to spend 3-4 hours per day putting up audience or finishing set pieces, on top of PSets and rehearsals (although there is some work that can be done during rehearsals, anything noisy has to be done earlier or later in the day).
Tech Week
Put-In
Put-In is the first day that the Ensemble is in space and is the single most important day for sets. Lights are hung, masonite is placed, big things are built, etc, etc. Generally Put-In officially runs from 7 am to 10 pm, though in reality it can go until 1am. Each member of the cast is required to attend Put-In for a a number of hours which varies from show to show (usually 8). The TD should schedule actors ahead of time and attempt to distribute manpower throughout the day. Additionally, the TD should talk to lights, costumes, and props to see if/how much manpower they anticipate requiring during Put-In and when they want it during the day.
Monument, the scaffolding in La Sala, should be constructed the night before Put-In if possible. This will save lights an hour or two of time in the morning, which helps everyone in the long run.
Lights are usually the rate determining step. Make sure everyone knows this, and knows that when people shout for ground-crew, they should drop everything and go help.
Put-In is the TD's baby and everyone at Put-In is the TD's bitch. The TD must be present in space for the entirety of Put-In. A list of jobs-which-need-doing should be bouncing around in his/her head, as actors will need direction. If a chalkboard can be obtained, it's helpful to write this list of things down, so that people know what they can go help with if the TD is too busy to ask. Delegating is a good thing; life will run much more smoothly if a competent person is placed in charge of a given project so the TD doesn't need to worry about every detail. Less competent actors can be shoved at these more competent people and told to ask them how they can help, freeing up the TD to put out fires or deal with other actors. Some tasks should be done by the TD, however, especially any job that would take more time to explain than complete. The TD should be in charge, making sure everyone has a job and everything is getting done. If there is nothing else to do, you shouldn't be afraid to get your hands dirty, though!
Ordering food is nice, it makes your helpers happier and more likely to come on time. Usually donuts and coffee (although Dunkin Donuts won't be open yet, so find one that is and order, or go to Verde's or buy them ahead of time) for breakfast, pizza for lunch, cookies for later in the day.
If it hasn't been done yet, assign run-time jobs. This is technically the SM's job, but as you check people off on arrival, you can ask them what they want to do. Things that need to be assigned include:
- clean the stage
- clean the audience
- clean the dressing room
- laundry (assign multiple people if play involves blood)
- clean props (as necessary)
- buy food (candy) for dressing room - a lot, actors are greedy
- buy water (and cups) for the dressing room - a lot, actors are thirsty
- silence doors
- warm ups
- morale
- props
(More jobs can be added as necessary to make the number of jobs equal the number of actors)
The Rest of Tech Week
Tech Week is the week that will make or break a TD. Generally after Put-In the set still needs to be painted, blacks need to be hung, windows need to be blacked out, audience needs to be put up, and a hundred other things need to be done. The TD should have a plan for making sure the set is done in a reasonable time frame while keeping in mind that actors act on it every night so paint must be dry and the stage must be clear and that CAC kicks us out os La Sala at 2 AM (sometimes even earlier). If extra hands are needed, the TD shouldn't be afraid of mailing out asking for help. Blacks generally take at least 3-4 people to hang. The audience (both Germans and chairs) is best put up right before or after a rehearsal because every actor can be drafted.
Setting up the Audience
Either the TD or the set designer has to formulate a plan for the audience plans. There are various arcane regulations about the layout of the aisles. Chairs are approximately 17" across. There are two types of audience platforms in general use: Germans and butterflies. Germans are 1m by 2m, and can hold about 2 rows of 2 each people (or one row of 4-5 people) each. There exist something like 16 or 20 Germans. Butterflies are 6 feet by 8 feet, and can hold 2 rows of 5 chairs each. CAC has something like 24 butterflies, but usually we only use 4 or 5. Butterflies can only be set at one height; Germans can be set at a variety of heights. Some heights are at preset intervals, and some of them require the use of additional pins. There are 4 preset heights on Germans, the lowest of which matches the height of the butterflies.
