Performance Production: Post Grad with Joanne Tutor

Performance at The Creative School focuses on preparing our graduates with a range of skills they can use to succeed in any industry. For Performance Production + Design, students explore production management, creative technologies and design applications for live entertainment, and build the technical, creative and leadership skills necessary to produce large-scale productions. They also explore all facets of production design — from costume and scenery, to lighting, projection, and audio — and gain hands-on experience by participating in live shows and industry collaborations. With graduation on the horizon, we are focusing on the different paths our students take upon graduating.
This week upcoming Performance Production grad Joanne Tutor shares some of her favourite moments from the Production program!
In the theatre realm, I would love to build a Mirvish set someday! In the meantime, I’m hoping to get more experience in the industry with carpentry and technical direction. I also hope to find a way to better integrate my passion for illustration/visual arts with my theatre career.
My time at the School of Performance has been very rewarding, and filled with a lot of personal growth. I came from being an actor in high school to finding a passion for carpentry and an eagerness to learn more about props, paints, audio and technical direction. During my time in the Production program, I spent some time with Yes, And? (TMU’s Improv club), and tackled various calls across semesters as Head Carpenter, Technical Director and being part of the audio department.
One of the biggest takeaways that I learned was the importance of creative problem solving. Working as a technical director in the school has challenged me to find creative solutions for problems that I encounter in production - it can be quite stressful at times, but very fulfilling and satisfying when a solution I come up with ends up working well for the show.

Joanne working on A4 at Tarragon in the F2023 semester (with Rebecca McDonald)
Click Bush Train Bug
Photograph by Jeremy Mimnagh
Directed by Christina Pastor
Lighting Doordination by Erwin Lau 劉立言
Costume Coordination by Emma Haynes
Set, Props, Projections Coordination by Tina Chu
It’s okay that you don't know what a stage manager is, or what a scrim or fresnel is, or how to use a jigsaw. You’ll learn what all of these things are and so much more over the years here, and most importantly, you’ll rediscover the joy of learning.

Joanne developing the dropbox system for Production.

Joanne at the COC props shop looking at their stock breakaway chair as part of her capstone project research.

Joanne working on the crossover for an Acting4 show!