Show Day Secrets: The Hidden Magic of The Lincoln Theatre

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

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to On Stage with the Lincoln Theater, where
history and entertainment stealthe show Dive into the rich
legacy of this iconic Mayanrevival theater, from its 1929
debut to its starring role inMarion, virginia's entertainment
scene.
Guiding us through this journeyis the man in the spotlight our
executive director Bob Watkins.

(00:23):
Spotlight our executivedirector, bob.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Watkins.
What's it like behind thecurtain on show day?
From sound checks to curtaincalls, performance days at the
Lincoln Theater are a whirlwindof energy, excitement and
artistry.
Welcome back everyone.
Skip Monty, here co-host, slashproducer, back in the studio
with Bob Watkins, executivedirector of the Lincoln Theater.

(00:48):
Bob, how's it going?
It's going good, skip.
How are you?
I'm doing just fine, doing justfine, excited.
Spring is here and I'm lovingevery minute of it, except for
cutting the grass.

Speaker 3 (00:59):
I'll take it, though, it's way better than 20 degrees
.
Yes, sir Well.

Speaker 2 (01:03):
Bob, we've talked a lot about what it's like at the
Lincoln, bringing in differentacts, films, performances, plays
.
Can you describe what the dayof the performance is like at
the Lincoln Sure?

Speaker 3 (01:17):
Yeah, the funny thing I've often thought was our
patrons that come in and observethe performance.
They see the show and theythink that it just happens.
You don't understand everythingthat goes behind the scenes.
The day of the performance isone thing, but the months
leading up to the performanceworking out different writers
and requests from the performers, what they want, making sure
that we have that here the dayof the show, making sure that we

(01:38):
have that here the day of theshow there's a like we've talked
before the only colored M&Msand things like that.
We have to make sure that we'repreparing for and making sure
that we have all the equipment.
Day of the show is reallyexciting because it's fast-paced
.
We're always busy, we're movingaround and making sure
everything gets done.
Generally, what happens is theperformers will go ahead and
load in.
They show up.

(01:59):
We've got the spots out frontwaiting for them.
Then we've got our load crewthat helps them unload
everything off of their busesand trailers and it gets it into
the theater, puts it up onstage.
Our sound engineer will goahead and start doing some
setups with monitors on thestage, running wires, cables
everywhere.
It's just mad chaos and you'resitting there wondering if the

(02:26):
show's ever going to go on.
When you're doing the load inbecause it's sort of like you
know, christmas shopping whenyou're, when you're going out
and you get all the presents,then you've got to wrap them up
so it looks pretty underneaththe tree.
That's kind of what it is onthe load in there.
We've got the presents on stageand we've just got to wrap the
gifts and get it set up for theshow.
So but once we get everythingset up and we'll go ahead and
run through the sound checks,which, that is, is kind of like
my favorite, because I'm sittingin the theater with with no

(02:46):
patrons in there and I'm hearingthe raw sound of the band as
they get performed, get startedperforming, our sound engineers
making all the tweaks to thesound, so everything sounds good
with the acoustics andeverything.
So I really enjoy seeing thatpart of it myself.
Sounds good with the acousticsand everything.
So I really enjoy seeing thatpart of it myself.
And then, after sound check,there's usually a little bit of

(03:07):
downtime to where we can just goahead and fine tune and make
sure that we've got all oursignage up properly.
We've got the promotional stuffup on the screen ready to go
and we've got the light set onstage.
So once show starts, it's kindof smooth sailing.
Especially a really goodperformance is a really quiet
night for staff.
So everybody's usually sittingin their seats, glued to the
performance.
And then, after the show's over, that's when we clean up all

(03:30):
the wrapping paper, so to speak.
So that's when the mess is setup to, where we're taking
everything off stage and tearingdown and closing up for the
night Day in the life, forperformance day usually starts
at around 11 o'clock in themorning and we're usually
locking up at around 1130 tomidnight on show nights there.
Wow.

Speaker 2 (03:49):
Makes for a long day.
Oh yeah, well, it sounds likeit.
I was going to ask what's thevery first thing that happens
when the day begins.
I imagine you walk in and flipthe light on right.

Speaker 3 (03:58):
Yeah, the first thing that happens is I'll go ahead
and open up the theater, get thedoor ready for the load in, but
I'll do a walkthrough just tomake sure that the theater is
ready, make sure that all therestrooms are stocked and ready
and everything like that.
So that's usually the firstthing I do is just a theater
walkthrough just to make surethat there's nothing that
happened overnight that I haveto tend to prior to performance.

Speaker 2 (04:21):
Cool.
Now you mentioned sound checks.
Does everyone use your PA, yoursound system, or is that
something that some performersbring in their own equipment?

