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I spend most of the past two days being amused by the Guthrie Staff as they accosted attendees who were simply trying to walk around the stage. After two days, during a break, i finally went down and kindly asked if they were doing this for any reason, other than to amuse me. I share it now because some poor schmuck in front of me appears to be frustrated instead of amused as he watches it happen over and over.

When we geeks leave, the stage will return to serve the performing arts. That's what they normally do here, and our presence is a bit of an anomaly. Apparently, the typical patron of the arts is incapable of looking forward, and dealing with uneven walking surfaces. The management is tired of calling the ambulance as people face-plant on the stage because they didn't notice all the subtle level changes. Because art-partons are bleeders, stages are expensive, ambulances are expensive, there is a standing rule for the facility that no one is allowed to cross or use the stage without explicit permission of the facility. It seems that we don't have that permission.

To further add to the mediocrity, they added an elevated pathway from the stage to under the seating area, which means you CAN NOT walk around the stage without crossing this "part of the stage" and you WILL be accosted.

I don't care why they do it. I don't care if you like it. I only post this to help explain the rules of the game before a few of you burst a blood vessel. I would personally encourage each of you to respect the staff and their wishes when they approach you for whatever reason. However,, I truly hope this isn't shared too much because I'm really enjoying the show of watching Senior Citizens trying to stop the Geek Hoard as we simply walk by.

I am one of those guys who wonder about things all the time. This post totally made me crack up. Thanks so much for sharing, and I am now even more amused by the whole thing!

To be clear though, the Guthrie is an awesome venue, and we should respect their rules... even if they are silly at times. :-)

I used to work for for the performing arts and I can say this is generally the rule in every theatre like the Guthrie. While the reasoning doesn't really translate to events like this, the house ushers are trained to protect the stage and keep people off of it at all times. Usually this is just an artist choice, as the artists don't want anyone stepping into the world of the show. Other times, it's a serious safety concern. There are often trap doors, props, and moving scenic pieces that can cause serious harm. There is 50 - 60' of empty space under these stages...and yes...people do fall into open holes on occasion and get seriously hurt.

So that's really why they get upset. It's what they are trained to do and told over and over not to let happen. Don't give them too much guff, they are also likely volunteers to boot. The world of events like the JNUC and the world of the arts don't always align. It's also a bit disappointing that people somehow feel entitled to disregard the wishes of the usher staff and do otherwise irregardless.

First thing the went through my mind, why isn't there a sign on that walkway indicating the theatre's wishes? Most of us a can read. If we knew that walkway was off limits, most of us would steer clear. The staff corrected attendee's after they attempted the crossing. Most of us are not mind readers. :-)

When you ask them to post signs, can you ask them to upgrade their wifi also? You know...while we're pipe-dreaming.

Yea its a liability issue. I was just politely asked not to step on the stage. I apologized, and the staff member explained it is liability related. :)

Good post. I was wondering the same thing. :-)

And I'd echo the same sentiment on the wifi situation in the Guthrie. I know we all descend on the facility with multiple devices and quickly overwhelm it, but maybe next year additional capacity could be planned.

We're past seconding or third'ing comments about the Wi-Fi. No, it's more like eleventh'ing or twelfth'ing.

CenturyLink has an office in downtown Minneapolis, and they provide gigabit fiber internet. The house I stayed at had fiber installed just last month. If the Guthrie doesn't have a contract with CenturyLink, they certainly ought to work on that. Adding more access points might help, but the routing and DHCP scope need to be reconfigured.

Has anyone considered the fact that the JNUC crowd is only at the Guthrie 3 days a year, and their current wireless infrastructure is probably more than sufficient for the other 362 days a year? Don't you think it's a little unreasonable to expect them to invest a ton of money upgrading wireless infrastructure that is otherwise more than adequate for their needs?

What about other large conferences that might want to rent the space for a gathering? Minneapolis is less expensive to do business in than many other cities on the West Coast or New York, and the distance is not outrageous for many companies in the Midwest and the East Coast. Having a reliable high speed Wi-Fi network makes the venue more attractive.

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