Ghosts of Productions Past
Earlier this week the tech staff from previous years visited us. The Technical Director, his assistant, and the former Scenic Designer dropped by to see friends, and say hello, and to generally annoy the rest of us. If you've been reading for a while you probably know how... less than impressed... we were with the efforts of the previous years. None of us were looking forward to seeing these people, and the possibility of interacting with them.
At first things seemed fine. They were nice guys in the end, maybe just lazy or jaded about their former posts, they had been here 5 years after all. They saw the show, and came to the party* that we were throwing afterwards, and that's where the trouble began.
They were perturbed that we had destroyed set pieces from past shows that they considered somehow sacred. It seems that they had been looking greatly forwards to using an oversized see-saw that they had built, and that we had burned long ago, in the first fire.
They were critical of the theatre itself, something that got all our hackles up in a reaction akin to someone making fun of a sibling. (You know... I can say whatever i like about them, but if you say it you get socked...)
They were critical of the amount of work that we put in... "We never had to stay up so let to get the show loaded in..."
In short, they were annoying, and very quickly wore out their welcome with those of us who hadn't known them previously. Why do we as a society have a tendency to do this? I enjoyed most of my time in college, yet now that I am gone I pity anyone who is stuck at my old alma mater... I never had problems with my hometown growing up, but don't really relish the idea of visiting there too frequently, much less ever living there again... The ex that we loved for months or years becomes the slut/whore/bastard/bitch that we thankfully escaped from in the end... While I admit that this is not the ideal place to work, there have been many bumps in the road, and moments that I don't want to relive, I have enjoyed my time here, made good friends, and good scenery. I also have to recall that they returned, so regardless of their bitchy attitudes, there must be something here for them as well.
*I use party in the loosest sense, meaning basically we had a bonfire and all sat out on the rehearsal deck drinking.
At first things seemed fine. They were nice guys in the end, maybe just lazy or jaded about their former posts, they had been here 5 years after all. They saw the show, and came to the party* that we were throwing afterwards, and that's where the trouble began.
They were perturbed that we had destroyed set pieces from past shows that they considered somehow sacred. It seems that they had been looking greatly forwards to using an oversized see-saw that they had built, and that we had burned long ago, in the first fire.
They were critical of the theatre itself, something that got all our hackles up in a reaction akin to someone making fun of a sibling. (You know... I can say whatever i like about them, but if you say it you get socked...)
They were critical of the amount of work that we put in... "We never had to stay up so let to get the show loaded in..."
In short, they were annoying, and very quickly wore out their welcome with those of us who hadn't known them previously. Why do we as a society have a tendency to do this? I enjoyed most of my time in college, yet now that I am gone I pity anyone who is stuck at my old alma mater... I never had problems with my hometown growing up, but don't really relish the idea of visiting there too frequently, much less ever living there again... The ex that we loved for months or years becomes the slut/whore/bastard/bitch that we thankfully escaped from in the end... While I admit that this is not the ideal place to work, there have been many bumps in the road, and moments that I don't want to relive, I have enjoyed my time here, made good friends, and good scenery. I also have to recall that they returned, so regardless of their bitchy attitudes, there must be something here for them as well.
*I use party in the loosest sense, meaning basically we had a bonfire and all sat out on the rehearsal deck drinking.