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May we present the “Strike the Set” show! (long)

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  • May we present the “Strike the Set” show! (long)

    Good day, all! It’s been ages since I’ve posted. To recap, I’m working in an office of a outdoor gear store, so I don’t see many customers (sucky or not). I previously worked as a waitress, cashier and on a cruise ship for a few years. My husband and I were at a reunion party a month or two ago with other crew members we haven’t seen in years…..and some more stories came to mind. This one is long, so I’ll just post it for now. I’ll try to post more later.

    Cruise ship backstory – I worked behind the scenes in the theatre……setting up lights, speakers, the band, sets. During the shows we did set changes, props and occasionally costume changes.

    After 2 shows of one of our major production shows, we started to tear down the set to get the set ready for the next day. The shows ended at a little after 10pm, tear down took 40 minutes and setting up the band for the next night’s show usually took 25 –Yay! Still 2 hours in the crew bar.

    After the pax had left the theatre, we close these HUGE automatic doors that have “Do Not Enter” on them. These doors were heavy and hard to open. We’re about 30 minutes into teardown and getting to the hardest part that takes everyone and takes a good amount of concentration. From the back of the theatre we hear:

    “Oy! Can you guys start over so we can watch the whole thing from the beginning??!!?”

    In the empty theatre, voices travel and echo – scared the crap out of one guy who ended up dropping his end of the set piece. It ended up bending some of the metal and needed to be fixed before we could continue. Our Production Manager went out to talk to them. Luckily, because of aforementioned traveling voices, we heard every word.

    PM – production manager (who was on 22 and looked it)
    SH – Sucky Husband
    SW – Sucky Wife

    PM: I’m sorry, the theater is closed. I’m going to have to ask you to leave
    SH: But we paid good money for this cruise. I want to see this!
    PM: This is not a show. We are getting the theatre ready for tomorrow night’s event and we cannot have any passengers in here for safety reasons.
    SH: I want to see how everything comes apart. I should get what I want, sonny! And what I want is to see this from the beginning.
    PM: Listen, sir. We have a limited amount of time to get this done. I must insist that you leave.
    SW: I want to talk to your manager, boy!
    PM: I am in charge of all 3 theatres on this ship.
    SW: You’re 12 years old! They would never put you in charge!

    At this point, one of the other crew members paged the Cruise Director (luckily his office is about 20 feet from the theatre doors). We’ve been continuing on with our work and are mostly finished with taking down the first set – half of us are finishing it, the other half are prepping the band equipment.

    SH: You need to make these people stop what they are doing so they can set the show back up!
    PM: I’m sorry sir, that is not going to happen! If you would like to see how the set changes are done, there will be a backstage tour later on in the cruise.
    SW: Do you want to be responsible for ruining our vacation?

    Cruise Director gets there (now know as CD) **side note – this CD was usually a huge douchbag, but he wasn’t too bad for once)

    CD: What seems to be the problem?
    SW: We want to watch them take the set apart and they wouldn’t start over for us!
    CD: (looks at stage, now bare with the beginnings of the band being set up) Ma’am, the crew is on a strict timeline for their set ups. They are as choreographed as the dancers are. When those doors are closed, it is for passenger safety.
    SH: But we’re not disturbing anyone!
    CD: Sir, each and every crew member on that stage knows what is moving and when. They are all wear steel toed shoes and they are highly trained in what they do.

    At this point, just to make them just, our lighting guy lowered one of the lighting riggs that was hanging about 10 feet in front of them. The motor is loud, and the entire unit shakes and looks like it will fall at any minute the whole way down (it always looked like that). We had all be warned over headset that it was happening, so none of us jump. The pax, however, almost shit themselves.

    SH: What the hell is that all about?!?!?!
    PM: Well, sir, lights have to be reprogrammed for each show
    SW: What if we have been underneath there? We could have been killed!

    (The lighting guy cut all lights except the work lights on stage and started goofing around with his automated lights….not actually doing anything that needed to be done, just trying to get the pax out! Only the emergency floor lighting is on in the audience. The sound guy, who has finished testing the band mics, starts playing random tracks from shows at a pretty good volume.)

