Term of the Moment: Head hubris

Head hubris: This condition occurs when a stagehand has been the head of a theater or a TV studio for a long time and gets it into their head that they can hire whoever they want, no matter what level of experience that person has. "Screw you," says the head, "I'm going to hire who I want, even if it's my barber's son, fresh out of prison, or a retired Rockette." Union card is no issue for these heads, even during a recession.

Term of the Moment: Brick in the Wall

brick in the wall: to ignore existence of another person in the theater.

When I worked at "Cats" on Broadway in the 1990s, there was this very dignified, very tough Italian head carpenter at the Wintergarden Theatre named Carmine. The PSM was rude to him one day, and Carmine was reported to say, “From now on, he’s another brick in the wall.” Despite all the attempts by the PSM to engage the carpenter, the man never registered on Carmine's radar again. This went on for several years until the PSM left for another job. See also: shunning.

Term of the Moment: Producer Pep Talk

Producer Pep Talk--when box office numbers start dropping, the producers will sometimes make a misguided move of calling a company meeting to give the cast and crew a pep talk. If someone says that classic line, "We are going to run it!" run to the phones and start calling around for work. The boat is truly listing at that point. Usually the producer pep talk indicates that the closing notice will be posted in the next week or two. The smart stagehand can keep abreast of tell-tale signs of an ailing show--workcalls are cancelled, sound isn't allowed to order new batteries, wardrobe can't order new costumes for swings.

Term of the Day: Piss line

piss line--hose running from fly floor to the theater alley (holdover from heavy drinking days). I think there is a piss line in the Broadhurst. Men in hemp houses have been known to pee in the sand barrel (sand used to fill sandbags).

Word of the Moment: "Wave the flag"

Wave the flag--making a presence on deck. Particularly for prop people, going onstage during a load in, to sweep and make your presence known to other departments and the tech. (Philip Feller)

Term of the Moment: Shaping

shape up, shaping, shape the hall--look for work (longshoreman’s term, lit. showing up to show you are in shape). Before most last-minute replacement work was routed through the union hall, men would show up to the theater at load-ins or loadouts with their tools, looking for work. When I first showed up at the replacement room in 1993, the late Bobby Hancox greeted me in a wreath of cigarette smoke, and said, "You shaping?" I nodded, not knowing what he meant.

Term of the Moment: Out-of-Town Tryout

out-of-town tryout--out-of-town stop, opportunity to fix the show. It was more common twenty or thirty years ago, but shows would do one or several stops out of town to work and rework the show. Some major success stories are "Wicked"(which went to San Francisco) and "The Addams Family"(which went to Chicago). Both shows were deeply flawed, but the out-of-town work made them into the hits they are (or in the "Addams" case, soon-to-be WERE). In the case of "Addams," the producers brought in Jerry Zaks, the show doctor, who made the most important changes in New York. An out-of-town closing, when the producers pull the plug due to the quality of show or no money is like a miscarriage--the show was not meant to be born.