Great Question!!!

It has been my experience as a "soft prop" to be very repectful to the tech.  Afterall, they make everything I do look so much better.  I also try to offer assistance every opportunity I have to make their job easier, from set building to strike.  Hope others are doing the same.

As a administrator, I also make sure to provide any asistance needed from funding to simple things like feeding the crew on late working days, and as a director I do the same.

It is my opinion that trust is a valuable tool.  Respect given beforehand yeilds a positive response from those who get little or no recognition.

And always remember, the thirty dollars spent on pizza and beer after strike wins major kudos as does the invite to the after party.

 

Oh God don't get me started!

(needless to say the above sumation covers years of neglect, actual & implied, physical, verbal & mental, perpetrated by Directors, Actors, producers, and sometimes even fellow techies)....

So in the words of a great man of the theater....

 

"Oh God, don't get me started!"

(sorry, couldn't help myself)

In general, no, techs do not get the respect they deserve for a job well done. Not to sound harsh, but don't expect it, either. You'll end up bitter if you do.

Smit nailed it with the 'actor only' persona. I call 'em acTORs, emphasis on the last syllable (pronounced: ack-TORE). As in the following scenario:
SM: 'Ok, I'm going to need some extra help for this set change. When the curtain closes, grab those chairs, and pull them off SL.'
Mr. Fussy: (wonders why you're talking directly to him, and snorts) 'I am an ack-TORE, go find someone else to do it.'

It is easy for an actor to forget about your contribution: there are a good number of actors that are interested only in the attention they get on stage, and your job is to make them look good. There are also directors that focus only on what the actors are doing, and undervalues what quality tech work brings to a production.

If a director is worth his/her salt, they are the ones who need to directly let their techs know how much they are appreciated. They are in a position where they have the bird's eye view of the whole show, and what it's supposed to do from an artistic standpoint. The goal of the techs is supposed to be a seamless, hidden part of the play. It takes someone who understands the subtleties of what's supposed to happen to really be excited about that. In a way, a tech's 'audience' is the cast and production team.

If I run across someone who really enjoys working behind the scenes, I treat them like gold, because they're doing something that's hard for others to appreciate.

I don't really blame many actors for not fully appreciating a tech's job, since they may not get to see all of what they do.  Many times, their schedules don't overlap, and an actor should be focussed on their scenes. During the show, they should be in the green room until it's their time. The more veteran actors are more likely to take a broader view of the show, and do tend to acknowledge the value of a good tech crew.

-Tom

Oops! Didn't mean to rub you the wrong way, falstaff. My point was not an actor vs. techie fight. It's that the number of people who notice your work as a tech is smaller, by design.

An actor is supposed to draw attention to themselves. That is their role in the show, and they are the most noticable part of the production. Audiences, directors, and techs pay attention to what they do (or should). Techs, on the other hand, are supposed to be hidden, out of the way, and supporting the production. If they are noticed during a show, that means that they've screwed up.

Part of what I was getting at is that techs shouldn't expect much attention for a job well done, except from people like the director, SM,  and the like. The rest is gravy. You should expect civility between actors and techs, but don't demand that actors appreciate what you're doing for the show. And the audience? They came there to watch the actors, not notice how well you handled the follow spot.

Perhaps I read something differently into the parent post than others.

-Tom

Okay, so now you got me started??. I will try to control this rant and keep it to less than a three act.

 

First let me lay out my bonafides?. First and, at this point of my life, foremost, I am a direc-TORE, doing from three to five shows a year.  I have done many stints as a pro-DUCER (sometimes under the guise of ?technical director?.  I am also an act-TOR as often as the opportunity arises. But at my core, my first and longest running role in the theater is that of techie. I have designed, built and dressed more sets than I can count, designed, set and run more lights and sound than my knees and my butt care to remember, helped with costumes and props and SM and crewed my way through more black on black outfits than would fit in my closet.

