In preparation for the tech day, it was vital that not only did the company know what they were doing and were prepared, but also that the venue and tech team were also kept up to date. As stage manager, it was my job to liaise with the venue (Lincoln Performing Arts Centre) and the tech team there, in order to make sure all the necessary set and tech requirements were ready for our tech rehearsal. This involved preparing a technical rider (with the assistance of our set designer, Paige), which is a document containing all the technical specifications we would require for the running of our show, including set, lighting and sound, props and any special requirements or operations.

Since we would be having a box set comprised of flats, it was necessary for the technical team to be contacted prior to this to organise the decorating of the flats, which was done shortly after our initial production meeting with Martin Rousseau. In this meeting, we went over our initial ideas as a company for our set and technical designs in order to establish what would be possible within the venue and our budget. This was also to prepare the tech staff in case any set pieces or changes to the staging needed to be made by the team or altered on the day of the show. For example, the box set would take time to decorate and put together, most of this being done by the company (led by our set designer) in the weeks prior to the show, with the set being put up in our get in time on the day. The stage was also altered, with a catwalk added to the standard proscenium arch stage.

Figure 1 – Set Painting (Moran, 2017)

The tech day itself ran according to schedule, however due to us having a box set along with a lot of set dressing and props, the assembling of our set took the majority of our tech rehearsal. Along with imputing the sound and lighting cues onto Qlab, this left us no time for a full run or a cue-to-cue, leaving us less prepared for show day than we originally would have liked.

Figures:

Figure 1 -Moran, P. (2017) Photo of Set Painting. Lincoln.