麻豆社 Stage Design and Technical Theatre Grad Q&A with Tegan Porter
Tegan Porter has completed her undergraduate Bachelor of Arts Honours in Theatre, Stage and Technical Theatre, with a minor in creative writing. Here's what she had to say about her time at the Fountain School of Performing Arts.
What part of your studies as a technical theatre student had a steep learning curve for you?
Lighting board operator. When I first saw the lighting board, that was like the scariest thing. There's so many buttons, faders, screens and lights. And I don't know what a single one them did. It was very intimidating and scary. Very gradually I learned it through my time here and now I can sit down at a board and program lights without really a thought. I am quite happy about that.
DalTheatre stage productions put students in leadership positions and roles. Which one scared you the most?
Calling a show. Stage managers call the show. I assistant stage managed on Peer Gynt because I wanted to try everything. It was a really, really challenging show with so many technical elements. Lots of actors, lots of crew. I learned so much. But I could not imagine being the stage manager for that show and having to call every cue. It was really impressive.
I was the costume assistant stage manager for that production. There were 56 costumes in total. I did all the paperwork, managed all the individual pieces for 56 costumes, and helped the dressers.
In my third year I was asked to be co stage manager on the Devised production, Artifical Oddity with Veronica Jollymore. We were great at keeping track of each other and our duties. If one of us forgot something, the other would remember. We split calling the shows and it worked out quite well.
Talk a bit about working on Mr. Burns.
It's quite intimidating in the beginning, when a 鈥渞eal鈥� director comes in. But as you grow in the program, you realize we鈥檙e all working together towards the same goal. Our director for Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play, Dan Bray, really treated us like professionals but also knew this was a university setting, that we would make mistakes, and that we鈥檇 also grow from them.
I was head of props on that show, and it was really fun to create pieces and do things that I hadn't done before in the props role, like making the prop list, sorting out budget and then sourcing things.
I was sort of jealous about Thunder Defayette鈥檚 amazing lighting Thunder. I wasn't there for cue to cue and I didn't see the final product until show run. Lighting and props can make a huge difference. All these random elements look kind of strange in the prop shop, but then you get the actors together wearing them, they're all singing under all the lights and you鈥檙e like, whoa, okay. This is why I'm doing this.
Lorenzo Castro as Mr. Burns, with Tegan Porter contributing as head of props
Director: Dan Bray, Set and Costume Designer: Sean Mulcahy, Lighting Designer: Thunder Defayette, Photo: Kate Hayter
Do you have a favorite class or faculty, and why?
I really liked the theatre history classes with Jure Gantar. Dawn Brandes puppetry classes were so fun, and I really liked her dramaturgy class. I didn't know anything about dramaturgy going in and the way she arranged that class and how the lecturers tied into the assignments was really cool. We had freedom in our assignment. You could choose any play and go down a rabbit hole with your research about the author, the play鈥檚 time period and characters. The research skills I learned in dramaturgy class I now incorporate into my set design.
The technical theatre classes are what I came here for. That's what I love doing the most. Spending time on projects, creating and building in the prop shop, and being very hands on with a stage production鈥檚 set and props needs.
Tell me about your minor in creative writing?
I also did the play writing course last year, both semesters of it with Catherine Banks, which was amazing. It was so awesome to be taught by a renowned professional Canadian playwright. Getting to know her and having her feedback on my work was like, absolutely incredible.
What's your dream job?
Well, that's a harder question. I don't know, I like so many different areas of theatre.
I like the technical side of creating theatre. Doing the lights, or props, or sound. Just being in that world. I like being the operator, but sometimes I want to do more. I want to be in a designer role and make the creative decisions.
