Blog 20: Exit Interview

1) What is your essential question and answers? What is your best answer and why?

What is the best way to optimize a stage for a successful production. Answer one: 

Communicating the plot of the production to the audience through the partnership of light and prop use. Answer two: Using state of the art lighting boards and audio mixers, to optimize a stage. Answer three: Having frequent tech rehearsals, is a way to optimize a stage. Out of those three answers, the best is my third the effectiveness of rehearsing makes sure everything runs smoothly and if there are any kinks they can be worked out before the show. Also the more familiar you are with something the less errors will occur.

2) What process did you take to arrive at this answer?

I had all the elements to evoke and increase the wow factor of a production, however without knowing your cues and how the play will be preformed it would result in an unorganized performance.

3) What problems did you face? How did you resolve them?

There where two major problems I encountered. The first was the inability to find a reliable mentor. I went through six mentors and out of the six I worked with one for seventeen hours. Then I landed my seventh mentor form The Inland Valley Repertoire Theatre (IVRT). Secondly was trying to find the research that supported my answers while involving technical theatre. I solved this research challenge by not looking at it literally instead I broke it into its parts and looked at creative ways to find research. 

4) What are the two most significant sources you used to answer your essential question and why?

My first significant source was my fourth interview with the lighting designer from my mentorship at IVRT. Daniel, the lighting designer, has a wealth of knowledge on the technical aspects of theatre production. One of the amazing things is he learned through practical experience, he had no formal education. The second source is the book "The Power of Habit" by Charles Dunhigg, since it talks about the conditioning of the mind through repetition learning. The best answer requires the stage crew to repeat performances daily with minimal snafus. 

Blog 19: Independent Component 2

LITERAL
(a)  “I, Jonathan Shoemaker, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.”
(b) One of the better sources I used to help me through independent component was " The Back Stage Guide to Stage Management" by Thomas A. Kelly. I know my topic isn't stage management but this source was very beneficial since I needed to stage manage a scene to go to Fullerton.  
(c)Done and done
(d) Explanation of what you completed.   
What I did was really all hands on experience. I went to the Fullerton College Theatre Festival, to competed. The festival was a two day event consisting of competitions for acting and technical work. I competed in 9 technical theatre events on one of the two iPoly tech teams. The events I participated in were the Tech Olympic events. The 9 events are detailed below:
1) Costume Quick Change- Change a member in the dark that has over sized clothes on in the fastest time.
2) Light focusing- I had to hang theatre lights and crop the sides to match a taped out shape on the opposite wall.
3) Team Knot Tying- Each member was assigned 1 of the 5 knots and was timed until all knots were done.
4) Tool Usage- was a relay and each member had been assigned 1 of 5 tools and hardware that need to be used.
5) Prop Quick Change- We were given blurry pictures of a scene and had to set the stage in the fastest time and as accurate to the picture as possible.
6) Tool And Hardware ID- Had to identify as many tools and hardware as possible in a dark room within a 10 minute time frame.
7) Electrical Wiring- I wired adapters such as a three prong Edison to a Twistlock and a Three Pin to a three prong Edison
8) Individual Knot Tying- This was a individual task that required the completion of all 5 knots.
9) Scenic Design- I presented my technical work for the production of  "Working."

INTERPRETIVE 
The specific part that this component helped me with was understanding all the hands on tasks that are required to be a theatre tech. For example knowing how to organize a tech rehearsal so the teams I was in charge of were able to have some knowledge as to what needs to be done at the festival. Along with organization
there is also the skills that are needed to thrive in the tech world. Those skills are things such as how to hang and focus lights, how to tie knots that can help with almost anything that needs to be done in the theatre world and most of all

I might be a little hard to see but just look for the Mohawk. That is me setting up the lights for competition number 2 

That right there is a stunning photo of the punk techie in his natural wood shop habitat. I was being given the institutions for the tool relay which is competition number 4

The Best of Fullerton Festival done by Angel Flores

In the picture above I am at the top right that was me with my presentation board right before I went to present the technical work I did for my Independent Component 1. This was the best competitions I can compete in because this is where you get instant feed back from the judge based on how well you did along with what can be changed or fixed in the design for next time.This were I was told that light has a tremendous affect on how the audience sees a production, but props make the actors mannerisms really "pop-out."

APPLIED
This was beneficial by providing hands on experience. The importance of practical experience and what works in the real world rather then just being theoretical. It helped me understand the time needed to complete tasks and how to organize rehearsals to the best of my abilities. 

