Wrapping It All Up

     Before taking this class, I really had not even scratched the surface of technology. I always considered myself a "tech-savvy" person but I have come to the realization that I'm really not all that "tech-savvy." I was born at a time where technology and the Internet and mobile phones were being first utilized in real life. I started playing on the computer when I was younger and we started downloading/uploading music onto an old media player on the computer. CD's were the cool thing to have and I can even remember using cassette tapes as well. Technology itself has just evolved and shot off since then. Looking back now, I sometimes wonder if I could ever survive without the technology that I use every day. 
     Pre-Info3Pt0 class I never would have used that amount of technology in everyday life. I guess what I would call my level of usage of technology is very basic. I use my BlackBerry everyday so I can have emails sent to me and not need my laptop. I use my iTouch but solely for music purposes. I have few apps on my phone and my phone I use pretty much for texting and if I call anyone it's usually family. But really, I just use bare bone minimum technology compared to what we talked about, learned about and utilized in class. The only time I really had a blog was when I was in middle school and it was a LiveJournal. My facebook I use obviously to socialize with all my peers and keep in touch with some family members and my twitter I just really use not to the extent that we did. All in all, I'd say that pre-class I probably wasn't utilizing the technology we have available to the extent that we can use it to be effective. 
     In class, we have covered everything from mobile technology to security issues to social media to technology and education. It's been interesting to go into each of these topics in depth and really explore them and see how the technology has evolved since then. Using a blog to relate our topic to technology was really interesting and effective to a degree. Looking at some of the blogs, I'd say that I learned a lot in comparison to what I posted on my blog. It really gave us a chance to explore what field of study we are currently interested/majoring in and see how technology has and is and will be affecting it. We looked at our topics from new perspectives and took it to new levels each and every time. I sometimes had to get a little creative since a couple of these topics were really hard to relate to but then I ended up having a couple personal experiences that I could share and I hope it helped the blog when I couldn't find the research to back up the issue. 
     Post 3.0 Class I would say that I think I'm going to stick with the minimal amount of technology that I still use. While I have learned a LOT with this class I feel better prepared for using the technology we have. I'm probably going to try and use my iTouch more for apps and the same with my BlackBerry. The apps we looked at were actually pretty helpful and I could use some of them to help organize my life because I like to have a system and be organized. I'm glad that we have learned through a broad variety and I feel that I have learned about security measures and I plan on putting some of those into practice. All in all, I feel that technology affects my field of study and the setup for this class was very fun and different from my typical classes. But, I think that theatre requires more hands on experiences more so than lecturing and I would find it difficult to incorporate technology into some of my classes. I enjoyed using all the different things such as WIMBA, Pronto and being able to have my laptop in class. It really helped me focus sometimes and other times I would get distracted and end up on Facebook. But incoporating the social media such as Twitter and Facebook into the assignments helped because we ALREADY go onto these sites daily. I learned so much from this class and felt that there was still so much more to learn in terms of technology and I feel like you have to constantly keep yourself updated because technology keeps advancing every single day. This was definitely a great class and a great experience and while it was overwhelming at first I was able to adjust.

The Future of the Theatre

     Theatre has and always will be affected by technology. Now when you go back to the days of the Greeks it's very obvious that theatre was still occurring at that time but as technology has grown and become very much a part of our daily lives it has made theatre much better. We have grown from the days of just using torches and having to create masks that will make performers' voices louder. Technology has made theatre more of a "spectacle" as it is sometimes called and it has made the lives of those working in the theatre. But, there are always technical issues that occur every once in a while and it's unfortunate and inconvenient when it happens during a performance. 
    In regards to the positive consequences of having technology involved with the theatre is that we are able to do so many things on computers and our lights, sound and even methods of creating scenery and props and costumes have advanced. In regards to light and sound we have computerized lightboards and soundboards. From personal experience, when I was a sound board operator my job was very easy. Every day all I had to do was turn on a computer to have the SFX (sound effects) program running and unlock the soundboard. Then, each setting for how loud each set or type of speakers was going to be and I never once had to change them up or move them around. It was really that simple. The only thing I had to do was basically learn the system and learn how to check the speakers and make sure everything was working correctly. That's a major benefit to having soundboards automatically save the settings for speakers for a certain show. With one click of a button you have automatically unmuted or muted the speakers needed/not needed in a specific show. 
     There's always a downside to technology because there are times when technology fails. While I was an assistant stage manager on an opera here we used a projection screen in the background of the stage to show the audience members where in South America the principal singers were traveling to. Anyway, so right before a show we were checking the projections screen and the original laptop we had for projections was not working. Turns out, there were several viruses on the computer and anyone that possibly put in a flash drive or other piece would contract those viruses as well. So, we had to get a new laptop to use for the projections but the powerpoint version was wrong and then as we were about to open the show they were still trying to fix the problem. And they had been working on this for about an hour so we ended up having to close the traveler curtain and then have it open again during Act I. It's times like those that technology really does fail sometimes and takes awhile to fix because sometimes you aren't able to pinpoint the problem right away. 
     As for the role of technology in the future it's hard to say what exactly will happen in the world of theatre. My professor told me during our interview that she heard something about followspots not needing human operators. That, eventually, we might get to the point where a lead actor can wear a little chip and the followspot will follow that actor and not need a human operator. Apparently, there are a few versions out already and they're still very, very new to the theatre world. So, obviously, they are going to have a few kinks and problems but with technology evolving so quickly nowadays it's not impossible to say that the engineers of these followspot lights will work out the kinks very quickly. 
    In regards to what I specifically want to study, Stage Management, technology has made that job so much easier. We now have cellphones and email and in this way our communication is so much better because not all directors, designer, performers, etc are located in the same place. The job of the stage manager is to bring all the aspects of the show that have been working separately and bring them together. While everyone, no matter their job, is working towards the same goal. They work separately up until the rehearsals move onto the stage and go into tech week and being able to have the technology we use makes the job of the stage manager so much easier. They communicate on headset and have the ability to put separate areas of the show onto one channel so they have the ability to communicate with one area only. The other aspect is that while on headset the stage manager can hear everyone talking to them at once. While stage managers still use a lot of paper and pencil, it's a method that doesn't fail. We can create documents for paperwork on laptops which again gives us the ability to multi-task while sitting in on a rehearsal. Another innovative method we use at CSPAC is that we have a wiki for all rehearsal and performance reports and all lists of costumes and props requested. It's a central place where everyone involved on the show can go to one place and all the information is there and according to my professor they just started using that only a few years ago and it has proven to be quite effective. All in all, technology is constantly changing and there is no way to nowhere it's going to end up in even just a few years. 


Below is the interview I had with my professor.