Stagehands: out of sight, not completely out of mind

The average concert goer’s experience usually occurs within a four hour time frame, starting with their arrival to the venue once doors open, and ending with the artist’s exit from the stage and the house lights turning back on. But for stagehands, or roadies as they’re sometimes affectionately referred to, show days are a bit more complex. Bobby Kirwin, who works as a stagehand at The UC Theatre in Berkeley, illuminated this complexity for us here at The B-Side, before loading-in for Finnish metal band Children of Bodom, who would be performing later that night. With a large to-go cup of coffee in hand and a bright smile on his face, Bobby led me into The UC Theatre’s empty auditorium on a clear Sunday morning. Just outside, the band’s truck arrived for load-in. While the band’s roadies, who travel from city to city with artists, and other UC Theatre stagehands began to unload and set up equipment, Bobby sat down with me to give The B-Side a generous look into life as a stagehand.

The B-Side: Can you give me an abridged version of an average workday as a stagehand?

Bobby Kirwin: So it’s show day of some random show. Only 20 percent of the time are you a fan or really pumped for the show. The rest of the time you’re just like, “what the hell is this?” It all happens very organically and it’s different for every show. But the basis is load-in [from the tour trucks], build the stage with direction from the tour managers, and then we patch cables and things like that. After load-in and setup we soundcheck, the show happens, and then load-out.

And when the show is actually going on are you still around?

There’s always a few people that have show call and they do a changeover in between artists. But sometimes, depending on the tour, like today, there’s a bunch of metal bands and the tour might take care of most of the changeover. So it’s totally show by show. Stagehand work is a lot of waiting. We have this joke where if you ask someone what to do, they tell you, “hurry up and wait.” You hear that a lot in the stagehand world and “stop thinking.” Me even more [so] because I’ve only been doing this for about two years. And no one is going to take you seriously until you’ve been doing this for like ten years. It’s definitely an industry dominated by older people — which is what’s special about The UC Theatre. With the internship program, there are a lot of younger people working here which makes it a totally different venue from anywhere else — according to our production manager, Matt Lawsky, who is also the production manager over at the Warfield and the Fillmore.

Yeah and this isn’t a career that is commonly brought up as an option for what you can do after high school and with your life. How did you get involved?

For me it was through The UC Theatre. I didn’t do the internship program though because I reached out too early. So I started as a Design intern and Robyn Bykofsky, the Education Director, had me help her put the workshops together and bring people in. After a few shows we were able to get some stagehand interns and I was able to be one of the first. It’s really hard to get a job in production but the internship program helped me get my foot in the door. I learned everything here. They’re getting young people from diverse backgrounds and they’re running this place successfully. It’s awesome to see that.

And for those younger people who want to get involved in production, what are some of the main skills you need to be a successful stagehand?

It’s a lot of simple things but when they’re all added together they make it complicated. You have to be good at a lot of shit. You need to be able to take direction well and be flexible. And you have to be able to push and lift cases. A good thing to learn if you want to be a stagehand is electrician skills and maybe production design. You also just have to be intuitive and very aware.

That kind of segues into my next question. What are common problems you run into on the job, and how do you deal with them?

Depends on the size of the show. Different problems always arise. Maybe the power shuts off.

Has that ever happened here?

It happened once! Berkeley power is always shutting off. One time it was an hour before doors and the power went out and came back on two minutes before doors. Not a good moment. Things could break or things could fall and people could get hurt.

Does that happen often? Equipment falling? I’m specifically thinking about the whole thing that happened to Marilyn Manson.

Oh no, never! That was terrifying. That shouldn’t have happened. We all watched that video a hundred times backstage that night. There’s a lot of heavy gear in this job, which is why we wear gloves and it’s industry standard that stagehands wear steel toed boots and have a tool belt.

What’s been your favorite show that you worked as a stagehand for?

Nicolas Jarr for two nights was definitely my best weekend here. I got to meet him too; he was doing laundry across the street. He recognized me and we got to talk about the venue and he was like, “You’re super young. Everyone here is really young. What’s the deal?” and I got to tell him about the internship program which was so sick. Also, Green Day was great. That’s like the biggest show we’ve had here.

And my last question is what’s one thing you want audiences to know about stagehands?

We do this for the audience. We want them to have an amazing experience and we go to the very extent that we can to make sure that nothing is wrong at all. I also come from an audience perspective. When I would go to shows I would always think about the production crew and be like, “Why did that happen? Something went wrong.” But now, being a stagehand, I know that we’re fine. The show is happening and if something goes wrong we’re here to fix it. Everything always works out. But that’s a good question for Matt!

[So, we went downstairs to Matt’s office and asked him the same question.]

It’s nice to meet you, Matt. Bobby mentioned you might have an interesting answer to a question I just asked him. What’s one thing you want audiences to know about stagehands?

Matt Lawsky: Oh, I’d never tell the audience anything. If the audience can hear me then I’ve already messed up, you know? [Laughs] We’re just out here to sulk in corners and shadows, like vampires. Out of sight, out of mind.

[After our brief chat with Matt, Bobby, and I headed out to the alleyway, where the stagehands were rolling in big cases of equipment into the back of the theatre.]

So, is that the main thing you want audiences to know? To not worry about stagehands?

No, that’s not it. I mean, I want them to know that we do this for the audience. We want them to have an amazing experience and we go to the very extent that we can to make sure that nothing is wrong at all. It’s rewarding for me because I know that the people coming in here are having an amazing time. Some people come to one show a year and it’s the best night of their year. That’s really special. And you don’t think about that until you get some of those older crowds. They’re just having hoot. They’re getting up there in age but they’re still living life. And creating that kind of space for people is special. What stagehands do is build the environment that the audience and artist are going to experience. When you’re on stage after a set is built, you feel something. That’s why I keep doing this.