    By this point, we have finished. 2 guys have run up to the crew bar and came down with drinks for everyone. We were all sitting in the wings since we can’t hear them anymore. We got the rest of the story from the PM and CD afterwards (took another 10 minutes before they left). The pax demanded to know who was in charge of the theatre again since they didn’t believe “this boy” could be. CD confirmed that PM was indeed in charge of all 3 theatres on the ship, and he was PM’s direct supervisor. They didn’t believe it and felt they were “covering for someone”. They decided that they were going to “file a complaint with the Captain” because they felt their “needs were not being met”. The CD told them they were more than welcome to file a complaint at the purser’s desk.

    After they left we finished our drinks, headed up to the crew bar with the PM and CD, and we bought them some drinks for having to deal with the suck.

    PS:
    Here is a look at the set we tore down. It doesn’t look like much, but it’s almost 3 stories high and the beams and floors are heavy. There are also 2 staircases that come off the side balconies that you can’t really see, but they are heavy and the balcony pieces that had to be put back in are 90 lbs each.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IghgEepii28
    You don’t get a full view of the stage until around 3:30 and even them parts of it are hidden behind some fly pieces.

  • #2
    Quoth CruiseShipGirl View Post
    SW: Do you want to be responsible for ruining our vacation?
    I love this type of accusation. It's always somebody else's fault, isn't it? Everything is always somebody else's fault.

    Quoth CruiseShipGirl View Post
    SW: What if we have been underneath there? We could have been killed!
    AND THAT'S WHY YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE HERE, YOU BRAINDEAD !!!

    He sounds like he's related to the idiots who've watched too many Yogi Bear cartoons and when they see live bear cubs in the wild, they want to run over and pet them. Because, see, nothing's actually real -- everything's just a show, put on solely for their entertainment!
    Last edited by Dave1982; 05-30-2012, 12:44 PM. Reason: Excessive quoting

    Comment


    • #3
      Quoth Pixilated View Post
      AND THAT'S WHY YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE HERE, YOU BRAINDEAD !!!
      You know, I said the exact same thing before I even read your response. Of course, I didn't bother censoring myself.


      And CruiseShipGirl: You got that set struck in 40 minutes? Damn, you had a good team.
      "If your day is filled with firefighting, you need to start taking the matches away from the toddlers…” - HM

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      • #4
        Shame it wasn't a Christmas-time cruse; you could have gone 2 for 1! Ruining a Christmas AND vacation!

        Comment


        • #5
          What Pixilated said.
          Or, as I like to think of it when stupid people run into danger areas with no idea of what's going on and no safety gear, Darwinism in action.

          Comment


          • #6
            ...who the hell goes into a theatre *after* the show is over? O______o??? Seriously, I need someone to explain this logic to me, because it makes about as much sense as going to a movie when the end credits are already rolling or showing up to a dinner party after all the food's been eaten/put away.
            Last edited by firecat88; 05-29-2012, 05:36 PM.
            "Things that fail to kill me make me level up." ~ NateWantsToBattle, Training Hard (Counting Stars parody)

            Comment


            • #7
              Quoth Crossbow View Post
              And CruiseShipGirl: You got that set struck in 40 minutes? Damn, you had a good team.
              That ship had an awesome team. Best I ever worked with. We watched the playback once from the security cameras and it really was like watching a dance.

              This was the most hated set-up and tear down - Island Night!
              http://www.youtube.com/watch?index=6...2822B5524ECB47
              I'm not in this video, but it was the same set up on all the Grand class ships.

              Comment


              • #8
                Quoth firecat88 View Post
                ...who the hell goes into a theatre *after* the show is over? O______o??? Seriously, I need someone to explain this logic to me, because it makes about as much sense as going to a movie when the end credits are already rolling or showing up to a dinner party after all the food's been eaten/put away.
                Just imagine what those EW's would've been like if they had come in midway through the show.

