I am getting cranky and cynical, because my first reaction was just- be glad you are not costumes,where you sit through hree days of tech and no one cares or pays attention...

I love you all. Just because.

So, because Buffistas?

where you sit through hree days of tech and no one cares or pays attention...

Oh I've been there. I had at least one director that insisted he needed sound in the room for all three 10 of 12 days on a musical, then thought it was funny when we played one sound cue at 10 AM on Friday and we got to the next one at 9 PM on Sunday night.

My boss is ... not healthy. So I'm pulling double duty for now.

Is there anyone anywhere (except possibly the asshat director(s) ND worked with who had a deeply questionable idea of what funny is) for whom tech is anything but torture? The actors definitely aren't having any fun. It's all move here; stand there; be essentially replaceable at any time with a dressmaker's dummy but don't you dare leave; as long as you're up there just say that line -- and now say it again, over and over, until you want to stab the person who wrote it with an icepick; we don't need you yet but you can't leave because your next scene is in two pages (and in tech two pages is exactly like two minutes on a football clock, which may be two actual minutes or may be more like ninety, or possibly tomorrow).

I blame ND's director(s). Or possibly Tino.

On a good show I love tech, it's where I get to do really creative work and in the right situation it is a wonderfully collaborative time.

Tech doesn't have to be that way. Difficulties happen, but it really should be the most collaborative part of the process. When that happens it is deeply satisfying for all involved. But if a show is *extremely* technical, or the schedule it too tight, or people come into it expecting torture, then it does end up being painful. It infuriates me when a director tells a cast (esp HS or college) that tech will be boring but they have to bear with it. I've blatantly contradicted multiple directors for doing that. That is just bad training.

Yes, some shows are torture, but designers wouldn't do this if that's all there was. We are almost always in tech. We're there to help tell the story because we enjoy it.

The directors I've worked with have pretty much all treated the cast like furniture during tech, there to stand and sit and walk on command and remain mostly silent and very remote from any of the collaborative work that happened. I honestly had no idea before you posted that that there was any alternative and that these were opportunities lost (as crew, it's always been totally fascinating and magical, but severely not so as onstage personnel).

In the best situations I've had give and take with the actors in addition to the director and other designers. I help them, they help me, they have a sense of what I'm working on in the moment. It's lovely. I'm sorry your experience has been otherwise.

Happy birthday, Sparky!