Secrets of Being a Union Stagehand
by Chris Kappes, Exhibit City News
British rock and pop singer Rod Stewart has a fear of falling off the stage. This is not an unfounded phobia, it’s a mishap he’s experienced numerous times due to blinding stage lights and stepping past taped lines on the stage floor. Leave it to lifelong stagehand Charlie Noble to find a solution: mop the stage floor with Coca-Cola and cold water to make it sticky. “The artist rider says to do it with Coke and hot water, but the sugar dissolves in Coke, so I use cold water instead. Rod’s high-top kicks stick like glue,” laughs Noble.
Noble, stagehand General Foreman for the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC) and a member of IATSE 720 (International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees), has learned these and other secrets of the trade over his 47 years of working in television, theater, and tradeshows.
IATSE 720, established in 1939, is a union representing stagehands, riggers, audio-visual technicians, and more. Working in partnership with the teamsters and electrical unions, Noble and his stagehand team at the LVCC ensure the smooth setup, operation, and dismantling of live tradeshows and events. For Noble, the path to becoming the General Foreman—and the only member to carry two union cards (IATSE 720 and IATSE 39)—has been a crazy ride.
“I went from a highly recruited left-handed baseball pitcher in high school to zero college scholarship opportunities after tearing my rotator cuff,” he explains. “So, I did what a lot of kids do in the Bayou: I went to work on an oil rig. From there, I went to work doing Mardi Gras balls, carnivals, and building sets.”
These experiences, and a “willingness to volunteer for what others wouldn’t,” became the motto for Noble and fueled what followed. In his early twenties, Noble was named the stage manager for the famous Saenger Theater in downtown New Orleans, where he became a favorite among performing artists. “Fats Domino, an artist from New Orleans, didn’t have a ride home after one performance, so I took him home instead. This became our routine over a ten-year period when he performed for Jazz Fest,” shares Noble.
During his theater stint, Noble stage-managed 330 productions of Phantom of the Opera and was a regular backstage visit for top music acts like The Jacksons, Queen, Led Zeppelin, Village People, ZZ Top, Aerosmith, and others, who often stopped by to chat and enjoy his famous Cajun-style cooking, whipped up outside the theater.
Noble’s career continued to evolve over the next 20 years with stagehand management of shows for The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson, Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy, three Super Bowls, and a massive Rolling Stones concert inside the New Orleans Superdome.
Looking for yet another adventure, Noble found it in the mid-1990s as the lead stagehand for Microsoft’s global corporate event tour and the DOTA 2 event in Shanghai China. DOTA 2 is a multiplayer online battle arena video game. Both events required his supervision of 125 trucks transporting elaborate staging. Noble called this tour a “head-scratcher every day.”
Today, Noble calls himself the “PR guy,” working with unions in all four LVCC buildings to manage jurisdictions and ensure exhibitors—“our clients” as he says—are serviced. “I review clients’ requests and do whatever I can to support exhibitor needs. Our team of 10 to 20 professionals review, prepare, and submit rigging drawings to the LVCC engineering department for approval. Depending on the size of the show, like the Consumer Electronics Show, we may have a labor call of several hundred stagehands that I supervise,” he said.
A “handshake and a hug” is Noble’s formula for success. “Nothing is etched in stone,” he says. “Honesty is key. You need to have the DNA of the hospitality industry, and it doesn’t hurt to have a touch of Louisiana in yah.”
Noble’s legacy as a stagehand isn’t just built on hard work or legendary moments with rock stars—it’s about the knowledge and camaraderie that define the profession. Stagehands like him bring creativity, resourcefulness, and grit to every event, making the magic happen behind the scenes. As technology evolves and the entertainment world shifts, Noble’s old-school wisdom combined with a modern approach serves as a bridge for the next generation of stagehands. In the end, it’s not just about knowing how to make a stage sticky; it’s about knowing how to make every show a success.
This story originally appeared in the Q4 2024 issue of Exhibit City News, p. 66. For original layout, visit https://issuu.com/exhibitcitynews/docs/ecn_q4_2024/66.
