Term of the Day: flying under the radar

flying under the radar-- to keep your head down, to not be noticed by management.

Term of the Night: shotgun side

shotgun side--the passenger side. When loading a truck, the stagehand directing the loading may indicate that certain pieces of scenery or props should be put on the shotgun side or the driver's side.

Term of the Day: bag of tricks

bag of tricks--a place where a skilled stagehand is able to pull out an obscure piece of hardware, a tool or skill that saves the day. "The carpenter pulled out some stage screws from his bag of tricks that he'd kept from working at the Met 40 years ago, saving the day."

Term of the Day: roll-ups

roll-ups--same-day ticket purchase by a patron in a wheelchair at the box office. Similar to a walk-up, where a patron goes to the box office to buy a ticket. Last-minute wheelchair customers mean the house propman has to pull seats to accommodate them. (Designated wheelchair seats are usually welded to a steel plate and can be unbolted and moved.)

Term of the Day: herding cats

herding cats--when it's impossible to get certain kinds of people to do what you need them to do. "When the tech suddenly bumped up the labor numbers, I got a pair of shoes from the hall. Getting them to do basic work and to stop them from taking unauthorized cigarette breaks was like herding cats."

Term of the Day: orphan

orphan--stagehand with no family affiliations, has to make his/her own way in the business, or anyone in a particular local that has no relatives in that local. "I moved to New York from Memphis. I knew no one. I was an orphan in Local #1."

Term of the Day: bean counter

bean counter--company manager who comes in to a show, cutting perks like free coffee in the green room or "Happy Trails" cakes to save money. A bean counter can actually help to save a financially troubled show, or can just destroy all sense of camaraderie, making a job on a Broadway show a grind.

Term of the Night: "I'm going to let the rumor mill..."

"I'm going to let the rumor mill grind through this one"--"I heard at the Golden load-in that they fired the lighting designer and the crew worked 38 hours straight. I'm going to let the rumor mill grind through this one."

Mock Threat of the Night: "I'll cut you," "I'll cut your pretty face"

"I'll cut you," "I'll cut your pretty face"--mock threats of violence, when somebody crosses the line. Inspired by the drag queen balls of old, pre-gentrification Chelsea and "Paris is Burning."

Term of the Day: taking the train to crazy town

taking the train to crazy town--when an apparently sane stagehand goes crazy and stays that way.  "Four or five years before he retired, he took the train to crazy town and stayed there."

Yiddish Term of the Day: shvitzer

shvitzer--(Yiddish, literally to sweat) a person who acts like a big shot, who runs around accomplishing nothing. He/she is sweaty from useless labors.

Overheard Stagehand Line #27: "I was too busy being a sheep..."

(After a Head asked his Extra Stagehand for an opinion)
Extra Stagehand: "I was too busy being a sheep and going 'baa' to have an opinion."

Overheard Stagehand Line of the Day #38: "The extra man was old school..."

 "The extra man was old school...he picked one guy on the crew to hate, and he thought everything was grand after that."

Term of the Day: radio silence

 radio silence--when someone you need information from is intentionally not getting back to you. "The junior tech was observing radio silence when I kept calling her for the start day of the load-in."

Term of the Day: "no shame in my game"

"no shame in my game"--when others on the crew are hiding, complaining too much or shirking work, you are still working your ass off.

Term of the Day: red-letter day

red-letter day—special day, usually meaning a big-money day. "'It's a Sunday load out, where you start at time-and-a-half," said the head. 'It's a red-letter day for you.'" Comes from medieval calendars, where the dates of religious holidays are printed in red.

Term of the Day: the vig

the vig-- the high weekly interest charged by a loan shark. Or the amount of money taken by a bookie for placing a bet.

Term of the Day: kisses up and bullies down

kisses up and bullies down-- a stagehand who kisses the head's ass, but then bullies the extra stagehands. "The first broom in the prop department was famous for kissing up and bullying down. He always had time to kiss the head's ass, but would bully his fellow extra stagehands."

Term of the Night: "Say anything, tell them nothing"

"Say anything, tell them nothing"--old Irish saying, good for dealing with shit-stirrers. Do not give any information that is useful. Give them blarney.

Broadway History Lesson: archaic theater names

archaic theater names--to shut out outsiders, stagehands often refer to theaters by their previous names. The Biltmore Theatre on West 47th Street had been closed for almost three decades and had suffered urine damage on the facade and a fire when it was reopened as the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre in 2008, run by the Manhattan Theatre Club. Even the wet-behind-the-ears apprentices call it the Biltmore.

