New program aims to train in-demand technical theater professionals

A former auto body shop next to Pillsbury House Theatre will now house a new training operation for future technical theater professionals part of the theater and society center s new expansion into a wider campus called the Pillsbury Creative Commons The new three-part technical arts training plan pays participants to gain skills in carpentry scenic painting welding technical lighting sound and projections offers a one-on-one apprenticeship model and eventually places the new trainees with theater opportunities around the Twin Cities The project is aimed at boosting the workforce numbers for technical theater trades an area that has struggled in contemporary years to fill positions nationwide We need capable creative dynamic people in these positions stated Pillsbury Creative Commons workforce training manager Andr Samples The initiative aims to bring more diversity to the industry which has historically maintained a majority white male workforce We have gotten maybe marginally better over the years in telling stories that represent a wider swath of our society he revealed That is incomplete unless every level of that story is being notified from the perspective of people of color of people with disabilities of women of the LGBTQIA group at all levels of the production in order for it to truly represent those perspectives and those stories Building backstage theater skills Pillsbury House Theatre s technical arts training venture follows the work of a former Twin Cities group called Technical Tools of the Business founded by Laura Wilhelm and Wu Chen Khoo The group hosted a variety of workshops roundtables meet-ups and training for people interested in technical theater fields It really was rooted in this idea that we re going to take the technical skills of production and do population organizing through that Khoo disclosed Khoo began doing theater after graduating from college though he hadn t studied theater in school At the time he was able to learn skills on the job without having any formal training in the field A change in landscape has led to more college-educated people getting into the field Khoo noted that backstage workers in the music industry tend to be more diverse than in theater The work that stage hands are doing in rock and roll events isn t really different from the work we do in theater we re part of the same union We do the same work We have the same job classifications he noted The difference is wages Even non-union music venues have higher pay generally than nonprofit theaters generally Khoo explained which he says is partly why theater lags in diversity efforts Technical Tools of the Exchange sought to change that dynamic The whole point from the beginning was that we required to make change he commented We yearned to have conversations about working conditions and capitalism and how we relate to each other in terms of artistry and labor and what it means to do labor in a field that is about pretending The group sunsetted in but models like Pillsbury House Theatre s training plan are a way to continue offering a pathway into the backstage world Pillsbury House Theatre which brands itself as a center for creativity and district bought the auto body shop next door back in December and began using it right away for scene shop building After a renovation the shop will house the first technical arts training session beginning in August in addition to housing a new studio for KRSM Radio A former auto body shop how being renovated next to Pillsbury House Theatre houses a new training effort for future technical theater professionals Credit Sheila Regan The campaign begins with a two-week exposure lesson They ll kind of learn the basic equipment and the basic terminology Samples declared We ll cover quite a bit of safety because we ll be sending them into live spaces We want to make sure that they re safe within that process Pillsbury House Theatre staff including its technical director and a projections specialist will lead the training with additional welding skills taught down the street at the Chicago Avenue Fire Arts Center For the one-on-one apprenticeship undertaking in phase Pillsbury House Theatre will be collaborating with partners across the Twin Cities to offer immersive experiences for the participants They re not just going into one theater and learning how one theater does something Samples disclosed I want to make sure that they re seeing the diversity of approaches and getting opportunities to arrangement in multiple spaces Decisively in the third phase of the operation apprentices will get patronage to find their first job or two in the field We ll be kind of working again with the partners to find a good first opportunity and in that time we ll still be providing external mentorship promotion Samples announced Apprentices will be paid for the first phase and for the second Once they move to phase three the theater that employs the apprentice will set the wage for the workers Samples explained Meanwhile the apprentice will still have access to their Pillsbury House Theatre mentor during phase three he added Pilot effort prepared apprentice Pillsbury House Theatre has already run a pilot of the undertaking earlier this year Ne Vaeh Embaye whose first introduction to the theater was through a Step-Up internship through the city of Minneapolis while she was still in high school followed that up with a second internship with the theater This year she worked as an apprentice for PHT s production of Close to Home and assisted in building and painting the set for the show I was mainly just proud of myself for building all that stuff and painting all of that in such a small period of time Embaye explained She then continued her apprenticeship at Arts formerly the Victoria Theater where she assisted with lighting and ran the soundboard for a show The main drawback was transportation after rehearsals and performances from St Paul I wasn t able to take the residents transportation because it was pretty late and it just wasn t really that safe she stated She ultimately ended up taking Lyft rides home which cost her about - per ride Embaye worked with a mentor Pillsbury House Theatre s technical director Claudia Erickson throughout the apprenticeship She kind of naturally knew how I learned and how I did things and it was very accountable for my demands Embaye explained I didn t need a lot of things luckily enough But for the times I did ever need extra encouragement she was invariably there to really help me Now that she s completed the undertaking Embaye is starting classes at Minneapolis College where she plans to earn credits before her goal of attending Minneapolis College of Art and Design Ultimately she explained she hopes to examination fine arts and is interested in learning about animation Technical Arts Training Pillsbury begins Aug For more information and to apply visit their website To visit the renovated Pillsbury Locality Commons visit the new center at the Inside out Block Party Saturday July from p m to p m at th and Chicago The post New initiative aims to train in-demand technical theater professionals appeared first on MinnPost