Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 2023 - 24

language diction, you don't have to know
what every word means. There's usually a
translation in the score, sometimes a bad
one, but you get the gist, but then you can
pronounce it so that you can communicate
where you're going to start from in rehearsal.
I know designers who don't read
a lick of music, and I know designers who
can sit down and play the score. So it's a
fun, different aspect of the genre and an
important part of what we do out there in
the performing arts world. So that's how
I got here. "
USITT Enters the Picture
When did you get involved with USITT?
" Slowly but surely, I would go to some of
the management sessions when I could
escape from the Expo floor, and someone
said, 'You should get involved in this because
we need people who know about
management.' I think in my second year
I had been asked to become a mentor for
the Stage Management Mentor Project
(SMMP). We try to have the mentors in
that training program be representative of
all the different parts of stage and production
management.
" Eventually I was asked to be the vice
commissioner for programming for the
Management Commission. I didn't quite
know what was involved when I got into
it, but I didn't know what was involved in
the mentorship program when I got into
that either, and look where I am now. "
What was your first USITT conference
like?
" It was 2013 in Milwaukee and was
freezing cold. I remember there's a huge
sign once you go through airport security
above the seating area where you
put your shoes and belt back on that says
Recombobulation Area. I was like, 'OK,
Milwaukee, bonus points for your sense
of humor.' My second favorite thing was I
met someone who said, 'You need to come
to the People of Color Network, which is
now the BIPOC Network.' I came in and
there were maybe seven people in that
room. I said, 'We'd love to see you come
work in opera,' and there were a couple
of students who followed me. We had a
long discussion about what was possible
and what the challenges were, and that
they wanted to be able to find opera near
where they were. They didn't know there
was a company in Birmingham, Alabama,
right around the corner from them that
Interim Executive Director Lea Asbell-Swanger and Executive Director Laura Lee Everett at the 2023 USITT
Conference & Stage Expo in St. Louis.
" When this job opened up, my
husband said, 'I've known you
for 11 years. The happiest I see
you is when you come home
from USITT. When you go to the
conference, you have plugged
into the mothership and you
come back revitalized and
excited...' "
was hiring. This conference had a twofloor
exhibit space at the bottom of the escalator,
and there was a huge mural that
said, 'Push for polka!' The history of polka
bars and polka dancing was in the mural
on the wall, and on your escalator ride up
or down, you got to listen to polka music. "
How have you kept your connection
with USITT so strong over all those
years?
" I think a lot of it has to do with the people
that I've met. Meeting with the folks in
SMMP even when I wasn't a mentor and
urging them to call me if they were looking
for work in opera. So many of them
have taken me up on it. It's amazing to me
the number of folks that you meet and say,
'Keep in touch' who do keep in touch. The
ones that did keep in touch, I keep track
24 | THEATRE DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY | SPRING 2023
of what they're doing, and I'm a point of
contact, reference, and history for them. If
they're going to go take a new job, they'll
ask my opinion. They want to pick my
brain about it.
" I often want to introduce them to
someone I know who has a need for what
they do. So, my strength in connection
with USITT has been through so many
of those people that I've worked with
for years and years and years that are at
other companies that are also members.
So, it is really old home week when I get
to come to USITT. When this job opened
up, my husband said, 'I've known you for
11 years. The happiest I see you is when
you come home from USITT. When you
go to the conference, you have plugged
into the mothership and you come back
revitalized and excited about what could

Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 2023

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