Nightmarish People

In the day-to-day life of a NYC techie, he or she will encounter many new people, mostly artists and their friends, but also the occasional lighting designer or touring audio tech, what-have-you. It is great meeting most of these people, whose names will leave your memory shortly after they themselves leave your theatre. However, there is a special breed of folks that will burn an everlasting impression into your psyche, such that the mention of their name will bring up in your trachea the aromatic essence of your last meal (wasabi peas? really?).

I was talking with a couple of friends/co-workers about one of these special people last night. She is mentioned in another post of mine, albeit not by name. That's the tricky part of this blog. Anywho, we were talking about this woman, a lighting designer, who is easily the most horrifying designer I've ever worked with. And the conversation then turned to another jerk we'd worked for, who was much more bearable, but a jerk nonetheless. My friend said in these cases it is best to adopt an "okay, whatever" policy and basically turn your brain off, so that nothing this person says will affect you emotionally- you remain stoic, leave work later, and drink yourself to sleep or something. Sometimes that's not possible (such as when the designer has a nails-on-chalkboard kinda voice), but sometimes it really works.

Sometimes you'll work with a little-known artist who demands rock-star treatment, and hey, I guess you can't blame him/her, because starving for art sucks, so why not get a little respect and free booze before you go home to your shitty roach-infested Bushwick half-closet?

Regardless, I guess it's important to remember that you will most likely work with this person again, since NYC theatre is a small world after all. That's the sad part. There are some wonderful people that I have worked with only once; the horrible people are the ones who seem to keep coming back for more. Maybe the good ones all move onward and upward? Don't know.

It's also good to remember that as awful as some people may be, they may give you jobs in the future. If you miss out on some awesome touring gig in Asia because you mouthed off to a director, you will be sad. And here's where the arts get really fake, which I hate. But it's a balance of integrity versus income, and in the world of struggling twenty- and thirty-somethings, I think income mostly has to win that battle.