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Theater Technician | Engineer | Artist

The Student Theater Enrichment Program (STEP) brings FREE new theatrical performances to communities throughout Cleveland. Opening July 23rd at Herman Park and closing back at Cleveland Public Theatre on August 2nd, our eight performances toured through outdoor locations across the city. While persistent rain brought us inside for our final show at CPT, we endured heat, mugginess, and drizzles for our other seven shows.

It was my honor to be the Technical Director and Lead Teaching Artist (credited as Tech Lead) for STEP 2026. This was a totally new challenge for me. I had not worked on an outdoor production nor a touring production. This was also my first time directing the design, build, and crew work of our nine student artists rather than being an individual contributor to a show. All high school students, some had previous theater experience, some had been part of STEP before, and some were totally new. Over the first 2 weeks, we build the set and props, and during the tour we loaded in and out scenery, platforms, props, sound equipment, costumes, and hospitality supplies each day from our tour truck to each performance location.

https://www.cptonline.org/performances/seasons/2026-2027/student-theatre-enrichment-program-step-2026/

Our main accomplishments were building 12 foot tall 8 foot wide “fences” that assemble each day from three pieces that could more easily fit into the box truck. We also painted two 8 feet tall, 2.5 feet wide pillars as a proscenium for our outdoor ‘theater’. Each day, we also setup the sound reinforcement system and assembled three islands of platforms for the performers. Prop work included a “horse palanquin” for an artist to ride on during the show. Decorated two drums to look like ‘logs’. Road repairs: tool chest, wood bench. Supervise 9 student artists and a teaching artist. Drive 16′ tour truck to 8 different locations.

We brought a total of 137 patrons to our final night!