I've always loved being behind the scenes, setting the stage for something amazing to happen. That takes various forms in my life, but one of my favorites is live production. Designing a set that's practical, beautiful, well-built, that supports and adds to a work is extremely satisfying. Starting a production with just a script and an idea, and watching it grow through hard work, skill and collaboration into a story that creates an emotional connection is a very special kind of artistic expression.
I've been a stagehand, a lighting board operator, a propsmistress, a lighting designer, a stage manager, an assistant director, a teacher, a student, and a few other things. I've enjoyed every hat I've worn in the stage world. Below are a few snapshots of some of the shows I'm grateful to have been a part of.
School Productions
Cinderella, Fiddler On the Roof, Bye Bye Birdie, Hair, Snow White, Twelfth Night, A Funny thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Beanie and the Bamboozling Book Machine, Rumors, Sound of Music, Wiley And the Hairy Man, 1984, Guys and Dolls, The Breakfast Club
I was fortunate to attend a high school with a thriving fine arts program - 3 plays a year, a 400 people in 6 choirs, 3 jazz bands, a marching band, an orchestra, and a musical variety show every year made for rich ways to be involved, high production standards, and high responsibility extra-curricular activities. I was involved in a lot of things, but my favorite of all was the plays, because we got to spend saturdays building sets and hanging lights. It was a gift to learn practical skills in reading design plans, using power tools, painting, and building with 30-50 of my closest friends. Eventually, I was also running those days, assigning groups and making sure they were on track with the skills and materials they needed.
Center Stage Theatre Company
My Fair Lady, Footloose, Jesus Christ Superstar, Hot Mikado, A Chorus Line
As far as my teenage self was concerned, the only bad thing about summer is that it meant no theater! After my sophomore year, I spent the summer on stage in "My Fair Lady" at a youth community theater. As an older, more reliable cast-member I also ended up with the title 'propsmistress'. I was thrilled the next summer when the director asked me to be an Assistant Director for "Footloose".
Of course, as rehearsal shifted from a random studio into the performance space, I also started helping design and build the sets and lighting, and roped my friends into helping run the shows technically. I worked with the company every summer until I stopped coming home from college.
Turkey in the Straw Productions
Some teenagers channel their youthful energy and rebellion into poor life choices. My friends decided that starting their own theater company would be good fun, so they could get more experience with smaller shows, bigger roles, and trying their hand at directing. This is a group of wonderful artists, who at the time had very few practical production skills, and of course no money. The two shows I helped them with I learned how to build a set and design and run lights with zero budget. For the first, we got free cardboard from Home Depot and made do. The second one, I designed the set from scratch, and built it with two friends in an afternoon.
The Miser, Rocketman
The Cherry Orchard, The Bacchae, Our Town
Classes: Set Design, Set Construction, Lighting Design, Technical Direction, Sound Design, Costume Design, Directing, Acting
UW Drama
Once at university, I was much more serious about school and thus doing less theater that wasn't class-oriented. I still managed to do 3 productions, as props crew, a Sound board operator, and a media tech operator for a production that had interesting projection and live cameras going on.
I learned so much from some of the most talented, driven artists I've ever met. Drama classes and shows were one of the highlights of my experience at UW.