                Comment


                • #9
                  And they actually thought you were going to put everything back up and then take it down again just so they could watch something that's not even part of the show??

                  I just...I can't....Good god.
                  When you start at zero, everything's progress.

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                  • #10
                    I remember fraternizing with one of the cast members after a show on a cruise ship (she approached me, FTW), and I asked her what happens if a staff member gets fired in the middle of a cruise. I joked that they probably hold a person stretched out like a hammock, swing back, then swing forward and release to see them in the ocean. Funny if it were to happen to a patron.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Quoth Crossbow View Post
                      And CruiseShipGirl: You got that set struck in 40 minutes? Damn, you had a good team.
                      Indeed. You had that choreographed down to the second.

                      Who the hell wants to watch strike? The only thing more fun is watching paint dry in the paint shop.

                      "Ooh, what a great job! You must have so much fun all the time!" --usual quote from patrons touring backstage at various theaters I've worked at.

                      "Um, not really. Do you have 'fun all the time' at your accounting/marketing/sales/whatever job?"--usual answer I give in my head. Well, except for the part where I don't have to wear pantyhose everyday and can probably swear more than you can.
                      "If you pray very hard, you can become a cat person." -Angela, "The Office"

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Quoth CruiseShipGirl View Post
                        PS:
                        Here is a look at the set we tore down. It doesn’t look like much, but it’s almost 3 stories high and the beams and floors are heavy. There are also 2 staircases that come off the side balconies that you can’t really see, but they are heavy and the balcony pieces that had to be put back in are 90 lbs each.
                        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IghgEepii28
                        You don’t get a full view of the stage until around 3:30 and even them parts of it are hidden behind some fly pieces.
                        That looks exactly like the set for Movin' Out.

                        That show was a complete pain in the ass to do. I've worked it more times than I care to think about and am friends with their former automation/head carp.
                        Getting offended is a great way to avoid answering questions that make you sound dumb. - exmocaptainmoroni

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Quoth Draper Mel View Post
                          Who the hell wants to watch strike? The only thing more fun is watching paint dry in the paint shop.
                          Other theatre tech geeks? If there was an interesting set piece, and you wanted to see how it was constructed, or how to get it on and off stage easily, or if there is some trick to it, I could see my husband wanting to watch, so he could stealborrow ideas. But he'd respect closed doors, and gtfo requests, since he is a professional amateur

                          The SC in the original post, I could even see some casual interest from some people, but once they started whining when they were asked to leave... maybe the cruise ship needed a plank to deal with them. Those are probably the types that go to live performances and think they are in their living room, so engage in all manner of bad behaviour, which I will not fratch about in this post
                          Smile, or I'll smack you silly!
                          At what age does a vampire become a crazy old bat? :[

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Quoth Draper Mel View Post
                            "Ooh, what a great job! You must have so much fun all the time!" --usual quote from patrons touring backstage at various theaters I've worked at.

                            "Um, not really. Do you have 'fun all the time' at your accounting/marketing/sales/whatever job?"--usual answer I give in my head. Well, except for the part where I don't have to wear pantyhose everyday and can probably swear more than you can.
                            The same thing with working on the cruise ship in any area. "Oh...it must be so exciting to wake up in a new country every morning all the time". Yes, it is for the first month. It very quickly becomes like every other job. I am kicking myself now a bit for my attitude back then -- "*sigh*, Venice again? I'm going to just sleep in". I wish I had done a bit more exploring and tours, but after a few months of the same cities over and over again they really do become boring and you lose your appriciation for where you are....especially when you're in your early 20's.

                            A job is a job. Nothing makes one more glamorous than another except for the fact that it isn’t yours.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Quoth CruiseShipGirl View Post
                              I am kicking myself now a bit for my attitude back then -- "*sigh*, Venice again? I'm going to just sleep in".
                              *grins* I think most people get like that - something to do with 7 day weeks, for months at a time, and long working hours for each of those days. Frankly I don't think I could work on a Cruise ship - I couldn't take the pace.

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