Theatre Tech

I have always had a love of theatre and the performing arts, so much so that I got very involved in my high school's AV club, which then led me to become very involved with my local community theatre at the time, which led me further and further down the path of becoming a semi-professional theatre technician. I had worked professionally for 3 years while I was in college, gaining lots of valuable experience and knowlege that I could bring with me into the community theatre shows I was helping or whatever projects I was working on. These days I continue to voulenteer as a theatre technician in my community, although a lot less than I did previously, mostly working as a lighting technician.

This section of my website is mostly just my resume, although I prefer to think of it as a log of all the shows I've worked on that I am most proud of. Maybe a portfolio is a better way to describe it? Please enjoy looking though what I've done and hopefully you can draw inspiration from it.

Resume

I figured there would be some value to putting my entire theatre tech. resume somewhere on my website.

Theatre Lighting Design Credits

I Live Here!

2024 November
Written and Directed by: Sandra Chelovsky
Deep River Players
St. Barnabas Church
This show is based off a short story by Shirley Jackson. The show was done in-the-round, and was my first time facing the unique challenges that this arrangement presented. The church kindly allowed me to renovate the hall in the basement to add an additional position to hang lights off of, so that there were no lighiting trees blocking one of the audience walkways, and so that for future shows using the stage I can do top lighting. Overall, this was a pretty fun and interesting show to light. I managed to avoid getting light in the audence's eyes while also making sure each and every platform was lit all around. The plot used a mixture of incandescent and LED Parcans.

A Rehearsal for Murder

2024 March
Written by: Lori Gilbert
Directed by: Sandra Chelovsky and Mac Jones
Deep River Players
St. Barnabas Church
A local play by a local playwright, this dinner theatre show takes place behind the scenes in the fictional Deep River Player's production of 'Murder at the Whistlestop', when, at a rehearsal gone very wrong, the new star of the show is murdered. Now the police must interogate everyone to determine who dunnit. This show was lit like a conventional show with a mix of incandescent and LED parcans, and ran from an ETC Nomad setup. I had set up OSC so that the lighting cues could be used to trigger sound cues in QLab.

The Importance of Being Ernest

2022 December
Written by: Oscar Wilde
Directed by: Karen Walsh Geoffrey
Deep River Players
St. Barnabas Church
My first time doing lighting for the Deep River Players was on this iconic trivial commedy for serious people. This show was mostly lit with incandescent parcans for the interior scenes and LED pars for the exterior scenes, however LED pars were used a little for indoor scenes so that I could adjust the look a little bit for different settings (warmer in the city, cooler in the country). The show was ran from QLC+.

Nunsense

2019 June
Written by: Dan Goggin
Directed by: Ron Gardner
Kanata Theatre
Ron Maslin Playhouse
My final show with Kanata Theatre, this commedy is about a group of nuns trying to put on a varety show with the set of grease in the background. This show was the most technical of any one I had done to date: moving light fixtures, a cyc, LED top and side lights, SourceFour frontlights, follow-spots, and an impressive amount of cues. Since it was my first time working a musical of this technical complexity it didn't turn out quite how I would have liked, but it still looked amazing and was a fun show to watch!

It's A Wonderful Life

2018 November
Written by: Philip Grecian and Frank Capra
Directed by: Tom Kobolak
Kanata Theatre
Ron Maslin Playhouse
The iconic Christmas story told as a radio play, this show was simple and straightforward to light. A riser at the back for practical sound effects was lit from all angles, while in a separate zone the downstage area was lit for the voice actors. Gobos and red gel were used to create the "On Air" on the juliets either side of the stage. This show was ran from an ETC Ion.

Arsenic and Old Lace

2018 March
Written by: Joseph Kesselring
Directed by: Jim Clarke
Kanata Theatre
Ron Maslin Playhouse
A dark commedy that is as funny as it is famous, Arsenic and Old Lace centers on the elderly Brewster sisters; the town darlings who have a little secret. Their nephew Mortimer discovers they are “helping” lonely gentlemen boarders to early graves by way of homemade, arsenic-laced wine. Throw in one brother who thinks he’s Teddy Roosevelt, a second who is a murderous criminal on the lam and then the girl next door that Mortimer wants to marry — and you have a recipe for hilarity.

This show was lit with a mixture of LED wash lights and incandescent SourceFours, all programmed and ran off of an ETC Ion.

A Year in the Death of Eddie Jester

2017 September
Written by: T. Gregory Argall
Directed by: Stavros Sakiadis
Kanata Theatre
Ron Maslin Playhouse
Although I did the lighting design for this show, the video design took much more of my time. The show has a general downstage wash and a general upstage wash ceparated by a scrim. A follow-spot was also used for downstage scenes: the title character is a commedian and is very fitting to be in the lime light. The show used a mix of incandescent fixtures (SourceFours and various fresnels for front and top lighting), and LED fixtures for fill lighting and super-saturated colours in the downstage area wash.

The video had a lot going on: the EKG monitor was one display and the view out the window, which changes with seasons and weather was another display. The video was built from a mixture of free still-photos and free animations that I layered and rendered myself.

