Term of the Day: chain-gang buddy

chain-gang buddy--when you are put to work with the same stagehand for weeks on end during a load in. "For the six weeks of the load in, I was paired with the same electrician every day by the head. He became my chain-gang buddy. Every move, we did together." Sometimes complete strangers become friends, other times you can't stand each other.

term of the Day: hand grenade

hand grenade--self destructive stagehand, whose actions threaten all the people surrounding him or her. "When the deranged soundman started attacking the head that hired him, he became a hand grenade, whose actions threatened the jobs of the stagehands he was close with. Stay away from him." 

Term of the Day: ring around the Rosie

ring around the Rosie--when stagehands have to move one or more pieces of furniture over and over, from place to place, because a designer is indecisive. A reference to the children's rhyme.

Term of the Day: problem with his nose

problem with his nose--specific substance abuse issue. "The head's son had a problem with his nose, so bad that he destroyed his good looks when his nose cartilage collapsed. He had what is called "a Coke nose."

Term of the Day: golden gut

golden gut--an instinctual ability to predict hit shows. This is a reference to the disgraced producer Scott Rudin, who was taken to task in a New York Times hatchet job on his three decades of violent and emotionally vicious behavior on Broadway. New York Times, April 25, 2021. Rudin is heavyset and has a copious gut. "That producer had a golden gut...he was able to pick and produce shows that would be big hits."

Term of the Day: the on-set

the on-set--in Local 52 and the film industry, the on-set is the prop person who is responsible for the hand props used by the actors on the days of the filming. 

Term of the Day: sugar glass

  sugar glass-- old term for breakaway glass, which originally was made with sugar. Local 52 term.