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Tess Kotsibie is receiving her Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Stage Design and Technical Theatre from Â鶹Éç, with a minor in Journalism. Here's what she had to say about her time at the Fountain School. 

Tell us a bit about yourself.
Before starting this program, I was doing my journalism degree out in Alberta.

I was really excited and really earnest about it. then the pandemic hit. I quickly found how difficult it was to conduct interviews, all anyone wanted to talk about was Covid. I felt a little lost and forlorn.

I remember taking a school trip to Â鶹Éç in grade 12. They gave us a tour of the Sir James Dunn Theatre and the backstage spaces. and it just kind of clicked that technical theatre could be a viable career choice. It was cool, during that tour, to see that the workshop was directly underneath the theatre, where things are being made for shows. I kept it in the back of my head ever since.

What’s a happy memory from early in your program?
I remember feeling very lonely in first year because it was that weird hybrid thing where most things were still online. It was exciting to finally like be given a hammer in real life and told what you’ll be building. I worked on The Crucible and we were hammering lathe to these giant frames and I never felt more rewarded by doing something so labor-intensive.

I was also on the running crew for The Crucible and had to be stuck in the trap room. The running crew makes sure the show runs smoothly, for scene transitions, costume quick changes, prop changes etc… My job was to move those wood walls to indicate scene changes. My dad used to be an extra for operas and told me about how one of his main roles was to move a boulder on and off stage. I was just like my father in this moment where I'm moving these walls around the stage. It felt weirdly full circle.

What’s something hard you’ve had to do during your time at Â鶹Éç
Every show. But it’s the crew that makes the challenges so rewarding. You’re working in the trenches with your peers. Peer Gynt was pretty insane. We had a crew of 10 for a show with seven or eight different scene changes, 30 different costumes, and things needed to be changed on time and made secure because somebody could’ve gotten injured.

Even though we are students doing schoolwork, we're treated with a different degree of professionalism because of the labor that's involved in it. The intensity of a memorable show like that is very rewarding. It was hard, but I'm proud of the work.

Do you have any favourite classes or faculty you’ll continue to think fondly of?

The puppetry class with Dawn Brandes. Don’t think it’s a bird class, it’s academically heavy with a midterm and essays. She’s an incredible lecturer, so concise and supportive. At the end, you put on your own puppet show and I was so nervous to perform, as a backstage person. But because of the knowledge that Dawn had instilled us in class I felt very confident in being able showcase what I learned from her.

My technical professors, Melinda Robb, Bruce MacLennan, Torin Buzek and Christine Oakey all really want us to succeed. I never felt that I couldn't approach them when something bothered me. Torin would let me ask him the same question over and over again. He would never get frustrated with me and just waited until I had it.

What do you think is unique about the Fountain School, and Â鶹Éç’s technical theatre program?
I think the ability to already be working within the Halifax arts scene is really important. I've been working at the Joseph Strug Concert Hall where we have lots of our school concerts and also had external clients in the arts community. Same with the invited directors and guest lectures we have. Halifax’s arts community is small and so incredibly welcoming.

I'm from Alberta. I would not have been able to afford to come out here without the generosity of the Fountains. My whole my whole degree was paid for by the Fountains and I'm forever in debt to them. It gave me the incentive to work harder.

There’s so much talent that comes out of this school, not just the technicians. We see beautiful costumes and beautiful actors and hear incredible music. I’m not going to be successful on my own, it’s such a collective.

I don't think I'd be a strong technician if it wasn't for my classmates. There's not a single moment when somebody gets a job other than me, that I'm jealous about them getting it. I’m so incredibly proud of everyone.

What's next?
I'm currently working on Neptune Theatre’s Mamma Mia as a prop builder. I’ll be down in the trenches in a professional theatre. What I came here to learn is now what I'm doing as a career.

After that, I'm hoping to go back home to Calgary and bring home a bit of the Halifax community that I know and love, by working out there. I'm never going to stop creating. I’ll always have that desire be present in theater.

Advice for anyone starting the program?
Get a good pair of knee pads because you're going to need them. Don’t pick at the hangnails. Invest in a good hand cream.

You are going to put about the same amount of work in as a Med student but your creating theatre instead of bloodletting. I think I’ve won. I'm not saving lives, but I'm definitely making someone smile today.

photo: Kate Hayter