The Melville Boys

2017 Feburary
Written by: Norm Foster
Directed by: Steve Truelove
Kanata Theatre
Ron Maslin Playhouse
This show was my first in the Ron Maslin Playhouse as a lighting designer. The show was lit with a mix of conventional fixtures and LED wash lights, and was my first time desiging lights on a Cyc. I used the cyc to indicate time-of-day: bright blues for mid-day, deep oranges for evenings, and purples for night scenes. This was also my first time working with a lot of the equipment available to me as a lighting designer in this venue, so the show has a noteable amerature look to it but is still well lit.

Lion King Jr.

2016 June
Music by: Elton John and Lyrics By: Tim Rice
Earl of March Secondary School
EOM Auditorium

Legally Blonde

2016 April
Music and Lyrics by: Nell Benjamin and Laurence O'Keefe
Directed by: Matt Minter
Earl of March Secondary School
EOM Auditorium

Theatre Lighting Assistant Credits

Night Sky

2015
Written By: Susan Yankowitz
Kanata Theatre
Ron Maslin Playhouse

Fiddler on the Roof

2015
Directed by: Matt Minter
Earl of March Secondary School
EOM Auditorium

Sweeny Todd

2014
Music and Lyrics by: Stephen Sondheim
Directed by: Matt Minter
Earl of March Secondary School
EOM Auditorium

Event Lighting Design Credits

Mostly work I have done for Deep River's Theatre Operating Committee (THEOP)

THEOP 2024-2025 Season

September 2024 - June 2025
  • Brass Transit – Chicago Tribute Band
  • Johannes Linstead – Spanish-style guitar with Afro-Cuban, Middle Eastern, and Latin American percussion
  • Durham County Poets – Juno-nominated blues band
  • Josephine – A Cabaret-Dance-Theatre performance about Josephine Baker
  • Piano Heist – Make the piano cool again!
  • The Fugitives – An accounstic folk-roots group and the 2nd Juno-nominated performers of the season.
  • Deep River Theatre Operating Committee
    Bernard Child's Auditorium

    THEOP 2023-2024 Season

    September 2023 - June 2024
  • Séan McCann – folk singer/songwriter, founding member of Great Big Sea
  • Evelyn Parry’s Spin – theatre
  • JW Jones – blues guitarist
  • Joyride – jazz crossover duo
  • Irish Mythen – folk singer
  • Sarah Hagen’s “Perk up, Pianist!” – pianist & comedian
  • Special Event: Love Bomb – a musical by Shameless Hussy Productions
  • Deep River Theatre Operating Committee
    Bernard Child's Auditorium

    Event Lighting Credits

    Canada Day Live!

    2017 June/July
    Temporary Stage @ Major's Hill Park
    Project X Productions
    Assistant Stage Electrician

    Cirque du Solie

    TODO: Look up when this gig was again
    Temporary Stage
    Project X Productions
    Lighting Labour

    Big Band Concert

    2017 June/July
    Temporary Stage
    Project X Productions
    Lighting Labour

    Stage Management Credits

    Enchanted Mosiac

    2018 November
    Canadian Federation of University Women (Kanata)
    Local variety show fundraiser event
    EOM Auditorium
    My third year in a row stage managing for CFUW/Kanata's Enchanted Mosiac event. This show brings local tallent together from around the greater Ottawa Area to put on a two-act variety show. Funds raised by ticket sales and sponsorships go towards the bursaries that CFUW presents to graduating high school students each June. Although a lot of work, I always enjoyed the technical aspects of the roll: getting requirements from performers, coordinating stage hands, and cueing lighting/sound technicians.

    Enchanted Mosiac

    2017 November
    Canadian Federation of University Women (Kanata)
    Local variety show fundraiser event
    EOM Auditorium
    My second year in a row stage managing for CFUW/Kanata's Enchanted Mosiac event. This year, being Canada's 150th birthday, was filled with many acts representing the diversity and skill across Canada.

    Kanata-Carleton Cultural Festival

    2017 May
    City of Ottawa (Office of Councilor Marrianne Wilkinson)
    Community Canada Day Celebration
    Outdoor stage in Sandwell Green & EOM Auditorium
    This festival was huge! Planned by Marrianne Wilkinson, the city councilor of Kanata North at the time, and a team of voulenteers. This amazing day included live artists and performances on an out-door stage, then moved into Earl of March Secondary School for a variety show in the evening, both stages being managed by myself with the help of several voulenteers and friends. My responsibilities included getting the riders from performers and coordinating with the stage rental, sound tech and rental, and various voulenteers to make sure we had everything needed. Then during the performances, work with stage hands and the performers to quickly get everything moved off/on stage, sound checked, and comfortably performing. The amount of experience I gained through this event cannot be over-stated, and has definitely helped me to become just as much of a theatrical technician as I am a live performances technician.

    Enchanted Mosiac

    2016 November
    Canadian Federation of University Women (Kanata)
    Local variety show fundraiser event
    EOM Auditorium
    My first time ever stage managing, and the first time I had ever ran the Enchanted Mosiac show myself. Luckly, I had been involved in my high-school's AV Crew for several years before this show, and worked with CFUW/Kanata on the Enchanted Mosiac as a lighting technician in 2015 and 2014, so I already knew many of the people involved and had a general idea of what to do.