”Publication of Florida utlook Community College at Show time is go time for FCCJ Artist Series operations manager On the surface, his may appear to be one of the most glamorous jobs in the College — ~ meeting celebrities, attending fancy receptions, seeing L\ more than 20 Broadway shows and special events every year. But spending one day with Dave Edwards, operations manager for the FCC] Artist Series, one realizes you can’t always judge a book by its cover. Thursday, 8:30 a.m. Sitting in his office on the first floor of the Martin Center, Edwards Checked his PROFs. On the day of the most demanding performance of the season — “The Magic of David Copperfield” — this is probably the first and last chance he’ll have to sit down for the rest of the day. What makes today’s schedule so hectic for him is having to work on three other Artist Series shows at the same time. One project includes finding 16 pieces of furniture for Saturday’s performance of “LYNDON.” 10 a.m. “Let’s talk about what’s going to happen tonight,” Edwards said, referring to an after—show illusion where Copperfield would attempt to escape from a straitjacket while suspended from a crane parked outside the Civic Auditorium. “Well, around 7 p.m., we need to have the crane brought in over here,” said Copperfield’s head carpenter, Mitch, motioning to an area near the front of the venue. “And do we have barricades to block off the street?” “That’s been taken care of, but you’re not going to be able to do it there. That’s the fire lane,” Edwards said. Thank goodness for voicemail, Dave Edwards said especially on a day as busy as this. “Every time I leave the office, I have at least six messages by the time I get back.” 1 1:30 a.m. While dropping off pillows for the “LYNDON” set at the Florida Theatre, Edwards got a surprise. “Hey, did you know that we need a recliner for ‘LYNDON’ to sit in during make—up?” asked Saul, the theater’s techni— cal manager. “NO, I didn’t,” Edwards replied, shaking his head. “But I’ll arrange it. Thanks for letting me know.” 2:05 p.m. Though his reason for going back to the office was to pick up a map of the pit section for tonight’s show, his priorities soon changed. “You expect me to pay $150 to rent a recliner? I can almost buy one for that much!” he yelled into the phone. 66 1992 FPRA “Award of Distinction” recipient March 1993 Vol. 9, No. 3 Jacksonville Edwards and a member of David Copperfield’ s crew discuss the logistics of setting up a crane for the evening’s escape illusion. After finally finding a business that would rent a chair for $20, he moved on to arrang— ing an oriental rug for “LYNDON,” setting up ushers and ticket takers for “EVITA” and arranging parking for Copperfield’s tour buses. “You’ve got to be able to shift priorities, and in this job, they shift about every 15 minutes,” he said. 4:30 p.m. After setting up the ticket printer and getting box office personnel organized, Edwards headed backstage to check in with Copperfield’s tour manager, Vicki. Hearing that The Florida Times‘Union printed an article about Copperfield’s “dangle” illusion, Vicki told Edwards she wanted to see a copy of the paper. “I need to see the article before David [Copperfield] does,” she added. “Actually, it’s not really an article. It’s just a couple of sentences,” Edwards reassured her. “I don’t care. If it mentions the dangle, I need to see it,” she insisted. 5:20 p.m. Back at the box office (and only 10 minutes before show time), Edwards had a few ticketing dilemmas to iron out. “Dave, these two people bought tickets in the balcony, and one of them can’t get up the stairs," an Artist Series employee said. “No problem. We’ll re—ticket them on the floor,” Edwards said. In the meantime, another employee tried to contend with an agitated customer, whose chair broke. “I don’t care what you do — put a milk carton under it, whatever — but I want the chair fixed,” she said. “I bought this ticket two months ago, and I want to sit with my friends.” 7:30 p.m. With police officers closing off both ends of Bay Street in front of the Civic Auditorium and hundreds of on—lookers, Copperfield, restrained in a straitjacket, hung by his feet from the crane while the ropes suspending him were set on fire. As the second rope burned halfway through, the jacket fell to the ground, and he was lowered to safety. 7:40 p.m. “Where’s Dave Edwards?” Vicki hollered through the halls backstage. “Oh, there you are. David [Copperfield] wants to do the dangle again. It didn’t work right, so he wantsto do it again after the 8230 show. Can we do it?” “Well, we had to get a permit to block the street off, but I don’t know how long the permit is good for, he said. “I’ll go make some phone calls.” 8:40 p.m. Just after having the new permit approved, Vicki walked into the box office. “Hey, Dave, the dangle is off. David changed his mind,” she told Edwards. 9:20 p.m. With Copperfield’s second show underway and no apparent problems, Edwards went back to the Martin Center to tie up some loose ends, including preparing the schedule for the Artist Series’ six customer service representatives and getting his paperwork together for tonight’s reconciliation of the books for the Copperfield show. “There’s really no way to train anyone for this kind of job. Basically, I’ve learned from experience,” he admitted. “And I’ve done a lot of flying by the seat of my pants.” 