Tech Week...

This past week has been tech week for “Ride the Cyclone” at ONU. Tech week is the week before a show opens where the technical elements are added. It is known to be an extremely tiring week because it’s officially crunch time. The nights are long and tensions are high. For this show I am one of four follow spots. Follow spots are the people who sit in the grid and move the spotlights around to follow the actors. Thankfully tech week is almost over because the show opens tonight!

Tech week started last Wednesday with the designer run. The designer run is the first showing of the show for the whole designer team. This includes the lighting designer, costume designer, sound designer and the student crew. This night is always electric because it's everyone's first time seeing what the cast has worked so hard on. 

Then we had two days of break before the real tech started. We moved into the theatre on Saturday. The crew had tech training all morning before we started cue-to-cue that night. Cue-to-cue is when we go through the show slowly and stop to add lighting and sound to each moment. We continued this process all day on Sunday as well. It can be grueling but is ultimately worth it because the show could not run without it.

On Monday we started dress rehearsals. This means that all of the technical elements including costumes, hair and makeup are in. This is when the show really starts to come together. Wednesday night was the invited dress rehearsal. This means that members of our program are allowed to come watch the final dress rehearsal so the cast can get used to having an audience. It went really well. This is a very tech-heavy show and I think the entire crew has been doing a fantastic job managing the twists and turns. Tonight is opening night and I can't wait to see the audience’s reactions to this wacky show. We are completely sold out so it will surely be one for the books!


Comments

  1. Shannon McKenzieOctober 24, 2024 at 12:24 PM

    Wow! I never knew all of the small steps it takes to ensure everything throughout the show runs smoothly! Having to go through each scene and play around the lighting does in fact sound grueling, as lighting can be tricky sometimes. If I wasn’t working all week and then going home this weekend I’d be seeing the show! I might have to wait until next weekend.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ella FooseOctober 24, 2024 at 12:32 PM

    I came to the invited dress rehearsal last night to watch both casts and let me just say the show was incredible! It was so cool to support all my friends acting in the show and teching the show! You killed it on follow spot! I cannot wait to see the show again. Everyone should try and come see it this weekend it is such an amazing experience.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Gage PowerOctober 24, 2024 at 12:43 PM

    I did not know all the elements that went into making a show happen. It sounds like a stressful and tiring time but I'm sure it will be worth it in the end!

    ReplyDelete

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