It has been a pretty exhausting tech week already for the Opera. Above is a shot from our 10 out of 12 this past weekend of the space with most of the set and my initial lighting look for Act. Tonight was the first run-through of the show as a whole, which was a lot of help to see. There is a really tight schedule for our tech though as the show opens this Friday and Thursday is a preview. I have discovered that teching a show in less than a week is very stressful. As I head to bed shortly, and an example of what my past fews days have been like, I hope to wake up tomorrow around 8 or 9am, review the video tape of the run-through, take down my missing cue notes, write up work notes, get to the theatre by noon to meet with my master electrician and assistant, do notes from 12-4pm, meet the director from 4-5 to discuss changes, get dinner, and then start our second run through, followed by tech talk afterwards…and then reverse and repeat. Two of my major frustrations at this point are: 1. The particular architectural fixtures/practicals I ordered were back ordered and only shipped today. They will be here by Friday, but I am in turmoil about whether to cut them or not if I am even able to have them installed before the house opens for opening at 7:30pm. 2. The follow-spot positions I am using for the show are mounted Source 4 10 degree units. It has become increasingly frustrating programing the spots in the cues on the board (Grand MA, for those who are wondering). Every time I want to change a level or In/Out I need to take focus away from the actual design. It’s driving me and my team crazy. I’m in the process of working out a way for the Spot-Ops to control their own intensity.

In other news, CalArts is reaching the end of the semester, but things do not slow down at all in May. There is a new works festival, portfolio review, mid-res review for many students, final project (which I am a bit behind in due to the Opera), and numerous shows to work on. I wish I could relax after the show opens, but I have to finish designing Les Liaisons Dangereuses for Grad Lighting 1, organize my portfolio, including finalized and updated plot, paperwork and production shots of Platee. I also found out my design assignment for next year. I will be working one of the fall shows called Blue. I am interested in seeing who else I will be working with on my production team.

It is 4am and I just got home from the theatre. We had a long work call today to hang the rest of the light plot, but we still were a bit behind schedule due to a variety of factors. Changes were made in the plot because one of my booms partially blocked an egress. Scenic fell behind schedule a little which will affect my focus call at 9am tomorrow…errr today. We probably will not get any dark time until noon. So I decided to stayed in the theatre all night/early morning because I wanted to get as much done as possible before focus. I spent some quality time with my plot. Sound was in the space late tonight as well, so at least I had some company. In the end though, nothing is more rewarding than hanging a good portion of your own plot, plus when you do, things often get done correctly the first time, and if not you know who to blame. More updates soon. There is a sitzprobe tomorrow, which lighting has been asked not to participate in, so I get a few hours of relaxation, or homework time.