Encyclopedia and Debate

[Karen Fleury]

Hi Gaeton, et all

I can understand where everyone is coming from; if you have never called a
show, you don't really have  a sense of what it is about.  Let me try to
give you an idea...

Picture the closing scene of "All My Sons" by Arthur Miller.  Joe, the
father, has shot himself, the mood of the audience and the actors has a
heavy and dark feeling to it.  The music starts and the lights start to fade
to black.  The jobs of the lighting board operator and the sound operator
are to push one button; on the stage managers "go."  Don't you think that
cue would be called on a feeling; and not on some "paint by numbers" moment.

What is art but an expression of emotion.

As for all of the talk about "if the lighting board operator is a bozo"
stuff; that argument doesn't work anymore.  In the day of computer boards
the operator is left with little to do once the show opens other than
pushing a button.
At any rate, I think we are all artists (in our own rite) including the
technical staff.  I also work as a freelance technician and I have seen many
creative ways for the show to go on.   I think the important point that
everyone is missing in this equation is that we are a team, from the
director down to the apprentice.  Each makes a valuable contribution to what
the audience experiences.  Isn't that what it is all about?

Karen

PS Try and tell the props department that they aren't artists if you want a
real fight.