YOU KNOW THE FEELING: the show starts in 10 minutes. The mics are buzzing. The projector is just displaying a blue screen. The lights (most of which came from your living room) are flickering like dying candles (and not in a good way). The costumes need stitches, the DJ needs a new cable, the dance floor is covered in tacks, and your drummer wants you to know that the bathroom is ‘closed for business’.

OR: You are the Matrix. You have a plan and you have a backup. If something breaks, you fix it. If the venue throws you curve ball, you throw it right back. Nothing phases you: You are the zen eye of a hurricane, repatching cables and solving problems because you are a cyborg warlock from the future and you ALWAYS have gaff tape.

That’s because you went through Maelstrom Collaborative Arts Tech Boot Camp; a two-day crash course in the essentials of DIY live performance production, with introductions into lighting, sound, stage craft, video, and working in ‘non-traditional’ venues. Whether you’re a dancer, musician, actor, or a multidisciplinary avantgarde noise performance art provocateur, the Tech Boot Camp will help you know what to plug in, where to plug it in, and how to turn it on.

The weekend will include:

• How lights work, how they are hung, and how to budget circuits in suboptimal settings

• Basics of speakers, audio playback, microphone routing, and avoiding distortion and feedback

• The three knots that bind the world

• Basic tool knowledge and taxonomy

• Stagecraft 101: putting things together, making them stay up, and striking them

• Front-of-House essentials and fun tips

• Working in non-traditional venues: a survival guide