March 2021 – Balaratna the Builder

The Bulbs They Are A-Changin’

How memorable were the technical aspects of show tech production? So much so that I can create a blog solely based on replacing lightbulbs.

Changing lightbulbs as a lighting manager is not as simple as finding a chair and screwing out blown lights. It is not a job for those with fears of height. To change the majority of the bulbs in the theater, you need to climb a dinky ladder 20 feet into the air and maintain balance while you take off the whole light housing to replace bulbs. Additionally, this process is complicated by the fact that you cannot touch the glass housings of the new bulbs while you are installing them. The lights used in the theater are high-power halogen bulbs, and the oils present on your hands cause the glass to warp and the bulbs to fail prematurely. The best way to ensure that your hands do not damage the glass is to use bulky work gloves while replacing bulbs. Also remember to unplug the lights from the power coupling before replacement, or you will risk the chance of electrocution. No pressure.

Climbing up a ladder to the stratosphere in bulky work gloves seems like a stressful job already. What could possibly make it worse?

During my school’s production of The Murder at Ramsbottom Manor, the theater had a major light outage. Considering that the lighting system is over twenty years old, mass bulb blowouts are bound to happen, so we keep a lot of replacement parts on standby. We faced the possibility of putting on as show with little to no lights on the stage, so we needed to replace the bulbs before the theater opened to general audience members.

However, there was an issue. The ladder that we usually used to change bulbs was at the boathouse (revenge against me for dropping crew, I presume), and we needed to tear apart the school to find a suitable replacement.

This is the replacement system we developed: (Don’t try this at home)

The only ladder tall enough to reach the faulty bulbs was too wide to fit in the gap present between the light boom and the brick wall. So we got Members of the usher staff to hold the ladder steady for the person brave enough to climb and switch out bulbs. Additionally, I was not able to reach the light housings in this setup, so I quickly trained the tallest member of the usher staff on how to change bulbs and sent him up instead.

I’ll say that no Prep students were harmed in the production of these images. The usher changed all of the bulbs without injury, and we got the ladder out of the theater twenty minutes before it was scheduled to open. In retrospect, this seems a little bit dangerous, but the story has made a good blog post. Mission accomplished!

Issue Brief: Amtrak’s Ailments

For people who live in the Northeast United States, there are three notorious means of transport in the region: the New Jersey Turnpike, Deer-laden I-80, and Amtrak. Amtrak may have the worst reputation out of these major travel arteries, as it is seen as a less glamourous for of transport, which is plagued by delays. The service looks even more pathetic when it is compared to rail networks abroad in countries such as France, Germany, and Japan. Amtrak station can be described as shacks, the service on board can be worse than some budget airlines, and the pricing for tickets can make some trips seem impractical. In a country fueled by innovation, why has the government and public seem like the train has left the station (pun intended)?

In order to understand the present shortcoming of Amtrak, and intervene on the companies behalf, I will demonstrate why the services provided by Amtrak are an essential component of America’s transportation system. There is an additional sense of urgency to this message, as the COVID-19 pandemic has put an additional burden on mass transit across the nation, from which it will have a difficult time recovering. These grave times can be visualized as the appropriate exigence and situation to bring policy in to promote investment and regained trust in the industry.

In order to fully understand the present condition of Amtrak and providing proper solutions for its issues, I plan on drawing on some of the historical events that generated problems for the company.

Since its inception in the early 1970s under the Nixon administration, Amtrak has been plagued by issues and mismanagement. Out of the several defined causes presented in class I would have to define the primary cause of Amtrak’s downturns as inadvertent. Many people have tried to solve Amtrak’s problems during the past fifty years, but the company’s conflicts can be seen as a hydra-headed monster. When one problem is supposedly resolved, two more come up to take its place. Amtrak, and its associated services are often the victim of shortsighted research and development, equipment design issues, and infrastructure limitations. Additionally, when these problems arise, they are often the subject of intense media attention, which breeds public scrutiny of Amtrak.

What is the appropriate policy to use for such a volatile corporation? In my brief, I plan to approach the issue with policy revolving around Inducements and system changes.

