Technical Rehearsal, from the other side of the table

Last night was the first night of technical rehearsals for "Dracula" at SHHS. This is my first major experience working as a designer for a show, so it's the first time that I get to sit with the director and watch the show take shape as the technical elements layered into it. The sound crew is really efficient and on top of things, even if the head operator of the crew is a little unfocused sometimes. I had emailed him my sound cues on Thursday before I went on vacation, and he had modified them a little bit before I showed up against yesterday. That work he did is fine with me, since I'm not "really" a sound designer by profession. But I do think that I want to just give him a little warming about working with any professionals that he may encounter down the road. Better he get that lesson now than with someone who will really bristle at what he did on his own.

In any case, the first night of tech went really well. We made our way through a lot of the show, moving through toward the end of the play. Tonight we're going to go back to the beginning and working the first act of the show. Things have gone really well so far, so I'm not expecting it to be any harder tonight. I know that Allison (director) is a little stressed about the entire show coming together, but it's refreshing to me to only be working on the sound aspect of the show. And that sound is coming together nicely. We're going to have some cues to work through today, and we still need to figure out when the Foley artists get their microphones turned on and off through the play. Easy stuff, but just stuff that needs to get done.

Well, off to rehearsal! More to follow.