Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 2011 - 15

...I have to admit this required the steepest
learning I have had during my entire career.
Remember what I said before:
"It's amazing how much you can learn
when you are not in the best situation."

What a lot of questions to wrestle with.
Just try to keep the eyes on the goal. So what's
next?
Be reliable. This small word makes a
big difference. It's the difference in being successful-or not! It doesn't matter if you are the
artistic director or on the stage crew, the most
successful people arrive early, are thoroughly
prepared, and are willing to do whatever it
takes to get the job done-every day.
A life in theatre comes with a crazy time
clock. A show has to go up, it has to come
down. Hopefully, it's going to play for awhile.
There are impossible schedules, and things go
wrong at the worst times.
Do you have the personal discipline to
work in the theatre? You need to know, if you
can't be relied on, theatre is not a career for
you. Why? When a show is scheduled, you don't
tell an audience, "I'm sorry but we're not ready
for performing today because someone is not
here or not ready." There are no short cuts to
"The show must go on." To be successful, you
need to be "in training" to be reliable. Now my
big final suggestion.
Be aware and mindful of what is
needed, and contribute to solving that
need. Sometimes we are aware of a learning
moment and sometimes not. At the recent celebration of Michael Langhams' life at the Guthrie Theatre a few days ago, I recalled one of my
very memorable learning experiences.
Michael was directing his first play at
the Guthrie, The Solzhenitsyn Play, I was
the lighting designer. This is the original
production of the play and Michael was
reblocking a scene that he felt was not working.
I was in the theatre, buried in my numbers and

piles of lighting notes. Once he had finished his
work on the scene, he came over to me and
asked me if the blocking changes had made it
work any better.
I can tell you, I know what it feels like
to be a deer in the headlights. To start with, I
was shocked that he had asked me this type
of question. I had some smart-alack thoughts
pop in my head like, "The lights looked good
to me," and, "You're the director, you should
know." I may have even said something like the
later, but, boy, did I feel terrible that I was not
aware or mindful of the importance of what
was happening on that stage.
For me this was a big "in training"
moment, being aware of where I should focus.
As you can guess, it changed my behavior in
rehearsals-and everywhere else. Even when
I was busy with my own work, I paid much
closer attention to what was happening on
the stage and what others working on the
production were saying. Don't lose the big
picture: what's going on up on the stage!
That's what you are working for.
Under no circumstance do I want to
minimize your formal education, but I must
tell you that a successful career is determined
by how well you do your work. My first
professional job was lighting designer and
technical director at the Guthrie Theater
right out of graduate school, in the olden
days, as my daughter would say. Many very
steep learning curves were made exciting
by the support of all my new professional
colleagues. But did my education prepare me
for one of the most challenging aspects of the
job-moving big structural scenery out of
the basement shop to the stage when the only

summer 2011

way to get the scenery there was by removing
the stage floor that was constantly in use for
rehearsals and performances? "It's amazing
how much you can learn when you are not in
the best situation."
Each of my subsequent theatre
employments had unique challenges. Then, as
a theatre consultant, each job presented new
problems.
Now, to top off my career, I took the
position of a theatre school dean. I thought, of
all the jobs, this is the one I'm really prepared
for. I've got the degrees to prove it. So I get
there, and I'm the head of an important theatre
school that is deeply in debt and I'm making it
worse by not knowing the game. And, I have a
dysfunctional faculty and staff that have decided
that they really don't trust each other and who
spend a lot of time telling me that.
I'm afraid I have to admit this required
the steepest learning curve I have had during
my entire career. Remember what I said
before: "It's amazing how much you can learn
when you are not in the best situation." After
a couple of years of "training" and, eventually,
help from some excellent faculty and a new
staff, we were on the road to recovery. And
today I'm really pleased to boast about the
excellence of this theatre school.
What I do want to stress is that the
most successful people I have worked with,
whatever their position, had also climbed
many steep learning curves. So, if you want
to include yourself among those who have
achieved success in the field of theatre and
live entertainment, be prepared to climb that
learning ladder. To be successful requires
continuous training.
Navigating steep learning curves
successfully can end up making you the best, or
among the best, at what you do. And it's usually
only when you do your best that you have a true
feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction. It is
also a great sense of encouragement when you
see an audience coming into the theatre where
you work and when your colleagues want to
work with you.
Now, some people may think there
is a shortcut to getting a job and making
advancements in your career in the
entertainment business, like, for instance,
sleeping with the right person. Well...I know a
theatre design

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 2011