Before he died in November 2008, the Shubert bigwig Gerald Schoenfeld had the Plymouth Theatre on West 45th renamed after himself as the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, and also had the Royale (also on 45th Street) renamed for the late Bernie Jacobs. Schoenfeld and Jacobs were the two Shubert lawyers who saved the Shubert organization from ruin in the 1970's.

The Ford Center on West 43rd Street was created in 1997 by putting together two derelict Broadway theaters, the Lyric and the Apollo, a reconstruction that was financed by Garth Drabinsky and LivEnt, a Canadian concern, that lost the theater when Drabinsky was indicted on a stock floatation fraud. It has since been the Hilton, the Foxwoods and is now again the Lyric Theatre. I will always remember it as a house of pain called the Ford Center.

The Virginia Theatre on West 51st Street was renamed for the late, great playwright August Wilson, for several of his plays, including "Two Trains Running" and "King Hedley" played there.

The Selwyn Theatre on 42nd Street was renamed the American Airlines Theatre, which is run by the Roundabout.

Term of the Day: to ju ju

to ju ju--to fluff something up, to change a prop or set dressing. To make a change to appease a designer. "We need to ju ju those pillows on the couch by sewing some lace on them." Also: to jus.

Term of the Day: on the boards, tread the boards

on the boards, tread the boards--to be working in the theater, to be on Broadway, to be an actor.

Term of the Day: make a federal offense out of something

make a federal offense out of something--when a boss overreacts and makes a big issue out of a small mistake. "You are making a federal offense out of this small mistake." Sometimes, it is gathering offenses to force a stagehand out.

Term of the Day: OCA

OCA--"on camera appearance," set fee for a TV stagehand who is accidentally or intentionally on TV.

Term of the Day: vultures start circling

vultures start circling--when a stagehand or musician is on the cusp of being fired, people will start coming by, looking to take his or her job. "The vultures started circling when the word was on the street that the concertmaster at 'Lion King' was going to be fired." "The show wasn't even out of previews when the producers for a show looking for a theater started asking about the theater. The vultures started circling while the show was still alive."

Overheard Actor Line #2: "I must have drank a pint..."

"I must have drank a pint of spit on this show!"-- Overheard from an exasperated young actress on a period show, working with two Tony-nominated actors who were famous for being very spitty.

Term of the Night: broom up my ass

broom up my ass--a statement of exasperation..."If you want me to work any harder, I could stick a broom up my ass and sweep while working." I once faced down a psychotic tech with this line and it worked. What do you say in response? "I'll get the broom."

Term of the Day: to MF someone

to MF someone--to backstab or to attack the character of another person, to motherfucker someone. "I know that the contractman has been MF-ing me behind my back."

Yiddish Term of the Day: kishkes

kishkes(Yiddish/Russian)---guts, intestines, a visceral feeling coming from the guts. "I feel it in my kishkes that this show is going to close."

Overheard Stagehand Line #25: "What part of.."

Head to Extra Stagehand: "What part of 'put your fucking phone back in your pocket' don't you understand?"

Overheard Stagehand Line #29 "I hear they are trying to make it suck less"

"I hear they are trying to make it suck less"--referring to frantic attempts to save "King Kong," the musical about the great ape coming to the Broadway Theatre during the summer of 2018.

Historical Term of the Day: special won-ton soup to go

special won-ton soup to go--whiskey in a take-out soup container. China Peace was a Chinese restaurant that ran for decades in Hell's Kitchen. It was at three different locations over time. Legendary stagehands and legendary drinkers would go there on matinee days. The owner was agreeable to fixing special "to-go" cups for his regular customers.

Term of the Day: rejigger

rejigger--to change things multiple times. "The associate designer had us rejigger the set dressing on the office unit many times before he was satisfied."

Overheard Production Line #1: What kind of director is he?

Production Person #1:   "What kind of director is he?"
Production Person #2:   "It depends if he has one Manhattan or three Manhattans at dinner."

Term of the Day: to Harvey Weinstein someone

to Harvey Weinstein someone--to bring down a powerful man and sexual predator after years of an open secret of his sexual abuse of young women, including aspiring actresses and personal assistants.  This also includes holding bad information on someone, then using it for personal gain at the right moment. Weinstein's first big Broadway foray was "Finding Neverland," which started as a big hit in April 2015 but closed after 16 months.

Term of the Day: one-punch artist

one-punch artist-- a stagehand who can knock another stagehand down with one punch. There is a very famous story behind this one, involving a Christmas House coming offstage and chicklets punched out on deck, but it is better as an oral legend. 

Term of the Day: ass-kissing overdrive

ass-kissing overdrive-- excessive and aggressive ass-kissing. "When the head retired, the longtime extra man went into ass-kissing overdrive to keep his spot with the new head."