NZ Theatre Tech Crews Think Outside the Square

Independent Theatre Paradigm Shifts

As many of us pledge to learn from lockdown, be it spending more time with family, maintaining our exercise regimes, or continuing to experiment in the kitchen, it would appear that the arts community and the technical crews amongst them are looking to make some changes too. We talk to two independent theatres and a theatre company on how they successfully pivoted their way through lockdown and its aftermath, and investigate what they are taking from the experience.

Brynne Tasker-Poland, Technical & Facilities Manager, BATS Theatre, Wellington

BATS, a Wellington-based not-for-profit theatre, were in the fortunate position of having livestreaming set up and ready to go when the country plunged into lockdown. Brynne explains, “We ran our first stream a couple of days prior to the start of super strict social distancing. ‘Princess Boy Wonder’ had already packed in for the NZ fringe festival and we wanted to give them an opportunity to perform.”

Donors came to the party and enabled BATS to use Dacast, a livestreaming platform with a paywall, and the theatre streamed what they thought would be their last hurrah for some time, “But once we realised that we could do it, we were keen to give our artists and our technical crew an opportunity to earn some money, so we put on a Zoom show every one or two weeks, asking people to pay what they could, and people were just super generous.”

As the country shifted down the levels, BATS re-opened to live audiences and continued to simultaneously stream the shows, “There was so much interest that we began to keep the video up to stream on demand. We realised how much more accessible it was making theatre and we figured we’ve done all this work, we may as well continue.”

For the technical team, their streaming journey had begun with a Google search, “Fortunately one member of our crew, Tane Hipango, had all the gear we needed for streaming. He’s just one of those guys who likes to buy gadgets.”

Brynne also brought in her very talented sound guy Benny Jennings, “We were really lucky to have people in our crew with the specific skill sets that we needed, although there was definitely still an element of stress!”

Going forward Brynne, Tane, and Benny are sharing their skills with other members of the crew to create B teams, “Now we are working on not just showing something, but really producing something special.”

The lockdown was also a time for reflection, “For some time prior to COVID, we had all become increasingly aware that our way of doing things was not sustainable.

“We did one hundred and ninety shows last year and as a staff it was exhausting and an absolute mission for the crews. I strongly believed that it didn’t have to be like this. Crazy long hours didn’t have to be the norm.”

Subsequently the theatre has announced that going forward the two day pack in and a couple of end of the week shows would be replaced by a two week pack in/rehearsal period, and then a ten day season, “Our reaction was thank god! We are not looking at it as less shifts but as more opportunity to grow as operators and designers. This gives us time to hone our craft.”

Coming out of lockdown, BATS are fired up about their new commitments, “We are really excited about keeping our focus on accessibility of the arts via streaming, and looking forward to a slower way of working with an emphasis on mental health and well-being.”

Ellie Swann, Theatre Manager, New Athenaeum Theatre, Dunedin

New Athenaeum Theatre (NAT) operated by the Dunedin Collaborative Theatre Trust was established in 2016 as an open access theatre. The theatre was about to host roughly a quarter of the events in the Dunedin Fringe Festival, ten shows, at a rate of three shows a night, “The rug got pulled out from under us. We physically shut down the theatre without really knowing when we would be allowed back,” recalls Ellie Swann, Theatre Manager.

Oddly though, the NAT team, consisting of Ellie, the one paid member of staff, and a team of volunteers, felt fortunate, “We are lucky we don’t have massive overheads, our landlord came to the party and Dunedin City Council checked in on us to make sure we were alright.”

Unable to access Creative New Zealand’s COVID-19 funding due to their model (flat rate hire for the venue plus only a ten per cent share of the box office), they focused on how best to support the industry after lockdown, to enable them to access the funding that was available.

NAT announced on social media and to their networks that until the end of September their rehearsal space was available free of charge in the day for workshopping ideas, “Also for our fringe acts we are offering only their fringe rate for the venue for the shows.”

The result is shows booked almost every weekend until the middle of October, and not only the cancelled fringe shows. Some, such as the award-winning play ‘A Hundred Words for Snow’ and comedy ‘James Mustapic is coming out (from under a rock)’, have had their planned tours interrupted, “So are enjoying the opportunity to get back up on stage again.”

