Stage crew..plz help?

Question:Well I am 14, and aspiring to be a professional stage hand in New York. In school i have participated in schoo lplays and muscals, and I am takin a bunch of classes what else should i do?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Well I am 14, and aspiring to be a professional stage hand in New York. In school i have participated in schoo lplays and muscals, and I am takin a bunch of classes what else should i do?

Here are the skills you will need:

Walk backwards carrying heavy objects. Cram such heavy objects into a space only slightly larger than the objects. Remove the objects and put them back where they were exactly. This can be simulated by the following exercise which simulates repertory theatre: Take all of your living room furniture and move it into the bedroom. Move all your bedroom furniture into the bathroom without removing any living room furniture. Then put it all back where it goes exactly on spike, including the soft goods and set dressing, clean it, touch up any scratches and scuffs and reset the lights and sound to the levels established before the strike started. You have an hour. Go.

Tandem lifting. Practice lifting things (like your couch) with different people until you figure out how to do it correctly.

Carrying heavy object silently in the dark. Self-explanitory.

Power tools. You will need to use all kinds of carpentry power tools to make the set fit the space and to repair the set. Get comfortable with building techniques so you can rebuild as necessary.

Welding. Many (if not most) sets today are steel framed. Which means you need to be comfortable with a basic level of welding. Usually your local community college can offer a decent class in the basics.

Rigging. Take a rigging seminar. Any time you can spend on a sailboat will be very useful. Get comfortable with the idea of announcing everything you are about to do and waiting for a response before doing it.

Computers. You must be very well grounded in computer basics. Computers are used for show control with both AC and DC motors and you should be comfortable with navigating within applications and have an understanding of basic troubleshooting procedures.

Electrics. You should thoroughly understand both AC and DC and their applications like motors, batteries, LEDs, low voltage cue lights, wireless headsets, pyro triggers, data lines including ethernet, DMX and proprietary data like Wybron, Apollo, and Chroma-Q data. It wouldn't hurt to have a basic understanding of lighting electrics although as a stagehand that wouldn't be your responsibility. (If you want that info too, I'll be glad to share.)

Other stuff. Hot glue is your friend. A little paint fixes everything. WD-40 makes the stage manager stop bugging you. If you can't fix it - shim it. It's always the sound guys fault.

See as many shows as you can and try to figure out what is happening backstage to make things appear onstage.

Get the Backstage Handbook and learn it.
http://www.toolsforstagecraft.com/n314.h...

Check out age requirements at IATSE local one and see if you can get on a call list.
http://www.iatselocalone.org/index_nofla...

Good Luck!

Just keep doing what you're doing and when you get to be a junior or senior in high school look for colleges with good technical theatre programs.