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During my third year at Chelsea High School, I received permission from my administration to start a Technical Theatre class. Within two years, enough interest had grown that I was able to have both an introductory and an advanced class.
Spain Park, when I started, had a robust theatre program, including its technical theatre class. Over the next few years, I was able to experiment with the structure until I found a good formula: a mix of advanced tech and novice students. Third and fourth year students took on leadership roles in design and implementation, guiding first year students through best practices.
At PAHCC, I have been able to continue something similar to the SPHS system. During the early part of the year, the rotating curriculum allows all students to explore new elements of technical theatre (makeup and costuming, for example, or lighting and sound); during the latter half, second year students take the lead on designing for productions and guide first year students through the process.
Technical theatre has become a source of constant learning and engagement for me, as well; every new production demands new elements- and creates new opportunities to learn. Over the past few years, I've been able to incorporate such elements as UV lighting, animation, and stage illusions into productions- and gleaned a great deal myself.
I value technical theatre education because it tends to draw in a different type of student than the performance class. It challenges them to read, interpret, and create in a practical way. Technical theatre demands that students become creative problem solvers; the transferable skills learned in each effort carry far beyond the theatre classroom.
Lighting
Lighting
Above: senior technician Max Carpenter focuses for an upcoming production. Almost, Maine (2018) with aurora.
Left: Pre-show lighting for The Tempest (2024); the audience entered to the effect of light reflected off water and the sounds of waves and a creaking ship. As the showtime grew closer, the sounds grew louder, until the audience were, themselves, surrounded by the tempest that begins the show.
Above left: a nighttime scene in Baskerville (2017); right: morning breaks in Arabian Nights (2014).
Right: Students discovered the magic of UV lighting for the SPHS production of The Little Mermaid (2018).
Lighting and scenic design collaborated on The Little Mermaid when it was decided that UV reactive paint would be used to differentiate between King Triton's palace and Ursula's lair.
Below: Student Techincal Director Wilson Dillard shows the first steps of using UV paint to create two effects on the same pieces of scenery.
Bottom: The set of I'll Tell You a Secret. Throughout the play, the audience could see graffiti-covered walls; only at the very end was hidden graffiti, created using invisible UV reactive paint, revealed.
A number of years ago, I began working with shadow puppetry, experimenting along with the students in constructing the puppets from a variety of materials and for a variety of shows. Below left is what became an enduring image from Amelia the Brave (2013); center is the lost city of Furnit'ara from the ten-minute one act, Downtime, one of the selections from 2023's Never Before Scene; below right is from the opening of She Kills Monsters: Young Adventurer's Edition (2019).
Costuming
Costuming
Left: PALS, 2015
Right: Arabian Nights, 2014
Above: Costume designs for Martin Thurber, Boy Wonder. Villains Red Giant and Taurus realized; Martin, Mom, and Dad; Stargazer and Captain Nebula help the mysterious woman.
A.R.T. junior Mirabelle Markowski created the costumes for The Tempest (2024); here, the base costume plus a shimmering cape creates one of the Ariels (most actors played multiple roles; elements were added to or removed to create the different characters).
Her work was featured in this article in the Addison Independent.
Below, Mirabelle designed costumes for the ghost story I'll Tell You a Secret (2025); set in 1977, the play offered the opportunity to reflect the diverse styles of the time.
For 2019's She Kills Monsters: Young Adventurer's Edition, student technician Dana Norton learned how to craft armor out of EVA foam.
Sound Design
Sound Design
In sound design, students learn to create effects using recording devices and programs such as Audacity. They also learn the basics of QLab, the sound management program used to create and run effects during shows.
Left: sophomore Nick Carpenter designs for an upcoming A.R.T. production.
Below left is a link to the fireplace effect created by ART student Maren Couture; students were tasked to create effects using only things around them. This effect was made by crinkling cellophane and blowing softly on the microphone.
Below center are two tabs to original music created by student A.R.T. Andrew Morris for Almost, Maine (2018) and She Kills Monsters (2019). For SKM, the sounds of early 90's video games was an inspiration.
Below right is a track created by SPHS student Will Lamb for our original piece Deeds Not Words, about the suffragette Lady Constance Lytton.