Inducements are a primary driving force behind some industries in the United States at the present moment. For example, customers usually get deductions on pricing for electric cars sold in the country. If this program applies to cars, it could possibly be applied to Amtrak for a commuter model. Companies that encourage mass transit commutes to city centers could be the recipients of cash breaks, and the commuters themselves could also reap the benefits.

System changes will probably be the largest of these two approaches. Amtrak is ultimately limited by the infrastructure on which it operates. Infrastructure updates with increased budget figures, which can be supplemented by new running equipment, could make Amtrak a source of American innovation.

After further research, I will be able to develop a well rounded approach to this government corporations weaknesses.

Boyz n the Booth

What are the benefits of being appointed Light Manager during Sophomore Year and Tech Director Senior Year? You get access to the keys. These are not keys to the high school Ferrari or food storage. No, they access something much better.

Throughout the entirety of my senior year, I had a private penthouse located within the busy corridors of my school. I used the theater’s light booth on the second floor as my study space, locker, and bedroom during school and before show productions (I never skipped class).

The booth is a beloved landmark in the theater program, and I had the privilege of occupying it longer than any light manager in the program’s history. It is a hallowed space, yet it is still shrouded in mystery. Very few photos of the cavernous interior exist, so the few circulated in this blog are a rare sight. This is due to the strict code that the light manager and his fellow lighting operatives uphold in regards to the booth.
The first rule of light booth is: You do not talk about light booth

The booth is a peaceful place isolated from the chaos of high school life, and its environment should be preserved.

Besides this, the place is pretty much a free for all.

The events I lived through in the booth probably deserve a blog series of their own, but this will be a quick look into the aspects of the chamber that made it such a wonderful home during shows and classes.

The views:

This is the only photo of the booth in operation during an actual production run (It was a dress rehearsal hence the mostly empty seats). The view was captured by an actor through a small screw hole in the rear wall of the All the Answers set. The booth’s two spotlights and the sound manager’s window are clearly present, and I am probably blocking light out from the light manager’s window on the left side. As you can imagine, the booth is positioned in an excellent location to watch shows and observe the reactions of audience members.

One of the best parts of being in the booth during a production is that you are basically a member of the audience, and you don’t need to pay for the best seats in the house.

2. The amenities:

For downtime, the booth came equipped with a comfortable sofa and two lounge chairs, several frisbees for outdoor play, a jacuzzi, and sleeping bags for rests. (The jacuzzi is a well hidden gem. Even I don’t know where it is in there.) Either crash on the sofa or crawl into a sleeping bag in the booth’s secret second room, and I guarantee that you will get some of the best sleep of your lifetime.

3. The Boyz n the Booth: (They’re quite the comedians)

Whenever you ask students about their favorite part of their school, they are bound to default to “the people”. This stereotypical response is also my favorite aspect of the booth. During every production, there are five Prep students assigned to the booth, and every group I have been with has been memorable. Not only are they competent during shows, but they also love to fool around during downtime. They make the booth the legendary shrine it has become.

My time as King of the Booth was a wonderful, simpler age, and hopefully the dynasty of the boys in the booth will last much longer than me. My name is preserved on the wall of the booth, and its annex upstairs, so I will be a ever present part of its history.

Yes, the booth has an annex, The Catwalk, on the third floor that is even more mysterious. It is the Holy of Holies for the lighting crew, and I am forever bound to preserving its secrets. Enjoy dreaming about what you think it holds.

Deliberation Reflection

The objective of any deliberation is to conduct a well-mannered discussion on a pressing issue and to find personal beliefs and connections on and with the topic through constructing possible solutions with the group. This discussion, even though many of its themes may be initially controlled by the moderators, still has a quality of spontaneity to it. Unique viewpoints and solutions can be brought forward by any participant and how the audience and moderators react to these realizations further shape the progression of the discussion.

