I found my love of props through my professor, Lindsey Kelley. I was working in my university’s Scene Shop aiding in set builds, when she noticed I preferred the detail work of set deco, scenic painting, and props. After that, I worked more as a props artisan in the shop as well as being tasked with conquering the beast that was organizing a post-pandemic college theatre program’s prop stock. Through that project, I found my love (a light obsession) with organization. After taking a props focused technical theatre course under Lindsey, I then felt confident in props design for a new work which debuted in the studio theatre in the fall of 2024. My experience in other areas of tech and props leading up to me props designing made the entire process much smoother.

While I was working as a scene shop employee at my university, I would jump at any opportunity to come to the optional weekend paint calls. Not only did this get me more hours (and sometimes a free lunch), but it was usually just me with a small handful of other employees and a brilliant scenic artist - rotating between guest artists, scenic overhire, and professors. Through these paint calls along with the courses I was taking, I learned all the little details of scenic painting. I learned skills such as: wet blending, scumble, spray paint, paint mixing, color theory, fine line work, noticing sightlines, and how to properly care for all the brushes/instruments involved in any given project. My favorite part of scenic has always been getting to paint and add on the small set decoration details. When I props designed, my favorite part was working with the set designer to decorate the set with flowers and how to connect the decoration to the symbolism of the play.

As a performer of many years, I naturally have a lot of runcrew experience due to the norm in many productions being that the actors also help with transitions. In addition to that , I spent the summer of 2024 with the Opera Theatre of St. Louis as a member of the deck crew. Our job position entailed working in a face pasted repertory opera theatre environment. We assisted in the load in and building process, changed over the set up to two times a day (due to the repertory nature of the season), acting as a run crew member in 2/4 opera shows in the season, and lots of cleaning/organizing the shop. In addition to this, there were also opportunities to help out with other areas such as audio/visual set up and front of house work. 

I spent three of my four years of college undergrad as an employee in my university’s Electric’s Shop. I spent those years assisting the Mainstage shows in hanging, cabling, focus, and strike. There were also other responsibilities such as troubleshooting during tech week, instrument maintenance, and shop cleaning/organization. I had the opportunity in the spring of 2024 to be the Head Electrician for our Mainstage production of Dance Nation. Those responsibilities on top of the shop employee responsibilities included running dimmer checks before each show, running the board during focus, placing/mapping nodes, and being on call for any issues that may arise during tech/shows.

In order to get the opportunity of seeing theatre for free while in college, I often was a volunteer usher for both mainstage and studio productions. I ushered for over twenty different performances over the years in both a general admission seating and a formal numbered seat arrangement. In addition to this volunteer experience, I also ushered for the Opera Theatre of St.Louis when they offered the opportunity to get more hours. Both the volunteer position and OTSL front of house taught me how to: scan tickets, attend to accessibility needs, guide guests to their seats, hand out and restock programs, address audience questions/concerns, and being a friendly face for whatever an audience member may need.