On Stage with The Lincoln Theatre

Show Day Secrets: The Hidden Magic of The Lincoln Theatre

• Bob Watkins • Episode 17

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Lights, Camera, Action: Performance Day At The Lincoln!

The curtain rises on a magical performance, and the audience is captivated—but what happens in the 13 hours before that moment? Bob Watkins, Executive Director of the historic Lincoln Theatre, pulls back the velvet curtain to reveal the carefully choreographed chaos that precedes every seamless show.

From the predawn theatre walkthrough to the midnight lockup, performance day at this 1929 Mayan revival masterpiece in Marion, Virginia resembles an intricate ballet. "Our patrons come in and observe the performance. They see the show and they think that it just happens," Watkins explains with a knowing smile. "You don't understand everything that goes behind the scenes."

The journey begins months earlier with performer contracts, technical riders, and those infamous colored M&M requests. On show day, the loading crew transforms the quiet stage into a tangle of cables, equipment, and possibilities. Sound engineers program digital consoles while technicians place monitors and fine-tune lighting. Watkins cherishes sound check—that magical moment when he sits alone in the empty theatre, experiencing the raw performance before anyone else.

Throughout it all, dedicated volunteers serve as the theatre's ambassadors, arriving early for briefings and guiding patrons to their seats. The next time you settle into your seat at The Lincoln Theatre, take a moment to appreciate not just the performance you're about to witness, but the invisible show that's been unfolding since dawn. Visit Thelincoln.org to experience this magic firsthand and join us in keeping the arts thriving in Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains.

To learn more about The Lincoln Theatre visit:
https://www.TheLincoln.org/
The Lincoln Theatre
117 E. Main Street
Marion, Virginia 24354
276-783-6092

Speaker 1:

Welcome to On Stage with the Lincoln Theater, where history and entertainment steal the show Dive into the rich legacy of this iconic Mayan revival theater, from its 1929 debut to its starring role in Marion, virginia's entertainment scene. Guiding us through this journey is the man in the spotlight our executive director Bob Watkins. Spotlight our executive director, bob.

Speaker 2:

Watkins. What's it like behind the curtain on show day? From sound checks to curtain calls, performance days at the Lincoln Theater are a whirlwind of energy, excitement and artistry. Welcome back everyone. Skip Monty, here co-host, slash producer, back in the studio with Bob Watkins, executive director of the Lincoln Theater. Bob, how's it going? It's going good, skip. How are you? I'm doing just fine, doing just fine, excited. Spring is here and I'm loving every minute of it, except for cutting the grass.

Speaker 3:

I'll take it, though, it's way better than 20 degrees. Yes, sir Well.

Speaker 2:

Bob, we've talked a lot about what it's like at the Lincoln, bringing in different acts, films, performances, plays. Can you describe what the day of the performance is like at the Lincoln Sure?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, the funny thing I've often thought was our patrons that come in and observe the performance. They see the show and they think that it just happens. You don't understand everything that goes behind the scenes. The day of the performance is one thing, but the months leading up to the performance working out different writers and requests from the performers, what they want, making sure that we have that here the day of the show, making sure that we have that here the day of the show there's a like we've talked before the only colored M&Ms and things like that. We have to make sure that we're preparing for and making sure that we have all the equipment. Day of the show is really exciting because it's fast-paced. We're always busy, we're moving around and making sure everything gets done.

Speaker 3:

Generally, what happens is the performers will go ahead and load in. They show up. We've got the spots out front waiting for them. Then we've got our load crew that helps them unload everything off of their buses and trailers and it gets it into the theater, puts it up on stage. Our sound engineer will go ahead and start doing some setups with monitors on the stage, running wires, cables everywhere. It's just mad chaos and you're sitting there wondering if the show's ever going to go on. When you're doing the load in because it's sort of like you know, christmas shopping when you're, when you're going out and you get all the presents, then you've got to wrap them up so it looks pretty underneath the tree. That's kind of what it is on the load in there. We've got the presents on stage and we've just got to wrap the gifts and get it set up for the show.

Speaker 3:

So but once we get everything set up and we'll go ahead and run through the sound checks, which, that is, is kind of like my favorite, because I'm sitting in the theater with with no patrons in there and I'm hearing the raw sound of the band as they get performed, get started performing, our sound engineers making all the tweaks to the sound, so everything sounds good with the acoustics and everything. So I really enjoy seeing that part of it myself. Sounds good with the acoustics and everything. So I really enjoy seeing that part of it myself. And then, after sound check, there's usually a little bit of downtime to where we can just go ahead and fine tune and make sure that we've got all our signage up properly. We've got the promotional stuff up on the screen ready to go and we've got the light set on stage.

Speaker 3:

So once show starts, it's kind of smooth sailing. Especially a really good performance is a really quiet night for staff. So everybody's usually sitting in their seats, glued to the performance. And then, after the show's over, that's when we clean up all the wrapping paper, so to speak. So that's when the mess is set up to, where we're taking everything off stage and tearing down and closing up for the night Day in the life, for performance day usually starts at around 11 o'clock in the morning and we're usually locking up at around 1130 to midnight on show nights there. Wow.

