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Q. How did you get interested in theatre?
A. I did two years of technical theatre in high school for my required fine arts credit. I only actually needed one credit, but I loved it so much that when I moved to a new school that required more credits for graduation, I was able to take a second year. Sadly, my new school's theatre department was terrible; it wasn't even a theatre but rather a cafetorium with the acoustics of an aircraft hangar. Nevertheless, it was still the best part of every day.
Q. But why specifically tech theatre in high school? Were the alternatives really that bad?
A. Yes. I wouldn't be caught dead in marching band, I suck at drawing, and I suffer from terrible stage fright. So I was left with tech theatre, which sounded kind of cool since it involved working with tools, which I was used to using around the house (the place I lived in at the time was in a state of constant remodeling). Besides, I started to get interested in the idea of working behind the scenes when I saw the special effects in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace and especially The Mummy; I thought it might be neat to work at ILM. Then I discovered I'm not a visual person, nor am I good enough at the computer science required for it. More importantly, there's a lot of sitting in cramped studios involved, and I like freedom of movement, so I flourished in tech theatre.
Q. What kind of shows did you work in high school?
A. At Klein, which had a good theatre department, I worked on The Three Musketeers, Harvey, Guys and Dolls, You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, and some one-act stuff I can't remember. At Cedar Park, which had an embarrassingly bad theatre department, I worked on The Odd Couple, You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown (again, but a really shitty production this time), The Pajama Game, and some more one act stuff I can't remember.
Q. But you went to college for film. Why didn't you go to school for tech theatre?
A. I couldn't major in tech theatre without taking acting classes or else doing costume/makeup/stage management/student teaching/other stuff I didn't want to do. Plus, I wanted to do more audio stuff, which is better done in film. Also, tech is better learned on the job, while film school has more of a purpose. I wanted a college degree in something similar, but didn't want to do acting, so I did film and took audio classes instead. Then, within a year of leaving school, I was looking at theatre work.
Q. Why do you spell it theatre?
A. Um, I just do. Many of the theatres I work spell it that way.
Q. What exactly do you do as a stagehand?
A. Mostly I push road cases (black boxes on wheels, full of cables and such) on and off trucks, assemble video screens, run cable, and hang lights, which involves using a wrench to attach a light to a truss. Oh, and lifting; there's a hell of a lot of lifting. But there tends to be a lot of standing around in between lifting. We call it "hurry up and wait."
Q. . . . I thought this was a glamorous job.
A. If you think pushing dirty road cases and slinging cable with a bunch of guys is glamorous, yes it is. If you think it's all about lights and makeup, you're the gullible victim of one too many movies.
Q. Where all do you work?
A. Various venues, wherever I get a call for work. In Houston I worked at the George R. Brown Convention Center and the Museum of Fine Arts, and in Austin I've worked at the Performing Arts Center, the Austin Convention Center, the Travis County Exposition Center, the Paramount Theatre, the Austin City Limits Festival in Zilker Park, and the Frank Erwin Center. Most of those aren't real theatres. Stagecraft isn't just about plays and musicals: Benefits, rock concerts, and conferences and conventions all have stuff that takes a lot of people to set up.
Q. Do you like working those other non-theatre calls?
A. No. Well. Rock shows are okay, but I hate hotel and convention center work.
Q. How do you get calls for work?
A. The stage manager or business agent simply calls me when they need me. I invariably say yes.
Q. But with all those calls for work, you must have plenty of work and experience.
A. No. There's not only a limited amount of work, but also, all the people who have more experience than I do outrank me, so they get called first. That means that a lot of the work goes to them, and only when they need a lot of people or somebody calls in sick do the less experienced people get called. Climbing the work roster is a slow slow process, and I'm still very much at the bottom.
Q. What's the pay like?
A. Usually the rate is between twelve and sixteen dollars an hour, depending on the gig. But I frequently get time and a half for overtime, or double time for working overtime after midnight or on weekends.
Q. What's the deal with union/non-union?
A. (I should be careful how I answer this.) Unions are usually better organized and safer, with better benefits, but they are also more hierarchical, meaning it's harder for new people to move up because of so many of the guys who've been there forever at the top.
Q. So are you in the union?
A. No. Membership was offered to me in Austin, but I turned it down since I couldn't afford the outrageous fee and was getting ready to move to Houston and would rather have joined there and not have to deal with transfer fees. You don't have to be a member to take calls for work through them, so I do. I would join if I could afford it. I still might consider it, but I'd rather wait until I'm back in Houston.
Q. How did you first find out about these kinds of work calls?
A. I had a friend who worked through the union in Houston, and I asked about getting some such for myself. He told me about the stagehands' union and how to get work through them.
Q. Can I be a stagehand?
A. If you know your stage directions and have a basic tool kit, and are not bothered by sweaty manual labor and long/odd hours, yes. If you expect to stand around and collect souvenirs and meet famous people, no.
Q. Do you get to talk to celebrities?
A. Not really. I see them walk past me. I accidentally smiled at one of the guys in N*SYNC once because I wasn't paying attention and was thinking of something else, one of the guys in Blue Man Group turned and looked at me as they were walking off stage because my safari hat caught his eye, I accidentally bumped into one of the Killers, and I yelled at TSO when they wouldn't get out of the way of the stage cart we were pushing past the dressing room, but that's about it. Oh, and Trent Reznor talked to us briefly backstage; he was really nice.
Q. Can you introduce me to celebrities?
A. NO! Fuck off.
Q. But whhhhhhyyyyyy?
A. Because that's not my job. It's not even close to my job description, and I never get near them really anyway. Even if I could, I wouldn't, because you'd do something to embarrass me, and then I'd get blacklisted.
Q. Can you get keepsakes from shows?
A. No. There are rarely things that can be kept anyway. It annoys me enough when other hands look for keepsakes for themselves; I'm certainly not going to do the same thing for someone else.
Q. Could you sabotage performances if you wanted?
A. NO. Don't be an idiot. Aside from me not even being in a position to do that, there are many other people who could quickly fix any damage I did. More significantly, the importance of "the show must go on" is nothing short of sacred. Most significantly, if I did anything even remotely like sabotage, I'd be out of a job in the industry for the rest of my life. I'm not kidding. As above: Don't be an idiot.
Q. Can you get me in to see _____?
A. NO. As with the above, don't be an idiot. You can buy your own damn tickets. I rarely ever get in for free, and only stagehands are allowed in on those occasions anyway. If there are free tickets to be had, I will ask one of my friends. You are not allowed to ask before I mention it.
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