I grew up in Kingwood, TX (North Houston area) and lived there until I went to college in 2004. High school is where my interest in theatre began, though I owe that to my older brother. He took the light design/electrician route, while I found my place among the carpenters. However, I pride myself in knowing my way around a C-wrench and a lighting instrument as well as any other electrician.

Although I felt at home in the theatre, I was not ready to commit to making it my career. I was awarded to Cooper Scholar award from the University of South Carolina and, thus, chose to attend. I declared my major right away as theatre, but I liked knowing I could make a switch if something more compelling struck me. Over the years, I realized my place was in the dark, behind the scenes, and in the shop; sometimes crammed under a low deck, other times hanging from a twelve foot ladder. While I did find my second love and second major, philosophy, nothing could compete with the unique challenges presented only be the world of theatre. One minute I am cutting molding to precise angles, the next I am figuring out how to make a bunch of flowers sitting in a window box that is floating in the air bloom, then die, then bloom again just to be picked.

During the summer between junior and senior year, I did an internship at the North Shore Music Theatre in Beverly, MA. Unfortunately, this theatre has since had to close its doors due to financial reasons; however, the friends I made there and the lessons I learned will remain in my heart forever. While I spent my sophmore and junior years working in the scene studio, I was given the opportunity during my senior year to be the undergraduate technical director for the Booker T. Washington (BTW) Lab Theatre, USC's second stage black box space. This allowed me to take charge of all of the technical aspects for the second stage shows, as well as supervise other undergraduate students who were still learning about technical theatre.

My greatest accomplishment during undergraduate career is by far my thesis project: The Creation of an Undergraduate Lab Space in Benson Theatre. Benson is an old black box space, predating many of the current faculty. Over the years, Theatre South Carolina acquired new, more advanced spaces, and Benson Theatre was left to various student groups, most of whom had neither the means nor the knowledge to take care of the space. During the second half of my junior year, I applied for two grants: one from the Magellan Scholar program for $3000 and the other from the South Carolina Honors College for $1500. With this, a small donation from TOAST Improv, a little money from my own pocket, and countless hours of my free time, I was able to convert Benson from a dilapidated, cluttered space that was lucky to be used once a year into a clean, modern, and, most importantly, usable space that I am proud to say is used several times a year, primarily by undergraduate students who would otherwise have nowhere to experiment with theatre. The major projects included installing a new lighting system (dimmers, light board, new instruments), repairing the audience risers and making them safe, cleaning the backstage, building two private changing booths, and creating a set of interchangeable flats that could be easily reconfigured and braced without abstructing backstage walkways. Benson Theatre is a product of undergraduate initiative and will hopefully remain a tool for the same.

Upon graduation, decided to move to the Chicago area to find new theatre opportunities that were simply unavailable in Columbia, SC. I got a job working as a scenic carpenter at Northlight Theatre in Skokie, IL. I worked full-time on each of the five shows in the '08-'09 season. Also, in preparation for the final show of the season, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, the production manager at Northlight offered me a position on the run crew to assist with the immense cleanup after each performance. Seeing as the shop was to close down for the summer, I accepted. Before the '09-'10 season began, the production manager offered me the position of floor manager. Now I act as run crew for each show, maintain the sets as needed, and work in the scene studio when available.