As I wrote earlier, I was part of a group of actors that did stuff for SCETV. One program I was involved with was called The Palmetto Special, which was for 8th grade History classes. The episode I did earlier was called "The Charleston Tea Party", and now was another one called "Reconstruction".
It was mostly filmed in the studio at ETV on Millwood. They were experimenting with a new technique called chrome key, which allowed one to be filmed, and then they would fill in with artwork to make it appear as somewhere else. My scene was to be at Trinity Episcopal Church in Columbia, while we were in a studio instead.
The actual studio was made up of some folding chairs in a row, and a pulpit for the minister. There were three of us, dressed in period costumes, sitting in the chairs. A man, dressed as a general, walked in front of us to appear he was going down the pew to a seat. I wore the same coat that I wore in the tea party show. I really loved that coat. I wish they had let me keep it. I got the idea of moving a little on the chair, as the general was moving in front of us, to simulate him squeezing in front of us. In actual fact, he was a few feet in front of us, but filming is all about illusion.
The guy playing the minister could not get his lines right. We went through several takes of laughing and frustration. Finally, the crew wrote out his lines on cardboard and placed them in front of the pulpit for him to read. If you see the show, you will see him look down and read fast. He was reading the cue cards and not looking at us in the "congregation".
When the program aired, the matte artwork was filled in and it looked like a church, sort of. It really was a little hokey, but I guess 8th graders wouldn't have noticed as much.
Wednesday, February 21, 2018
Monday, February 12, 2018
Joy Comes in the Morning
In March, 1982, First Baptist Church was going to put on a musical with drama called "Joy Comes in the Morning". It was timed around Easter. I worked with the drama portion, and our choirs did the music. I also played the part of the disciple James.
We wanted to do it in a venue that was bigger than our church's sanctuary, so we settled on Township Auditorium, which had a seating capacity of around 3000. It was the largest venue that I had ever worked in, so the drama had to be bigger than a normal theatre. It was also the first time I had used a wireless microphone. We were told that they would use the same frequency that truckers would use, and that there was a chance that a trucker's voice might bleed over our voices. The chance of that happening was remote, since there was a distance factor.
The auditorium's dressing rooms were pretty small. The green room wasn't much bigger. We had to improvise some with changing costumes. Our entrance was in the back of the auditorium, and we entered through the audience. I particularly liked that, because most of the Biblical monologues of mine involved the audience.
We did it for two nights, and we had a great response both nights. Sure enough though, we did have a trucker's voice come through on one of our wireless mics. Thankfully, no profanity was involved. The highlight of our show was that the author of the musical, David Danner, came to see it. He said it was good. So, we passed the harshest critic of all--the author. As a writer, I know how important that is to please the author. As an actor, I did okay.
We wanted to do it in a venue that was bigger than our church's sanctuary, so we settled on Township Auditorium, which had a seating capacity of around 3000. It was the largest venue that I had ever worked in, so the drama had to be bigger than a normal theatre. It was also the first time I had used a wireless microphone. We were told that they would use the same frequency that truckers would use, and that there was a chance that a trucker's voice might bleed over our voices. The chance of that happening was remote, since there was a distance factor.
The auditorium's dressing rooms were pretty small. The green room wasn't much bigger. We had to improvise some with changing costumes. Our entrance was in the back of the auditorium, and we entered through the audience. I particularly liked that, because most of the Biblical monologues of mine involved the audience.
We did it for two nights, and we had a great response both nights. Sure enough though, we did have a trucker's voice come through on one of our wireless mics. Thankfully, no profanity was involved. The highlight of our show was that the author of the musical, David Danner, came to see it. He said it was good. So, we passed the harshest critic of all--the author. As a writer, I know how important that is to please the author. As an actor, I did okay.
Sunday, February 4, 2018
The Microphone
My last story about my work at White Oak Baptist Conference Center involves an unfortunate event that ultimately cost me my job. When I worked there, we had four conference rooms that were in the same building as the dining room. There were moveable partitions that could turn one big area into four smaller ones. The partitions were designed to be sound-proof, so that one group could meet in one, and another one "next-door" and no one would be bothered by noise. There was one drawback to this arrangement. If someone wanted to use sound equipment, we couldn't cut the ceiling speakers to the other rooms. So, we never used microphones, unless it was one open room like for a youth camp assembly.
