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Theatre and Live Production

Before my work in warehousing and logistics systems, my professional foundation was in theatre and live production. That background shaped how I think about systems that must function correctly under pressure, with limited tolerance for failure and no opportunity to “retry” once things are in motion.

This page provides context for that formative period and why it still matters.

Training and discipline

I earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre Arts with a concentration in technical design and production. The training emphasized preparation, coordination across disciplines, and execution in environments where technical systems directly affect human experience in real time.

Unlike many academic programs, theatre production treats technical work as inseparable from operations. Lighting, scenery, rigging, and crew coordination must function together, often with minimal margin for error and under strict time constraints. That mindset proved durable.

Live systems under pressure

My early professional work included lighting design, programming, and operation for theatrical and live-event productions, as well as hands-on technical roles supporting touring and resident shows. This work involved maintaining and troubleshooting complex technical systems where failures were immediately visible and publicly experienced.

Operating in these environments reinforced several principles that continue to influence my work:

  • Preparation matters more than improvisation
  • Failure modes must be anticipated, not explained afterward
  • Clear roles and procedures reduce risk under pressure
  • Technical systems exist to support people doing the work, not to impress them

Live production environments do not reward cleverness. They reward reliability.

Operating under variability

One early example of this mindset came from my time operating lighting for a high-volume, fixed-schedule production environment at Dollywood. Over the course of two summer seasons, the same core show was performed hundreds of times, often five or more times per day.

Although the show was written as a fixed sequence of scenes, real conditions rarely allowed it to be performed that way. Performers were injured, guest appearances occurred without notice, weather disrupted schedules, and audience flow changed dynamically. To keep performances on time and safe, scenes were regularly skipped, reordered, shortened, or reinserted later in the show.

From a technical standpoint, this meant the lighting system had to be runnable in any order, with cues adapted on the fly and transitions rebuilt live. The job was not to execute a script, but to maintain coherence and pacing under constant variation.

That environment rewarded deep familiarity with the system, advance preparation, and the ability to reason about structure rather than sequence. The show succeeded not because it followed the plan, but because it could deviate from it without breaking.

Scale, logistics, and touring

My time with Bandit Lites, Inc. combined live production with large-scale logistics. Touring lighting systems introduced concerns that would later feel familiar in other domains: inventory, transport, standardization, documentation, and readiness across constantly changing environments.

This work sat at the intersection of physical systems, technical control, and operational coordination, and quietly introduced many of the same constraints found later in warehouse and RF environments.

Technical crossover

As live production systems became increasingly computerized in the mid-1990s, my work began to shift from purely theatrical operation toward maintaining and repairing the systems behind that operation. This period preceded any formal IT role and grew directly out of hands-on responsibility for computerized lighting controllers and control systems, many of which were effectively standard PCs paired with dedicated interface hardware.

Working with these systems required understanding operating systems, hardware diagnostics, peripheral interfaces, and software behavior under live conditions. Failures were not abstract; they happened in the middle of shows, under time pressure, with immediate consequences.

This period marked the beginning of my transition into broader technical systems work. By the time I formally moved into a dedicated Computer Technician role, much of the practical crossover had already occurred. The role itself represented a consolidation of responsibilities that had been accumulating organically through live production support and touring environments, particularly during my time with Bandit.

Why this still matters

Although my professional focus has long since shifted to IT, integration, and cybersecurity, the habits formed in theatre and live production remain present:

  • Respect for operational reality
  • Emphasis on observability and preparation
  • Discomfort with unnecessary complexity
  • Preference for systems that behave predictably under stress

Live production taught me that systems do not exist in isolation. They exist in service of people, schedules, and environments that do not pause for debugging.

That lesson carries forward.

This background is included for perspective. My current professional focus is described in the Warehousing and Logistics Systems section.