Unseen heroes

Last weekend, we went to the Stampede and saw the grandstand show, which is essentially a big, expensive variety show that happens every night of the Stampede and involves music, dance, 130 (dancing and singing) kids, aerial gymnasts (Cirque du Soleil-type), extreme motocross bikers, and $45,000 of pyrotechnics each night. In other words, quite the production. It’s always fun; we love the whole spectacle of the thing, and we make sure to go see it pretty much every year.

Given a show that size, it’s pretty obvious that it requires a high-caliber staff — everyone from the producers to the stage managers to the designers to the composer to the choreographers to the crew. Especially when it comes to each individual show, there are too many elements for things to be only half-done. I mean, they have kids suspended in birdcage-type things above the stage and pyrotechnics in the near vicinity of many, many kids and teens. There’s definitely a large potential for things to go very wrong, if the work is done incorrectly.

Related to that, one of the things I love about this show is the fact that the IATSE crew is very visible. The show is likely as technically demanding as your average Broadway production, but rather than being hidden backstage, the crew is on display, too. The stage is set up in about 30 minutes, since it rolls on from the side of the grandstand after the chuckwagon races are over, and throughout the show, there are crew members onstage at various times doing things onstage. They have that invisibility of a stage crew, yet they’re not quite as invisible as some.

Given the show (and its audience, which is not necessarily an arts-educated, theatre-going audience), it’s always cool to see them onstage, doing what they’re trained to do with a high level of professionalism. I always hope that there are people who see that and realize just some small part of the amount of work that goes into any show — any performing arts experience — to make it what they see.

I’m always surprised at how many people have no clue. I mean, they know that there are people who do stuff behind the scenes, but most people have no concept of what designers really do, or what a stage manager or production manager does, or even what a director does. I told someone that I was almost finished my degree in producing, and she thought that meant that I’d be directing shows. And this was someone with an active interest and some background in the arts!

Oy.

I always hope that seeing these professionals in front of them will make at least a few people in the audience realize what kind of work happens in theatre — it’s not just artsy types, but highly skilled tradespeople and technicians, talented administrators, innovative and creative thinkers and inventors, and the singers, dancers, and actors who are visible every night. If someone recognizes that there are hundreds of people who are never seen onstage but who make every show work, that’s an exciting thing, and it’s pretty cool to put some of that on display for a little while.