Even way back in level two, with stringent social distancing still required, Ellie felt compelled to do something, “I got the feeling that people were nervous about going out, but I also felt they were fed up of being nervous. And I personally was very keen to break the habit of people watching stuff online!”

The last weekend in May saw five local comedians relaunch the theatre with a capacity halved by the level two requirements for social distancing. The following night a fringe artist, stranded in Wanaka, “A tough life,” chuckles Ellie, was keen to resurrect his show ‘Bald Man Sings Rihanna’, and Ellie leapt at the opportunity, upping capacity by taking bookings in bubbles.

Ellie is also experimenting with a new kind of hybrid. She was approached by another fringe artist who had returned to Scotland, Charmian Hughes. A comedienne who had been Zooming performances from her house during the UK lockdown, Charmian was craving the buzz and feedback of a live audience, “We came up with a plan to project her performance on Zoom to a live audience here in Dunedin, with one camera on the audience, and another camera set up to allow her to interact with individuals in the audience.”

The approach has raised some interesting issues and not all technical, “We needed to make it very clear to the audience that they would be part of the streaming and to somehow obtain their consent.” It remains a work in progress…

The NAT are well aware that they still have overheads to cover and there’s a lot of work going on to secure funding but Ellie is confident, “Our small size and ‘Keep It Simple Stupid’ funding model has actually allowed us complete flexibility through the crisis, and I believe going forward we will be able to continue to support emerging artists and those with a technical bent. Perhaps them not being able to fly the roost may even be to our advantage!”

Ben Freeth, Technical Director, Blackboard Theatre Collective

Blackboard Theatre Collective are a small Christchurch-based company of six who are renowned for their celebratory-themed productions, notably ‘He Says, She Says’, a gender-bending annual concert. In typical fashion, their response to lockdown was to create a party, “We felt so strongly for all those performers that had shows cancelled after months of hard work that we decided to approach theatre companies to see if we could gather together to reprise acts from the different shows.”

Companies across the country embraced the concept and ‘Waiting in the Wings’ was born, “We are a small company and good at throwing things together quickly. All of our technicians were keen and we were able to pay almost everybody involved.” The Piano Centre for Music and the Arts offered free venue hire and the crew kept the sound and lighting simple.

Due to the speed at which New Zealand came out of lockdown the show went ahead in Level One, “We got in at ten, did a forty-five minute pack in, sound tested, ran through the show doing all the lighting in our heads and put on two pretty much sold out performances that evening with no issues.”

Ben recalls the experience, “It was awesome, absolutely fantastic. I think New Zealanders have a certain pride in the way they have handled the whole situation, and this was a chance to celebrate. There was no nervousness about being out, just a feeling that one more thing was returning to normal.”

Going forward, Blackboard Theatre Collective are even more committed to making things happen, “There are lots of projects that won’t be possible now for a year or so, but we are determined to replace our normal programme.”

They recently received funding from Creative New Zealand for a seventy-two hour song writing challenge ‘The Isolation Mixtape’ and appealed to song writers around the country to apply. The four successful applicants have produced four new pieces of musical theatre inspired by the words ‘Doors, Walls, Bridges, Home’.

The songs will be recorded, released, and performed at the Little Andromeda in Christchurch on 24th July, “The concept had to be achievable no matter what level of lockdown the country was at and that gave us freedom to do some amazing things.”

The four songwriters teamed up with performers in Auckland, Wellington and Melbourne using Zoom, Google Drive and Garageband, and were privileged to have Jeanine Tesori, Broadway composer, provide a Zoom workshop.

For Ben, lockdown and the COVID-19 situation has reinforced his belief that small is powerful, “We are a small company and we can respond to situations very quickly.” For the Blackboard Theatre Collective and particularly for Ben as Technical Manager, COVID-19 has been an opportunity to do what they do best – think outside the square.

CX Magazine – August 2020   

LIGHTING  |  AUDIO  |  VIDEO  |  STAGING  |  INTEGRATION

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