Backstage Essentials: Skills for Stagehand Technicians in Live Event Production is a practical guide for stagehand technicians working in live event production.
This book is written for the person doing the work: unloading a truck at the loading dock, running cable under a ballroom riser, hanging a lighting fixture on truss, or troubleshooting a projector minutes before a general session begins. Chapters cover safety and personal protective equipment, road cases, load-in and truck packing, rigging, chain motors and truss, power distribution and connector identification, audio, lighting, and video systems, general session and breakout room setup, and working in a called show. Every chapter includes hands-on practice exercises and skill sheets a technician can take to a job site, along with Live Experience boxes in which working technicians describe shows they worked and the decisions they made under pressure.
Backstage Essentials is intended for entry level technicians, for community colleges and technical school programs, and for anyone stepping onto a show floor for the first time.