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I work in theatre on the producton side of things. Currently I am working as a lighting designer and assistant lighting designer for a large repertory company. (This means that they present several plays at the same time)
Every day is different depending on where you are in the production schedule approaching opening night, so i'll tell you about my Sunday June 5th.
I woke up at 8:30am and walked to work for 10am First I checked in at the office to read email and go over today's Schedule. With three plays sharing three venues plus 4 rehearsal spaces, it's easy to lose track of what is going on and where, so keeping on top of the various schedules is critical.
Right now I am assisting on one that has a few more dress rehearsals to go before its first audience and also designing my own which has just started its "tech week". This means the setting of the lighting cues and final touch ups before full technical rehearsals.
So, after a short lunch I'm off to the 12:30pm dress rehearsal of "Autumn Garden". I watch the run sitting at a large table in the middle of the house with monitors showing me the recorded lighting levels an cue timings from the control console in the booth.
As the play progresses, the designer makes small adjustments and I notate them on a spreadsheet on my laptop. The reheasal ran until about 4:30pm and was followed by 1/2 hour of catch up notes.
Off for 2 hours and then a 7pm "Cue To Cue" rehearsal of the play I'm designing; a french farce called "Something On the Side". A cue to cue is where we just run the transitions between the lighting, sound and staging cues. This is for the benefit of the Stage manager and crew rather than the actors. It also gives me a chance to polish the rough lighting levels we set the night before, now in real time with a cast onstage.
The reheasal ran until about 11:30pm followed by notes. I was home by 12:15am.
Monday's are dark and Tuesday will have a similar schedule but no rehearsal in the afternoon; only office work.
The hours are odd, the pay is low, and employment can be sporadic, but it's very fulfilling work when it all comes together.
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Building an artificial intelligence that appreciates Mozart is easy. Building an A.I. that appreciates a theme restaurant is the real challenge - Kit Roebuck - Nine Planets Without Intelligent Life
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