Technically Speaking

Tuesday was the big tech day for Saturday Night Fever. I got to the theatre at 9:00am and left at 10:30pm. Needless to say, I was exhausted afterwards. For most of the actors, tech is simply the long process where they stand around waiting, then repeat the same section three times before moving on. For the stage manager, it is constant juggling, even during breaks, to keep everything going smoothly.

While tech is virtually the same process at any theatre, there are some minor differences based on working styles. I’ve realized that you don’t fully understand the reasoning behind certain things until they are missing. At some places I’ve worked, the director, lighting designer, sound designer, and stage manager all sit down before full tech and have what’s called a paper tech. The designers and director talk through all the cues in the show, and agree on placement, while the stage manager writes it into the calling script. So when full tech begins, the stage manager already knows where most of the cues are, they just need to be built, practiced, and timing fine-tuned. For BW, we don’t do a paper tech. And I’ve found, not doing one makes the stage manager’s job during tech harder, especially on a musical.

The stage manager ends up doing three things at once during tech. 1. Writing the cues in the book. 2. Practicing calling them. 3. And managing the room. Dissonance occurs when the director is ready to move on, while the SM is still writing things down, trying to find the proper placement. An example would be “take the cue when Tony crosses”. While I have in my blocking the line where Tony crosses, often the actor doesn’t always cross on the exact same word. So it’s finding where on the page is the best place to write, what the specific word is to call the cue, and simple what number the cue is. And doing all that while the actors are standing there waiting for you to tell them what to do.

What I’ve found the hardest part of tech to be is gauging the best place to resume once stopped, especially when music is involved. While I have a logical place I would like to start on the page, trying to communicate that both to the actors and to the band can be challenging. For this show especially, the lyrics in the songs are overly repetitive. While I can give measure numbers to David, the actors would still be lost trying to find how many burn Baby Burn Disco Inferno to sing before the button of the song.

For me as an introvert, tech can be very difficult for me because of the constant interaction. There were times where I was thinking that it’s actually not very good for my health, because I become so tense that my head and even my chest started to ache. Everyone said that tech ran very smoothly, which is good to hear because I don’t have an objective view on it. I felt like I got hit by a train.

I think the key to success is simple remaining calm and patient. With actors asking you millions of questions, the director saying “no, that’s wrong”, and fielding various problems as they come up, it is easy to get overwhelmed. But getting frustrated, self-critical, or upset, would only make things worse. You simply focus on the job, and continue working even if you make mistakes. Because if you dwell on mistakes or overreact, you would end up making even more mistakes. Part of the key to working under pressure is simply keeping your composure, putting aside your feelings, and to keep moving forward.