Stage magic and the appearance of effortless shifts from one scene and costume to the next are made possible by that group of people who are divided from “cast” as “crew.” And like their maritime cognate, people like those on the following pages assure that the productions sail. When the weather starts getting rough, and walls need repairing or lights reset, or if the big party lacks just the right ingredient to give it that memorable Oomph factor, then these are some of the Richmond people who know about the business of show.
Eve Marie Tuck (Photo by Jay Paul)
The Stagecrafter
Eve Marie Tuck, theater artist
When Eve Marie Tuck is done with her day, she’s helped build not just stage sets, but worlds into which actors step, and for which audiences suspend their disbelief. She derives a great sense of accomplishment from that, but also a sense of personal achievement.
“I’m 5-foot-1 and know how to use a drill and know what I’m doing around the tools and materials,” Tuck explains. “It’s a good feeling when I’m moving things around to know that those walls aren’t going to fall on me — because I built them.”
The Virginia Commonwealth University junior, who’s majoring in performance with the theater department, helped build the sets of the 5th Wall Theatre Co.’s “Luna Gale” and “Murder Ballad,” as well as VCU’s production of “Urinetown.” She’s interning with 5th Wall for set construction during the spring of 2018, while also understudying the part of Little Red for an April 2018 production of “Into the Woods” at VCU.
“To me, the backstage work, the technical jobs, are just as fulfilling as being on stage,” Tuck says. “I love to see how things work out, from the idea to the construction and their use.”
Patrick Morin (Photo by Sarah Walor)
Keeping Shows on Point
Patrick Morin, Richmond Ballet production technician
Patrick Morin is a self-professed jack-of-all-trades who runs the gamut of tasks, everything from set carpentry and running the soundboard to focusing the lights and mopping the floor.
“To be a production technician, you need to have knowledge that covers a broad spectrum of things,” he explains. “Outside of shows, I’m required to keep track of inventory, repair items that break and even drive trucks, along with many other responsibilities.”
His future wife introduced him to the field of theater about nine years ago. And, as often happens, once he got a glimpse of the stage life, that, as they say, was that. His wife became production manager of the Richmond Ballet, and he was hired shortly thereafter. On his credits are 60 performances of “The Nutcracker.”
Every show presents its own unique challenges. During the Richmond Ballet’s “Trio” show last season, Morin and his team built a massive ramp from scratch in the basement shop. Once constructed, it needed to be disassembled, packed in a truck for hauling to the theater and then installed. “It was surprisingly easy to move and rebuild,” Morin says, “even though it seemed very daunting at the start.”
How a Party Becomes an Event
Dylan Adams, The Lighting & Sound Company
All that uplighting of trees and festooned columns and whether the band sounds good doesn’t happen by accident. Professionals bring these elements together to provide a memorable evening.
“Combined with good times and booming growth in the city, there are plenty of events to go around — and plenty of new companies popping up to take on the burden,” says Dylan Adams, who, with his younger brother Logan, went into event production around 2012. Logan, a business major, looked around and saw that even though event companies were springing up, they tended not to be, as he saw it, run well. Thus the Adams brothers became Lighting & Sound, which now services events throughout the United States.
Dylan cut his eyeteeth on this kind of planning while in Virginia Commonwealth University’s theater production program, when he took a job dealing with lighting and other tasks at the Kings Dominion amusement park. Due to turnover, some summers he and three other employees might be keeping the whole park running. “To experience everything all at once, especially since I was so young, was invaluable,” he says.
The company has provided lighting for a vice-presidential debate at Longwood University and a presidential debate at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Their bread-and-butter, though, is weddings; elaborate church productions, especially around the holidays; and special occasions for university and sports organizations.
A big misconception is how much effort goes into creating a three-hour music concert or a four-hour wedding. “What people don’t think about is pushing boxes around for three hours or sitting in the truck in the sun,” Dylan says.
Light on the Subject
Erin Barclay, theater lighting technician
Some people assume that though Erin Barclay is on the technical side of a production, her ultimate goal is to be under the spotlights, rather than working them. Actually, she notes, “I got into tech theater because I was a freshman in high school and had a crush on a senior who did tech stuff, and then I fell in love with it — but not him — and now it’s what I do. It’s not my backup job — in fact, if I could make a full-time career out of it, I absolutely would.”
Her exposure to the possibilities of theater came during a year abroad at St. Patrick’s College, just outside of Dublin, Ireland. The school didn’t offer a theater degree, but it had a drama society that produced a few shows a year. She became the group’s technical director.
Barclay recalls a production of the Aaron Sorkin play “A Few Good Men,” with Irish actors using American accents. “They grew up on our television,” she says. “They could recite episodes of ‘Friends’ back and forth. They, as Irish doing American accents, were far better than us trying to do Irish.”
When preparing for a show, she reads the script, getting ideas of what things will look like. If it’s a space she knows well, Barclay can work the lighting in her head. Sometimes, though, the way it looks there isn’t what the director wants. “The best directors don’t say, ‘Do what I tell you,’ and they also don’t say, ‘Do whatever you want,’ ” Barclay notes. “Theater is a collaborative process — which is what I absolutely love about it.”
Sheila Russ (Photo by Sarah Walor)
The Woman Makes the Clothes
Sheila Russ, costume designer
Sheila Russ has one of those typical but atypical how-I-got-into-theater stories. She graduated from Hermitage High School, where she participated in theater, and later took some elective courses in theater while studying business at Virginia Tech. After graduation, she went on to get a master’s in human resources at Virginia Commonwealth University.
She started working on her MBA, but then she made a life change and instead went to Baptist Theological Seminary here and stage-managed a production of “Godspell.” After that came moves and different church jobs and an eventual return to Richmond.
Russ became an assistant manager at a local fabric and crafts store, where colleague Christy Hudson, who was on the boards of both the Chamberlayne Actors Theatre (CAT) and the Henrico Theatre Co., noticed her creativity and sewing skills. Russ at first expected a call from CAT that didn’t come, and so she thought she wasn’t needed — until an email arrived welcoming her as a costume supervisor. “Guess I’m doing this!” she laughingly recalls thinking.
Director Melissa Rayford talked with Russ about what she wanted and why, especially since the play was a contemporary. “Even in modern-day pieces, choices about costumes are deliberate,” Russ says. “I learned a lot about changing costumes to make sure the scenes match, paying attention to what their colors are, wearing their styles.”
Her debut led to more productions, such as her Richmond Theatre Critics Circle-nominated work for 5th Wall’s “The Toxic Avenger.” As a former seminarian, the annual “Acts of Faith Festival” is of great interest for Russ, and for CAT’s entry, she’s costuming “The Diviners,” a Depression-era drama running from Feb. 2-17.
