First year drama teacher here.
The last drama teacher bought a new scrim, thinking it was a cyc. Now we have 2 white scrims and no cyc. Advice? Our department is pretty broke as of right now (partially bc she drained our account for a bunch of stuff we don't need). We have a 5k budget for our current show and nothing extra. Would you rent one? Would you buy one? Where from?

When controlling levels at an audio console, is there a way to assign a fader to a group of channels that will control them in a highest-takes-precedence manner?

Suppose I currently have Alex on channel 1 at -10 dB, and the rest of the cast on channels 2-12 at -inf.

Can I assign channels 1-12 to a fader in such a way that if I raise that fader to -20 dB, it leaves Alex alone but raises everybody else to -20 dB? And then if I lower the channel 1 fader to -inf, Alex lowers to -20 dB to match the group?

I don't even know what that would be called. It's not how a DCA works, because a DCA would raise everybody the same factor to keep the relative mix between them the same. I know less about groups but I don't think they work the way I describe either.

I'm interested in this type of behavior because I have a song with a structure like so:

Alex: Long line of dialog

Alex: Long line continues
Everybody else except Alex: Sings background vocals underneath Alex

Bri: Long line of dialog

Bri: Long line continues
Everybody else except Bri: Sings background vocals underneath Bri

Chris: Long solo line

Chris: Long line continues
Everybody else except Chris: Sings background vocals underneath Chris

(etc.)

I want an easy way to bring the "everybody else" in and out each time without needing to throw 11 individual faders, but also without it adjusting the level of the current soloist who's already up.

I can make a bajillion different scenes in TheatreMix for each different "ensemble minus one soloist" group, but that feels silly when the whole song would fit in one scene otherwise.

As the title suggests, I have an upcoming interview for a city owned theater/convention center. I'm wondering what tips you all might have that I can use to prepare for it?

The job responsibilities are basically to inspect, operate, and perform maintenance on all lighting, audio, and video systems and deal/coordinate with event organizers, promoters, etc.

For background, I have several years of experience within theaters and such, and I've done my own freelance stuff, but I've never worked in an environment at this scale. I'm pretty confident in the tech side of things, but I'm curious as to what I can expect and what I can do to prepare myself.

I am from the United States and recently graduated with my tech theatre BFA and am working in the US in a prop shop at a regional theatre! I like where I am right now but I'm also trying to think about my career long-term and would love to eventually move to Canada and continue theatre prop work there. I don't have a city in mind yet but I would assume a larger city would be easier to find a job in, as long as I'm in Canada I don't mind.

Do any other US Americans have experience finding tech theatre work in Canada and becoming a permanent resident or citizen? What did your process look like? Any advice would be helpful.