Platforms can be obtained from CAC. Make sure that butterfly steps and German hardware are around when they're delivered to La Sala. Pretty much all audience platforms (any chairs not on the ground or on butterflies) should have toe rails. This can be pretty much anything - 1×2 or dexion is best, thicker pieces of wood will also work. Audience rails can either be borrowed from MTG (they're in the scene shop in Walker basement) or built. The difficult part is to make sure that the railing are stable and must be reinforced below the seating platform to avoid wobbling. Additionally, toe rails need to be added to the audience platforms so that chairs don't slide off the back- any scrap wood is fine for this. Make sure that all platforms that vary in height by more than 10" have a step present, and that it is firmly attached. Generally this is only an issue with the butterflies.
An incomplete list of audience requirements:
- Aisles must be 36" wide if there is audience on one side, and 48" wide for both sides
- There can be no more than 7 chairs between any one chair and the aisle(that's 8 seats if there is a aisle on one side, and 15 if both sides)
- Any chairs that are more than 16 inches off the ground need audience railings
- There must be an unobstructed path from the chairs to the doors, with no stage area (masonite) in the way.
- There must be 36 inches of unobstructed space in front of the first row of audience. Masonite counts as open space.
- There should be 32" from chair back to chair back.
Booth
Booth tends to be in one of: Spacedock, monument, and behind the audience on Germans.
If spacedock, make sure that when you hang the blacks, you don't impede the SM's line of sight to the stage. It is nice for SM, LD and SD to have a table and tall chairs (can be stolen from the 1st floor athena machines).
Blacks can be hung from Space Dock by placing them over the edge, then putting cinder blocks on the floor on the blacks to keep them from sliding off. (Don't put the cinder blocks on the wall of space Dock. That's just dangerous)
Booth can also be on audience level, although this is less practical. Dedicate at least 2 german platforms for use as booth (normally 4 as of Fall '15), and make sure that it has a toe rail and steps.
Setting up Headsets
Headsets are located in the dimmer closet, in one or two milk crates. The system consists of one control box, a collection of headsets, and a set of cables (Official type unknown). Headsets should be located at booth and wherever run crew will be be (typically either in the dressing room or the kitchen). More information on setting these up is in the SM wiki page.
Blacking out Sala
* Having appropriate lighting backstage is a big help. This includes a lamp at booth (there should be a clip lamp with a blue gel over it in the office) and light for actors backstage (especially near the props table). On some occasions we've had a dedicated stage light for the backstage area that's just on dim for the duration of the show. Alternatively you can use the lights under spacedock. They're controlled by the lightswitch on the column north of space dock (just the normal switch, not the panel. That controls the house lights). If half of the spacedock lights are blacked out (paper or black foil taped over the light works great) and half are gelled blue (gel the light not the waffle) that is incredibly useful.
* The windows on either side of any Sala doors that can be seen from the audience need to be blacked out. Possible solutions include 4x8 masonite or black shower curtains from Shaw's for $2 or a giant trash bag. The cross pieces in the windows can be removed by pulling straight up and pieces of plywood inserted. MTG has two black pieces that fit under spacedock that we could theoretically borrow. The windows in West Lounge should be blacked out. This is more for the decency of actors (like they have any). The shades don't actually block people looking. The best solution found so far would be to use the black shower curtains. Using extra postcards also works, and helps with advertising during tech week.
Strike
Strike runs after the show's last performance. Strike is the time when everything is taken down, moved out of La Sala, and somehow stuffed into the Ensemble Office. The TD runs Strike. Everyone involved with the show is expected to be present for the duration. It helps to have a competent person in the Ensemble Office as things begin to be moved up so that storage is slightly less of a nightmare. Making the person in charge of office cleans that semester the person in charge of the office during strike means that the office is likely to be much less of a nightmare. Sala should be left in the condition it was found- nothing should be on the floor, all Germans and butterflies should be folded, all chairs put away, etc. If any paint is found on Sala floor, it must be cleaned off.
Lights are the rate determining step. Make sure everyone knows this, and knows that when people shout for ground-crew, they should drop everything and go help.