11:10 p.m. Edwards, Dean of Community and Co—curricular Activities Milt Russos and Vicki sat down backstage to begin the reconciliation process. “Okay, we’ll pay for the police [who came out for the canceled dangle], but we’re not going to pay for extra catering,” Vicki said. After a lengthy negotiation, they reached an agreement — of sorts. “Can you live with that?” Edwards asked. “I guess I have to,” she replied. Friday, 12:55 a.m. While most of his co— workers had been asleep for hours, Edwards was finally ending his work day. “Sometimes I love my job; sometimes I hate it. But one thing I can say about it is that it’s never the same thing twice,” he laughed. INSIDE The entire day’s work comes down to Edwards juggling numbers and negotiating payment with Copperfield’s tour manager. When all was said and done, Copperfield left Jacksonville $60,000 richer. , OCR Text: ”Publication of Florida utlook Community College at Show time is go time for FCCJ Artist Series operations manager On the surface, his may appear to be one of the most glamorous jobs in the College — ~ meeting celebrities, attending fancy receptions, seeing L\ more than 20 Broadway shows and special events every year. But spending one day with Dave Edwards, operations manager for the FCC] Artist Series, one realizes you can’t always judge a book by its cover. Thursday, 8:30 a.m. Sitting in his office on the first floor of the Martin Center, Edwards Checked his PROFs. On the day of the most demanding performance of the season — “The Magic of David Copperfield” — this is probably the first and last chance he’ll have to sit down for the rest of the day. What makes today’s schedule so hectic for him is having to work on three other Artist Series shows at the same time. One project includes finding 16 pieces of furniture for Saturday’s performance of “LYNDON.” 10 a.m. “Let’s talk about what’s going to happen tonight,” Edwards said, referring to an after—show illusion where Copperfield would attempt to escape from a straitjacket while suspended from a crane parked outside the Civic Auditorium. “Well, around 7 p.m., we need to have the crane brought in over here,” said Copperfield’s head carpenter, Mitch, motioning to an area near the front of the venue. “And do we have barricades to block off the street?” “That’s been taken care of, but you’re not going to be able to do it there. That’s the fire lane,” Edwards said. Thank goodness for voicemail, Dave Edwards said especially on a day as busy as this. “Every time I leave the office, I have at least six messages by the time I get back.” 1 1:30 a.m. While dropping off pillows for the “LYNDON” set at the Florida Theatre, Edwards got a surprise. “Hey, did you know that we need a recliner for ‘LYNDON’ to sit in during make—up?” asked Saul, the theater’s techni— cal manager. “NO, I didn’t,” Edwards replied, shaking his head. “But I’ll arrange it. Thanks for letting me know.” 2:05 p.m. Though his reason for going back to the office was to pick up a map of the pit section for tonight’s show, his priorities soon changed. “You expect me to pay $150 to rent a recliner? I can almost buy one for that much!” he yelled into the phone. 66 1992 FPRA “Award of Distinction” recipient March 1993 Vol. 9, No. 3 Jacksonville Edwards and a member of David Copperfield’ s crew discuss the logistics of setting up a crane for the evening’s escape illusion. After finally finding a business that would rent a chair for $20, he moved on to arrang— ing an oriental rug for “LYNDON,” setting up ushers and ticket takers for “EVITA” and arranging parking for Copperfield’s tour buses. “You’ve got to be able to shift priorities, and in this job, they shift about every 15 minutes,” he said. 4:30 p.m. After setting up the ticket printer and getting box office personnel organized, Edwards headed backstage to check in with Copperfield’s tour manager, Vicki. Hearing that The Florida Times‘Union printed an article about Copperfield’s “dangle” illusion, Vicki told Edwards she wanted to see a copy of the paper. “I need to see the article before David [Copperfield] does,” she added. “Actually, it’s not really an article. It’s just a couple of sentences,” Edwards reassured her. “I don’t care. If it mentions the dangle, I need to see it,” she insisted. 5:20 p.m. Back at the box office (and only 10 minutes before show time), Edwards had a few ticketing dilemmas to iron out. “Dave, these two people bought tickets in the balcony, and one of them can’t get up the stairs," an Artist Series employee said. “No problem. We’ll re—ticket them on the floor,” Edwards said. In the meantime, another employee tried to contend with an agitated customer, whose chair broke. “I don’t care what you do — put a milk carton under it, whatever — but I want the chair fixed,” she said. “I bought this ticket two months ago, and I want to sit with my friends.” 7:30 p.m. With police officers closing off both ends of Bay Street in front of the Civic Auditorium and hundreds of on—lookers, Copperfield, restrained in a straitjacket, hung by his feet from the crane while the ropes suspending him were set on fire. As the second rope burned halfway through, the jacket fell to the ground, and he was lowered to safety. 7:40 p.m. “Where’s Dave Edwards?” Vicki hollered through the halls backstage. “Oh, there you are. David [Copperfield] wants to do the dangle again. It didn’t work right, so he wantsto do it again after the 8230 show. Can we do it?” “Well, we had to get a permit to block the street off, but I don’t know how long the permit is good for, he said. “I’ll go make some phone calls.” 8:40 p.m. Just after having the new permit approved, Vicki walked into the box office. “Hey, Dave, the dangle is off. David changed his mind,” she told Edwards. 9:20 p.m. With Copperfield’s second show underway and no apparent problems, Edwards went back to the Martin Center to tie up some loose ends, including preparing the schedule for the Artist Series’ six customer service representatives and getting his paperwork together for tonight’s reconciliation of the books for the Copperfield show. “There’s really no way to train anyone for this kind of job. Basically, I’ve learned from experience,” he admitted. “And I’ve done a lot of flying by the seat of my pants.” 11:10 p.m. Edwards, Dean of Community and Co—curricular Activities Milt Russos and Vicki sat down backstage to begin the reconciliation process. “Okay, we’ll pay for the police [who came out for the canceled dangle], but we’re not going to pay for extra catering,” Vicki said. After a lengthy negotiation, they reached an agreement — of sorts. “Can you live with that?” Edwards asked. “I guess I have to,” she replied. Friday, 12:55 a.m. While most of his co— workers had been asleep for hours, Edwards was finally ending his work day. “Sometimes I love my job; sometimes I hate it. But one thing I can say about it is that it’s never the same thing twice,” he laughed. INSIDE The entire day’s work comes down to Edwards juggling numbers and negotiating payment with Copperfield’s tour manager. When all was said and done, Copperfield left Jacksonville $60,000 richer. , Z ArchiveInABox,JAX,Outlook Newsletter,Outlook Newsletter 08-09,March 1993,P01 (2).tif, P01 (2).tif