Gypsy at...

So its official I have a solid Mentorship that I will be volunteering at for the rest of my fifty hours. In other words I will be there helping for at least thirty three hours. The production I will be working on, will be Gypsy starting this Thursday 4/4 at the Taylor Hall in Claremont off of Indian hill. The curtains open the 9th of April and the dates follow: Tuesday 4/15, Wed. 4/16, Tuesday 4/22, Wed. 4/23. Not that the times are the same for the first three shows however do not for the last since the last date is actually two showings in one day. I'm really excited for this I will get to work stage crew and shadow the lighting and set designer. Much to follow up with, so until next time have a great day.

Blog 18: Third Answer

Content:

EQ: What is the best way to optimize a stage for a successful production?

Answer #3 (Write in a complete sentence like a thesis statement): Having frequent tech rehearsals, is a way to have a successful production.

3 details to support the answer (a detail is a fact and an example): 

1. Time management provides an organized schedule for people to follow. For example would be a calendar stating when specific rehearsals will be.
2. Various types of rehearsals in order of ease. For example you need to have a dry tech rehearsal before a wet tech rehearsal because a dry tech sets the marks for a wet tech.
3. Confirms that all of the technical fixture are in proper working condition. For example the bulb in a lighting fixture may be burnt out resulting in improper illumination. 

The research source (s) to support your details and answer:
"Rehersals ." vtheatre.net.2006. Web. 10 March 2014 <http://vtheatre.net/directing/stagemanager.html>

Concluding Sentence:
With properly scheduled equipment checks in technical rehearsals will allow for quick and effective productions.

Blog 17: Fourth Interview Questions

Content:

1. What is the best way to optimize a stage for a successful production?
2. How many technical aspects do you use in just one production?
3. How often do you use new equipment?
4. How do you determine how much equipment will be needed for a production?
5. What company makes the lighting board you use?
6. What audio equipment do you favor?
7. Was there a situation in a production were blocking had an effect on the production?
8. How often do you run through the full production during rehearsals?
9. How is colored lighting used?
10. What is the best way to organize a tech rehearsals?
11. What lighting fixtures can be utilized to evoke emotion?
12. What can you do to increase your knowledge of the tech position?
13. Do you require your techs to understand and know how to use colors to convey?
14. How often do you  have a tech rehearsal?
15. What kind of food do you bring for rehearsals?
16. How do you configure your lighting zones?
17. What type of wattage does your equipment use?
18. How do you counter the reverberations from the monitors on stage?
19. How do you determine which acoustic panels to place in a theatre?
20. What changes on an audio mixer to go from a musical to a non-musical production?
21. As a theatre tech what technology do you think works the best to convey an emotion to the audience?

Sadly little...

So I still haven't been able to contact my mentor at the Chino Community Theater. However I'm going to try and contact a family friend for the possibility to sit in on the production of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." Like I said I would keep it updated for the new events at The Chino Theater. So here is the most recent set of events for the theater:

• March 7: Beauty and the Beast Jr.- first show for this play all starts at 7:00 pm
• March 8: Beauty and the Beast Jr.- Cast opens at 2:30 pm
• Also if you are a ukulele fan every Friday night there is a group that goes to the theater to play and create a ukulele community. This is done every Friday at 6:00 pm.

Blog 16: Advisory Meeting #2

EQ

What is the best way to optimize a stage for a successful production?

 

1) Answer #2:

Using state of the art lighting boards and audio mixers, is the best way to optimize a stage.

2) 3 details to support the answer:

•  With the use of a new lighting board you can manipulate the lights that are attached to hydraulics. What is meant by "manipulate" is the ability to move the lighting fixture in real time to follow an actor on stage.Moving them into different focus zones for the next act without having to manually move them while on a ladder. This task can be achieved remotely through the lighting board.
•  With audio mixers you can combined multiple channels into one. An audio mixer uses a plethora of incoming audio channels to: raise or lower the gain, increase or decrease each individual channel, along with turning off that channel completely or even have the ability to still listen to a channel without it going through the speakers.
• With a state of the art audio mixer it will give the best audio quality and will have systems in place if there would happen to have audio feedback.

3) The research source (s) to support your details and answer:

Source: 

11-ETC manual: goes into detail on each function the lighting board can do. 

13-"How to use an audio mixer": gives you a full tutorial on how a lighting board functions.

4) Concluding Sentence:

With the ability to use a modern lighting board and audio mixer allows the technician the ability to have to correct lighting and crisp clear sound.