The Plight for a Place called Home

Alden Christian Theatre Society (ACTS) in some ways is like any other theater group. We put on musicals, drama's and comedies. We have a rehearsal schedule. We have a core of tech people and we have a core of actors. We promote our shows and sell tickets. We take pride in doing professional quality shows. There the similarities stop.

ACTS does not do simple shows that can be easily transported. Yes, we have tried mobility. We have transported our show to other places like when we did ACTS the musical in East Aurora, or the time we put on the Easter Pageant in West Seneca. These experiences tell us that our set, lighting and sound requirements do not lend themselves for mobility.

Our Easter Pageant had one main stage, two sub stages, two folding back drops, thunder, lightning, a three projector slide show, a choir, a guitar, and a rolled up scrim. The stage was smaller in West Seneca than the one we were use to at Saint John's. This meant all the actors had to adjust their blocking, and our blind actors endangered the walls of the foreign stage. Eye glasses did not exist in the first century.

ACTS the musical was "easier". The set consisted of a fortress, a platform with a rectangler scrim attached to its back, and a stairway. In addition to that we had two slide projectors, two spot lights, one laser light, one gelled flashlight, many props, many costume changes, and a huge cast.

Tech starts at the beginning of the rehearsal schedule. What does the director need for a set? Do we have the pieces? What pre-exists determines what has yet to be built. The longer the rehearsals are spread out over a given period of time, the more new technical things are likely to work in a show.

Our set pieces are stored in three different ACTS member's garages. Our costumes are stored in two different ACTS member's basements. No one lives next door to each other. At strike, when we disassemble everything, and pack everything up until the next show, it usually takes three van loads and three car loads to return everything we used in a show.

To complicate things, just because you have given up a good portion of your personal property to help out ACTS, does not mean that your job, or life in general is going to let you be available for every show. E-mail has made it a little easier for us busy people whose personal schedules conflict with each other to communicate with each other. We still have to leave messages on each others answering machines to "Pease look at your e-mail. It's important."

Even with technology on our side storing our props, costumes, and lighting equipment in different peoples houses causes problems. The conversations range from "What do you mean you don't know what's in what in my basement?" to "Call so and so. It's at so and so's house." "It is not! She must have it!" "No I am sure it must have ended up at so and so's house." Conversations like this can spread out over quite a few rehearsals. Meanwhile, show time draws nearer. We all know the solution.

We dream of storing everything in one place, that is not someone else's personal property. It would make organizing the show much simpler, if we could go to one location and see what we have, as opposed to searching though three privately owned remote locations at any given time.

During the first few days of rehearsal, I pay attention to the initial reading of the script, and watch the blocking, (where the actors are suppose to be on stage,) I take note of the lighting and sound cues written in script, and write down anything the director says about the lighting the stage. I count the number of lights needed as the director goes along. I interrupt if we run out of lights to do the job.

As soon as the show is blocked, I know what we needs to be setup in the realms of lights. The lights on stage can not be setup when the actors are on stage. The ladders, and tech people get in the way of the actors. The set pieces are moved around to make way for the ladders.

I take out my rehearsal schedule and ask the director what time spots are available for setting up lights. ACTS rehearsal schedule is setup in strict accordance to when no one else has booked the gym at Saint John's. Kathy tells me the room is booked every day during the week, at every time, except when we have rehearsals.

If the person running the lighting board, has done the job before, and it is an easy show, I count back two rehearsals from show dates and add one day to for initial setup. If our lighting board operator has not done the job before, or the show inherently involves a complicated tech, I count back five days, and add one day for initial setup. Tech is lucky if we get three or four rehearsal dates. Everything needs to ready by this date, so the people operating the equipment have a chance to learn the show.

Kathy looks at the rehearsal schedule and frowns. "You realize that everything that you setup in the gym has to be broken down at the end of rehearsal?"

"Of course," I promise. "Everything will be organized accordingly. Setup will take ten-fifteen minutes max."

Breaking down at the end of rehearsal for school the next day or a reception, means that all the wires from the lights, and sound are taken up from the floor. The sound, and lighting board are disconnected, and stored. The sub stages are dismantled as necessary, and lifted up onto the main stage. Sometimes Saint John's hosts a dance.

Sometimes for a dance they ask us to clear the main stage too. For some reason, things like this happen about two weeks before the show, when we need the everything together the most. Every time we go through this routine, ACTS members know we need a building.

Depending on what the lighting requirements of the show, it takes four to six, four hour blocks to setup the lights not located on the gym floor. "Ok, so out of the the number of rehearsals scheduled in the afternoon on weekends, do you know how many people are booked for the time slot after rehearsal? Do they actually need to use the whole gym?" "Well...what about the stage? Are they using the stage too?"

Thankfully the other people in charge of the other programs running in Saint John's have been more than helpful in working with us in our struggle to setup our set and equipment for the show. Sometimes I have to take a couple days off from work to accommodate Saint John's schedule to setup the lights. A place of own would mean that we would have an easier time scheduling in our technical needs, and we would not feel like we were in anyone's way. We dream of the day when we have a place of our own.