SoD Awards

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The SoD has a history of nominating people for humorous or joke awards called SoD Awards. Any member of the SoD may nominate someone by writing the nominee's name and the circumstances surrounding the nomination in the Bar Book, then signing their entry. This should then be seconded by another member. Only the Chief SoD may decide whether a nomination deserves an award, which is, if successful, awarded at the next SoD dinner or garden party. A person may not nominate or second without having first been quoted in the Bar Book. Variations and substitutions of these acronyms are common, as are entirely new awards brought into existence to adequately describe a particular situation. More about the Bar Book here.

Corrections or additions to this list should be emailed to webmaster@shaftofdarkness.club.

Acronym

Expanded Form

Explanation

SOD

Shaft Of Darkness

Awarded for patchy lighting, with visible shafts of darkness where the stage is unlit.

WWG

Warn With Green

Can be awarded to someone who mistakenly uses the green cue light for a standby or warning.

RLW

Random Length Warn

Can be awarded for excessively variable or unpredictable cue standby or warning periods.

GROT

Green and Red Omitted Totally

Can be awarded to someone who hurriedly calls a verbal cue without using the cue light system.

GWW

Go Without Warn

Can be awarded to someone who calls a cue without a standby or warning first.

RSM

Random Stage Management

Awarded for miscellaneous stage management antics.

BDSM

Brailing Didn't Secure Movement

Awarded to those who fail to adequately secure brailing.

RTOPS

Red Trucks On Park Street

Can be awarded to someone who triggers the fire alarm at the ADC Theatre, resulting in the Fire Brigade being despatched.

COPS

Cops On Park Street

Can be awarded if the Police are called to the ADC Theatre.

POPS

Paramedics On Park Street

Ditto above, but with ambulances.

CONDUIT

Conversation Of No Discernable Use Inducing Tedium

Can be awarded to those who participate in bikeshedding.

SLAM

Somewhat Lethally Aimed Makita

Can be awarded to someone who drills or screws into one of their fingers.

BOG

Bloody Awful Gonk

Can be awarded to a member of the fly crew who crashes something into the grid/stage, causing a very loud noise.

G'THRANG

BOG with tabs

Can be awarded when the house tabs are crashed into the grid/stage.

ABM

Athletic Bar Management

Can be awarded to a member of ADC staff for speedy bar service during a rush.

DHC

Dreaded Human Counterweight

Can be awarded to an operator who uses their bodyweight to balance a set of counterweights, or who is pulled off their feet by an out-of-weight bar. Can also be awarded to the person who has to lift/attach the deadweight during personnel flying.

MMMC

Miles and Miles of Mains/Mic Cable

Can be awarded to anyone who lays excessive quantities of cable.

FART

Frightfully Artistic Ripped Tabs

Can be awarded to anyone who damages a set of tabs.

TWIRP

Totally Wrong/Worthwhile Interval Re-Patch

Can be awarded to anyone who (mis)patches a lighting fixture, sound input/output, network subnet, or power or video circuit during a show or interval.

GITS

Gratuitous Ignition of Tabs/Technicians

Can be awarded to anyone who melts or otherwise burns a theatrical cloth. Or person...

DIMWIT

Disastrously Incompetent Management With Insufficient Thought

Can be awarded to any member of ADC Management (only) for general coarse decision-making.

CAC

Comedy Award for Counterweights

Awarded for general coarse flying.

USA

Unscheduled Stage Appearance

Awarded to anyone who has to come on stage during a performance to address an issue.

SPLAT

Set Painting Lacking All Taste

Awarded for general coarse set painting.

RFL

Random Flashing Lights

Can be awarded to anyone who causes unintended lighting effects.

ROLF

Ridiculously Over Long Feedback

Can be awarded to anyone who causes excessively long audio feedback.

RSG

Random Sound Generation

Can be awarded to anyone who causes unintended sound effects over the PA.

FKA

Frank Knight Award

Can be awarded to anyone who constructs something which they cannot get out of the room in which they built it (e.g. too big for scene dock traps or built around the workshop pillar).

BS

Birmingham Screw

Awarded for general coarse carpentry.

UBK

Ultra Bright Kneecaps

Can be awarded for poor focusing of lighting fixtures.

OWS

Order of the Wobbly Set/Spot

Can be awarded for general coarse set construction or follow-spotting.

RSA

Ridiculously Smoky Auditorium

Can be awarded for over-use of smoke, haze, fog or CO2.

PoS

Peals of Silence

Can be awarded to anyone who misses an important sound cue.

PENFOLD

Producing Excuses (Naturally Feeble) for Over-engineered Lighting Design

Self-explanatory.

GROAN

GRossly Over Amplified Noise

Can be awarded for general coarse sound design and/or sound mixing.

UFL

Unwanted Fairy Lights

Can be awarded to anyone who uses cheap and/or tacky fairy lighting or LED tape.

EFF

Excessively Frequent Feedback

Can be awarded to anyone who repeatedly fails to keep audio feedback sufficiently at bay.

DISC

Disastrously Incompetent Scene Change

Can be awarded for general coarse scene changes.

DSM

Dead Stage Main/Manager

Can be awarded to anyone who starts a show with stage power, lighting power, sound power or video power switched off. Alternatively it can be awarded to a member of the stage management team for general dereliction of duty.

DBO

Dead Black Out

Can be awarded to anyone who fails to produce the necessary illumination on stage.

OGG

Order of the Gratuitous Gobo

Can be awarded for unnecessary, unwanted and/or tacky use of gobos.

SCSI

Set Construction in the Sodding Interval

Can be awarded if substantial set (re)building takes place during a show's interval.

GASH

Grand Accumulation of Suspended Heaviness

Can be awarded to anyone who constructs a piece of set that is so heavy it must be flown using multiple counterweight/hemp sets.

HEMP

Hemp Epically MisPlaced

Can be awarded for general coarse hemping.

SCARF

Safety Curtain Action Resulting in a Fuckup

Can be awarded for general coarse antics involving the safety curtain in some way.

VOMIT

Very 'Orrible Mess In the Toilets

Usually awarded following a show's after-party...

FUCKWITS

Failure to Understand Computer Kit While Installing The Show

Can be awarded to anyone who causes a technical mishap with a computer/IT kit during or before a get-in or rehearsal.

URL

Unnecessary ReLamping

Can be awarded to anyone who wastes their time changing a lamp superfluously.

SAWDUST

Scene dock And Workshop Disappearing Under Shredded Timber

Can be awarded for excessive carpentry and/or failure to tidy up the workshop after oneself.

KNOT

Knotted Nest of TRS

Can be awarded for general coarse mains cable management.

CLEAR OUT

Clearing Literally Every ADC Rack Of Usable Tech

Can be awarded to those who empty the OP Quad, signal cable racks, Bar Roof Void etc. during the course of their fit up.

DIP

Doing It Properly

The only serious award. Can be awarded for general excellence in the course of duty.