 

Now, I fully agree that there is often a level of ?expected animosity? brought to the table by many techies, but I believe that, by and large, most techies are just as hard working and dedicated to their craft as any director or actor. They too derive a great deal of pride from a job well done.  And sadly, that is the sum total of their reward.  Directors, sometimes paid in cash, sometimes paid in accolades and mementos, are always able to bask in the glow of a successful production.  Actors, as always, reap the rewards of their labors through the adoration of the crowd. But the boys and girls in black often get short shrift and no notice.

 

Let?s consider, yet again, their contribution.  Think of your favorite period piece. For me it?s probably 1776.  You get the average turn out of auditoners (and for a mostly male show with a minimum of 23 men that?s a real scary thought) But, bravely you persurver to put together the right pictures, blocking and expression to transport the audience to Independence Hall over two centuries ago.  Think of that picture for a minute.  Now? Let?s do a little techie subtraction. 

Take away all the gorgeous hairdos of the period.  So half your guys are bald and the rest are sporting their favorite, if not flattering, hair cut.

Makeup gone? Subtract your ability to put that slightly younger actor into that older part with a ?believable? appearance. (Times that x2 for the slightly older actor who needs to be younger) 

Remove the fantastically detailed costuming that shows the social positions and economic status of our different principals. And their they stand in their favorite jeans or the golf togs that should be buried in the style grave yard that is their very own closets.

What difference that lights that usually enhance the pictures set by the director are gone or merely set to work light positions.  I mean the mood and time that they provide are already ruined by trying to perform such a well known picture in front of black curtains sitting on folding chairs. 

But hey, there?s a bright side. Not much scene change action takes place here anyway!

So, for those who may have harbored any doubt, this bland picture of a classic exemplifies that tech is extremely important to the process of transporting your audience.

Yet, time and time again I have seen them, at best ignored, and in other cases abused. Now I know that most of us would say, ?hey not me?? or ?It?s not like that in my theater?  And I would say good, I?m glad. But also I would advise, look closer.

I know directors and actors who think that tech is just there. Or they are the folks who want to be involved but aren?t good enough to be on stage. Actors are too important to help turn a set piece.  Actors are too important to carry on and off that small hand prop that only they use and must appear at the scene?s beginning and be removed at its end. I have seen directors and actors verbally chastise these volunteers because something wasn?t just the way they thought it should be. Of course said director/actor probably failed to make it clear what they wanted before hand.

One that personally happened for me was during construction of a set for Ten Little Indians. We had been given a set design and instructions that the stairs should come in from stage right and that a wall near the bottom of the stairs needed to be fully reinforced as an actor was to ?bounced? off it and the statuettes were to be broken against it.  My fellow builder and I labored to get the set up and functional in the first weekend. We worked all through the day from eight Saturday morning. By eight that evening we were very tired but very proud of our nearly finished set. In strolls the director (now granted he was young and new to our theater). Sauntering across the stage he proceeds to tell us how he really wanted the staircase about a foot and a half to two feet further stage right than it was.  I looked at my fellow builder and we both descended our ladders, gathered our tools and proceeded to leave.  I said to this director ?You know, you were welcome to have direct input on the set construction at 8 o?clock, but that was 8 o?clock this morning not 8 o?clock tonight!?  It was NOT a pleasant experience over all for me or my fellow techies. It was however a valuable learning experience.  I think everyone should have to do some time in the techie trenches.

I have seen numerous occasions, like the afore mentioned,  where these techies come in all through the weekend and late into the night to ply their craft on the stage and its accoutrements to create the place and feel of the show. Then after what is often an equal time worked on the show as your average actor they are forgotten when the plans are made to go out after a show, or not invited to the parties, or remembered in the program, or given even the slightest personal acknowledgement and thanks by the actors or directors.

             NEVER on my show.  That?s my vow and I have tried so hard to keep it.  I know what we would be like without the tech and by god I will appreciate it!

             Ok enough.. If you have persevered to get to this point God Bless You?.But I did warn you in my previous note?.

             God, don?t get me started!!!!!