Speaker 3 (04:30):
Usually everybody will use ours.
We do have a pretty decentsound system here now and
everybody will use ours.
We generally provide a regularsound engineer that does all of
that.
But on occasion some performerswill bring in their own sound
because they've got their entireshow already stored in a file
that they just go ahead and plugand play.
So they sometimes like to dothat.

(04:52):
But for the most part everybodywill use ours, unless it's a
rental.
Sometimes the rentals theydon't want to rent our system,
so they'd rather bring in theirown stuff, but for the most part
people will use ours.

Speaker 2 (05:03):
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 youmentioned if a band said, hey,
we've got plug and play here.
You can hit a button and theyhave certain setups on the sound
system for certain songs.
And you hit a button and itgoes whoop and the little levers

(05:25):
move and that just is amazingto me.
I really sound at my church.

Speaker 3 (05:29):
Yeah, it is nice once they get them all programmed,
because I do know that our soundengineer has preset files for
shows and then, once he opens itup, if it's not sounding right
when it starts, he can just goahead and make some tweaks to it
.
So, yeah, it is nice and itdefinitely saves a lot of time
having that digital.

Speaker 2 (05:46):
Oh yeah, no question.
Well, I know you have a lot ofvolunteers that help Friends of
Lincoln and others.
What roles do they play onperformance day?

Speaker 3 (05:56):
On performance day, our ushers.
They will usually come in aboutone hour prior to the show so
we can go ahead and review anyspecifics, like if there's going
to be an intermission, ifthere's going to be a meet and
greet, if we need to havesecurity up at the stage to kind
of block people from coming upon the steps and everything to
the stage.
So we do a little breakdownwith them about an hour prior to

(06:17):
performance.
45 minutes prior to performancewe open up the doors and start
letting people come in and findtheir seats.
And that's when the ushershustle and bustle starts there.
When we have large crowdscoming in they'll take everybody
to their seats, make sure thatthey know where the restrooms
are and the concession standsand everything During showtime.
Like I was saying earlier, ifit's a really good show, our

(06:38):
ushers get an opportunity toenjoy that show because our
patrons don't really requireanything other than the
entertainment.
But after the show they do alot of work to help clean up
some of the mess, usher peopleout of the theater and help with
some of the cleanup prior tohousekeeping getting here.
So we have a fantastic group ofvolunteers and ushers that come
in here and really own theposition and definitely there's

(07:02):
a lot of stuff that we justcouldn't do without them and
we're really fortunate to havethat group here.

Speaker 2 (07:07):
Well, yes, I would agree.
So the Lincoln's history andthe atmosphere.
I mean it's a beautiful,beautiful theater.
I know that enhances theperformance experience for the
audience.
But a thought that came to mymind when you were talking about
cleanup and all that do youguys allow food and drink into
the theater, or is that a no-no?

Speaker 3 (07:29):
Yeah, we do.
We have started to do thatprobably within the last year or
two.
It's a catch.
You obviously want to makeenough profit and revenue to
offset anything that you have totake care of, like upholstery
cleaning, carpet cleaning,things like that but at the same
time, you also want people toenjoy their time here, and

(07:49):
that's all part of theexperience for most people.
When they go to a performanceor something out, they have
their concessions snacks anddrinks, and that's what we're
wanting to provide.
So it is a catch.
You're a little bit concernedwith maintaining the integrity
of the theater and the beautythat we have, which, fortunately
, we've had a great opportunityto do so.

(08:10):
To do so and, honestly, there'snot been any problems, and a
lot of our patrons are alwaysextremely respectful of the
theater, because I think thatthe ambiance of it just makes
them feel as though they'rereally connected to it and they
definitely take care of it likeit's their own, so that's always
good.

Speaker 2 (08:26):
Well, it's a beautiful place.
So concessions get a little offsubject here, but what kind of
concessions do you offer?
Concessions a little offsubject here, but what kind of
concessions do you offer?

Speaker 3 (08:34):
We have the normal.
We have the popcorn, candy,soft drinks, water, and then we
also have a bar that's availableup in the balcony area of the
theater.
Usually on the show nightswe'll do one specialty cocktail
with the mixed drinks, and thenwe also have beer and wine
available too.
So, yeah, it's a little bitmixture of everything for
anything that somebody wouldwant to accommodate them.

(08:56):
Then you know we've got it.

Speaker 2 (08:58):
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 futureepisode we can, we can do a
walking tour and check out someof this stuff you've been
telling us about.
That'd be great.
I'd love to share it.
All right, man Sounds great andwe'll let you get back to it.

(09:18):
All right, thanks, skip.

Speaker 1 (09:21):
Thanks for tuning in to On Stage with the Lincoln
Theater.
Want more of Mary andVirginia's entertainment scene?
Visit us online atthelincolnorg yes, that's
thelincolnorg or drop by ourtheater at 117 East Main Street.
Let's keep the arts alive andkicking together.