That awful moment...

Spenser Hamilton

Spenser Hamilton

Senior
Sep 12, 2012
653
6
18
SW Ontario
...when you bring an actress her headset mic only to find she has someone else's on already.

Twenty minutes before house opens on our final show, I'm chasing down cast members to check their pack number, one person grabs the wrong pack and it starts a chain reaction.

Show went good though, gotta love live theatre.


Sent from my iPhone
 
Re: That awful moment...

Spenser Hamilton said:
...when you bring an actress her headset mic only to find she has someone else's on already.

Twenty minutes before house opens on our final show, I'm chasing down cast members to check their pack number, one person grabs the wrong pack and it starts a chain reaction.

Show went good though, gotta love live theatre.


Sent from my iPhone
Click to expand...

They're all the same thing right? the numbers are just for inventory control lol :P
 
Re: That awful moment...

Spenser Hamilton said:
...when you bring an actress her headset mic only to find she has someone else's on already.

Twenty minutes before house opens on our final show, I'm chasing down cast members to check their pack number, one person grabs the wrong pack and it starts a chain reaction.

Show went good though, gotta love live theatre.


Sent from my iPhone
Click to expand...

Twenty minutes before the house opened? Chances are good my actors wouldn’t even be in the building. I’ve experienced this a couple times. Putting labels with actor name, character name, and a headshot on the transmitter can minimize mistakes. Still, there are nights when you have a swing on that could be in for any of 5 or 6 roles and wearing the corresponding transmitter. Mistakes can happen. Sounds like you found the problem quickly and put out the fire. That’s the gig.

The last time it happened to me I enjoyed a couple post-show beers on the tab of my A2.
 
Re: That awful moment...

Jake Scudder said:
Twenty minutes before the house opened? Chances are good my actors wouldn’t even be in the building. I’ve experienced this a couple times. Putting labels with actor name, character name, and a headshot on the transmitter can minimize mistakes. Still, there are nights when you have a swing on that could be in for any of 5 or 6 roles and wearing the corresponding transmitter. Mistakes can happen. Sounds like you found the problem quickly and put out the fire. That’s the gig.

The last time it happened to me I enjoyed a couple post-show beers on the tab of my A2.
Click to expand...

All the packs were labeled initially but some labels got ripped off during costume changes I suppose, I was much more on top of who got what packs initially (local theatre with some less than experienced actors), but towards the end I obviously got a little bit lax (lesson learned).

I've been doing theatre gigs for about 2 years now, even with the occasional incident, I still prefer it to the dirty club gigs that I cut my teeth on.

@Per, no home-wrecking audio techs in this case :lol:
 
Re: That awful moment...

A few years ago we were doing an event in front of about 8000 people where a pair of historical reenactors were to address the crowd using wireless lapel mics. Due to the way things were scheduled, setup, and security, we had to mic the actors up well ahead of their presentation and we weren't sure if we would be able to get to them between a private function before the presentation and their mounting the podium. As a backup, we showed the reentactors' handler how to turn on the beltbacks in case we didn't. As luck would have it, we were able to get to them, turn on the beltpacks, inform the handler of the same, and head back to FOH. Several minutes later, the handler proceeds to "turn on the beltpacks", turning them off in the process. Rather then risking one of us being tackled by multiple Secret Service details, we can only watch in horror as they begin to address the crowd "sans sound system". I'm still not sure what was worse, the fact that it occurred to one of them to step up to the lectern mic or that one of them didn't.
 
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