THEATRE TECHNICIAN OR LOUNGE TECHNICIAN?

​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, 

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the best training you can come with is how to run digital light and sound boards.  You may not know how to run the specific board a ship has, but as long as you have an understanding of light and sound board general protocols, you can be trained on any specific board.  What you won’t find is training from the ground up – you are not going to learn how to run equipment while you are on board the ship.  

The exception to that would be cross training.  Some cruise lines will cross train a lighting technician, for example, to learn sound, and visa versa, but you need to come in with your specialty.  (More on the equipment on board the Bliss in a later blog post – stay tuned!)

For most of the events – let’s say a port talk or a comedian – it’s mostly a case of turning on the mics and the lights.  Set and forget.  For these types of events, most of the tech is already pre-programmed, and there aren’t actual cues per se.  That said, you still need the experience to know what a given event needs and what programming to use.  Sometimes a bit of editing of the program may be necessary, or even some programming from scratch, and you definitely need to be comfortable hitting that Save button.  

Sometimes theatre technicians may be scheduled in other venues in the ship during the times when there is no show.  But, not usually the other way around – a lounge technician is not typically scheduled to run a full length show in the theater (unless there is some sort of critical reason, or unless they are an aspiring theatre technician!).  The main exception is the followspot operators, who are typically over hires from other departments (laundry, food, housekeeping, etc) who are trained to run a spot and paid extra for their time.  

Sometimes there are other events in the theatre besides the main show, such as port talks, bingo, game shows, and so on, and technicians are needed to run those as well. In the Bliss theatre there’s even a 3D projector to show 3D movies!

While I was on the Bliss I went to see several events in the Atrium.  If you haven’t been on a ship before, the Atrium is the big wide-open area in the middle of the ship, and usually spans two or three stories.  There’s a stage at one end for events.  I rarely (never?) sit and watch a show without glancing around for technical aspects. In this case, it was, “where the heck is the light board and sound board?!   There were stage lights all around (including movers), speakers and monitors, and the performers and presenters were using mics – sometimes handhelds, sometimes headsets. Not only could I not see any board, but I couldn’t spot any technicians, and there was nothing that indicated a booth space.  So, I started wandering around – as I do…. Eventually across the atrium I saw a closet door that was ajar.  So, of course, I sidled over and had a peak inside.  And lo and behold, on a shelf, on the opposite wall there was an ETC Ion light board.  Just at that moment the ship rocked, and the door swung closed.  Darn it!  So I wasn’t able to see the sound board, or to see whether the closet was big enough for someone to be standing in it – I later learned it wasn’t.  Clearly for that particular event the lights and sound were preset. At a later event with several people talking on mics, I saw that the closet doors were open and there was a technician standing there adjusting mic volumes. So that’s it.  A state-of-the-art booth in a closet in the wall.

So, which are you – a theatre technician or a lounge technician?

NEXT WEEK’S BLISS-FUL TOPIC:  Women in cruise ship tech theatre

Curious about working on a cruise ship?  Check out the Master Class

Serious about working on a cruise ship?  Check out the Discovery Cruise

Don’t forget to check out the Slop Chest for your must-have cruise related apparel, etc!  ​

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