Theatre
UNC Asheville's Carol Belk Theatre
Technical Director
My role as Technical Director, or "TD", means that I am responsible for the safety and well-being of the cast, crew, faculty, and staff working on the production(s) each semester.
I operate, maintain, and hold safety trainings for each of the machines in the Scene Shop. I also ensure the set and props are designed and engineered to be sufficiently strong and stable.
We get to work on all sorts of construction projects. My students and I have built frames for set pieces like the fireplace from "No Exit" in Spring 2023 (above).
We've also built an excessive amount of fake theatrical walls (or "flats") for stage shows and outdoor productions.
This picture shows a flat with a blackout curtain concealing a high-powered fog machine with a custom water vapor-based fog chiller. Without this wall, the source of the mysterious...well, mist, would've been visible and noisy!
We have so many fantastic resources available across UNC Asheville's campus and the greater Western North Carolina community.
In my Scene Shop, we recently built a chain-driven CNC router so we can quickly and precisely cut out highly detailed shapes (see the decorative foam trim on the fireplace above).
We also have access to several laser cutters and waterjets, giving us the ability to make custom "gobos", or stencils for stage lights (think the giant metal Bat Signal that they use to get Batman's attention!).
