"I'm with the crew."   

by Kevin Dixon

This is a sentence that I have been saying for the last 44 years. It started when I joined the sound and lighting crew in high school. It is a simple line that has come to define a large part of my 58 years on this planet. The shows that I have done and my working life are a direct result of my time spent on the sound and lighting crew in high school. 

In grade nine, I was asked to help set up for a dance and that was a turning point in my life. I just didn't know it at the time. I then became involved in doing sound and lighting for school plays and that was the second turning point in my life.The drama teacher who was directing the plays taught me how to be a Stage Manager and proper lighting techniques but, most importantly, she taught me that theatre could be a real career.

I cannot overstate just how important my high school sound and lighting crew experiences were to my professional development. Without those extracurricular activities I would not have discovered theatre. I was finally confident enough to take high school drama because of the relationships I had established with my fellow drama students through my work on crew. I felt a part of my high school’s world of theatre. I did not take Drama until my Grade 13 year when I took Grade 10 in Semester 1 and Grade 13 in Semester 2 to enhance my resume for admission to the technical theatre program at what was then Ryerson.

A big part of our crew culture was passed on from kid to kid. All of the teachers in charge of us would say the crews were theirs and, as far as the school boards were concerned, that is true. But from talking to other industry people who started in high school, we know that the crews were actually ours all along. We were given space, agency, and a voice. We were trusted and respected.