On this particular weekend, we had two groups. One was a choir that wanted to rehearse some special music. The other was a conference headed by a special speaker. The speaker was from Nashville, TN and worked for the Baptist Sunday School Board. For those who don't know, the BSSB was the place where the big honchos in the Southern Baptist Convention worked. These people made the decisions involving how state Baptist Conventions were to operate. I had grown up with many of these people, and they all seemed very nice. To work at the BSSB in Nashville was to say you had made it in the denomination. I do not mean to suggest that it was an ego trip for most workers. Most workers were there to serve God and to do His work. However, this particular special speaker had not learned the lesson on humility.
As it was my job to set up the meeting spaces, I put the choir at one end of the meeting area, and the other meeting at the other end. There were two empty rooms between them. I wanted to make sure that neither one would disturb the other. As both meetings started, I got word that the special speaker wanted a microphone. The room they were meeting in was approx. 10'x10'. Unless the speaker had a serious throat problem, he didn't need a microphone. He demanded to have a microphone. I tried to explain to him that the choir would hear his talk, and they couldn't rehearse. He then told me he didn't care about the choir. He wanted a microphone. So, my boss made me hook up the microphone.
I was monitoring the sound to try and not get it too loud. The man noticed what I was doing and demanded that I turn it up. Then, the choir director complained. They could hear this man over the speakers, and they couldn't hear themselves sing. So, I went back to the sound system and unplugged the microphone. That speaker went ballistic. He told me that I was deliberately trying to sabotage his meeting. I tried to explain to him that the choir had paid money to be there, and he was there for free. That did not sit well with this man. He went to my boss and demanded he fire me.
I was not fired that day, but soon thereafter I was told that my job was being phased out. I know I was right, but my boss was more concerned about what this man might tell his buddies in Nashville, and White Oak might lose some contributions. Despite all the fun I had at White Oak, this incident was not one of them.
On this particular weekend, we had two groups. One was a choir that wanted to rehearse some special music. The other was a conference headed by a special speaker. The speaker was from Nashville, TN and worked for the Baptist Sunday School Board. For those who don't know, the BSSB was the place where the big honchos in the Southern Baptist Convention worked. These people made the decisions involving how state Baptist Conventions were to operate. I had grown up with many of these people, and they all seemed very nice. To work at the BSSB in Nashville was to say you had made it in the denomination. I do not mean to suggest that it was an ego trip for most workers. Most workers were there to serve God and to do His work. However, this particular special speaker had not learned the lesson on humility.
As it was my job to set up the meeting spaces, I put the choir at one end of the meeting area, and the other meeting at the other end. There were two empty rooms between them. I wanted to make sure that neither one would disturb the other. As both meetings started, I got word that the special speaker wanted a microphone. The room they were meeting in was approx. 10'x10'. Unless the speaker had a serious throat problem, he didn't need a microphone. He demanded to have a microphone. I tried to explain to him that the choir would hear his talk, and they couldn't rehearse. He then told me he didn't care about the choir. He wanted a microphone. So, my boss made me hook up the microphone.
I was monitoring the sound to try and not get it too loud. The man noticed what I was doing and demanded that I turn it up. Then, the choir director complained. They could hear this man over the speakers, and they couldn't hear themselves sing. So, I went back to the sound system and unplugged the microphone. That speaker went ballistic. He told me that I was deliberately trying to sabotage his meeting. I tried to explain to him that the choir had paid money to be there, and he was there for free. That did not sit well with this man. He went to my boss and demanded he fire me.
I was not fired that day, but soon thereafter I was told that my job was being phased out. I know I was right, but my boss was more concerned about what this man might tell his buddies in Nashville, and White Oak might lose some contributions. Despite all the fun I had at White Oak, this incident was not one of them.
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