There are few faculty members on campus as new to the payroll as Jason Hibbard. Hibbard is an alumni charting back to the University’s old title of Plymouth State College. He is originally from Whitefield, New Hampshire where he attended the White Mountains Regional High School. After that, he ventured here to PSU to study and eventually graduate with a BA in Theatre Design and Tech. He then pursued his graduate degree at Purdue University for Stage Management. Some of his jobs after his graduate studies included an internship at the American Repertory Theatre, The Plymouth Book Exchange, shoveling snow in the winter, and mowing lawns in the summer. At the age of 29, Hibbard has come back to his alma mater to join the faculty as a Shop Supervisor in the Silver Center for the Arts scene shop, where he teaches a class in stage management and is the head of electrics.
Mr. Hibbard was finally hunted down around 7:30 p.m. Saturday night amid the Faculty Dance Recital. He was on the mid cat operating a spot light. After finishing up his duties in the recital, he was able to retreat into the scene shop for questioning.
Clock: Building sets can sometimes be complicated, whether it be fabricating objects or interpreting a set design. What was the most creative fix you have come up with?
Hibbard: While I was working on Our Town I had to make a pair of flats that were made to work like Venetian blinds. We could not figure them out. On a Saturday a friend of mine and myself went in to work and figured out a rig with eyehooks and cables that opened and shut them beautifully. It wasn’t anything that hit me like an epiphany! It was just something that we could not figure out.
Clock: In your job you are around a lot of dangerous equipment such as power tools and high voltage. What are the most common dangers faced in your day-to-day job?
Hibbard: Well, this isn’t so much a danger to me but I would say it is keeping people safe. It is my job to make sure that my crew follows common sense. The majority of the time when people injure themselves in a shop it is because they are not thinking or using common sense.
Clock: What is the worst accident you have seen?
Hibbard: When I had my internship at the American Repertory Theatre I had entered the scene shop literally thirty seconds after a kid had cut off his finger with the table saw. I didn’t actually get to see the kid who lost his finger, he had already left for the hospital, but what I did see was blood everywhere!
Clock: Being around all of these tools and materials do you ever build things?
Hibbard: Yeah! I am actually sometimes kept up at night at the thought of the things I could build. I have built a chessboard, a Christmas light grid that does some funky lighting tricks among some other stuff.
Clock: Are the Set Designers and Directors always clear and concise about what they want?
Hibbard: I would prefer the Set Designer I have the most contact with to be more precise. On the other hand, the designs are not too complicated. They seem to even themselves out. And as for Directors, I have very little contact and basis for an opinion.
Clock: What safety regulations must the sets follow?
Hibbard: There are no committees in existence right now that can check how “solid” a set is. That is up to the integrity of the Technical Director. However, we do have to follow fire regulations. The fire chief inspects every set here. In fact, last Spring’s production of Cabaret almost didn’t make the cut. The fire chief said that it would be the last set in the Studio Theatre that large. If there was a fire or something that would start under it, the whole place would have went up. The other safety issues like sturdiness of flats, stairs, and platforms are up the Technical Director.
Clock: If something in terms of safety happens with the set, what happens?
Hibbard: If someone gets hurt on a set because it wasn’t safe O.S.H.A. is called in, the Occupancy Safety and Hazard Association. They will inspect the assumed danger area. If it turns out that you had something like a platform built with strapping, well it’s just bad news.
Clock: What is the worst thing that could happen to the rigging over the stage?
Hibbard: It would definitely be a runaway! If someone were to unload all of the lights from a line set with out re-weighting the arbor (the counter balance) the batten (what the lights were hung on) would fly towards the grid. When the arbor lands in the bottom of the well of the rigging system it would bow and snap causing the weights to fly all over the place. Then, when that weight is gone the batten, after crashing into the grid, would rocket to the stage in several shattered steel shards that would kill people or severely damage. if not destroy, the stage.
Clock: Then how dangerous would you say it is to be on stage?
Hibbard: Let me put it this way… In construction you are not able to walk under a live load and you constantly have to wear a hard hat. In theatre we do it, but in costume and in the dark. It is extremely dangerous! A boom could fall and mess you up, there are holes you could fall in; someone could drop a weight on you! You always have to be aware.
Clock: How would you rate the Silver Center as a facility?
Hibbard: State of the art! You are all so spoiled. There are few theatres like this. You have everything you could need. It is really a top-notch facility with anything you could want.