By Emi Gruender
Hello, all. My name is Professor Curtain—welcome to your first class of the rigorous course that is “Surviving Tech Week 101.” As you all know, tech week in the theatre world tends to be insane. Often, it can be more insane than the people who willingly drop $200,000 on a Fine Arts degree to learn how to crawl like a cat on the ground, but c’est la vie. For both actors and techs, surviving the rigorous 10-to-12-hour workdays that comprise a weekend in hell can be tough. Perhaps they feel that they could be sleeping, doing homework, anything but standing stagnant while techs toil over the lightboard for hours at a time.
Using my personal experience in the battle that was Footloose! tech rehearsals, I would like to prepare more innocent lambs for the chopping block– not necessarily to survive, but to know the fortune that inevitably awaits them. Throughout the lecture, some of my battle-worn colleagues will dispense their own advice as well.
- Survival kit
Most tech rehearsals I’ve attended last from 5-13 hours. Being well-prepared is a must. Aside from the basics, like a water bottle and a snack, my comprehensive list should last you for a while.
- Phone charger (both wall + lipstick)
- Box for shoes + accessories
- Makeup remover
- Deodorant and/or antiperspirant
- Makeup kit
- Hairspray/Mousse
- Headphones
- Bobby pins
- Pillow + small blanket for naps
- Book (don’t drain your phone battery if it’s not a must!)
- Homework (good luck getting anything done…)
- Menstrual products
- Toothbrush
- Money
- Sanity
- Enough water to drown yourself
As they say, it’s hydrate or die-drate, and when you end up spending 10 consecutive hours in a hot, sweaty area with 40 other people, you better hydrate. If you’re not peeing every two hours, you’re not doing it right.
- Suffer
The only way to really know how to survive tech week is to survive tech week. Whether or not to dress comfy or cute, how much food you should bring, how much you should actually try during this arduous process. I won’t leave you completely to the wolves, though. Below is some miscellaneous advice that I hope is self-explanatory.
- Dress for comfort, not efficiency
- Do NOT think you’re going to get a lot of homework done during Tech week
- Save yourself before the show
- Responsibility at after-parties
- Go to bed EARLY
I wish you luck in your endeavors.
Oops, I meant
Break a leg!