One of the giant screens in Barton
Prepping the scanners at the doors
The following entry is about our preparing for our second Jon Stewart show on Saturday night. When I have time, I may gather some of my recollections and write up some things from my notes about day 1 for the first show and what happened after our second show.
Saturday, October 29
2:00pm
A little after 2 I started getting ready to head up to Barton for the Saturday night show. Refreshed after the first good night of sleep in a long time, I grabbed my heavy jacket (it was 30 something degrees – and I’m from California!), and headed up the salted slope. I opened the door on the Statler side and walked into the Barton sauna. It was quite hot in there. Luckily, the actual building floor was much more comfortable. I made my way backstage where most of the E-Board and some of the other crewheads were sitting. After a while, most of the crewheads had arrived and we made our way onto the small, slippery if it gets wet, barren with nothing to make fun of stage (Jon Stewart’s words, not mine!). We circled up on top of the stage (which I might add, was quite a cool place to be – I sat where Jon Stewart stood! Well, it sounded cool and awesome in my head) and had our crewhead meeting, going over what we could do to improve from the Friday night show.
3:16
After we finished our crewhead meeting, we circled up together as a large group and did our obligatory names and years – and favorite candy! Following that we broke into our crews. Caryn and I meet with ticket takers back behind the stage. We walked about the responsibilities of the job and our duties for the night, then Theo came and did a quick tutorial with the scanners – with the cool “secret” reset procedure! We headed down to the front of house to set up the tables and go over the set up.
3:57
We had a bit a free time between the initial crew breakout session and when we had to be in position for the show. I spent most of that time getting things prepared for that night – Eric, Caryn and I made signs for the doors, and I helped make sure some of the signs downstairs were where they needed to be – and setting up stanchions! My new word of the week! (Stanchions are the poles that hold up the ropes in a rope line, like at the airport – and they can refer to other sign posts as well – much better than just saying “that rope pole thing.”) I will say, that Eric can make an amazing number 2 sign out of gaffer tape. After taking the tape and tickets downstairs (for any potential confiscations), we were set to go.
5:34
Around now, the whole crew made their way downstairs, fully decked out in grey Jon Stewart crew shirts, crew passes, and flashlights. (Flashlights! We didn’t get these the first night, but were something I had asked for to make bag checking easier, since some of the entries were not well lit and it was hard to look into bags. Plus, holding a flashlight feels pretty cool too!) Once we were downstairs, we did a quick overview of the job duties, and settled into our positions, waiting for the word from upstairs (quite literally!). Scanners, tickets, tape, flashlights, and a ticket taking crew ready to go.
6:02
Doors open! The ebb and flow of the crowd varied – also drastically changing the temperature in the lobby of Barton. As much of a sauna it had been down there for the first half of the day, it quickly became a fridge, complete with snow outside – quite an Ithacan way to welcome parents to Cornell! For the most part, Caryn and I ran bags back and forth to the confiscation room, assisted when issues came up, and escorted guests to the box office when their tickets wouldn’t scan. Handed off quite a few bags – snag, tag and all. I think I got a decent intro to being an airport worker! Though I’m glad the bag confiscation went well – everyone’s bags stayed safe and were returned safely after the show.
7:23
By now, the majority of the crowd was already upstairs, and most of the crew was dismissed to either go up and watch the show or go grab a bite to eat. I stayed downstairs for a bit to have a slice of pizza and scan and bag check some of the stragglers coming in late. After that number trickled down, I headed upstairs to watch a bit of the show, letting the box office finish helping the latecomers.
Overall I had a great time, and I think the ticket taking crew did a wonderful job - and I’m especially glad everyone made it through the wild temperature fluctuations! This was a great weekend with CUPB, and I’m very much looking forward to our next production!
Saturday, October 29
2:00pm
A little after 2 I started getting ready to head up to Barton for the Saturday night show. Refreshed after the first good night of sleep in a long time, I grabbed my heavy jacket (it was 30 something degrees – and I’m from California!), and headed up the salted slope. I opened the door on the Statler side and walked into the Barton sauna. It was quite hot in there. Luckily, the actual building floor was much more comfortable. I made my way backstage where most of the E-Board and some of the other crewheads were sitting. After a while, most of the crewheads had arrived and we made our way onto the small, slippery if it gets wet, barren with nothing to make fun of stage (Jon Stewart’s words, not mine!). We circled up on top of the stage (which I might add, was quite a cool place to be – I sat where Jon Stewart stood! Well, it sounded cool and awesome in my head) and had our crewhead meeting, going over what we could do to improve from the Friday night show.
3:16
After we finished our crewhead meeting, we circled up together as a large group and did our obligatory names and years – and favorite candy! Following that we broke into our crews. Caryn and I meet with ticket takers back behind the stage. We walked about the responsibilities of the job and our duties for the night, then Theo came and did a quick tutorial with the scanners – with the cool “secret” reset procedure! We headed down to the front of house to set up the tables and go over the set up.
3:57
We had a bit a free time between the initial crew breakout session and when we had to be in position for the show. I spent most of that time getting things prepared for that night – Eric, Caryn and I made signs for the doors, and I helped make sure some of the signs downstairs were where they needed to be – and setting up stanchions! My new word of the week! (Stanchions are the poles that hold up the ropes in a rope line, like at the airport – and they can refer to other sign posts as well – much better than just saying “that rope pole thing.”) I will say, that Eric can make an amazing number 2 sign out of gaffer tape. After taking the tape and tickets downstairs (for any potential confiscations), we were set to go.
5:34
Around now, the whole crew made their way downstairs, fully decked out in grey Jon Stewart crew shirts, crew passes, and flashlights. (Flashlights! We didn’t get these the first night, but were something I had asked for to make bag checking easier, since some of the entries were not well lit and it was hard to look into bags. Plus, holding a flashlight feels pretty cool too!) Once we were downstairs, we did a quick overview of the job duties, and settled into our positions, waiting for the word from upstairs (quite literally!). Scanners, tickets, tape, flashlights, and a ticket taking crew ready to go.
6:02
Doors open! The ebb and flow of the crowd varied – also drastically changing the temperature in the lobby of Barton. As much of a sauna it had been down there for the first half of the day, it quickly became a fridge, complete with snow outside – quite an Ithacan way to welcome parents to Cornell! For the most part, Caryn and I ran bags back and forth to the confiscation room, assisted when issues came up, and escorted guests to the box office when their tickets wouldn’t scan. Handed off quite a few bags – snag, tag and all. I think I got a decent intro to being an airport worker! Though I’m glad the bag confiscation went well – everyone’s bags stayed safe and were returned safely after the show.
7:23
By now, the majority of the crowd was already upstairs, and most of the crew was dismissed to either go up and watch the show or go grab a bite to eat. I stayed downstairs for a bit to have a slice of pizza and scan and bag check some of the stragglers coming in late. After that number trickled down, I headed upstairs to watch a bit of the show, letting the box office finish helping the latecomers.
Overall I had a great time, and I think the ticket taking crew did a wonderful job - and I’m especially glad everyone made it through the wild temperature fluctuations! This was a great weekend with CUPB, and I’m very much looking forward to our next production!
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