Playbill: The arts and culture industries remain largely at a standstill in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, affecting millions of workers in an already delicate ecosystem. The Broadway Community Project, from industry veterans Greg Schaffert, Tiffani Gavin, Situation Interactive, and Playbill, was developed to shed light on the myriad fields and roles that go into making the curtain rise.
7 comments:
I appreciate Armon-Troncoso mentioning that a props master should have patience, passion and no ego. Working with props can seem like one of the easier jobs to do within the theatre to some, but due to the nature of the job and the way things in the props world are constantly changing throughout the process, it requires so much passion and patience to be able to successfully get through it in a fulfilling manner. I have sat through the tech process as a set designer, a technical director and a props master. Being in the role of the props master was when I was the most active. I must also add that being a props master during tech involves you showing up to work with even spare amounts of patience. That being said, the no ego part is much more valid than people may think. You can be the most skilled wood worker hired by a top theater company to work on props, showing up only to find out that a part of the concept for the show is to have all props made out of paper. This not only means that you're going to have to go and do your research in finding out all things paper related, but your precious skills will not be on display. It's very humbling, in the most provoking yet rewarding way.
I think it is a great thing that Playbill is doing interviews like this. Highlighting the work of the props supervisors is especially important because it is a role that so often falls into the background of the theatre industry even though it is extremely important and difficult. Not many people know the full extent of a prop supervisor's job, for instance I didn't know until recently that blood on stage fell under the huge umbrella that is the prop supervisors responsibility. They do so much more than I knew and I feel strongly like they do not get enough recognition, so this interview by playbill is a good chance to shed some light on the skills and hard work of prop supervisors.
I like the use of the term “prop supervisor” in this article. I have been trying to figure out what the best replacement for “Prop master” should be, and I think this is a really great alternative. It definitely fits the description of the job better and just makes more sense. Props people really do have to find some crazy stuff sometimes, and I can see how trying to find a particular kind of crack pipe could be a real challenge! Saying you are working for a theater or something definitely sounds like something a cop would say. Although I have found that is often the best way to disarm people when making odd requests from them. Like last summer when I was making a smoking hair effect, I wanted to use a vape with flavorless, 0 nicotine vape juice and it definitely took a while for people to figure out what I was talking about and what I really needed.
My favorite articles to read on here are always the articles about people’s specific jobs in theatre, especially jobs that many people don’t know about. And I am so happy to finally be seeing more of these articles on here and fewer articles about how everyone is out of a job right now. This article got me thinking about how I wish more articles would be written like this from sources outside of the theatre world or would share this article. I think it is great that Playbill is doing these interviews and allowing its readers to learn more about different jobs in theatre, and yes, these kinds of articles are most interesting to people in the theatre industry. But if articles like this could reach a broader audience of people who maybe go to see shows a lot but don’t know a lot about the industry, I think that could be a really good thing. I think if more people in the general public learn about the roles of theatre design and tech, professions in those careers would get a very different reaction, and I think it would be an increased about of respect.
I love a spotlight piece on a non-male production person! I’m glad to see that one of the many things Playbill has pivoted to doing in these quarantine times is giving a space to recognize those behind the scenes who are often overlooked in the exposés of behind the scenes people. I hope more companies continue to give this kind of platform to these people even in a post-quarantine world. What I think is pretty awesome about the work a props supervisor does is how large that breadth of work is. They get to do research and design work, manage schedules, balance budgets, find, build, and buy a huge variety of items, and still there truly is little to no recognition for their craft. In a Q+A session with a Broadway props master I went to once, he mentioned that you don't work in props for fame, and you need to be ready to not really get any credit for the work you do. I too think it would be neat to see an awards category for the work of props people.
Oh man. All these articles about scenic art and props really have me convinced that I want to do props work for theatre and movies one day. Like the awesome-factor of this stuff just absolutely blows me away. Working in Music Theatre Wichita’s prop shop last summer was really awesome in terms of educating me about a prop process in theatre, and taking that even further to the level of a prop supervisor on Broadway is super neat. I definitely agree with Faye Armon-Troncoso’s statement that a prop supervisor must possess “patience, passion, and NO EGO!” In a line of work where you have to constantly be creating, editing, restarting, and cancelling projects, those qualities are so important to have. I think they really help put you in an excited and collaborative mindset for the work you are about to do, and enhance your creative abilities to allow you to produce the best product.
Like others have mentioned, I appreciate that Playbill is taking the opportunity to do interviews like this. Using their platform to highlight roles that typically aren't recognized by the general public, or, in some cases, even commonly acknowledged within the industry. Exposing positions like these are extremely beneficial to both of these situations. It helps to build empathy with and understanding for people in that position, as well as helps to cement the idea that the entertainment industry is more than just people doing a glorified hobby for fun. The artisan explained that there is so much more to their job than meets the eye. It is also interesting to learn about the lengths a props artisan may have to go to track down a prop. The crack pipe story was really interesting, and I can see how not knowing the right terminology makes finding illicit items that much more difficult!
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