The Tao that can be told Is not the eternal Tao Surrounded in light It is cloaked in darkness It is the unseen Resounding Yet inaudible It is the unheard It flows from stage left To stage right And envelopes all between This is essential to the show Yet the actor understands it not
Chapter Two
Under heaven, all can see beauty as beauty Because there is ugliness Good owes its existence to evil And the Tech owes his existence to the actor As male needs female As student needs teacher As the foolish need guidance So does the actor need the Tech
Therefore the Tech goes forth Cloaked in darkness Bathed in silence Radiating the Tao Creating yet not possessing Working, yet not taking credit. In this way, the Ten Thousand Things are preserved
Chapter Three
The Tao is an empty vessel; it is used, But never filled Oh, unfathomable source of ten thousand things Change the lamp, Adjust the level, Call the cue, Clean the shirt. Oh, hidden deep but ever present It comes from the darkness And flows into the light It is the keeper of our art
Chapter Four
When the Tao is present in the Universe The horses haul the manure Which happens as one of the Ten thousand things becomes misalligned The man who has not the Tao panics, And is therefore up to his neck in unhauled manure
The Tech, however, abides in the Tao And the Tao in him. Therefore, when one of the Ten Thousand Things is misalligned, He realigns it And the manure is hauled away. Or if it cannot be realigned So what? We'll still get paid.
Chapter Five
Actors are stupid
Chapter Six
The wise actor hears of the Tao And strives to follow it The mediocre actor hears of the Tao And gives it its due respect The foolish actor hears of the Tao And laughs Then I cut off his sound and lights and leave him setless propless and naked This is the way of the Tao
Chapter Seven
The audience is gullible They see the actor as a god The Tech is wise He sees the actor as a child The actor must be made up And have his hair done He needs to be dressed And led to his props The Tech needs not such things
Silence is the language of the Tech His movements are the wind While in his care, the props do not break Nor are the lights dropped from on high There is not panic within the Tech There is instead the peace of the Tao Which allows him patience to deal with actors Yea, even child actors Without beating them even more retarded Then they already are (at least until the end of the run)
Chapter Eight
The greatest virtue is to follow Tao And Tao alone. For it is well known that a Tech can act But he will never be an actor Just as the actor may attempt to tech But he will never be a tech.
The actor's art is internal He cannot help but become self-centered He is the victim of his trade Which leaves him oblivious
The Tech's art is external He cannot help but be concerned with others He is the benefactor of his trade Which conditions him to be aware
To act is to know oneself To Tech is to know all in one's environment
Chapter Nine
A good walker makes no noise A good speaker arrangement Gives no feedback A good actor breaks not the props Nor does he break the furniture
The Tech takes care of them all And abandons no one He takes care of all things and abandons nothing
This is called "abiding in the Tao"
What is a Tech? The keeper of an actor. What is an actor? A Tech's charge. If the Tech is not respected And the actor not cared for, Confusion will arise This is the crux of illusion.
Chapter Ten
Whenever you advise a designer in the way of the Tao Counsel him not to break the laws of nature. Do this also in the guidance of a director Animals, Trees, Children Such things should never cross the stage When the designer or director Conspires against nature He upsets the Ten Thousand Things Yet the Tao attempts to accommodate him The Tao is great But even greatness Cannot overcome fate For it is written There are no stupid concepts Just stupid directors and designers Producing the most intelligent concepts They can come up with at the time
Chapter Eleven
The Tao is forever undefined Ubiquitous, yet intangible, It eludes the masses When Designers abide in it, The Ten Thousand Things rejoice If directors and actors could harness it, The Ten Thousand Things would naturally obey The dramatic and the technical would intertwine And all would abide in the Tao
Once the whole is divided, the parts need names There are already enough names One must know when to stop Knowing when to stop averts trouble Knowledge and wisdom are the companions of the Tao.
Chapter Twelve
No acting please
Chapter Thirteen
Knowing ignorance is strength Ignoring knowledge is sickness
If one is sick of sickness, then one is not sick The Tech is not sick because he is sick of sickness But because he is sick of actors
The great Tao flows everywhere Both to stage left And to stage right The Ten Thousand Things depend on it It fulfills its purpose silently And makes no claim
It nourishes the Ten Thousand Things And yet it is not their lord It anoints the Tech And enhances his ability
Therefore the Tech knows himself and others He has self-respect, yet is not arrogant He lets go of that and chooses this
The Tao of the Tech is impartial And stays with him at all times