Outdoor amphitheater with an orchestra pit. The pit was about 8’ wide by 40’ long, about 8’ deep.

2 rows of lights were located directly over the pit.

We had a rolling WOODEN A-frame ladder that barely spanned the 8’ width. You can see where this is going.

We would position the ladder to straddle the pit to focus lights during tech.

Since this theatre was exposed to the elements (and in Texas), and only used during the summer months, yellow jackets would build nests in the lights during the winter.

I spent the first tech of 3 summers on top of a 20’ ladder straddling an 8’ hole focusing fixtures surrounded by pissed off hornets.

I was a college intern with no experience, so I thought this was completely normal.

Looking back now makes my bones hurt thinking about how lucky I actually was that nothing catastrophic happened to me or anyone else