It all Started at the Beginning

by Bryan Eaton

Quite honestly, when I started grade 9 in 1996, I was not interested in the drama program at my school, nor anything related to it. I was interested in visual arts, shop class, and I made sure to take a few math and science classes to keep my university options open. I assumed my interests would change a lot over the course of high school. I have an older brother, Peter, who took a rather different path from me in his final year at the school and was deeply  involved in the drama program. He dabbled in stage performance, but his true interest was the technical side of the shows.  He is now Technical Director at the National Ballet of Canada.  I blame my entire career trajectory on him, but to be perfectly fair, there were a handful of friends, teachers, and colleagues who also helped along the way. 

Peter and his friends had been the tech crew for the school since their grade 9 year. They had handled everything from AV setups for assemblies in the gym to the theatrical productions in the school’s auditorium.  When they were all about to graduate and suddenly realized they had nobody to fill that void, they dragged me in.  They taught me everything they could about the backstage world: equipment, culture, and  etiquette. By  my grade 10 year I was the only person in the school who knew what it was we did, and how we did it.  I was doing the work but more out of a sense of necessity, than out of true interest and passion on my part.

Over my years in high school I met a few others in the school who had a keen interest, and one or two more who were involved in community theatre and had some experience and knowledge.  I found myself picking up the odd gig outside of school, and   by my final year we were being hired to run community events that used the school’s facilities, as well as helping with community theatre, and working as stagehands for a production company who produced several music festivals and concerts in small towns around Southwestern Ontario throughout the year. 

But I still saw myself as an outsider to the world of performance and entertainment - never having interest in any on-stage aspect of the performing arts, and not fully understanding the reality of the technical industry on a large scale.  I eventually attended Toronto Metropolitan University’s Performance Production program and it was in my first year there that I realized that I actually had a knack and a knowledge for this work, and that it was in fact, a viable career option.

By second year of university, I had made a few friends who had hooked me up with gigs - enough part- time work to pay my tuition and living expenses, but mostly doing lighting and AV for private events such as weddings, birthdays, the odd product launch or corporate holiday party, in the field, but not necessarily the most invigorating and satisfying work. By the time I graduated I had connected with some larger production companies and was loading in and out a lot more concerts and larger scale events of all kinds. 

Shortly after graduating, I began working as a freelance technician in the indie and small theatres of downtown Toronto. This was when and where I first felt like I belonged and I wasn’t just faking it. 

I toured with a children's educational theatre production by a now long-defunct company and had some eye opening experiences both personally and professionally, gaining further insight into how the business works.  I found it hard to freelance.  After having been away for 8 months, I was suddenly at the bottom of everyone’s call-list. This lead me to apply for a house technician position, and to seven seasons starting as the Studio Theatre Technician, and working up to Studio Technical Director and Assistant Production manager at Factory Theatre. I even met my wife in that building!

During my time at Factory, I was involved in a union drive and became a member of the IATSE local 58 where I continued to work catching calls at major and minor venues across the Greater Toronto Area. 

Union membership came in very handy when the pandemic hit in early 2020 and the entire live events industry was shuttered indefinitely. I was unsure if and when I would ever have a career again, 

Fortunately, I was able to pivot into the world of film and television. It was a fellow member of local 58 who contacted me to see if I had interest in working with him, as the series he’d found work on needed more crew, and as a member of local 58 I was given priority to permit with Local 873 (The IATSE* Film/Television local in Toronto.) A year later I was also a member of Local 873 and I have now been working on Star Trek Strange New Worlds building and installing custom LED lighting systems for over two years.  I get to tell people, including my wife and two sons, that I build spaceships for a living. It really doesn’t get much better than that! 

I was first introduced to the IATSE through a friend I’d met in university who had joined the union before graduating, and has been working as a member since. He was instrumental in getting me to where I am today. I was introduced to him originally by a friend from my high school days - the one who got  me into the community theatre scene, after he had also ended up in the same program as us in university - so I can draw several lines, some more direct than others, from my successful and rewarding family life and career today to my first week of grade 9 and being dragged by my older brother into a strange world of high school auditorium theatrical lighting, over a quarter century ago, even if the path I took to get there took me to myriad other exciting and cherished places first. It’s amazing how much something so seemingly minor as a high school crew can influence our lives.