New York Stagehand Glossary

"moving deck chairs on the Titanic" --making small changes too late to fix a doomed show. "They made changes to the first act...

(a) haircut --when you cut the top off a prop or a small piece of scenery, so it can be accommodated backstage. "We had to give the boo...

(a) walkaway --leave everything as it is and go home

one-way sense of humor --can make snarky, cruel jokes but doesn't understand them when they are returned. "The acid-tongued PSM had...

noble failure --a Broadway show that receives rave reviews and is an artistic favorite in the Broadway community, but has dismal ticket sale...

“Make it safe” --put a safety on a light, tie a piece off. “Make it safe and take coffee”

keep jurisdiction --to ensure a stagehand presence in certain places in the theater,  i.e. preventing stage managers and interns from doing ...