I got myself involved in amateur dramatics in our village a few years ago. We have just finished a run of the classic Wind in the Willows. Busy set building and working through the technical rehearsal, I noticed how iGadgets have started creeping in. The lighting and sound guys debuted the iPod last year, plugged in to play incidental music pre and post performance and this year saw the debut of the iPad. The usual thing is a torch, a script and the lighting and sound decks to manage - not enough hands!
The iPad let him see the script clearly without the need for a torch. The sound is still done on a PC but during one rehearsal, the hall was cold and Mr Sound wanted to stand by the radiator while we were rehearsing songs. He managed to sync the iPad and the PC so that he could operate the sound from the warmest part of the hall!
The possibilities of these "machines" seem endless. I wonder how long it will be before the lighting and the sound are operated purely from an iPad while Mr Sound and Mr Lighting are perched at the bar? I'll let you know how they get on next year ...