I did a lot of theatre work in high school. I acted minor bits in a few plays (Benvolio in Romeo and Juliet, dude who dies a lot in King Lear, Wilbur C. Henderson in You Can't Take it With You) and lots of tech work (set building and sound construction for Once Upon a Mattress, Hamlet, The Seagull, and some musical whose name I can't remember). I then came to Swarthmore, rarin' to go to work as an actor or techie.

My first impression of Swarthmore theatre: a bleak wall of overwhelming pretention. Lots of black leather (worn without taste; I have nothing against black leather when worn by people who know what they're doing) and cigarettes and pretentious books scattered about. The theatre department hates its audience; it really goes out of its way to confuse them with pointlessly weird stuff on stage. So, I was turned off of theatre for a while. I acted in a night of scenes bit -- all of 25 lines -- and helped in my small way to build the set for A Bright Room Called Day, but for the most part I did nothing.

Then, mid way through Sophomore year, I suddenly found myself involved in two projects: building the set for Durang Durang (Durang's The Actor's Nightmare and Sister Mary Ignatious Explains it All For You) and playing the shephard Silvius in As You Like It. The set for Durang was huge, consisting mainly of four 24' pillars. While this was technically interesting (i.e. "How do I avoid killing the audience?") it was a pain in the butt to build. As You Like It, however, was a blast, partly because Greg and Wayne were also in it, and partly because Mary was directing it.

In the Fall of 1998 I was the technical director for Romeo and Juliet and Twelfth Night. The set of Romeo and Juliet was a single scaffolding tower, which was simple and easy to use. The Twelfth Night set was far more elaborate. It included a 24' tall tower, cloisters, a working fountain, a niche for the virgin mary (statue), a garden, a tile roof, and the like. It was set in 1820s Mexico, and was very pretty. The cast was amazing and the set construction went smoothly; it was a great play.