Hold This End: Units of Measurement
If I Had a Hammer... The Nonstandard Toolkit
Linguistic Diversity
Petticoat Junction: From the Costume Shop
Squints and Squeaks
We Just Might Burn in Hell for This
Moving Scenery
Tech 101
It's a Concept: Design Style
Politically Incorrect Soft Goods
Ooze, Stickum and Slime
Casting Central
Knot Again: Rope and Rigging
Toto, I Don't Think We're in Kansas Anymore: Terms on Tour

From the Costume Shop

In the costume shop at the Shakespeare festival when they'd pull stock and add frou-frou, etc. for the upcoming show they were polishing turds. Tom Hansen

I was hit in the face with the fact that we have different words for the same things when having a conversation with a costume designer at a cast party. I mentioned that we'd had to "180" a platform , and he took the longest time trying to understand me. When someone else said "pick it up and turn it around 180 degrees," he exclaimed "Oh! Half a petticoat!" Mickey Carter

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Squints and Squeaks

The stage management instructor in my undergrad used to call the box boom position the juliets, because they sat at the edge of the apron and would be perfect for the balcony scene. Lisa Adamsen

Telescoping long-range calibration device - a stage brace deployed by electricians Tom Heemskerk

Woogie lights - the ones that move without a long-range calibration device Tom Heemskerk

The bright 40 watters - placebo replacement music stand lamps Tom Heemskerk

EQ the crap out of it - placebo audio processing Tom Heemskerk

High Impedence Air Gap meaning, of course, that it isn't plugged in. The8rgrl

On tour one time we went to a college somewhere in the southern California desert, where they had those molded-Y twofers, which they affectionately referred to as Gumbys. At least they hadn't painted them green. Tom Hansen

The theatre I worked at this summer affectionately referred to the molded rubber two-fers as rubber chickens... Andy Leviss

The Whorehouse aka 3-fer blocks (lots of females, and one male) John D. Emery

Some of my high school electricians call 2-fers Pimps. (One male, 2 females.) I don't take with it myself, but I do like the previously
mentioned "Rubber chicken." Jon Ares

When I first started doing theatre back in college, myself and a few others on the light crew were biology majors. We referred to the Altman lighting wrench as the Planaria, a small cross shaped flat-worm that it resembled. Thinking back now, it's one of the few things I remember from that Biology degree! Susan Kelleher

Altman wrench.... We call it a " 'Drac' Wrench" for Dracula. Susan L. Kelley

The wrench some other have called a Century wrench was called a Bash wrench in college. At one job site, I asked if anyone had a Bash wrench, and 2 of the electricians pulled out a hammer. Considering the units we were about to focus, I almost let them use them. John D. Emery


Years ago I arrived in Aruba in the carib to do a tour show ( small dance tour ) had no advance info on the venue, was carrying no gear, etc etc etc. Was informed on the phone upon arrival (before getting to the venue) that they had a good compliment of elbow fresnels couldn't figure out what the hell they meant. Get to the venue, they had a bunch of Strand ( UK ) ellipsodials, base up configuration (this was PRE Quartz) with step lenses. this was an "elbow fresnels" Keith Arsenault


The Thing That Goes BEEP
as in: Please go get the GAM Check.
The what?
The GAM Check.
??
Black, about this long.... You plug the light into it.
???
"The thing that goes BEEP."
Ohhhhh! Scott C. Parker

Rubber rope = cable.Susan L. Kelley

Bounce Focus - repeatedly raising and lowering an electric to ground focus it and then check focus when a "Toshi" won't work Colin Buckhurst

Bounce focus = French focusing or yo-yo focusing. Rigger

Carpentry Focus - hitting a light with scenery Colin Buckhurst

Rope = orange extention cords why? ok, once i didnt have enuff rope to secure scenery to the top of my van, but many orange extention cords... and some people never let me forget that day. MartyBlackEagle

An extention cord is a Stinger. Sigrid Wolf

Ma-Bob (short for "thing-a-ma-bob") is another term for a Trombone. A length of pipe usually between 6" and 3' with a c-clamp at one end: used for hanging lights.Sigrid Wolf

SUS (as in Suspect): ringing out the lighting unit to find out the dimmer they are in (dimmer per circuit) John D. Emery

STRAND: Webster's version: to place or leave in a helpless position John D. Emery

cable swag = horse c**k Keith Houghton

Electric Rope - extension cord
Safety Electric Rope - orange extension cord David Boevers

God-mike = mike that the engineer uses to talk back to the performers
Fat Man and Little Boy--old style Kliegl ellipsoidals
Shinbuster--dance lights hung on booms at just the right height :-) Michael Sorensen

or Headbuster - for the same obvious reason.... IAEG

We use the term One-Legged to refer to a broken connector on an XLR. Chris "Chris" Babbie

Alien Mother - the cage built around dimmer beach, with cable running every which way to and from it BACatlarge

Organic Multi-Image Progression Facilitator: stick of wood used to move manual slide projector cross faders. If you had "Rosco" in front of it it costs an extra $100.
Non-Organic Multi-Image Progression Facilitator: same as above but made of a piece of conduit Ken Wesler

Lumo-suck- promised to director who insisted that a fresnel's light not bleed on area around actor. "We'll just aim a lumo-suck at that"
DBG - dark be gone - the opposite of a lumo-suck. Used with a director who didn't want a shadow under a table. "We'll just use a little DBG on that" Ken Wesler

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We Just Might Burn in Hell for This

Does an 'Altman Wrench' resemble a 'Century Wrench'? [cast aluminum to match the cast aluminum lekos] Richard D Niederberg

