The Santa Fe Opera

2023 Stage Crew Apprentice

Tosca, The Flying Dutchman, Pelleas et Mellisande, Rusalka, Orfeo, Apprentice Scenes

At The Santa Fe Opera, Stage Crew Apprentices, are in charge of doing all scenic changeovers for the 2023 Festival Season. We would arrive after the day’s rehearsals, changeover the set to the show that was being performed that night. After the show ended, we would strike that night’s show and install the set for the show rehearsing in the morning.

During the 2023 Festival Season, there were three of the six shows had onstage water features. After every show, we had to drain, clean, and properly store the features to ensure their longterm maintenance. Scenic pieces were stored in a basement where the roof was not tall enough for every piece. Due to this, we did a lot of work with chain motors and basic rigging.

As Stage Crew Apprentices, we were expected to work as the Deck Run Crew for the Festival Season too. As a professional deck crew, we would be given deck run sheets with all of our scenic moves, and we would execute that. We also worked with automation in several of the shows, and we were taught the basics of running automation.