Many people respond to reminders to follow the fire laws with an attitude of “well, that won’t happen in MY theatre.“ Which is ironic, because that was the assumption of those at the Iroquois Theatre back in 1903, and all the people at these…
Author: Patrick Hudson
The official position of OffStageJobs.com on elections & politics
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As the current US Presidential election season (which has had moments of being anything but “Presidential”) continues, my Twitter and Facebook feeds are full of blurbs and articles championing candidates or deriding strangers. This post, and OffStageJobs.com, will not endorse…
The Merritt Awards needs your nominations!
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The 2016 Michael Merritt Awards are nearly here, and you’re running out of time to make a nomination. One of the things I’ve always loved about the Merritt Awards is that they aren’t a competition: they are a recognition. They…
Theatre fires are not a thing of the past: there were at least 33 just this year.
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Many people respond to reminders to follow the fire laws with an attitude of “well, that won’t happen in MY theatre.“ Which is ironic, because that was the assumption of those at the Iroquois Theatre back in 1903, and all the people at these…
House Manager Appreciation Week 2015
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In recognition of the difficult work our theatre House Managers do every day, in 2010 I declared the final week of November to be House Manager Appreciation Week. While last year’s was pretty good, I expect all of you to make…
Walking in the lobby: a true theatre ghost story
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Theatres are ripe for ghost stories, even though there should be no reason for the vast majority of them to be haunted. Few spend a great deal of their lifetime in a theatre, even fewer people die inside a theatre.…
A post I really shouldn’t need to write…
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…but here we are. From the beginning of OffStageJobs.com, I have received emails from people asking that I not post jobs from particular companies, or listings that do not offer pay, or pay below an (arguably arbitrary) threshold. And from…
The worst audience members
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Yesterday I posted a series of tweets about some of the worst audience members I have seen or heard directly about from years of working at multiple theatres. I probably should have made it a hashtag, because there were a…
After the explosion, silence.
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Marie Sanderson was 51. She was married, and had one son. Aimee Cothran was 43. She had a committed partner, one son, one daughter, and one granddaughter. Aimee and Marie worked in the entertainment industry, behind the scenes. In fact,…
Theatre fires aren’t a thing of the past: at least 18 this year alone.
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By now I hope I have demonstrated to you why following every fire code, law, regulation, and simple common sense in your theatre is important. If not, let’s recap: You cannot depend on any single person, plan, device, or system…