The Rig, the Setup, and the Break Down

These stories are not chronologically in order, but I don't think that really matters.

First I should pay tribute to a guy named Scott Freeman. 

Scotty was the Technical Director of Word of Life Tours. 

A guy named Harry had these visions for shows, and Scotty would create them technically. 

Scotty was way ahead of his time, and was working in what now I see was a totally underbudget endevour. 

The Rig that Scotty designed and built... welding it by hand was just amazing. 

The rig consisted of 3' x 3' aluminum box trusses that were between 8' and 12' long. these sections connected to each other end to end to make about a 48' long front section and 36' back section. These trusses were connected with sections in between them perpendicularly to form a square. 

Then inside the trusses there were about 60 Par 64 lighting cans mounted to uni-strut with spring nuts. the rig was wired with electrical cable and all of that was fed to boxes with multi-pin connectors to the Stage Right side. 

We would bolt four towers to the ends of the trusses, and then CM lodestar chain hoists would attach to the top of the tower with the motor at the bottom sitting in the truss. Once everything was bolted together, we would activate the chain hoists and the truss would climb the towers. 

We would stop at about 5 feet and then roll speaker cabinets with two 18" subwoofers, two 10" mids and a huge horn that I have to believe was a 2" driver as well, under the truss and attach them with chain. there was a  huge roll drop that was mounted to the front section of the truss where we would attach a 45' scrim curtain to it and roll it up. We would then connect as much cabling as we needed to at "work" level, pre focus some of the lights, and try to get as much done on the truss as we could before it climbed to 15 or 18 feet depending on the show. 

Once everything was as ready as it could be, we would raise the truss to show level. Once it was trimmed off, we would slide aluminum pins under the cradles that held the motors and then lower the rig down onto the pins to relieve the stress from the chain hoists.

On the back section of the truss, there were curtain traveler tracks and a 10' x 30' screen that could fly up and down via electric motors mounted on the top of the truss. 

Behind that was a 15 slide projector multi image show that was driven by a 4 track reel to reel at the Audio position. This whole rig was hidden by royal blue curtains.

 

The part of this whole production that I am leaving out, is that the stage hands that we had to work with were all college kids that were the performers and singers in the show.

90 kids would roll off the busses and start unloading the truck. The local union stage hands, what stand around in disbelief at the ants scurrying around the stage doing tasks that they apprenticed for years to accomplish. So, Scotty had a lot on his plate to ensure that everything was being done safely. When I think about that, Scotty was really a tremendous manager. To be able to utilize the talent of these kids, encourage them, motivate them and do this all without having ever met them prior till about 3 weeks before opening night, was really something special.

Once the rig was up, it was usually about 4:00 pm and we would send almost everyone off to a local church to eat dinner. This was our chance to tweak the rig, EQ the sound and organize the props.  Also a chance for us, the tech crew, to crank some of our favorite tunes and bond with each other through work. 

Some of my favorite tunes from the day came from the Imperials, Truth, and Gary introduced us all to Tangerine Dream. The album was Optical Race. 

Somewhere around 6:00 pm the kids would all come back and bring us food. Styrofoam containers filled with potluck supper. Baked ham, mashed potatoes, corn, beans, Cole slaw, all tossed together never tasted so good. 6:15 sharp was stage call. The kids would all come out and we would roll the opening of the show. Then they would all scurry off to get makeup and costumes on, and we would get ready to open the doors.

About 15 minutes before the opening scene, we would roll the 4 track reel to reel, and the slide projectors would race into action like little warriors. Music would play, and a voiceover would narrate a slide show all about the organization. The show was called the Word of Life Experience.  At the end of the Experience, a host would come out and greet the audience... your palms would get sweaty, the anticipation would be incredible, and you would just wait for the first cue to roll. The show was on!

There is so much to tell about the show, that this entry is just not the place for it. 

At the end of the show, all the kids would get changed back into work clothes and then back out to the stage to tear it all apart. Everyone had a job, and was responsible to put things away in road cases and boxes to ensure that tomorrow night, it was all ready for the setup.

Once the last truss, and case was in the truck and the door closed, we would head back to the edge of the stage to get assigned to a local church family that would take us home, and we would try to get some sleep. 

Back at the local church in the morning, Hop in the truck and haul it all over to another city to do it all again starting at 2:00 pm. 

That is a general idea of what we were trying to accomplish!