LD DOWELL.
Paperwork & More
Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus
I am in my second year working with on the Ringling tour. Last year as assistant props/assistant technical director and this year as the head of props and still continuing my role of assistant technical director. Working on the circus you really learn the meaning behind the term exclaimed in chaos "it's a circus in here!" That being said I find it crucial to implement paperwork for my team to keep our props clean and well maintained. The props team at Ringling also doubles as the logistics team. We load in 28 trucks every new city and load out 20-28 of them as well. The props team cleans and paints all of the scenic items and we also run tracks during the show! My team consists of 5 assistants and myself. As far as performers, we have around 75-80 and a crew 45-55 people. Click the link to see some of my paperwork.
Sesame Street Live--Make Your Magic
This production was a jump back into my childhood. Sesame Street was a six month tour and we performed over 110 shows. We stayed in cities as short as one day to as long as one week. Our one day cities usually consisted of a 4am load in, two shows, load out. I was the props assistant. My job duties consisted of helping load in the 3 trucks, setting up the scenic pieces, running a show track, and loading out the scenic pieces as well as packing one and a half of the trucks. We had a cast of 12 and a crew of 12.
Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderlla
This musical had a cast of 15 and we had our fair share of mishaps due to covid case (including myself) during rehearsals and tech week. My organized prompt book helped the other stage manager on call to work through tech week and I was able to come back for opening night. This show had a lot of choreography and I with the help of google drive I was able to organize everything so it was accessible for the performers, director, choreographer, and even designers. These videos became so helpful when people were out. This show had travelled from Cinderella's cottage to the Prince's castle and the with a smaller cast, all of the ensemble double, tripled, even quadrupled roles. See a small sneak peak to see how I stayed organized through it all.
The Mountaintop
This production was done in South Dakota at Black Hills Playhouse. The cast size was only two people, so the line load was heavy. One of my biggest tasks during rehearsal was helping King learn his lines. The show was a fictional magical depiction of the last night before MLK passed. It had its array of lighting, sound, and projectin elements.
The Thorn
This was my first tour! The thorn is a cirque style passion play with aerialists, trickers, fire, dancing, and more. I was head of props, stage manager, and I actually played ensemble during the show. Jesus drew the crowds! It was a short two week tour, but during a third week we filmed the show with a movie crew and now it is available on DVD! It was a busy show, but we had an amazing team and my paperwork and google drive helped us stay on top of everything.
A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
This production was done during COVID times, so there were many challenges that came up. The cast (including understudies) was a size of 17 and the show was set in over 20 locations. I submitted materials from this show to the KCACTF festival and won first place in the Stage Management Fellowship.
