Behind the Scenes at Sight and Sound

Technical Theatre Experience

When Hannah Pill finished her master’s degree at Maranatha Baptist University in 2015, she didn’t quite know where she wanted to go or what she wanted to do. Then her friend Meg Armstrong, a Maranatha graduate who was working at Sight and Sound Theatre in Branson, MO, told her about an open technical theatre position on the lighting team.

At the time, Pill said she’d had minimal technical theatre training – just a broad overview in her Scenic Design and Lighting course – and she had wished she’d had more. But she applied for the position and was hired, she thinks because of her background in other aspects of theatre – acting and directing as part of her Dramatic Productions minor.

Like other Maranatha graduates working at Sight and Sound, Pill had pieced together a technical theatre experience. She graduated in 2013 with an English major and Dramatic Productions and Spanish minors for her BA degree. She added experience to her Dramatic Productions minor by taking advantage of the many acting, directing, and stage crew opportunities in Maranatha productions. She then went on to earn an MA in Intercultural Studies at Maranatha in 2015.

A New Track

However, those interested in the stage crew aspect of theatre no longer have to piece together an experience. They can now focus their learning with Maranatha’s new Technical Theatre track in its Communication Arts major. Courses like Scenic Design for the Stage, Stage Lighting and Audio, Costuming, and Make-up allow students who love the backstage world to study what they love.

Pill said her job title at Sight and Sound is lighting technician, but she really functions as a stage electrician, one of four who are actually on stage behind the scenery during shows. Sight and Sound has about 1,600 lighting instruments, including 92 moving lights, according to the theatre’s fact sheet. The stage electricians move wheeled lighting towers during transitions from one scene to another.

Although Pill hadn’t started out thinking about a career in technical theatre, her time at Sight and Sound has made her reconsider.

“I like this company so much, that I would consider working here for as long as they would let me,” she said.

Working Behind the Scenes

Pill added that a theatre technician, especially a Christian theatre technician, can actually be more marketable than an actor in the world of theatre, which is one of the reasons she thinks Maranatha’s new Technical Theatre track is a great idea.

“There are a lot of kids who are interested in theatre, but don’t want to be out in front of people,” she said. “I remember knowing kids like that in school; this opens up a door for them.”

The Maranatha graduates who currently work at Sight and Sound gleaned general technical skills from either the Communication Arts Major/DP track, or from the Dramatic Productions minor. In fact, many people work there as entry-level technicians and train on the job. However, those who want to move up need the extra training that Maranatha’s Technical Theatre track can give them.

“You’ll be ahead of a lot of people who are coming in as techs,” Hannah said.