Holy Gala Week

This past week has been most likely the busiest and most stressful of the summer. It was the O'Neill Summer Gala, a time where the rich and important come to eat fancy catering, listen to people sing, and hopefully open up their checkbooks in support of The O'Neill. I designed sound for said Gala. In the end, it went very well. Come to think of it, the sound stuff was the least of my worries. The system sounded great and everything went off perfectly. The problem was I also became in charge of the video projector purely because no one else had the foggiest clue how to use it. Getting that thing to work in a tent with limited rigging gear/cable was an interesting experience, but it got done.

The gala itself was kind of fun. Free scotch (my favorite part), an opening speech by Michael Douglas (no, Catherine Zeta did not come along... I was disappointed), Dina Merill, other fancy people... The power went toward the end of the program. However, my team sprung into action and got the whole rig back up in about a minute. I was proud of us. The singers just kept on singing, it was kind of funny.

At the same time, there were 2 plays being teched that my interns and I had to deal with as well, hence the stress. I'm glad it's over and a day off is afoot.

Working hard for the (almost no) money...

I am glad to say the first outdoor show got up and running without too many hitches. The weather cooperated for the most part. Rain is especially scary in the Edith theatre because we are running 9 powered speakers and a big QLab computer rig 100 yards away from any cover. Yikes. It sounds amazing, though. 2 years ago when I was here, we just had the stock crappy speakers that the O'Neill owned. We made it work, but compared to this amazing Meyer rig, there is just no comparison. Way cool. The show is called "Firework" which some actual fireworks cues at the end. We got them sounding so realistic we have seem many people wandering around looking up into the sky wondering where they are coming from. So here's the trick: 4 Meyer 18" subs, and a bunch of Meyer UPAs will get you fantastic fake fireworks. :-)

Tech did go til 1 or so. I am TIRED. Lunch was particularly unattractive as well, so I mostly skipped it. Just saving up for when we head to Outback Steakhouse tonight. Al's boss has a coupon for a free Bloomin' Onion. Woot.

We might get to go diving next week as well!! I'll keep you posted.

First Tech

I have about 10 minutes or so until I have to go to a show, but I have time for a quick post. Today was the first partially stressful day for me, as it was the first real tech of the summer. Fortunately, we were able to think of most of the problems far enough in advance to be ready for some of the snafoos. However, the one major issue we did not plan on was the Musical Theatre Conference going on concurrently. Traditionally, the musicals did not use any sort of sound effects, reinforcement, etc but as the companies get younger, more and more tech is introduced into the process. For the most part they are on their own, we set it up and they press go. However, when we say "Don't touch anything," we really mean DON'T FRICKEN TOUCH ANYTHING! For reals. I nearly died today when I went upstairs to see the 60 or so year old stage manager poking around in the back of the mixer trying to figure out where to plug in the USB cord. There is no USB involved in this process. As I said... I nearly died and/or burned down the barn.

Things are otherwise good. People are getting sick on campus which is somewhat worrisome, but that is going to happen. I'm greatly looking forward to my day off on Monday and some possible diving in the near future.

I feel like a big boy. In addition, ginger beer rocks my world.

I'll get used to this...

I really need to get into the practice of updating this regularily... You're right Nikki. I'll get right on that.

I could get used to living here. Forever. This might not be too far from the truth. I've gotten 3 job offers since I've been here in New York, Providence, and New Haven. This is rather comforting considering jobs are not the easiest to come by. I'm really glad I don't suck at this. I really enjoy being in a supervisory role too. My interns have been great. The ME and I have been working together rather well which has been extremely helpful.

The last two nights we have been staying at the local Radisson. There was a massive power failure at Conn College where we are staying. Fortunately, we are staying in the same place as all the equity actors, and they have specific accomidation requirements, so off the Radisson we go! The power should be back on today, but it was a nice two night treat to have TV and sleep number beds, although sleep number beds kind of blow.

We have the two indoor theatres tuned and set to go. We were hoping to get the two outdoor theatres close to done today but we are getting insane rain. Come to think of it, I haven't seen rain like this since last time I was here. The rain is being accompanied by a thunderstorm. It's funny how uptight people around here get about thunderstorms. Ryan (my designer) is also from the midwest and were just discussing how when the tornado sirens go off, we're the first people to be putting the camera together and running outside. People here FREAK out at the slightest bit of lightening. It's great.

O'Neill... day 2

Hey all. I thought I would give this blogging thing a try whilst I am here working in Connecticut. No guarantees...

So far, so good. I love it here. The people are mostly great, the atmosphere is intoxicating, grounds are beautiful... I would totally live here and work forever. Please notice that I say this only on Day 2 of many. I'm sure I will have days where that opinion will temporarily change, but I can't imagine not leaving with impeccably positive memories.

Our living quarters are amazing. We are living in the "House Fellow Suite," which is basically where the Resident Manager lives during the school year. We have a living room, a big bedroom, tolerable beds, and... the best part... our own private bathroom. It's fantastic especially compared to the dingy prison-like "worse than Teigen" dorms we were in last year.

At this point I've met 1 of the designers I will be working with this year and my interns. I think we are all going to get along very well. Ryan, my sound designer, is a goof (and I mean that in the best sense of the word). We're getting along very well so far. My interns are Greg and Patricia. I had the opportunity to work with Patricia at the Kennedy Center this year and Greg was here last year and knows his way around pretty well. Tomorrow is going to be a rather intensive work day so they will really be hitting the ground running.

I really love it here. It's like I never left.