​We’ve been talking a lot about what it’s like to work in a theatre on a cruise ship, but what is it like to actually live on the ship, too?
 
As we saw in a previous blog post, a crew member’s contract can be around 6 months.  That’s a long time to be away from home, living in a small – usually shared – space. Let’s look at some insight about crew turnover from Joie and Abby, aboard the Norwegian Bliss…

​In many ways, stage managing a show on a ship is the same as stage managing a show in high school or university, or any other land-based theatre.  You manage the rehearsals and tech week, make sure the cast is in places, call the cues.  But in some ways, there are differences.

​
While I was on the Norwegian Bliss, I asked Abby,
the Production Stage Manager for “Jersey Boys”,
​about women in cruise ship tech theatre.
 
Here’s what she had to say…

​A cruise ship has a LOT of venues.  The Norwegian Bliss has the main theatre, and then there’s the Atrium, bars and night clubs, comedy clubs, lounges, poolside entertainment, and an outdoor movie screen.  And of course, all of these venues have sound and lighting systems.  And someone’s gotta run them.

Enter stage right the entertainment technicians.  I haven’t said ‘theatre technicians’ because not everyone works in the theatre per se.  At the time of this interview there were 14 technicians working on the Bliss.

“Jersey Boys” has:
2 audio techs; one front of house and one on deck
1 lighting technician
4 stage techs (props and smaller set pieces)
1 automation technician (as you will recall from previous blog posts, the stage has automated scenery)

Then there are:
6 lounge technicians

The theatre technicians tend to be specialists in their area – lighting, sound, sets, and they
usually have a theatre education and background, and have an understanding of the theatrical process.

Whereas the lounge technicians may be more ‘Jackies of all trades’.  Lounge technicians need to know how to set up a band, audio and video setups, how to run a basic lighting console and sound console, and understand patching (and when I say “basic”, these days that means digital boards). It's also important to know how to set up a band and make it sound good.  That involves a bit more expertise than just knowing how to turn mics on and off. 

If you are considering being a lounge technician, 

In this post we’ll be going behind the scenes of “Jersey Boys” on board the Norwegian Bliss, and looking at how a show moves from land to ship.
(Photo credit – NCL Image Assets, available to Travel Partners)
 
First, as with any show there are the rehearsal and tech periods. As you can imagine, these cannot possibly take place on the ships – there is nowhere on a ship where there would be enough space and time to rehearse.  Nor is there anywhere to build sets and costumes, or the opportunity to hang a new light plot, or set up the sound and a/v systems needed, and so on. So, this is all done ‘shoreside’ ahead of time.
 
In the case of Norwegian Cruise Lines the show is rehearsed and built at their Creative Studios facility in Tampa, Florida.  Following is a thumbnail timeline of how a show ends up in a theatre on a ship…