JOHN BLACK ’04 Theater Manager
J
ohn Black's path into theater management is a tale spun from unexpected turns and unwavering passion. An unforeseen email amid wedding preparations led him back to the SFS theaters, steering his focus from the spotlight to the intricate artistry behind the scenes. As he shares his journey, discover the captivating story of a backstage enthusiast driven by an unrelenting dedication to the craft. How did you get into theater management? I was in an undergraduate theater program that was focusing on design. My initial plan was to go on to graduate school. My main passion area is lighting and lighting design, so I was looking at lighting MFA programs during my senior year. Then I received an email from Seoul Foreign because I still had contacts here saying, “Hey, this theater management position is becoming available. Would you be interested in coming back?” At the time, I was also planning a wedding and she [Stephanie Black ’05] was also looking at grad programs in physical therapy. So that kind of threw a wrench into our plans. [laughs] But in the end, we felt God was calling us to come back. Growing up as TCKs [Third Culture Kids], we were itching to get out of the United States anyways. You are an SFS alumnus. What was your experience like as a student? Very different from the student experience today. I was very focused in the areas that my passions were. I was very involved in the music program. I was very involved backstage doing tech. There wasn't a formal tech crew back then - it was very student driven. And I also had the time to be able to really focus on it because I wasn't an IB student. I started to get involved in production when I was in grade five. At that time, the music concerts were in the old, much smaller Robb Hall or the UAC, and I remember seeing a couple of high school students running a soundboard and some mics and there were some lights up in the rafters. At the time, there was no Theatre Department and productions were directed by English teachers in the high school. The high school was the only section that had drama productions. The support of the theater was the responsibility of a member of the IT Department, but it wasn't his area of expertise, so oversaw students who were interested to help him and run events. So I got my hands and feet wet by getting as involved as I could. I loved it so much so I got my nose into any textbook that I could find, or any other resource, to learn as much as I could. And eventually, I found myself being kind of the campus expert. I would be pulled out of classes to fix things or to run assemblies for the middle school, 12
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