By: Conner Beasley
Recently I had the opportunity to interview a former president of the Westlake Technical Entertainment Crew, Dylan Randall. Dylan was very active in the Technical Theatre program for all four years of his high school career and served as president during his Junior and Senior years. He is currently working towards his doctorate degree in Physical Therapy at Rosalind Franklin University, outside Chicago. Here are the results from our conversation:
What year did you graduate Westlake High School?
“I graduated in 2006.”
How did you get involved with Technical Theatre and the Westlake Technical Entertainment Crew?
“When I was in 8th grade and applying for my high school classes, I wanted to do computer animation as an elective. I had put technical theatre down as an alternate because I did not completely know what it was. It turned out I got my alternate elective rather than my primary choice, and ended up in the tech theatre class. So it wasn’t even intended."
How many years were you an officer?
“I was an officer for three of the four years I was involved in Westlake TEC.”
Did you stage manage any major productions and, if so, what was that experience like?
“My sophomore year I stage managed Brigadoon, which was that year’s musical performance. This was my first opportunity to lead a large crew. I remember thinking about the potential to make some really noticeable mistakes. I was waking up in the middle of the night thinking about cues, worried about making mistakes. It really opened my eyes to the fact that I have to trust my crew and know that if I did my part, they would follow through and do theirs. It was really cool seeing all our preparation from rehearsals spring into action on production day. It taught me how to work through issues. During one of our performances, a wireless microphone failed, and we all communicated well and worked together to overcome that difficult situation. Everyone performed their job flawlessly, and the audience didn’t even know anything had gone wrong."
What are your thoughts about becoming president junior year?
“At first it was a little intimidating knowing that I would have to gain the respect and lead people both younger than me and older than me. I learned that doing so was possible and I proved to myself that I could do it. I liked having a second year to learn from my mistakes and build on it. I had a second shot at it and could improve from what I did the previous year."
What have you done since you graduated high school?
“Since I graduated high school, I went to Brigham Young University, where I was majoring in Theatre and Film. After my freshman year, I spent two years in Sao Paolo, Brazil with my church being a missionary from 2007 to 2009. After that I returned to BYU and switched majors and began taking Pre-Med classes. The year before I graduated BYU, I got married to Kara Butler, a wonderful girl from BYU. Currently, I’m getting my doctorate at Rosalind Franklin, outside of Chicago."
Looking back on your four years in the Technical Theatre program, what was your favorite memory?
“Probably my favorite memory looking back was my junior and senior year when I got to lead newer members and teach them everything that I had been taught, then getting to see them step up and succeed.”
How did your four years in Technical Theatre affect your life after high school?
“In TEC, there was something new to be learned every day. It has given me good communication skills, teamwork skills, leadership skills, discipline, the list goes on. Those are skills that you work on your whole life but TEC really gave me the foundation that I never would’ve had.”
What advice would you give students that are currently in TEC?
“My advice to students currently in the technical theatre program would be, remember that it’s not about the equipment. Throughout your life, technology will change and the technical skills you learned won’t necessarily benefit you directly, even though having a good technological base is a good thing. What really matters is the skills that you learned like how to work with other people, leadership skills, communication skills, self-discipline, etc. Those are skills that people will always need no matter how much the world changes."
