The Tech Booth : A Place Like No Other

Monica Moore

• OnStage New Zealand Columnist

The atmosphere is unusual, distinct and decidedly different. It’s the inner sanctum, privy to only a few and once visited you are never the same. 

It’s the tech booth.

I’ve been in a few, quite a few in fact. Large ones, small ones and ridiculously small ones but should I venture into a new one I could hazard a guess as to what it will look like.

Amidst the array of  technical desks, computer screens and clumps of cords there will be remnants of takeaway packaging. There are chairs on wheels of varying styles that carry the shape of the people who frequent them the most. The whiff of stale coffee  lingers but mostly the smell of technology and knowledge frequents this space.

My most recent experience was in the Mangere Arts Centre in Auckland New Zealand and wahoo what luxury these techies have! They’ve got a couch too. It’s a very pleasant experience up there in that technical hub, a creme de la creme of technical space and even a corner for the takeaway packaging to be sort-of stacked. 

Then there’s the tech team. Show or not they’re in their blacks. Usually quietly spoken they move with such stealth, these nocturnal creatures who quite possibly do not sleep at all.
Of quick mind, they’re nimble and lith, always in trainers with optional cap. Their hair  is often in need of a trim if it’s straight.  The curly haired ones tend to be neat and well trimmed. (What is that?)

They appear to be jovial, welcoming and of social-incline. Their laid back persona is that but an image.

A furrow of the brow appears with a problem, the atmosphere changes and they are into action, like a well-oiled machine. Very few words are spoken. They’re on their feet moving to the bridge, to the cords, to that annoying go-bo to make yet another adjustment. In a flash it’s fixed and someone passes the pizza.

Like the Starship Enterprise they navigate through the glass into the vastness in front of them.

They’re the Gods of the stage who bathe it in light and sound and breathe life to the story.