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“There’s got to be a better way:”  the birth of “Jack’s Packs”

My first experience using a wireless microphone onstage was disastrous!  Checking the “mic plot” posted on the wall backstage, I had to get my mic from “Keith” after scene 3.   Scene 3 ended, and I had to run around looking for Keith to get my mic because he forgot that he had to pass it on.   Next, I had to figure out how & where to quickly attach the mic element & very soon discovered that my costume didn’t have any pockets in which to put the transmitter (that was an uncomfortable scene)!  After my scene was over, I had a quick costume change, which meant taking off the mic, changing, re-applying the mic, and running back on stage.   After Scene 6, I had to find “Joan” to pass off the mic.   A few scenes later, I had to get the mic back from Joan, who was running past me in the hallway.  “Where’s the mic?”  “Oh… I left it in the dressing room.”   Now I found myself running to the dressing room to look for the mic, quickly apply it, shove the transmitter—again, no pocket—and get onstage just in time.  I thought, “There’s got to be a better way…”

In another show, which we had been rehearsing for months, securing an audio tech was an “oversight,” and the director said, “Well we can get “Jim” to do it—it’s just a matter of pushing a few buttons at the right time.”  The show was a disaster!  At times, the audience had to “squint” to hear; at others, the mics weren’t on at all; and at times, feedback was ringing throughout the theater.  The sound tech couldn’t hear the feedback because he was up in the light booth right next to the exhaust fan of the follow spot!  I found myself giving “hand signals” onstage whenever I heard feedback, and I was thinking, “There’s got to be a better way …”

That’s when I decided to find a better way.  Relocating the sound mixer was an easy way of dealing with the “can’t hear the feedback” situation.  Having to fumble with wireless mics between scenes was another issue.  Actors have enough to worry about without having to run around looking for mics and putting them on.  That’s when I came up with “Jack’s Packs.”  I designed elastic waist packs in which to place the transmitter under all of the actors’ costumes.  The mics are applied before the show, and the actors don’t have to think about them again for the entire show—one very large distraction/frustration removed from their already hectic performance. 

And that was how “Jack’s Packs” was born.  People made fun of the little “G-strings” at first, but quickly came to appreciate the simplicity of the system and not having to worry about the mics at all until it was time to return them at the end of the show!

 

Recent productions using Jack's Packs:


  • Once Upon A Mattress
  • Jungle Book
  • Lend Me A Tenor
  • Last Supper
  • Jesus Christ, Superstar
  • Last Five Years
  • A Chorus Line
  • Come Together
  • Into The Woods
  • Tommy
  • Biloxi Blues
  • Bare
  • Grand Review
  • Crucible
  • Sleeping Beauty
  • Barefoot In The Park
  • Sleeping Beauty
  • Vanities
  • Little Shop of Horrors
  • Rocky Horror
  • Forever Plaid
  • Cinderella
  • Breakfast Club
  • Steel Magnolias
  • Joseph
  • Nunsense
  • Dance Recital
  • Urinetown
  • Seussical
  • Footloose
  • Annie Jr.
  • Night of One Acts
  • A Few Good Men
  • Miss Saigon
  • Steel Magnolias
  • Grand Cabaret
  • Godspell Jr
  • Christmas Carol
  • Dreamgirls
  • Jekyll & Hyde
  • Evita
  • Brighton Beach Memoirs
  • Charlie Brown
  • Seussical
  • Grand Opening
  • Urinetown
  • Emotional Reactions
  • Godspell
  • Arsenic & Old Lace
  • Wait Until Dark
  • Odd Couple
  • Spelling Bee
  • Caberet
  • Assassins
  • RENT
  • Terry Myers Showcase
  • Anything Goes
  • Secret Garden
  • Guys and Dolls
  • Scarlet Pimpernel
  • Working
  • Dance Recital
  • Doubt
  • Emotional Reactions
  • Sweeney Todd
  • Once On This Island
  • Sound of Music
  • Royal Dance Academy Recital

 

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