Stagehands

Stage Production and Events

By Travis Burns

03/16/2020

Stagehands are the men/ women in black at all events nationwide and internationally, which are responsible for insuring that the events which are held, is done in a professional manner. These people are mainly responsible for loading in and loading out all gear for the events, and are responsible for setting up the gear which is in use during the events and work for specialized technicians which are generally responsible for the main direction of the events, which are known as “Roadies”, these guys run the audio, video and lighting for the main events and the stagehand and AV Technicians set it all up.

These events can be set for a load in or a load out at anytime of the day/ or night. It’s simply the anti-regular job, its not the 9-5 which most of you are used to doing. Most of these events are held at night during the weekends, but an average stagehand can find themselves working at any point of the day or night to set up and tear down the event itself or they can find themselves on the event itself as a trusted stagehand and events personnel to insure that basic and orderly things happen on a time frame, a schedule because the show must go on.

The focus of the events generally is based on the production of Audio, Video and Lighting with all other aspects supporting this structure. Photography, Acting and Music production of course go hand in hand with these elements and of course are the backbone of the industry as well as Dance and Fashion, but none of these aspects would exist without the stagehand taking out all the gear itself and setting it all up for people to use.

I myself have been doing events production since 2006, I had dabbled in the job prior to my stint in the military in 2001-2005 and I had worked on some aspects of production with art, photo and bands in the 1990s. I was born in the 1970’s so I know music, American Culture and what it takes to produce these elements of entertainment. While I enjoy building shows and working hard, I feel the need to work less and earn more. I of course believe in hard work for those who are geared for such tasks and I know that during my military duty and afterwards as a stagehand, stage manger and AV Technician. I am also a local Denver/ Seattle musician and artist as well as other cities and parts of the world. I can’t count the number of events which I have helped build in Colorado, Nevada, California, Washington, Oregon and the Dakotas not to mention abroad overseas. But I know the number for events is a few thousand to say the least. I have done many aspects of jobs for events such as photography, videography, projection, security, dj, vj, spotlight, lighting, audio, scenic, back drops and art from flyers to painting on nude model dancers live at a rave, I’ve kind of done it all. Hence why I feel it’s necessary for me to write about it and show you all that there is a world behind the stage itself. And being apart of the event production world can be a great career and job skillset. If you love what you do in the industry it can be rewarding on many levels.

I find that stagehands generally deal with the same basic aspects, and we all learn from each other. Those who don’t learn, eventually do quickly enough or find their way out of the job. It revolves around understanding and executing a personal work directive geared towards understanding that the show is today, or tomorrow or sometime this week, but regardless get it built now! Being able to use gaffers tape, electrical tape, wire, paper, duct tape and just about any resource to be able to build the event at hand to be able to take on just about any task given and be able to do it. I am a ninja jedi super hero, lets get this right, without me, without us, without I, there is no Team and yes this time there is a “I” in team because it takes individuals to understand how to work as a team to be able to deal with the aspects of what it takes to build these shows. A technician and stagehand must be able to read a stage plot or understand the basic stage layout in his/her mind. A stage consists of physical placements upon the stage itself and the audience and front of house. A stage will always have a stage left, stage right, upstage and down stage as well as a house left, house right ect.. These placements are important not only for placement of scenic pieces, speakers, lights and stage props, but are important for crew and actors to understand as well for production aspects and direction.

We don’t care who your favorite star is.. and I mean this with all the love in the world. The reason is because we do care about all of them as a collective, we work for them all, we build everything it takes for them to shine and they do, and they love the stage crew for the world they do and we appreciate the praise but at the end of the day, stagehands, technicians and roadies all live, work and eat with these stars which are nothing more than regular people.

I prefer to work with stagehands who know what the heck they are doing. I’m pretty good at giving directions to noobs, or stagehands who are green and basically have no clue of what they are doing when it comes to these jobs. I tend to downplay my role, generally to my own disadvantage. I have been doing this job for 15+ years and when I’m teaching a noob how to coil cables, rig motors or hang some lights, I end up feeling like I’m selling my job down the river by teaching my skills to another person who is probably younger, quicker and more qualified than I am. Yeah right. Anyways I’ve been told everything from OMG we Love You Thank You So Much For Building My Show! (John Mayer, Alice Cooper, Ozzy Osbourne) to You’ll NEVER Work In This Town Again (everyone else)!

The job certainly isn’t for everyone. It’s for those that don’t mind riding in the back of a truck with a bunch of gear. It’s for those who don’t have to worry about getting the kids to school on time. It’s for those who don’t have anyone to impress but themselves. It’s hard work, but it’s kinda fun and you get to hang out with cool people, and the other people generally accept you for whop you are, unless you are really weird, strange or smell bad. Please shower, no face tattoos and don’t use patchouli oil.