Speaker 2:

Makes for a long day. Oh yeah, well, it sounds like it. I was going to ask what's the very first thing that happens when the day begins. I imagine you walk in and flip the light on right.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, the first thing that happens is I'll go ahead and open up the theater, get the door ready for the load in, but I'll do a walkthrough just to make sure that the theater is ready, make sure that all the restrooms are stocked and ready and everything like that. So that's usually the first thing I do is just a theater walkthrough just to make sure that there's nothing that happened overnight that I have to tend to prior to performance.

Speaker 2:

Cool. Now you mentioned sound checks. Does everyone use your PA, your sound system, or is that something that some performers bring in their own equipment?

Speaker 3:

Usually everybody will use ours. We do have a pretty decent sound system here now and everybody will use ours. We generally provide a regular sound engineer that does all of that. But on occasion some performers will bring in their own sound because they've got their entire show already stored in a file that they just go ahead and plug and play. So they sometimes like to do that. But for the most part everybody will use ours, unless it's a rental. Sometimes the rentals they don't want to rent our system, so they'd rather bring in their own stuff, but for the most part people will use ours.

Speaker 2:

Now I would imagine your sound system is probably digital. I would think, yeah, Very cool, the cool thing about digital sound systems. And I would imagine you mentioned if a band said, hey, we've got plug and play here. You can hit a button and they have certain setups on the sound system for certain songs. And you hit a button and it goes whoop and the little levers move and that just is amazing to me. I really sound at my church.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, it is nice once they get them all programmed, because I do know that our sound engineer has preset files for shows and then, once he opens it up, if it's not sounding right when it starts, he can just go ahead and make some tweaks to it. So, yeah, it is nice and it definitely saves a lot of time having that digital.

Speaker 2:

Oh yeah, no question. Well, I know you have a lot of volunteers that help Friends of Lincoln and others. What roles do they play on performance day?

Speaker 3:

On performance day, our ushers. They will usually come in about one hour prior to the show so we can go ahead and review any specifics, like if there's going to be an intermission, if there's going to be a meet and greet, if we need to have security up at the stage to kind of block people from coming up on the steps and everything to the stage. So we do a little breakdown with them about an hour prior to performance. 45 minutes prior to performance we open up the doors and start letting people come in and find their seats. And that's when the ushers hustle and bustle starts there. When we have large crowds coming in they'll take everybody to their seats, make sure that they know where the restrooms are and the concession stands and everything During showtime.

Speaker 3:

Like I was saying earlier, if it's a really good show, our ushers get an opportunity to enjoy that show because our patrons don't really require anything other than the entertainment. But after the show they do a lot of work to help clean up some of the mess, usher people out of the theater and help with some of the cleanup prior to housekeeping getting here. So we have a fantastic group of volunteers and ushers that come in here and really own the position and definitely there's a lot of stuff that we just couldn't do without them and we're really fortunate to have that group here.

Speaker 2:

Well, yes, I would agree. So the Lincoln's history and the atmosphere. I mean it's a beautiful, beautiful theater. I know that enhances the performance experience for the audience. But a thought that came to my mind when you were talking about cleanup and all that do you guys allow food and drink into the theater, or is that a no-no?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, we do. We have started to do that probably within the last year or two. It's a catch. You obviously want to make enough profit and revenue to offset anything that you have to take care of, like upholstery cleaning, carpet cleaning, things like that but at the same time, you also want people to enjoy their time here, and that's all part of the experience for most people. When they go to a performance or something out, they have their concessions snacks and drinks, and that's what we're wanting to provide. So it is a catch. You're a little bit concerned with maintaining the integrity of the theater and the beauty that we have, which, fortunately, we've had a great opportunity to do so. To do so and, honestly, there's not been any problems, and a lot of our patrons are always extremely respectful of the theater, because I think that the ambiance of it just makes them feel as though they're really connected to it and they definitely take care of it like it's their own, so that's always good.

Speaker 2:

Well, it's a beautiful place. So concessions get a little off subject here, but what kind of concessions do you offer? Concessions a little off subject here, but what kind of concessions do you offer?

Speaker 3:

We have the normal. We have the popcorn, candy, soft drinks, water, and then we also have a bar that's available up in the balcony area of the theater. Usually on the show nights we'll do one specialty cocktail with the mixed drinks, and then we also have beer and wine available too. So, yeah, it's a little bit mixture of everything for anything that somebody would want to accommodate them. Then you know we've got it.

Speaker 2:

All right, well, did not know you had a bar area. That's, that's very cool. Well, Bob, I appreciate it. I would love to get up there. Perhaps, maybe in a future episode we can, we can do a walking tour and check out some of this stuff you've been telling us about. That'd be great. I'd love to share it. All right, man Sounds great and we'll let you get back to it. All right, thanks, skip.

Speaker 1:

Thanks for tuning in to On Stage with the Lincoln Theater. Want more of Mary and Virginia's entertainment scene? Visit us online at thelincolnorg yes, that's thelincolnorg or drop by our theater at 117 East Main Street. Let's keep the arts alive and kicking together.