In addition to being one of the ASMs for this show, I'm also on the light hang crew. We started the hang last night and boy am I excited!

First off, I'd like to say that neither I nor the faculty thought I'd live to see the day that I would enjoy being thirty feet off the ground balancing an expensive piece of equipment on my legs over a hole in the floor. But, I have been nurtured into a true love of hanging lights. For most of the work I've done on shows here, I've gotten course credit - like everyone does - depending on how much time the job took and how well I did. For this hang, though, I just volunteered to be on the crew.

I get a deep sense of satisfaction while working with my hands, especially on something so fun. Also, time in the grid (the "ceiling" that the lights are hung from) affords one a bit of space to think. I enjoyed it, especially since working on this show has raised a few questions for me.

I can't help but wonder if there is a conflict here between so serious a message about what others want for and the fact that we're presenting it in such a decadent (for lack of a better term) art form. While it's true that as an educational setting, we reuse and recycle as much as we can, there is still quite a bit of waste in theatre. It comes with the territory. So what are we really saying here?

Any ideas?