TECHNICAL THEATER
The smell of sawdust and paint.
The sound of a saw or a drill or a sewing machine.
Those things are how I know when I walk into ta theater. The smells and sounds of tech are as much a part of theatre to me as learning lines and blocking.
Coming from a small university and doing extensive work in the community means knowing how to do some of everything. By the time I had graduated from my undergraduate program I had worked on costumes, built and painted sets, run lights and sound, worked run crew, and stage managed. Some of those experiences were limited to just the basics, but I did it and got a foundation to build on.
Continued work on productions outside of school meant learning even more about technical theater, from run crew to dresser backstage, and having the opportunity to try my hand at scenic painting.
My knowledge of technical theatre helped me when I got a job with a building contractor. Remodeling and flipping houses is extraordinarily similar to building a set. Practical, real-world experience with building materials and construction projects reinforced that knowledge and gave me a chance to improve my skills.