Month: December 2020

A chaotic time of the year with grinding for exams calls for a chaotic story about one of the productions I was involved in. My last complete production as tech director and lighting manager, All the Answers, was a turbulent process to begin with, and I could write hundreds of blogs on the issues with it. However, no event captured the high stress of this production more than the opening night. The set, which went incomplete past the deadline, had been finished and beautified during the days before opening. The issues with the show itself had also been ironed out and the rehearsals had gone very well over the past few days. I had taken my position in the light booth to begin the show, assured that everything downstairs was perfect for a good run. Order had returned and I was in a comfortable position again: my light control board, my excellent spotlight crew, and an excited audience below me.

The Prep’s aging theater had other plans in store for me.

Lighting in a show is supposed to be a second form of expression that remains constant in strength during most scenes. During my long tenure as lighting manager, I had rarely run into issues with the system, and those that had occurred were only during rehearsals. I would have never expected my trusty lighting system to begin uncontrollably flickering and dimming during a live run.

I do not have photos from that night, but you must believe me when I tell you that the lighting system had a stroke ten minutes into the opening run. I could do nothing about it using my board, and within minutes the directors had run up to check on the situation. It had not improved, and my disheveled clothes and complete shock showed them that this was not a drill. Using my experience and my confidence in my spotlight handlers, I was able to take the lighting system off of the automatic progression program and nurture the lights, which were becoming dim as candles at some points, through the entirety of the two-and-a-half hour production. The scene light arrangements, which were pre-recorded in the automatic progression, needed to be rewritten and modified for every scene on the spot during a live production! When the lights seemed on the verge of going out, I added the bright spotlights into the sequence. My spotlight handlers and I were connected that night as if we were one person.

I have never been happier to end an opening night in my life. I had worn my best suit that night to the opening services, and the events of the night had turned me into a wreck. I am a very healthy man, but this night was so tense that I got severe chest pain and headaches a quarter of the way through the run. The actors came out for their bows and I ran downstairs for post-show festivities. The lighting crew and I received an applause from the actors and visitors in the backstage. We had proven our strength and courage.

The Prep’s theater is an old place, but the lighting system is relatively new. The system was made digital in the late 1990s, and the mainframe computer for the light operation was stored in a closet backstage. These controls had not been touched since their installation, and the stacks of hard drives eventually became covered in dust. The decades of soot choked these integral parts of ventilation, and the system overheated, causing temporary flickers, dimness, and outages.

After several compressed air cans were sprayed onto the hard drives, the system worked like new, and I was able to rest my mind for the remainder of the show. It was one of the most flawless and beloved runs during my time. What a shift!

Morals of the story:

1. Remember to clean your possessions.
2. If you think exams are the most stressful process in being, talk to me. I will change your mind.

“There is a fifth dimension, beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition; and it lies between the pit of man’s fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call The Twilight Zone.”

There were many mysterious places scattered throughout my high school, but no site creeped me out more than the theater’s stage pit.

For the majority of my time at the Prep, the pit was a mysterious place, which had been sealed off completely before my time at the school in 2015. Its extra space was not needed for productions anymore. This tomb had existed below me for four years, and I had no clue to what it looked like, or what it contained.

The final production of my high school career was to be Damn Yankees, which would have opened in early May of 2020. This would have been a musical of epic proportions, where we planned to utilize all of our resources to amaze the crowds. We ran into a problem when the stage crew and the directors sought to find a way to make characters rise out of the underworld, a place that dictates the plot of the show. We decided to open the pit for the first time in five years to find a place fit to house the devil, and find it we did.

The backstage entrance to the pit was a large piece of plywood that covered the dinky ladder that dropped into the abyss. I was selected to be the first spelunker on this terrifying expedition, and I donned a mask, goggles, and strong flashlight to protect myself from the dust and the unknown. At the bottom, I was greeted by the large words, “O Sick wit eim,” and more spray paint on the walls than that on Philadelphia underpasses.

I knew that this place was special, as the directors told me to take as many photos as possible to post on the drama society’s Facebook for alumni to see. I found many oddities that had collected dust over half a decade, and thankfully I did not encounter anything paranormal or linked to the occult, as I expected. This beloved, dank place was finally revealed to a new generation of stage crew members and actors! I was eventually joined by several other stage crew members, since we needed to open the hatches to the pit on the stage.

Several hours and crowbars later, the hatch was open, and the Prep rediscovered a lost hobby, jumping into the pit onto the large, dusty gymnast pads at the bottom. It was an act of faith to dive headfirst into the dungeon of the Prep, but the satisfaction of it all compensated for the danger. We were surprised even more by the unique items we found tucked away in the pit, specifically a complete drum set, a hydraulic lift, and other relics from times past.

Three weeks after the pit was opened, we were all sent home and the production was postponed indefinitely. It had been my last action as a member of stage crew to explore the last frontier of the theater and unlock the treasure and tradition it held. I saw the names of those who had come before me and their cherished memories in the program that I had also experienced.

My last task was romantic in a sense, as I joined the names of those Preppers long gone during my last days in the school. Many of my creations will fade away from the memories of those at the Prep, but my presence in the theater’s tomb will be felt until the end of time.