Set Design
Set Design
Set design provides an almost-instantaneous connection for the audience, establishing a sense of place and time. Students learn and practice a variety of techniques- construction and painting- and experiment with different materials as they learn to bring a concept to life.
Martin Thurber, Boy Wonder required a set that could travel (and be stored in a 10'x10' space). The centerpiece of the rotating set (a locker on one side, a phone booth on the other) hid both a changing space for the main character and a short-throw projector.
Arabian Nights, SPHS, 2016.
Little Shop of Horrors, SPHS, 2017.
Anne of Green Gables, SPHS, 2018.
The trench in PALS, like the set in Martin Thurber, was designed to be portable and stored in a 10'x10' space.
She Kills Monsters, A.R.T., 2019. For SKM, we decided to create a raked stage in the center (the play was performed thrust-style, with audience on three sides). Always a challenge in the space is a large, load-bearing pole in the center of the black box. In this production, keeping with D&D theme, we made it into a large No. 2 pencil.
I'll Tell You a Secret (2025). The walls of the abandoned house were covered with graffiti, secrets written on the walls by generations of teenagers. To accomplish this, we solicited anonymous secrets from the community. To our surprise- and delight- audience members after each performance asked to write their own secrets on the set.
Makeup
Makeup
SPHS junior Sapir Blain renderings and applied effects for Matthew in Anne of Green Gables (2018); Audrey and Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors (2017).
SPHS student Phoebe Miller created the old-age makeup for The Servant of Two Masters (2012)
A.R.T. student Tzain Howe models old age makeup.
A.R.T. practice a variety of wound techniques early each year; each Halloween, they instruct students in the Visual Communications class how to create such effects.
In early 2018, SPHS alum Shannon Pitts returned to demonstrate stage makeup skills to students in the Advanced Theatre program. Shannon, a 2015 graduate, attended the Cinema Makeup School in Los Angeles; after completing the program, she landed jobs on films such as Jurassic World and Guardians of the Galaxy V.3, as well as television shows like The Walking Dead and The Boys.
More of Shannon's work may be seen on her Instagram; read about her experience working with me and SPHS Theatre here.
Animations, Special Effects, and Miscellany
Animations, Special Effects, and Miscellany
During the pandemic, The Shelburne Players undertook a live, online play for young actors in the Burlington area. She Kills Monsters: Virtual Realms was a modified version of the play I had directed before, written to provide young performers the opportunity to perform during that extraordinary time. During one of the "fights," the character of Farrah the Fairy needed to explode. To create as best an effect possible, we recorded a piece that was then surreptitiously played during the otherwise live broadcast.
I've had the opprtunity to work with flying students in two productions; first, in Roald Dahl's Willy Wonka (2012). Charlie and Grandpa fly in the fizzy lifting room; Augustus flies as he is sucked up the chocolate tube, and Charlie and Wonka fly away at the end in the glass elevator. (During initial flight practice, during which the aerobatic harnesses allowed performers to spin a full 360 degrees, the actor playing Charile commented that it was "the coolest and most painful thing" he'd ever done.
We returned to flying once more for Disney's The Little Mermaid (2018). Above left, actors playing Scuttle and a seagull practice for the number "Under the Sea."
In both cases, we contracted with ZFX Flying Effects; they installed the equipment and trained students and parent volunteers on the proper control of the system.
For PALS, we wished to create the effect of bullets striking near the characters as they took shelter behind an overturned cart. Here, we see the initial test of the device (created using CO2-powered bicycle tire pumps), and the extended effect tested on the set piece.
Creating props and special set pieces often requires learning new skills. Above, SPHS technician Jacob Salathe learned to weld while constructing Cinderella's carriage out of discarded patio furniture.
Above right, for PALS, we collaborated with the SPHS Engineering program to create a number of pieces using the then-new process of 3D printing. SPHS technician Joseph McKinley learned to use the school's 3D printer to create the badge caps used for the soldiers' hats in PALS.
Right, a technician creates the LED lighting effects for costume pieces in PALS.
Vergennes Carnavale 2019
Vergennes Carnavale 2019
In the fall of 2018, ART Tech was approached with the idea of creating games for the annual Vergennes Carnavale, a fundraiser for the Little City's Boys and Girls Club.
Provided with ideas by the Carnavale organizer, we set about creating three games for the evening.
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