Running pre-strike during the second weekend of shows will make strike go more efficiently. Try to clean up everything that won't get used for the show/ strike, and move it all back up to the office.
Delphine Kaiser's vision of an efficient strike:
Before the end of the run, if possible - if not, only when there are spare hands
- clean blood table
- clean make-up table
As soon as run is over
- take apart any set or audience that is in the way of lights starting to unhang.
- lights should start unhanging
Throughout strike
- give people to lights
- have one knowledgeable person in space Dock sorting cables, putting things back where they belong
- have someone who is tetris-skilled in the office
Other things that need to happen (mostly in order)
- take other apart the rest of the set and audience
- take up sound if it is on the ground
- fold up platforms and put them away
- take up the masonite
- put the headsets away
Nearer the end
- get costumes and props upstairs
- get everything else upstairs
- take down the blacking out of the windows
- clean Sala floor, where it was hit by paint, or if we have Gaffe tape issues
Post-Strike
After Strike the TD must see that all materials borrowed under the purview of sets are returned.
Misc. Useful Information
The basement door near the set shop in Walker is alarmed. The alarm will go off if the door is propped open. Ask CAC to deactivate the alarm at times you wish to move material in and out of Walker.
All cables running around the stage floor should be taped down with nice Gaff tape. If it is running across an entrance or an aisle, then it should be taped down completely along the length. Any hanging cables should be glow taped. So should anything that people need to navigate near in the dark.
In places where actors enter and aren't blocked by the blacks, place an Othello screen (the large black wooden folding screens in the office). Typical places are the entrance from westlounge and in front of spacedock. CAC also has a bunch of green screens that are useful for blocking views where being black is not crucial.
One of the doors on the north side of Sala squeaks. Figures out which one it is and label it with a great big 'N', or 'NO' or 'NARN'. Also prop it open.
Make sure that there is a path through the kitchen for actors to walk through, and that the doors are unlocked every night.
Make sure nothing backstage will injure actors- saws, screws, nails, anything else. A good idea is to keep all tools etc. organized on a back table. This will make finding things during tech week easier, and you don't have time at that point to waste on looking.
Blacks
Blacks are stored in the blue bin in the room with Monument (which is the Piano Room - the door on the eastern side of Sala de Puerto Rico that is most to the north).
Hanging Blacks
Blacks are generally hung by standing on Monument. They can be carried up or brought on from Spacedock. The fuzzy side goes towards the stage. Hang the blacks so they're easy to take down- bows and other strong knots that come out with one tug are good. Double knots are strongly discouraged. Remember basic tension: the ties should extend on both sides of where you want the black to extend. If possible, holes in the black - especially those toward the top, as they will be under more tension - should be mended before the black is hung. This can be done with binder clips, or, for smaller holes, gaff tape. Blacks should be hung to about 1.5"-2" off the floor. Not so that the tops aligned - for some reason, not all blacks are the same height. This will make them low enough so that no one sees under them, but high enough so they don't get dust and debris from the floor. The thin black is not opaque enough to be used alone for blackout during matinees. It is, however, good for making Spacedock appear black. To hang blacks over the edge of Spacedock, cinderblocks may be placed on the blacks - but only on the bad/back/fuzzy side. Or use string to make the distance between the pipe and the black longer. Lights may be hung on the same pipe as a black but they get very hot and should not be in contact with blacks when on.
Taking down blacks
Blacks should be taken down from Monument. There are two methods: either pull the black up to monument as you go, or drop it as you go. Either is fine, but when dropping or stacking, try to keep the bad side touching the floor/surface. Do not drop anything without calling out first. Blacks should be folded and returned to the blue bin and the piano closet. When folding, keep the good side off the floor. Folding the large black is much easier with a small army of people.
Brakes
Brakes work best when they push on the ground enough that the load of the moving thing is shared evenly between the brake and the wheel. Also, make sure they are held on tightly to the thing they're holding up, to prevent wobble.
Contacts
Mike Katz - Former TD for MIT Theater Arts, possesses an endless supply of awesome beard and terrible puns. He's still in the area, and knows everything. Email: narishkup at gmail dot com