Crafty Tuesday: I also build sets
Posted By Kathleen David on May 6, 2014
My theatrical career was a varied one. I was mainly a stage manager but did just about everything else behind the scenes as well.
My father first taught me tool basics. I think one of the most useful classes I took in high school was shop where I got to play with really big power tools and learned how to operate a lathe.
So I had the basics when I started building sets in college. I had some really good teachers who took the time to make sure I was doing things correctly.
I enjoyed it a lot.
Last week I had to fix our couch. Two of the legs had broken so it was an adventure to sit on it.
I turned the couch over and figured out the repair. Went to the hardware store and got what I needed. Came home and fixed the couch. Solid as a rock now.
Lighting was another skill set that I was able to use. Before the computerized lighting boards of today, we had the old fashion levers and rheostats. They were fussy but I had the right touch to run them so I earned extra pocket money running light boards. I also learned how to hang theatrical lighting. While at Yale I had an excellent lighting teacher so I had the principles of lighting as well as practical application. That has helped me with my photography. I also learned how to balance electrical loads with circuit boxes, which had helped me in a variety of arenas.
Sound was something I stumbled into. The sound operator got very sick and I was drafted to run the sound board. The designer quickly figured out that I had the ‘ear’ for sound and was quite delighted to pass on what he had learned. To this day I can listen and tell you what is right and wrong with live sound. Peter has gotten use to me muttering, “balance it out” “Back off the bass” “Not so much treble”. I am good at balancing voice and music and again earned some good money doing so.
I learned a lot about plumbing while working in theater strangely enough. I learned the basics from my dad and now can take care of basic problems.
I learned about make-up from some of the best. I learned how to make leather comedia masks from a master mask maker. I learned costuming from a lot of different people. I also learned clever tricks in cleaning clothing from my costuming buddies. Vodka is your friend esp. if it is the really really cheap kind.
I have used my theatrical skill set a lot over the years for many things that have nothing to do with the theater.
I am grateful for all the skills I learned during my theatrical career.
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