No! I'm not talking about what you're thinking about!  Get your mind out of the gutter! I'm talking about the hoards of folk who spend their entertainment careers shrouded in the shadows of screen and stage, the extremely deep pool of talented directors, producers, and craftspeople that Newfoundland and Labrador can boast as their own.  I'd mention the actors, singers, and dancers, but they already get the lion's share of the attention so I figured it was time to give a huge shout out to those who aren't as easily noticed...until something goes wrong, that is.

What has this got to do with photography?  Not much really, except that it was the medium through which I got to see what goes on at a local, volunteer level.  For years I have been a theatre satellite, you know, the "guy with truck", or ladder, or cots, or "insert need here", from which sprang my love of local theatre.  I really didn't see a lot of the inner workings though until I was tapped by a number of theatre companies to take production stills, the most recent of which was Nothing On Productions upcoming August: Osage County.

So I show up at a nice suburban home with a vehicle load of the trappings of our trade.  Grabbing the most important of my tools (and most expensive I might add), I head up the walk and make use of the decorative door knocker.  I'm greeted by a miscellany of actors who help me move my gear in and get set up.  While I'm doing this the Director (Janet) and Executive Producer (Katherine) arrive.  They give each other a quick nod, and I get to see first hand why they get the big chairs.  Actors are assigned duties, furniture is moved, more furniture is moved, lights are rigged, I'm given space to do lighting tests and access to whatever I need, and within minutes, a regular living room becomes a fully dressed set.  Moving seamlessly through the chaos, Katherine handles anything having to do with behind the scenes while Janet artfully balances the knife edge between Sergeant Major and social worker that every good leader is intimately familiar with.  Less than an hour after I started shooting, I had every shot in the list accomplished, and twenty minutes later my car was packed, the house was returned to normal, and the cast were dismissed until next time.  Here's a sample shot.

After nearly three decades in the military, it takes a special level of organization and execution to impress me, but I have to say I was impressed, even more so because all of these people are volunteers who do it for the love of theatre.  If the play is executed with near the level of sophistication the production shoot was, it will be tight indeed.