HJT Welcomes Nathan Tomsheck as New Technical Director

The most recent addition to the Whitman Department of Theatre and Dance and Harper Joy Theatre is Technical Director Nathan Tomsheck. Nathan joins Kevin Walker in the shop and together the pair will both serve as Technical Directors.

With preparations for the 2014-2015 season underway, Nathan has already found himself in the thick of theatre creation. Things at Harper Joy, however, will be different from his experiences at LaGrange College where he says he found himself doing just about everything from construction to design and management in order to consistently produce successful performances in their theatre department. “The great thing about Whitman is the involvement it gets from its students. It’s something that I wish I’d had the opportunity to have as an undergraduate.” The annual Instant Play Festival, he says, is “fascinating to me because of how student-driven it is.” The trust that faculty have in students is something that first impressed Tomsheck about Harper Joy and he says that its well-supported guest artist program also attracted him to Whitman because of the tremendous amount of opportunity it provides for collaboration. Working with a full group of designers, he says, is one of the things he is most excited about. In addition to serving as Technical Director alongside Kevin Walker, Nathan will also be teaching Play Production this year, a class in which students learn about theatre technology and the production process. Welcome Nathan!