I believe it does. In our neck o' the woods, we call both a Jesus wrench. Chris Davis

Although I think the term has pretty much disappeared from recent usage around here, we used to call the small set bolt on that locked the yoke stud on a Century C-clamp a Jesus Bolt. I think the origin of the term was the amount of profanity occasioned by any of the following:
1. Finding the bolt just loose enough so that, although it felt OK when you focused, the instrument would slip at the slightest bump.
2. Finding that someone had removed the bolt altogether.
3. Finding that someone had gotten overly enthusiastic in trying to make sure that the instrument was tight, wringing the head off the bolt.
4. Finding that the bolt was loose, but that the unit was hung in a position such that you couldn't get a wrench in to tighten it. John Bracewell

Pan bolt being the Jesus Bolt ('cause that's what you say when it breaks), or the awh S%#T screw. Susan L. Kelley

When I was a kid, my dad showed me a little spring retaining clip that installed in a groove in a rod to keep stuff from sliding off the end. He told me it was Jesus Clip. When I asked him why, he told me that's what I'd be saying when every time it flew off somewhere as I tried to get in on or off. I'm afraid that, over time, my name for these has gotten a bit longer and a lot less spiritual. Also applies to really small cotter pins. Ken Erfourth

Nails and spikes 20d (4") and larger = Jesus Nails
Screws and lags longer than 3" = Jesus Screws Duncan Mahoney

Jesus factor... allowing something to not be quite right Mark O'Brien

See also Jesus Paint

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Moving Scenery

We would dead dog legged platforms at one theatre. That is flip them legs to the air. Scott Conklin

wikki-wikki & fwubida - terms relating to unit stability David Boevers

Along the lines of wikki-wikki is wonga-wonga. Scott Conklin

Barbecue (bar' bi kyoo), v., to flip over a flat or similarly flat piece of scenery while carrying it horizontally. [From the process usually applied to nice racks of baby back ribs. As in, "let's barbecue this flat before we Iwo Jima it (thanks to someone else for a term new to me) or the pretty painted side is going to face upstage"] Jim Dougherty

I've heard rotisserie for that same maneuver. MissWisc

We call it Surabachi-ing a piece here. (After the mountain on the island of Iwo Jima.) Dave Vick

This is similar to the term 180 [as in degrees of arc] a flat or set piece, whether on the X, Y, or Z axis. Richard D Niederberg

The Muncie 180 = when you put the scenery down and the stagehands switch ends. A friend swears two students did this in Muncie when told to 180 a flat and put it in the truck. Brian Crow

86, as in "86 that platform before you put it down." Meaning, I believe to reverse it or "do-si-do" it. '86' is supposed to have originally come from the food service industry. It meant that the item was no longer available from the kitchen, The cook would shout "86 the tomato soup!" as he poured the last bowl. The migration to the bar and club industry included the original (to be out of a certain drink) and also referred to patrons who were no longer welcome. "He's 86'ed, he can't come back in here." In theatre, I have only heard this referred to meaning to lose the item, as in "86 these flats (strike). Anyone who knows where the original came from, I'd love to know. Chris "Chris" Babbie


Float [I] - lower a canvas flat by footing it, and letting air resistance cushion the fall
Float [II] - dismantle scenery by pretending it's actually canvas flats Tom Heemskerk

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It's a Concept: Design Style

One of my professors often designed in a style he referred to as Circus Wagon Baroque Stuart Wheaton

One designer I work with loves Firch and Gnerr (sp?) which refers to rustic set dressing. The firch is hard stuff (tools, farm implements etc) and the gnerr is softer (foliage, burlap etc). Colin Buckhurst

Toblerones - for periaktoi. David Boevers

Our shop calls them Pterodactyls Sarah Gowan

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Politically Incorrect Soft Goods

Front Curtain: House rag, or just rag. Mikkel Mynster

West Coasting soft goods Herrick Goldman

East Coasting -- traditional flying of a drop
Mid-Westing -- tripping a drop Stephen Litterst

West Coast... Tie the scrim to itself, and throw it in the bag or hamper.
East Coast... Stuff the damn scrim in the hamper. Mark O'Brien

How 'bout - goods:
legs = tormentors
borders = teasers
Or the look on the new kid's face when we say we're going to "hang the blacks"?? Tom Hansen

Reminds me of one of the worst notices I ever saw posted on a call board:
"Volunteers needed to dead hang blacks for Raisin In The Sun". Sorry, it's true :-) Chris Davis

Yeah, I've experienced that. On a related note, one of my students thought I said "stretch the Muslim" not "stretch the muslin" on the flat frame...that also brought a look of abject horror... Shawn Palmer

I learned never to use that expression. My first tour with my previous employer through the highlands and lowlands on Virginia. We were in a KFC/Taco Bell discussing what we had to do after the lunch break. The TD said "Well, I think we need to hang the blacks before we do anything else." The restaurant got quiet. We finished eating in quite a hurry and got out of there. It's draperies and legs and stuff for me now. Stephen Litterst

Sitting in a bar at lunch. Just finished hanging the soft goods for a show. They'd been in hampers for quite awhile and were dirty. I turned to my foreman and said..."after lunch break out the corn brooms for the crew and beat the blacks. The bar got very, very quiet. We explained. We left. We never went back. Bill Sapsis

Anybody ever yell "Kill the workers"?? Pat Dillon

Not exactly the same but it jogged my memory of the time I was told to go get a "dead baby seal" to weigh down a flat jack. My face must have looked pretty horrifyed, cause he broke down and pointed to a pile of cut inner tubes turned into sand bags. Dead baby seals. Merel Ray

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