Tag: technical director

CREW CALL – Wait Until Dark

Bygone Theatre is currently looking to fill several paid and volunteer positions for our upcoming productions. We have roles available for both experienced arts workers and for those interested in getting their feet wet; high school students may apply for some of these. Check out the details below, and contact Executive Director Emily Dix at emily@bygonetheatre.com with any questions.

Want to get involved but don’t see something that quite fits? Give us a shout, we are always happy to meet with new people and find ways to involve those who are interested.

WAIT UNTIL DARK – MAINSTAGE PRODUCTION, APRIL 2016

We are currently accepting applications for crew members for our upcoming production of Wait Until Dark. We are looking for the following;

Stage Manager: 
Duties & Responsibilities:

  • In charge of booking rehearsal space & coordinating with cast & crew for all meetings & rehearsals
  • In charge of creating a detailed prompt book and coordinating with the designers and director to ensure all necessary items are purchased and accounted for
  • Assisting the director in rehearsals, taking notes as needed
  • Calling the show
  • Other tasks as required

Skills & Requirements:

  • Excellent attention-to-detail & multitasking skills
  • Reliable access to a method of communication, be it email or phone, and able to provide prompt replies
  • A firm but patient & polite demeanour
  • Previous stage management experience is necessary, experience in a site-specific location is preferred

Tech Director
Duties & Responsibilities:

  • Creating & programming sound and lighting design for the show
  • Working with the director to achieve her vision, while offering creative input and feedback
  • Securing any required technical elements (eg. renting equipment, ensuring there are enough extension cords, securing sound effects, etc.)
  • Coordinating with the stage manager for tech and performances

Skills & Requirements:

  • Creative individual willing to work together with the director in the creation of all technical elements
  • Strong knowledge of technical requirements and programs
  • Preference given to those who are able to assist in running the tech, as well as doing the design and set-up

Set Designer
Duties & Responsibilities:

  • Creating detailed technical designs and orchestrating the creation & load-in/set-up
  • Working with the director to achieve her vision, while offering creative input and feedback
  • Assisting the director & producer with creating a detailed budget for the set that stays within the overall show budget
  • Coordinating with the stage manager and technical designer for the build, load-in and tech, as required

Skills & Requirements:

  • Previous set-design and construction experience
  • Strong knowledge of various building supplies and techniques
  • Able to creatively design and construct a product that fits both the creative design and stays within budget
  • Must be available to build the set and assist with the load-in and strike

To apply, send a brief cover letter and resume to director Emily Dix at emily@bygonetheatre.com.

This is a non-union, profit-share production. Lead positions  also include an honourarium; email for more details.

Deadline for crew calls is February 1, 2016 at 5:00pm. Applications will be reviewed as they are received and an appropriate candidate may be accepted before the deadline; early applications are encouraged.

Check out our other blog post for assistant & volunteer positions.

 

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Dial M For Murder – Actor/Crew Spotlight – Reg Matson

Reg is our technical director and also playing Inspector Hubbard in “Dial M For Murder”. He was a performer (the “announcer”) in “Retro Radio Hour”.

*anyone who knows Reg will not be surprised by this rather “unique” spotlight!

Reg Matson - Technical Director and Inspector Hubbard.
Reg Matson – Technical Director and Inspector Hubbard.

Bio:

Reg is a graduate of the Film and English programs at UofT, where he has written, directed, and performed original works. Reg is also a member of the Hart House Theatre Standing Committee, and has worked on several of the theatre’s shows operating tech.

Selected Credits: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Arcadia (Hart House Theatre), The Bear (Next Stage Theatre Company). As Writer: Mannequin Ensemble (Hart House Players), The Wormwood Prince (Next Stage Theatre Company). As Director: The Threepenny Opera (UC Follies).

*Being a writer, here is Reg’s interpretation of his bio and interview questions:

From the hilltop you could hear the coast, its star-stirred waves, pulsing under pitch. Sunless dark. The island was too distant to see, except by force of imagination. The silhouette of its stalk grew tall, towering, cursing earth, reaching past night’s canopy.

You held hands with a fir tree blanketed by the season. It shook and scattered snow, and its animation filled you with life. You would make it to the island, when the water turned. You would wait.

1. How did you get started as a performer, a technical director?

Every twist is impatience, jogging the rock, slipping the white earth into the sea. Spring melted the frost and found beneath it glittering sand, coruscant, a land eager to reflect the smiling sky. The fir was in pieces now. You cut it yourself. Equal lengths bound by its bark, its fingers, its skin. Now it would sail with you to the island.

2. What is your favourite part of the creative process?

The wind changed direction, the waves agreed. They skipped and cajoled, straying away from the coast. Did they notice your raft?– as you slipped into their wake. Did they know the fir, before it ferried you between them? Their mischief was too great, the wind’s and the wave’s. They played, and unwittingly carried you to the island.

3. What are some challenges you face as a performer, a technical director?

You landed on rocks, draped in a cloud, weighed down by the shadow of the towering stalk. The landing was rough, and your raft fell apart, so you tie its pieces in a sling and carry it on your back. Above you are branches, or giant leaves. Too high to tell. Mist clings to them, and rolls off in streams. The challenge of imagining a top is too great. You climb the rocks, and make for the base of the stalk.

4. What advice would you give to people pursuing performance, technical direction?

It hears you come, and it creaks. Its size is unfathomable. Whole forests wide, it seems. You long to know it. It has wisdom, it has life. You press against the stalk with your hand, with your head. Inside it sounds like rivers, like canyons, like stars. It has tendrils and vines that greet and curl around you. They touch the pieces of fir, and shiver, recoil. The sounds stop — what has happened? Could the fir have been its child? You gaze up and lose track. There’s a crack like thunder. It begins to fall.

5. What are you most excited for in regards to “Dial ‘M’ for Murder?”

You run for the water. The wind and waves are excited, or scared. You paddle into the current with the bundle of fir beneath your chest, and look up to see the stalk falling away, hitting the water. The force throws you far, under water, into air. The stalk is still plummeting from the sky, falling forever. You can feel the sea surging beneath you, flooding the island and the coast, filling the horizon. The spray darkens the sky.

Night passes in torrents. Come daybreak you are alone. No island, no coast — just the bundle of fir, still holding your hand. A bird circles above you, not sure where to land.