Rickard 1

Maya Rickard

Teresa Durbin-Ames

Modern Dramatic Styles

16 April 2018

Technical Direction

The presentation I attended was the work of Theatre Major, Seth Morrison. The title of the

presentation was, The Responsibilities, Process, and Craft of Technical Direction. He was inspired to

do this project because when he was younger he’d worked with construction. His dad had taught him

a lot about woodworking. He helped his community. The first time he heard about Technical

Direction was when he began to attend Ashland University. He wanted to learn more about the ‘TD’

and sharpen skills he had already learned by being a Technical Director.

His research question was along the lines of, is it possible to list/describe the responsibilities

for a TD? To answer it, he used his own experiences, spoke to other TDs and used books for research.

This creative activity relates to Stage Managers because they also have to find their own process and

way of organizing things and understand their responsibilities.

The conclusion was that the process would not be perfect. He says you have to adapt and have

flexibility as a TD. It is possible to get the typical list of things expected of a Technical Director.

I think the presenter will go on to be a successful Technical Director at a company somewhere

after he is able to breathe. I thought their process was effective and he realizes what he would have

done differently, for example make the workload equal. I agree with his conclusion, no process for a

TD will be perfect. They have much to balance in their plate.

In my performer hat, I’d like to do shows considered classical but as a designer I’d like to try

many genres of theatre. What I observed is that there is much preparation needed. I knew this
 Rickard 2

previously due to the fact the show he worked on I designed the scenery. I had a lot of preparation

time and used it best as I could while learning as he learned more about the Technical Director. The

reason I like classical theatre is because I feel very drawn to the past. As a designer I am drawn to the

past as well but I like to bring the past to the future and do more things. I’d rather live as a character is

the past but be a designer for the future.