Munday 1

Alexander Munday
Ms. DeBock
English IV
18 March 2015
Theater Technicians
The jobs that are required behind the scene of a production are the most important part of
producing a show. If there are no lights then the actors cant be seen, or no sound engineer means
no one will be heard. Technicians are necessary for a production to run smoothly in all three
major tasks: Light, sound, and stage work.
The most important tech, one that can do it all, is called a stagehand. As said by Bloom,
Stagehands are the most underrated technicians in the business. Stagehands main work includes
carpentry, lighting, props, and sound (Bloom 11). The work a stagehand will do can range from
rigging lights at heights of 100 feet or to placing chairs for an orchestra on comforting ground
level. Stagehands are mostly unionized out of a hiring hall and are salaried to protect assets.
Stagehands are the most expensive part of mounting a production due to large amounts of time
and detailed labor involved (Bloom 11). Background experience that is required is a major
understanding of carpentry, master electrician, and a huge understanding of theater. Most hands
also have backgrounds as a lighting or sound engineer.
Stagehands have to interact with the lighting designer/technician. A lighting designer will
create a plot/magic sheet which is used to indicate where a certain type of light fixture will be
placed. It will also show the pan, tilt, and color (Miller). A design must be completed in order for
stagehands to adjust fixtures correspondingly, so then the set is built and will be illuminated to
the designers visions. When the design is finished the next task is physically sitting down at a
lighting counsel to preprogram the show so the actors can have the lighting that will be used

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during the production for rehearsals. The design will include industry standard incandescent
fixtures, and depending on the budget and the venue, it will include intelligent lighting.
Intelligent lighting refers to an upcoming addition to the standard which involves using LED
diodes to create multiple colors from one fixture (Miller). Having multiple led fixtures gives the
ultimate control, even down to being able to create a moving beam of light, create a strobe effect,
or shapes inside of the beam called Gobos. The use of intelligent lighting will also include the
need to understand standard binary code.
The most complicated tech job is being a sound technician. The lighting designer must be
able to communicate to the sound technician if a certain lighting effect corresponds with a sound
queue. The tasks of a sound technician is to have sound queues programmed and to have the
timing perfected. For many productions there will be hopefully two technicians. The head sound
engineer will mix eq and volume levels, and a secondary tech to mix monitor levels. When
mixing a production (Liles 90). The engineer has to cooperate with each vocalist and musician.
Most professional productions will have a microphone on every actor with speaking lines, and a
mic for every instrument in the pit. The initial job is to acoustically treat the environment and to
tune the mixing counsel to be at optimal performance in the given space. This includes being
able to scientifically understand every variable and the calculations needed to make changes.
Once its show time you must be able to follow queues for which characters need their
microphones muted and unmuted. Effects may be used to alter voices, and sounds are generally
incorporated. The secondary mixer will be in charge of all monitors every musician and vocalist
can hear themselves to stay in pitch and to be able to hear cue lines on stage. Monitors can either
be speakers on stage, or in-ear (Liles 90). Stage monitors are becoming a thing of the past due to
the fact that in-ear monitors can be tuned specifically for each person. For instance, if a vocalist
needs to hear an instrument for a certain pitch, then that instruments levels can be raised in his

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ears for his own personal preference. The technology is innovating just the same as lighting,
from helpful use of in-ear monitors all the way to digital counsels that can be preprogrammed for
a show to be run on essentially autopilot.
All together a show can not go on without the help of technicians there to design and
operate all aspects of stagework. As previously stated the lights, sound, and stage work truly are
the backbone of a production.

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Works cited
Liles, Bennet. "Live Mixing Know-how from Buford Jones." Sound & Video Contractor 1 Nov.
2014: Pg. 70. Print.
Miller, Stuart. "Learning to Ask, Asking to Learn." American Theatre. Jan. 2014: P32-136.
Print.
Bloom, Elizabeth. "Stagehands' union is an integral part of Pittsburgh's cultural scene."
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (PA) 14 Dec. 2014: Points of View Reference Center. Web. 11
Mar. 2015.