Starting ShowStoppin' and Other Stuff

A lot of things have happened! ShowStoppin' opened, for one. This means we've almost settled into the schedule we'll follow for the rest of summer... almost. All that's missing is doing the parade daily, which we'll start next week. Speaking of the parade, I think I know why we don't do it during the rain - when the tracks are wet, the floats like to pop off them. Thankfully, these floats have full steering control, so the ever-watchful guide simply steers you back onto the tracks.

Anyway, the ShowStoppin' schedule for me is as follows: arrive and start work at 2:30, do work notes such as straightening the traffic lights or trying to get the traveler to work right, and make sure the stage is clear of confetti from the previous day by the time the house opens at 3:10. The first show starts at 3:30. In the first blackout after the announcement, I fly out the ShowStoppin' sign. Then I sit through several songs until Telephone, when my cohort joins me. In the blackout before Telephone, we fly in the long truss (on two separate lines) with an LED bar and a telephone cord/mylar curtain drop on it. Over the course of the song, we tilt it one direction, then to horizontal, then the other direction, then back to horizontal. Then I give it a good yank to get it started flying out in the next blackout and I run to the traveler to try to close it before the lights come up. If I'm lucky the traveler closes nicely. If I'm not, it flips over a railing or gets caught on a support joint or something. Then during the next song I cheat in the traffic lights as far as possible without them being seen by the audience. In the blackout before Green Light I fly the downstage triangular truss set out a couple feet (this is a double purchase system, by the way - all of this is done from a loft). I also start flying the traffic lights in during the blackout. When the lights come up I slow down so the traffic lights enter slowly and stop when the music picks up. After Green Light I fly the traffic lights out. Then during Anyways we have a truss cue where I bring in the downstage truss set slowly and my cohort (who is sometimes Carrie and sometimes not) brings in the upstage truss set slowly and we go different distances and start and stop at the same time. Then I climb out of the loft during Are You Gonna Be My Girl and fly in the circus lights before Circus. If needed, I then help with a quick change. Finally I unhook the confetti shaker and make a huge confetti mess for a couple minutes. Then I fly out the circus lights, the show is over, and we wait for the house to clear. At that point we have about fifteen minutes until the house opens for the next show, and the stage is covered in confetti, which brings me to the most challenging part of my job: making sure the confetti on the stage ends up back in the confetti shaker before the house opens again. Pretty much all the techs spend all fifteen minutes on this task and we still cut it close.

We do two shows and then go on break, then two more shows and we're done. Next week it'll be parade right after our fourth show. While I'm excited for that, they will be tiring days, especially for the performers.

More news! Tonight was the first employee "ride night," where all the employees are invited to go and ride select rides and play some of the games after the park is closed. A bunch of us techs went and had a great time. I rode the Superman four times in half an hour, and three of those times were right in a row. I also rode the Batman four times and the East River Crawler once. I felt pretty happy and sick. Carrie tried hard to win a giant stuffed dog on the game where you have to bank the whiffle ball into the box. She used up all her tickets so I gave her mine, and on her sixth and final try she won! Hopefully Sally enjoys her new dog.

Going back to Iowa to see Torch Song (and some certain people) this weekend!