I wanted to study acting actually. As a freshman performance major in HS, I was forced to take Stagecraft, against my will, but I found out I picked up carpentry and lighting quickly and really enjoyed both. I kept begging my Stagecraft TA to let me run lights for a show as all I worked were electrics, or carpentry calls that year. At one
point he pulled me aside and told me I didn't want to hit go during the show, I wanted to learn to program. So he taught me how to patch the
Express some 15 years ago, and showed me how to write subs and cues after I was done. And although I thought then I'd never get a chance to do any of it again, but I soaked it all up anyway.
Well, our HS took a show to Scotland and somehow I got to be the board op for that show. The LD programmed the show in the US herself, but I watched and picked up on her methods, since she was unable to travel with us. In August 2000, before my Junior year in HS, I left the country for the first time and programmed a show from a
magic sheet and a
cue list for the first time. I was given a little
bit of creative freedom by the director and added cues and specials while still keeping true to Pam's design for the show. After all this, I still wanted to be an actor, though I did enjoy lighting.
I started volunteering at a
community theatre in my hometown. The TD there was also the resident LD and let me be his
ALD for a few shows. After I graduated HS, I was hired as the
ATD and worked there summers while going to college for...? You guessed it... acting. I was actually in the BFA
Theatre Arts program, so I was able to take lighting and sound design with lighting and sound majors. I was supposed to do wardrobe, front of
house and run crew for 3 shows my freshman year. But I ended up working on 6 shows, all LX, one as a
programmer and one as the fill in
ALD, updating the paperwork when the actual
ALD got sick. All throughout college I designed shows and worked as the
ATD in my hometown and/or freelanced at theatres around school, mostly as an electrician. After college I moved back home, worked as the
ATD and designer for a full year then moved to NY to do what...? Be an actor. Still, wasn't taking a hint...
Moved to NY, acted Off Broadway, managed a bar, started designing Off Broadway became a production TD, then became a space TD/resident LD and worked some LX calls with Local 1. Finally it dawned on me I should stick to the production side, where people keep offering me work.
This past November, my wife got a job in Central Florida at a new golf resort, and here we are. I'm working LX in Lakeland learning the
Ion, and getting phone calls for work in Orlando. For as long as it took me to "see the light" and the writing on the wall, I feel like I'm in a pretty good place in my career for the moment. I want to learn more about programming intelligent fixtures (I've done LEDs on an
Element, and a handful of movers and scrollers on an
Express), but have a decade of technology advancement to catch up on. So here I am. Thanks for having me.