Curtain S A N F R A N C I S C O OPER A
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PHOTO BY ED ANDERSON
A P U B L I C AT I O N E X C L U S I V E LY F O R SAN FRANCISCO OPERA CONTRIBUTORS
“Without the dedicated men and women of our stage crew, the curtain would not rise on a single performance.”
Hidden in Plain Sight The San Francisco Opera Stage Crew
– David Gockley
W
known—involves removing all the scenery currently hen the season at San Francisco Opera on stage and suspended overhead. Then the new rigis in full swing, audiences have the ging goes up for the scenery suspended over the stage. opportunity to experience three or four Lights are adjusted and focused. The new scenery is completely different productions in a matter of placed on the stage and in the wings. The carpentry days. The Company is one of only a small handful of crew handles the scenery, electricians take care of all repertory opera houses that offer several rotating the lighting and the properties (props) crew dresses productions at the same time. In order to make the set. The sound crew manages archival recording, that possible, a crew of more than fifty stagehands sound effects and audio and visual communication works tirelessly behind the scenes, in a role that is between the departments. vital to the success of each perA crew of more “Scenery usually arrives on formance but is largely hidden trucks and has to be bolted tofrom the audience’s eyes. than fifty stagehands gether for a production, but by “Right now A Masked Ball works tirelessly the time we have several sets is on stage for rehearsal” says behind the scenes. assembled for multiple operas, Master Carpenter David Hatch. it’s all big pieces of a puzzle that “But between now and tomorhave to move out of the way before something row evening, this will all change. We finish at 5 p.m.; else can move in. We call that ‘the shuffle,’” tomorrow at 8 a.m. we change the set for the perexplains Master of Properties Lori Harrison. formance of Norma that night. We keep going until Each of the different crews works on their own we are done, if necessary right up to curtain time. part of the backstage puzzle, but they all interweave At the same time, we are packing up the set of in an elaborate backstage choreography. A 2013 Susannah that closed earlier this week, and working video, available on the Company’s YouTube on the set of Partenope that opens in two weeks’ channel, shows a changeover at San Francisco time. There’s never a dull moment!” A day in the life of “the deck”—as the stage is cont in u e d o n pa ge 6