I believe that my group’s deliberation required spontaneity from the moderators to bring forward additional statements for the discussion. Once our moderators began to utilize this practice, the discussion became deeper and applicable to other topics related to facial recognition technologies. I believe that this technique reinforced our deliberation’s ability to ensure mutual comprehension and consider other ideas and experiences. Through asking participants to clarify their points on facial recognition technologies and then apply them to other fields of the tech industry, both parties were able to garner a detailed understanding of the group’s beliefs on facial recognition and technology as a whole. Although the moderators in our group felt that generational differences surrounding opinions on technology and privacy may not have been addressed through our deliberation, I felt that our conversation with our peers still brought about a consensus on key values and stakes present at the center of the facial recognition controversies, while also properly weighing pros and cons. In retrospect, it seemed that the participants had an overwhelming support for the benefits of facial recognition systems, compared to the topic of compromised privacy. I would have liked to see more discussion in support of privacy concerns, but I still commend the audience for agreeing on its prevalence to our topic. Privacy was not wholly neglected during our discussion, but it definitely was upstaged by the modern trait of convenience. I think that the discussion could have been lengthened and enriched if more dissents on this topic were put forward by the audience.

Even with these present shortcomings, I felt that our group moderated the deliberation in an appropriate manner. We provided the audience with a strong foundation with our issue introductions and issue guide. During the discussion, we upheld the moderators’ primary duty of respect towards participants, while also allocating enough time for people with demonstrated interest to speak. Several members of the audience primarily carried the discussion during some parts of the deliberation, but we were still able to get constructive anecdotes from other members of the audience throughout the deliberation.

If I were a repeat this deliberation, I would make several changes to our approach. I would ask the audience to further consider the issues surrounding privacy and the increasing presence of technology in our lives. As several people stated in our deliberation, there is a widely held belief amongst younger generations that the internet and the technology industry inevitably have access to any user’s personal information. While this claim may be true, it does not make it right. I felt that our deliberation put forward viable solutions to address facial recognition concerns, but they may not have been the best for preserving autonomy in an age of digital uniformity.

“Here comes a fake brick to cry you to bed, and here comes a chopper to chop off your head!”

I will now share one of my many interesting, but useless skills with you: I am a master bricklayer. This may seem like an applicable trait, but I could not tell you a thing about laying actual bricks. No, my expertise comes with a trade that is even harder to master and more torturous than placing individual bricks by hand. The title of this post, taken from 1984 and a famous English nursery rhyme, only captures some of the misery associated with my work.

I could build a skyscraper entirely out of fake plastic bricks using my experience from high school. These convincing plastic sheets formed the backbone of many of my stage crew program’s sets, and my work experiences with them would be some of the most painful, yet memorable times I had as a stage crew builder.

The easiest way to think of the brick is from the perspective of a puzzle. Each rectangular sheet has indents that the next identical piece can slide into, and sheets can easily be stacked on top of one another to build fake walls.

The problems with bricks begin when these sheets either need to be reshaped or mounted to surfaces.

This is how you reshape plastic brick sheets. The brick men use the program’s beloved table saw to cut down portions of the sheets for specific mounting points. This may seem like an uneventful process, but to increase your understanding of construction tools, I will now give a tutorial on one of the most dangerous saws in the shop.

Rules of the table saw:

Don’t wear ties or lanyard while operating the table saw. The contraption can easily turn into a guillotine if the neckwear becomes trapped in the spinning blade.
Wear eye protection: when a rogue piece of wood or plastic brick is blasted at your goggles like a bullet and blocked from your eyes by this thin sheet of defense, you will thank me.
Wear ear protection: I am surprised that I was not deaf after using that thing without earplugs.

As romantic as the brick may seem from the audience, shaping it with a medieval torture device is far from this feeling. After long cut sessions, I would be covered in molten plastic shards that were thrown all over my face and clothes by the saw.

As I stated before, this was a sign of things to come.

Once each brick sheet was properly sized, they needed to be leveled with extreme precision while they were screwed into the frame. If the angle was slightly off, the wall would look crooked and the crew would have issues mounting additional sheets to the wall. I was a tedious process that I always happened to be assigned after cut duty.

I cannot put into words how much I hate working with fake brick. However, through these painful moments, I learned many lessons that would assist me throughout my time in stage crew and life as a whole.

Precision and Patience are strong virtues in any form of work.
Nothing is as bad as moving your hands inches away from a spinning blade and facing the possibility of becoming an amputee or headless.