Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Fire Code Shenanigans

Patrick over at Backstagejobs has a great article on how effing difficult it is to find information on theatre fire codes.

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I've run into this problem myself on more than one occasion- in New York City, one would presumably go to the Mayor's Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting website to find out, for example, how many chairs can legally be put together in a row before an aisle interrupts them, or how many and what type of fire extinguishers should be on hand. One might also think that the FDNY site could be a good resource. Now, I know I've found *some* info online before, but I remember digging around for hours before finding out that every audience member must be no more than 7 seats away from an aisle (or was it 6?).

A logical stagehand might think that the city would put this information out there for fire-prevention at the many theaters here. Use a phone, you might say? I've tried that, too. The best I usually get as a response is "the dude who knows all that stuff is out today" or "call so-and-so and such-and-such-a-theater, he's great with all that".

The theater I work at is blessed with many a visit from the fire department, as standard procedure. They send an army of four or five men decked out in full fire gear, five minutes before a show to scare the bejeezus out of anyone waiting in the lobby. Then I have the dubious pleasure of showing them around, making sure to point out exit signs and fire extinguishers.

On one such visit, dude came with a clipboard and a list of questions. One question on his form was "thrust stage, proscenium, other?"
Dude turned to me and asked what a thrust stage was.

I'm not saying that your average fireman has to know what a thrust stage is, but one would hope that the team that is inspecting theatres for public safety might have to know.

Anywho. That's my rant of the day.

Facebook Love/More Job Postings

Hey! I got a metric shit-ton of visitors from Facebook today! Thank you to whoever shared my link- brownie points to you, redeemable for two broken HPLs and a burnt-out stage pin cable!

In other news, some more cool jobs posted around the interwebs this week:

NOTE: I will not be posting Summer Stock Jobs, as I already have quite a comprehensive list of hiring theatres here.

On with the work!

Added Thursday: Bentley Meeker in NYC seeks lighting production manager

Production Assistant, touring Illusion Show (cue "The Final Countdown")
Rigger, Wynn Las Vegas
Trade Show Tech Manager/Driver, Touring
Stage Manager, NYC (stipend)
TV Production Asst., Seattle

Well, that's all I got. It's apparently a not-so-awesome week for job-hunting. Dear readers: what sorts of jobs do YOU have?

Monday, January 18, 2010

Golden Globes

So, who watched the Golden Globes last night? Anyone? No? Okay, I'm not surprised; I wouldn't have watched it, either, except that my friends had a little shindig at their place, and I can't turn down a good time.

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So. Lets' talk about all the ways in which the production could have been waaaay better.

1. Don't do an effing dinner service for the audience! It took eons for each winner to get to the stage, having to navigate through chairs and busboys. In the meantime, terrible music clips were played, which sometimes gave a bumbling-idiot feel to their inability to get through the crowd.

2. If you're going to have a host, let him host. Ricky Gervais was barely onstage at all, and most of the time was the most entertaining thing going on.

3. If you're gonna play someone off, don't pussy out. Do it, loud and clear. None of that slow....slow....fade-up of violins. And do it to EVERYONE, for fairness' sake. Yes, Meryl Streep is amazing, but she should know by now not to ramble at awards shows.

4. Wake up the follow-spot ops. Yeah, it's boring work, but when two hosts come up on stage, and only one has a spot on their way, that's weird.

5. I hate to say it, but would some musical acts have killed you? The format of award-award-award seems less sustainable to me than award - rock band - award. Sort of like a 15-minute union break every two hours. Breaks up the monotony.

6. Don't cut to a foreign dude (Schwarzenegger) for the foreign film category. He wasn't IN any of them!! So many awkward camera moments in this show.

Do YOU have any other gripes? Oh right: you didn't watch it.

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About Me

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New York, New York, United States
Tired. Caffeinated. Quietly evil.

I'm a theatre technician, living and working in NYC. Also an aspiring costumer, makeup artist, playwright and dilettante.
I like to rant about things, I swear like a person who swears a lot, and I work too much. Other than that, my time is spent at home with the puppy or in Chelsea bars with friends and co-workers.